"It may have been good for the young prince himself," Toren said.
"But imagine how much he hurt the people around him. The royal family, the people who trusted him, and those who encountered him and loved him. He literally threw everything for his own desire."
Airen turned her head around towards him and cupped his face. They were facing each other so intently.
"Desire can be a dangerous thing," She whispered. "But if it can make you happy, you must carry on with it. No matter what happens, do not allow anyone to take that flower away from you. Search for it until the end and die with it."
Toren was quiet for a while.
He then asked, "No matter what? Even if I have to betray the country?"
Airen smirked, slowly sliding her fingertips away from his cheeks, and lifted her head proud and triumphantly. "Even if you have to betray the world, son."
Soon, she ended her visit with a warm kiss on his small forehead.
That night, Airen and Toren went together to the otherworld with all the flowerbeds.
"Mother, how did the war began?" Toren curiously asked, nipping some chrysanthemum petals.
"The details are quite long," She answered. "But if I were to summarize it, the story is surprisingly simple. The very first step was a mistake. Someone made an insignificant mistake which caused the whole nation to suffer. Wrath was the second step. And then, desperation. Another mistake followed. This time, it was relatively significant and another country got involved. A crisis."
Airen smoothly strode around the lilies and grabbed a handful of it.
She crushed it within the grip of her clasps, then scattered it over the air until it fell broken on the land.
The glowing flower bed soon resuscitated back.
"Alliances were formed and the underlying greed surfaced with the given opportunity," She went on. "Divide and conquer. Completely destroy the enemies without mercy – no one must listen to anyone but themselves. Division of the strong and the weak thickened. Borderlines. Possessions. And finally, chaos."
Toren's shoulder slowly depressed down.
"I want to paint the war," He said. "I want to paint till I die, mother."
"Then paint to death."
Toren went near the lily flower bed where Airen was kneeling in the middle of it.
He stood before her and asked, "Why does grandmother hate you?"
"Maybe because her son loves me more than her?" She chuckled. "But that should not matter. Muren is taking care of us. He is owning up the responsibilities he promised to me. And when Coen was born, that promise had also been implanted to him."
"Was that the reason why father could hurt me? Because I was never given birth by you and that promise was never implanted to me."
Airen did not answer.
Instead, she attempted peering through his soul across his eyes. He had never looked so complex and mysterious before until now.
Toren slowly leaned towards the beautiful maiden before him and gently placed his lips onto her cheek. After sharing such an enigmatic kiss, Airen let out a sweet and pretty smile – one that had beguiled thousands of men.
"Do you know how I seduced your father?" She grinned mischievously. Airen stood up and walked a few steps backwards. She untied the belt of her robe and threw it away at the sunflowers.
With a careful slide, she took off her clothes and undergarments until she was completely bare naked. The beauty of her naked body had never paled once since she was born.
The curvy shape resembled a mesmerizing flower blooming out of its peaking beauty.
Toren could not help but utterly fall in love. He was dazed and almost hypnotized with the glowing surroundings and the most beautiful maiden in front of him.
Dazzling and fascinating.
That night, he stayed in the underground room until tomorrow just to finish his painting of the wars and the greedy men and an hourglass.
He could not remember or fathom days after why he had to paint that hourglass.