[๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ฑ๐ผ๐บ]
Inside an office space, a beautiful young girl with blonde hair and striking crimson eyes sat behind a large wooden desk. Adorned in an elegant dress with hues of blue and white, her face radiated elegance and beauty as the sunlight coming from the sun directly shined through the window behind her brushed past her skin, further emphasizing her beauty.
Flipping through a long pile of papers, the young girl's brows would knit from time to time.
"Your Highness...?"
A dark figure emerged from the shadow as the lady knelt on her knees in front of the young girl.
"Hm?"
Lifting her head slowly and putting one of the papers down, the young girl's eyes glossed over the paper for a couple of more seconds before opening her mouth.
"Did you find any information related to the unknown group?"
"I did, but not much, Your Highness."
"...Speak."
The princess, Juliette attention remained fixed on the papers she was holding as she listened to the cloaked lady.
"The group that appeared to help the people inside the walls are said to be related in the Black Market."
"Ho?"
"Their group was said to be made of with 4 woman, however... According to some witnesses, they had a guy in the group."
Finally, Juliette placed the papers down on her table and turned to the lady. She hesitated for a couple of second before asking, "What does he look like?"
"It was said that the man had grey hair and silver eyes, but..."
"But what?"
"The witnesses aren't entirely sure either." When the lady mentioned this, she look very thoughtful. She recalled about the time when she was looking for information from the people and how they were all unsure when they answered her questions.
"...."
"They said that they couldn't remember much about his face... Only those two features stood out the most. All that's left was a blur."
"A blur, huh...?"
Upon hearing this, Juliette became quiet for a couple of seconds before turning away to look outside.
"You may go."
She ordered the lady in black. After she left, Juliette sat up on her desk and recalled about how all the heroes were saved by someone anonymous.
A magic that can wipe out anything in a straight line.
Just what kind of destructive magic that was...?
"Grey hair and silver eyes..."
Juliette tried her hardest to think back if she had met such person in the past and when she did, she remembered about the incident on the dungeon.
"That man had grey hair and silver eyes, too... Is it that person?"
As she pondered about the possibility deeply in her mind, her head began to ache.
"That person... Why can't I remember his face properly?"
In her mind, the face of the man they saw back in the dungeon were blurry. How was this the case? She could have sworn that she saw his face clearly and yet, why couldn't she remember what he look like now?
Just like what the witnesses had said, everything else was a blur. She couldn't remember much about his appearance. Is this magic? How is that even possible?
Ever since the dungeon incident, even though her brother never spoke about the man back then, Juliette felt that he knew something about him.
"...?"
Just when she drag her stiff body out of her office, her foot accidentally stepped on a certain newspaper. She looked down and saw the headline.
[ONE OF THE CHOSEN HEROES HAD BEEN MURDERED.]
The news were few months old. Juliette crouched down and picked the newspaper up and scrutinized it's content. She leaned back at her table and took a sip on her coffee.
"Saber..."
After reading the name of the "murdered hero" out loud, Juliette placed down her cup. She pondered about the man and recalled some of their meeting.
Unexpectedlyโ
"I understand now..."
Just like in the dungeon incident, she somehow couldn't remember what he actually look like except for the color of his hair and eyes.
With that in mind, Juliette finally solved one of the big puzzle.
"He's alive."
...
..
.
After leaving her office, Juliette was walking around alone when she suddenly heard two people having a conversation inside the training room.
"Saber is alive..."
Her ears immediately perked up when she heard this. She quickly used her magic to hide her presence before swiftly going through the corner, peeking through the doorframe to look at the two people.
She saw that Aria was panting frantically as she held the Saintess over her shoulders. On the other hand, Seraphina was looking at her with annoyance.
"Miss Aria, are you really going to insult my brother's death...? He's already dead long time ago! Don't go screaming that he is still alive!"
"No... You don't understand! He's really alive! I'm telling the truth... Saber is alive." Aria never let go no matter how much the Saintess tried to shake her off. She looked desperate, falling on her knees as she begged for her to believe her.
Juliette was secretly listening to their conversation when she realized what the Saintess had said. "Wait... Did she say brother?" She mumbled quietly, swallowing to moist her dry throat with her saliva.
Slap!
Out of the sudden, a slap overlapped the silence as Seraphina rushed out of the room and walked past through the princess unknowingly. Juliette glanced at her as her back disappeared after she went left.
"Sniff.... Sniff!"
Juliette turned her attention back to the room only to see Aria sitting on her knees, crying. She pondered about what she heard and decided to show herself.
"Princess...?"
Aria noticed the princess approaching, prompting her to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"What are you doing here...?"
"Can you tell me more about Saber being alive?"
Juliette ignored her question and immediately went to ask directly to the point. Though confused by her sudden interest about the topic, Aria still answered her after she finished drying her tears.
"I... I had a dream," She looked down at the floor as she continued. "The dream told me that he is alive and well, and that he's currently at the Avalon Kingdom..."
"Avalon Kingdom? You mean he was living in the Kingdom of the prince that had killed him?" Juliette stopped her track and crossed her arms, looking down at Aria.
"He didn't die... Heโ"
"Faked his death?"
Juliette was the one who finished the sentence. Aria became momentarily shocked from how easy the princess figured it out. Eventually, she nodded her head weakly.
Seeing this, Juliette began to turn around, attempting to leave when he was suddenly stopped by Aria. While she was still on her knees, Aria reached out for the princess and grabbed her wrist.
"What are you planning?"
"I'm going to meet up with Eveline."
"The hero...?"
Eveline was nowhere to be found in the castle they were staying at. Fortunately, Juliette was informed by one of her knights earlier that she was planning on visiting the Avalon Kingdom once again. She didn't know what her reason is, but she wanted to go with her.
Aria realized what she was planning and asked with a desperate expression.
"Let me go with you!"