Hades, to be honest, didn't liked the idea of his crown prince getting married to a nobody like Ether. Though Ether was the first princess of the fire country, she had no powers at all, making her someone below the commoners. He hadn't heard of a single person who was born powerless like Ether. Hence Hades didn't like the princess in the least.
In fact he liked Princess Vesta who was already a level four fire cultivator at age of sixteen.
He could already see that her level would be on par with the Crown Prince once she was the same age as Prince, that was twenty two.
As for Ether, all he felt was that she only had her royal title to her name and nothing of her own. To be precise, in Hades's eyes, Ether stood no less than a gold digger who had used her family connections to get married to their Crown Prince.
Afterall finalising the wedding with the younger sister, and suddenly getting wedded to the elder one with no prior notice, was suspicious. He felt that Ether was the mastermind behind Princess Vesta's sudden disappearance.
Hence if anything, he only had disrespect for Ether and nothing else.
Thus when she herself was asking him to leave, he could not be anymore happier.
"Take someone else with you. Don't go alone." Ether said out of care.
"Don't worry Princess, I have my powers to save myself." Hades replied a little rudely before turning his horse.
Thankfully Ether was already used to such mean comments since she turned five. She was once again reminded of how good her life was before Vesta's birth.
Though powerless since birth, her behavior and IQ itself was enough for people to adore her to no end. People had started liking her for the person she was, ignoring the absence of element powers in her.
But once Vesta was born, people were once again reminded that a princess was supposed to be powerful like Vesta and definitely not someone like Ether, powerless. Plus Vesta would always try to be a step ahead of Ether, and being powerful helped her do that always. None of their parents knew the kind of conspiracies that Vesta had conspired against Ether to bring her to her current, hated-by-everyone position.
Thankfully Ether was at least gifted with brains more than an average person, saving her from dying multiple times in such conspiracies.
Afterall Vesta could never bear the amount of affection Ether received for her kind nature. She thought it was useless to shower all this love on a useless daughter and should have been given to her instead.
But people were different from their parents. Soon people started forgetting the good natured smart first princess, entirely ignoring her while paying all attention to the second princess.
In the end, the world was a selfish place to begin with. The more powerful someone was, people were sure to bow to them, while pushing the powerless ones beneath them, First princess being no exception.
Hence Hades's rudeness didn't offend Ether in the least.
"Don't go too far away. Return back even if you don't find water…" Ether's voice faded by the end after watching Hades go away without paying attention to her advice.
"He must not have heard your voice, Crown princess. Please don't get offended. He is one of the most loyal and trusted guards of the royal family, especially for the crown prince." Titan, vice captain of the royal guards, spoke up, hoping that at least Ether wouldn't hold any animosity against Hades.
Because Titan knew that with some nagging from others and a little effort from Ether herself, Hades would slowly start accepting her as the crown Princess.
But if Ether was to get hostile towards Hades, the captain and most trusted member of the royal guards team, she was sure to face difficulties in the royal palace as well.
"No no, I am not offended in the least. It's just that I am worried about him. I know he has powers, but I have heard a lot of tales surrounding our fire country.
The jungles around here are not safe even for powerful people. Hence I was a little worried about him." Ether said, trying to warn all of them out of her good nature.
"Don't worry, your Highness. Captain Hades is the strongest of us all. And if anything he can signal us, and we would leave right away to save him." Vice captain Titan, once again spoke politely, feeling no animosity or maliciousness from Ether's tone.
After all he hadn't landed up as the Vice captain solely based on his battle skills. It also included his planning and ability to see through the mind of the person in front of him, and till now he somehow had a positive image for Ether.
This was also one of the reasons he was chosen as vice captain after knowing Hades's behaviour. Hades was rather hot tempered and would sometimes make wrong decisions on impulse. Thankfully the cool and calm Vice captain, Titan was always there to back him up. Plus Hades trusted Titan, hence they both made an impenetrable duo.
Some time had passed yet there was no news from the Crown prince as well as Hades.
"I think you should go and check on the Captain. It's been sometime." Ether said out of concern, not wanting anyone to be harmed just because of her.
"If something would have happened, he would have signalled us. Don't worry about him, your highness." Titan said.
"What if he was unable to signal due to some accident? Please I request you to go and search for him. It's okay even if he hasn't found water." Ether said through all seriousness.
"You don't have to request us, your highness. I will send two men to search for him." Titan replied, feeling a little out of place after receiving a request from the princess.
After all they were only used to orders from higher ups. None of them had ever requested something, not to mention it was a request for someone who had been impolite to her before leaving.
"No, don't send them." Ether said suddenly.
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- Kizy