Alphea grinned down at him as a small draft raced up causing parts of her clothes to flutter, "Oh are you sneaking a peak at me?" she asked with a face going a tinge red.
Aridex groaned and lowered his head slightly, his eyes saying that he would give anything to get away from this place.
"What a naughty boy you are Aridex, you do remember that I am a princess," she joked as his face slowly started to go red.
"Awwww, you don't need to feel embarrassed, I don't mind really, you can look all you want," she said in a bashful tone.
"Is that why you came all the way to meet me in the middle of nowhere so that you could practice your flirting skills?!" Aridex asked through a growl.
"Who knows maybe I did," Alphea replied with a shrug, "I mean I've heard so many stories about the dashing lone ranger of Ouroboros," she added while licking her lips.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a couple of fantasies about you when I was younger," she added looking away from Aridex with her face tinged red.
"Blasted woman," Aridex cursed and took a step back.
Alphea sighed and heaved out a breath, "You're such a bore you know that," she said with a pout, "This beautiful young lady came all the way out here to give you a warning and you can't even give her the attention she deserves," she spoke filling her tone with melodramatic airs.
"A warning?" Aridex asked his eyes burning with a smoldering flame.
"Why don't you try and guess how I was able to track you down silly?" she asked.
Aridex furrowed his brow, as he thought about who gave him his current assignment, "The Underworld," he muttered.
"Exactly," Alphea replied as she stepped out of the air, keeping just a small space between the two of them, "Your antics of picking fights with Ancient families is starting to seriously piss off some people, the Underworld is getting sick of protecting you because you're quickly becoming a liability,"
"And Ouroboros can only protect you so much before they get dragged into a fight they can't win," Alphea explained.
"You shouldn't underestimate the power of Ouroboros," Aridex said his tone going grave.
Alphea sighed, "You overestimate the power of your guild, everyone knows how capable you lot are, and we are more than aware that you have plenty of hidden cards to play,"
"But you pick a fight with an empire and I guarantee you that Ouroboros will disappear within days, even if you somehow have the ability to stand up against an empire, which is impossible for a guild, the moment you reveal all your cards the other empires will swallow you whole,"
"And all the dreams and goals of your guild will disappear into the celestial skies, in a snap," Alphea gnashed her teeth and snapped her fingers, the sound echoed in the ash-ridden swamp around them.
Aridex slowly put his swords away, "Thanks," he muttered, "But why are you telling me all this?" he asked.
"Didn't I already tell you?" she asked with her voice going bashful, "It's because you're my ideal man," she whispered with a tinge of red on her cheeks.
"Urgh," Aridex grunted and turned around, his eyes still narrowed in Alphea's direction.
"Wait, wait," Alphea called behind him, "I'm coming with you to finish your assignment," she called out racing behind him.
"Get lost," came Aridex's reply.
"Wait, I'm totally not dressed to be trudging through a swamp, I know why don't you carry me," she said as she easily closed the distance and pressed herself against his back.
The tip of a dagger pressed against her belly as Aridex narrowed his eyes onto her with a dangerous glint, "Leave," he coldly ordered.
Alphea's smile grew even as the blade pressed against her belly "Why don't you make me?" she boldly asked pushing her face closer to his, this time even she wasn't sure if she was joking.
Aridex grimaced as her cool breath reached his face, he pulled his dagger back and shoved her away, he turned around and started to walk not even paying her another glance.
Alphea took a deep breath as she watched him walk away, it took her a while before she started to follow behind, "Hey Aridex, you know I wasn't joking about not being dressed to walk through the swamp," she called out while waving her hands.
"Then fly!" Aridex's voice came out in a low growl as he moved through the thick reeds and muddied floor of the swamp looking for another hydra.
He had no clue of what this princess wanted, but he'd gotten involved with enough royals to know that single action was motivated by at least a dozen little reasons, and what royals considered little others considered large.
---
Time passed by, during Ankara (the second month of the year) word spread of Princess Alphea failing to capture an Adventurer called Aridex, making it the fourth failed attempt of the empire.
But Lucian cared very little for outside disturbances, between his array and occasional swordsmanship classes, he was spending every free second he had in a trance.
It didn't take long for word of his mediocre results in the school of Arrays to reach the 7th empress, and his constant skipping of sword practice only added fuel to the burning flame of her fury.
This resulted in several entire pages in Lucian's journal to have line after line, of him planning to murder his mother, with many graphic drawings of how he planned to rip her body apart one day.
One night as Lucian lay down in his trance the doors to his room were shoved open.
Lucian sat up and turned as he placed his mask on his face, wondering what could be going on when he saw two boys, both of whom were probably in their middle teens.
They walked in wearing their training robes and upon each of their shoulders was a mask with a strap, it was slightly different from Lucian's as it had a section carved into for the strap to be tied, whereas Lucian's was completely plain, and any adjustments he made to his mask would disappear when the morning came.
As the two walked in they looked down on him with ugly expressions.
"Who are you?" Lucian asked as the two approached his bed.
"What do you think that just because you get special attention from Mother you can act like you don't know who we are?" the boy standing to the right shouted.
Lucian tilted his head slightly and looked at the number written on his mask, the number '785' was scrawled across the forehead piece of the mask.
"Oh, would you like me to call you elder brother?" he asked.
'785' gritted his teeth and looked at the blonde boy next to him, "This is…"
"I'm Ethan Mercurion Mistorn," he announce proudly.
"Your mask says you're 179," Lucian replied.
Ethan's face curled up at being called 179, "I just got my name, by becoming a novice swordsman," he said with that tone of pride returning.
"I see," Lucian nodded.
"I heard that you're pretty good with a sword yourself," Ethan spoke with a condescending tone.
"My mom says that he's already a novice swordsman," Prince 785 spat, "She can't stop bragging about him every time I try to visit her," he said in a fit of outrage.
"I bet he thinks he's better than all of us here," Prince 785 spoke with a sneer.
"I challenge you to a duel," Ethan boldly declared.
"I decline," Lucian answered with a tired yawn.
"What's the matter you scared?" Prince 785 mocked.
"Yep way too scared, now if you two would kindly get out and stop wasting my time with nonsense, I'd really much rather do nothing," he said turning to go back to bed.
"Be more respectful to your elders," Ethan growled and grabbed him by the collar.
Lucian sighed, "You lot really are annoying," he yawned and grabbed his forearm, a second later a loud crunch echoed through the room and both boys stumbled back as they looked at Lucian's broken arm hanging limply at his side.
Lucian sucked in a deep breath and gritted his teeth as the pain flooded his body, "Diego!" he shouted knowing that the Royal Guard was just outside his door.
"Yes, my prince," he responded showing no surprise when he saw Lucian's broken arm, he saw everything as it happened.
"Have Prince 785 and Prince Ethan taken to their parents for some disciplinary action, it seems that they have broken my arm," he calmly explained as he dangled the broken limb.
"You're lying!" Ethan shouted and turned to Diego.
"Lying!" Lucian cried in outrage, "Then explain how my arm broke, don't tell me that you think anyone is going to believe that I broke it myself!" he cried out.
"At once my prince," Diego answered and grabbed the two princes by the scruff of their necks and dragged them away.
Lucian looked down at his arm and sighed, 'These idiot siblings of mine really are excellent at wasting my time with useless nonsense,' he groaned as he left to find a doctor.