"We need to talk seriously", said the elegant emerald-haired young woman.
The young noblewoman analyzed Aquamarine from head to toe in a matter of seconds, almost as if she were a veteran military man sizing up an ordinary soldier. The boy was still confused, but it was reasonable that he was feeling that way, after all, he was slowly recovering and assimilating the memories of his current life (as a prince of a doomed kingdom) and the ones of his old life, as a mediocre ex-military man who never achieved anything in several years of living.
He erased the pessimistic thoughts from his head and focused entirely on the young woman. The girl in front of him was very gorgeous, just like one of those models in designer magazines that could be found for sale almost anywhere on Earth, & that were envied by many people around the world.
The girl's lips were tomato red and thin, symmetrical on either side. Her appearance could only be described as extremely beautiful. However, despite her noble looks, she had a strange, rude way of speaking, as if she was angry all the time. There was also a certain disinterest in her voice, and the sentences that came out of her mouth had a relatively monotonous cadence as if she were a character in a written old novel.
It was blasphemous to deny that the girl in front of the wooden door of the room did not appear to be an angel who had descended to the mortal plane just for that moment to occur.
Her thin, red lips, apparently covered in a superficial layer of some kind of expensive lipstick, were extremely attractive and would make any man bow down to such a beautiful figure.
Her breasts were large for her age -- which appeared to be around 19 and 17 years old --, & her physical frame was certainly more defined than usual, a thing that made her stand out from the rest of the people Aquamarine could remember at the time.
Still, even standing in front of such an unprecedentedly attractive figure, Aquamarine didn't seem to care too much about the girl's outward appearance and only internally judged her based on her memories of this life about her.
But with that, he realized one thing: he didn't have much information related to the girl, let alone any decent memory about the factions of his brothers and sisters who intended to take the throne in the future.
'Surely she's no ordinary person,' the boy thought inwardly, 'If I remember correctly, she's part of my brother's, Leonard, faction, right?'
Various theories and thoughts crossed Aquamarine's small head, which concealed a keener intellect than other individuals of his (current) age. But all of them were suddenly interrupted when the young noblewoman of the enemy faction finally opened her mouth: "Prince, are you okay?"
Aquamarine snapped out of the trance he was in. His eyes widened frighteningly, but in a matter of seconds he regained the defiant, majestic demeanor he was trying to maintain. He knew what he should do from now on, and that was: try to get the information he needed and not behave so differently than he used to before he regained his memories of when he was Garrick.
''Huh? What do you mean by that, miss?", he asked the girl, purposely forcing an expression of curiosity on his face, ''I take it you're not assuming I'm sick or anything, right? After all, I'm better than I've ever been."
Despite wanting to maintain his facade as the old Aquamarine, the royal family's piece of rubbish, he still didn't intend to use derogatory and unprofessional terms when he was talking to a powerful noblewoman in the reign. After all, maybe at some point in the future, she could be useful for his plans.
"Not at all, young master Aquamarine. I only worried about your health situation for a second, that's all'', she said with a slight sigh, ''Still, it's strange to see you act so cordially, something happened to you when you woke up this morning, after recovering from that accident?''
They both fell into silence, which took hold in the room like a virus of embarrassment in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, the awkward situation was quickly broken, when Aquamarine smiled in a way he had never done before, making the young girl in front of him get goosebumps all over her body at the sight of it.
"Is it weird to see me acting with discretion?", Aquamarine questioned with a slight hint of anger in his tone, "I take it you're not blaspheming me when you suggest I can't follow a noble method, or am I wrong about that?"
The woman coughed dryly as she realized the error in her speech, for although Aquamarine had a popularity of infamy across the land, he was still a member of the royal family of Linjol, as he was directly included in the succession to the throne.
So with that thought in mind, it was obvious that any negative comments made to him could be considered aimed at the entire royal family and this was a clear violation of the laws in effect of the huge kingdom of Linjol.
"I apologize for my comment, lord prince. It was undoubtedly unkind to offend you in this way, so please forgive me for this outrage."
"What's your name?", Aquamarine asked the emerald-haired, ignoring her earlier line.
"H-huh?"
"Your name or family. Whatever, just tell me: Who the hell are you to address an heir of select royal blood like that?", despite the boy's size, his voice was imposing fear on the woman standing in the room, "Don't delay in answering my question, I'm not the patient type of person, and I imagine you and the others knights know that."
"Sorry for not introducing myself beforehand, sir. My name is Ellen Sarvarian, second daughter of the Sarvarian ducal house, and an ally of Prince Leonard.", she gestured with her hands and then rubbed the back of her head nervously.
Ellen coughed drily once again, then returned to her speech:
''This may have seemed sudden, and my tone certainly wasn't suited to the situation, but it's a pleasure to meet you, prince Aquamarine.''
Despite the disrespect Aquamarine sensed in the girl's voice, when she mentioned being allied with his brother Leonard's faction, he didn't seem to mind and continued his play:
"I see, it's a pleasure to formally meet you Miss Sarvarian", he stretched his arm forward, "I'm afraid we've started off on the wrong foot, so if that doesn't bother you, would you mind sitting down so we can talk more calmly? It would make the situation easier to understand, I'm sure."
He gestured amiably with his outstretched arm, pointing towards another chair that was similar to the one he was sitting on, and waited for her to take the initiative. The woman looked into his eyes, Ellen was trying to identify the boy's nature and his intentions, unfortunately failing miserably and surrendering to Aquamarine's request.
They nodded and looked at each other once more. Even though the atmosphere was evidently calmer than before, the air in the place gave off a crackling and disturbing sensation enough to make anyone instantly shudder as soon as they entered the room.
Aquamarine nodded in agreement, but inside all, he managed to do was let out an unintelligible grunt. Assuming his defiant stance to the end, Aquamarine still sat proudly, although his physical condition was weakened and his body a little sore.
"Well, we definitely started the wrong way earlier. But I appreciate that you took the trouble to save me, and also to come here where I'm staying to introduce yourself'', Aquamarine's manner and tone of speech changed instantly, he sounded like a true noble speaking. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sarvarian, thank you very much for the help you rendered to my person when I was about to die."
He placed his hand on his chest and bowed slightly 90 degrees, still sitting in the chair and making no move to get up from it. The young woman followed his action and did the same, saying words like 'it was nothing' and 'I did nothing more than anyone else would have done'.
"Well, shall we finally get started?", Aquamarine said, "You mentioned that we needed to talk seriously, so feel free to do so."
The woman once again stared at Aquamarine's slender figure — who was smiling broadly and trying his best not to reveal his true intentions —, not knowing what that brat, who was rumored to be an unscrupulous madman, was trying to do and had in mind.
''But before you can say anything serious, can I ask you something? Of course, if it's not a bother.''
"Of course, you can. I'm not bothered by anything you do, young master", she replied.
''What date are we on at the moment? Tell me precisely the date, month, and year if possible. Please'', Aquamarine begged.
Even though he was slowly assimilating his memories as Aquamarine, the lad still didn't have very accurate memories and they were vague to the point that the boy didn't even know what year it was.
Ellen looked at him as if she found the question strange, but ignored that thought and just answered the question the prince had asked her.
''It is the twelfth day of the second month of the year 1478, according to the imperial calendar.''
'So it's twelve years before the main events of the story of Heaven Realms', the boy thought.
The boy fell into complete silence, a little stunned by the realization that he had been reincarnated in the past, in the world of Heaven Realms. But he didn't let it show on his face, maintaining a rigid, immobile expression that indicated no emotion at all. He was a pro at keeping a poker face at times like this, having learned this useful skill in his past life.
"Alright,", said the green-haired woman, snapping Aquamarine out of the trance he was trapped in. "Anyway, I think we're having some kind of peace and understanding here."
''So let's get to what I really came to talk about.''
She picked up the wooden chair she was sitting on and took a few steps forward, sitting between the prince and a bejeweled desk, the yellow curtains swinging behind her. The shimmering light coming from the open window made the outline of her head look prettier than before, and her facial expressions could be seen more easily now.
"Okay. What did you mean when you said those words?'', the boy said slowly, crossing his arms and sitting up straighter than before.
Ellen stared at him for a few seconds, but there was nothing pleasant or happy about that look. Instead, it looked unsettling, reminding Aquamarine of the people's gaze at him in that freakin' street.
Her mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to find the right words to say.
''Well, you see. The knights' academy management sent me to investigate some strange things that happened in that place you were in'', she continued looking into the prince's eyes, searching for the smallest of the twitches his eyes made.
She distrusted him, he knew it. No, she wasn't the only one who suspected Aquamarine; if his memories were right, the academy administration and the entire kingdom were certainly suspicious of him. 'Cause even though he was a member of the royal family, he didn't have any prestige at all.
His looks and voice weren't the nicest either, and although people said you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, he knew the world didn't work that way. Therefore, doubting the provenance of such a person's speech was a very easy thing to do.
"I shouldn't be talking about this with you, but an incident involving unidentified magic at immeasurable levels was recently discovered around the kingdom. And shortly after that occurrence, we found you by accident on our frequent patrols through the city. We barely rescued you from that river you were on.''
Aquamarine was understanding where this conversation was going, and he wasn't enjoying it at all.
''Well, I know it's going to seem very disrespectful of me... But do you for some reason have any correlation with these cases of unknown magic that shook the whole world?''
The once friendly atmosphere in the room became completely tense in a second, and even though his raw amount of power was weak, a certain murderous aura dispersed from Aquamarine's body throughout the room.
"Why do you ask me this?"
The youth was clearly smiling, but his eyes were colder than ice.
"I don't think I need to answer that question, just look at the state I'm in right now because of mere waves. Your suspicions are based on complete superstition and don't even make any sense."
He knew that the unknown magic had something to do with Delarossi and the spell that activated when he recovered his memories, but he had to make it look like he wasn't involved in any way.
After all, if they found out about his involvement in that event, he could end up being used as an experiment subject by mages and mad scientists, as he currently didn't have the power to get out of such a situation.
It took a moment for the tension-filled air to ease. Ellen cleared her throat dryly again, and Aquamarine cursed and groaned inside. The girl got up from the chair and walked to the front door of the room.
There was no way to extract any information because of the complicated atmosphere between them, so she would just walk away with what she had now.
"Well, sorry to bother you with that then. I'll get the doctor to examine you, and soon after you'll probably be sent to the royal palace", she placed her left hand on the doorknob, turning it as she spoke.
''Well, I wish you a good recovery.''
"Thank you." Aquamarine's tone showed no emotion. Be it bitterness, anger, or happiness; there was simply nothing in that words he had just uttered.
The woman studied the prince one last time and left the room as she straightened up some loose ends of the plaid shirt she was wearing. The same moment she opened the door, the owner of the room where the boy was temporarily housed came to supervise him along with a doctor.
''Fuck''