-15 years ago-
"Did you make sure to check if he is dead or not?"
They wore shiny silver armor. The five people, of whom the two were wiping the blood away from their swords. The green grass had turned red from the stains of the liquid.
Surrounding them was a thick layer of white mist. They were standing amidst the elven forest.
At their feet was a tiny being lying, from which a stream of blood was flowing on the ground. It was a small boy with black hair, that looked partially red. Maybe, it was because of the blood?
Thwack
One man kicked the lifeless body lying cold on the ground. It rolled around with no resistance.
The rest flinched, witnessing the ruthless actions of the man. His expression was difficult to see since his face was covered under the helmet, but they were aware that the man was smiling beneath it.
They had confirmed that the boy was no longer alive. The man turned around and walked towards the four beside him.
"Let's head back. We need to report it to 'that person'."
Soon, the bunch began galloping on horses in the direction where the fog was getting lighter. They were about to exit the elven forest.
They had very little idea that they had failed to accomplish their task. Something unusual was about to happen at the place they had just departed from.
The body lying on the floor had indeed grown cold and showed no movement, but the person hadn't died. The boy was alive, and the proof of that was his finger moving slightly.
He tried to open his eyes, but the only thing he could feel was the cold darkness enveloping his little wounded body. It was surely cold, but he could feel a strange burning sensation within his whole body.
Even though he wanted to cry, no tears came out of his eyes. If not for the voice of an unknown individual, he would've lost hope of living on.
"Humans are indeed such wretched creatures."
The woman spoke in a sad tone. The boy could feel someone caressing his cheeks with a warm, soft hand.
His vision was distorted as he barely opened his left eye. He could feel his throat burning up from within while he tried to speak.
The pain that spread throughout his body made it even more difficult for him to speak properly. He had numerous cuts and wounds on his body.
"H... el... p..."
Since it was the last ounce of his strength, he couldn't do anything else apart from that. He lost his consciousness while grabbing tightly at the edges of the dress the woman was wearing.
He could still feel what was going around his body with his eyes closed. The wind brushed past his back as he felt as if being held up in the air.
The woman's arms wrapped around the tiny figure holding him up. Her sky-blue eyes were full of worries for this boy she didn't know a thing about.
The tree vines extended from the nearby trees and rolled themselves on the wounds of the boy. They glowed light green for a moment before falling off.
The wounds disappeared without leaving behind a trace. The woman's green hair fluttered as she continued walking deeper into the forest. She looked down at the fragile person in a deep slumber within her arms.
"I wonder who and for what reason tried to do such a cruel thing to this child..."
She couldn't understand why anyone would try to harm a small child. But she knew one thing for sure. The child had some unique origins, judging from his costly-looking clothes, at least.
No matter how hard she thought, nothing came to her mind. There wasn't even any noble family in the nearby Agustus Kingdom whose members had features similar to the child.
The black hair and the black eyes. They were unusual for someone from the Agustus Kingdom. This was the reason the woman concluded it, as he was a foreigner.
Thinking that it was all unnecessary worry, she faded into the fog. She thought that she would find out his identity once he woke up. Unbeknownst to the two here, there was something else going on.
-At some other place-
Thwank
"Take this and never show up again."
The person threw a pouch filled with something onto the ground. He looked shady in the cloak that hid his whole body. He, or should I say she? The voice was that of a woman.
The man in front of her picked up the pouch with a greedy smile on his face. He opened it and poured the contents into his palm.
The gold coins glistened as they rained out of the shabby pouch. He looked at the faces of four of his subordinates.
Their behaviour was literally depicting what not wealth could make one do. They were the very people who had killed the innocent young boy.
These people didn't spare a glance at the person who had handed them the money. A smile grew on the person's lips as she watched them walk away.
"Finally, the nuisance is gone."
She snickered as she made her way into a dark tunnel nearby. The people around her were busy talking.
As she approached the two people standing by the tunnel, she could hear them speak. They weren't paying any attention to her, who walked past them.
"It's all thanks to her majesty that we are getting to leave peacefully. What a saint she is."
The smile that formed on her lips widened upon hearing that. She knew who they were talking about.
Emilia Vinate Agustus, the empress of the Agustus Kingdom and the only heir of the Vinate duchy, appeared out of nowhere and helped the citizens unconditionally.
Thanks to her actions, both her reputation and fame had skyrocketed to the point where people worshipped her as a saint.
And it was a fact that she was revered as an unparalleled beauty within the whole kingdom. Along with a gorgeous facial structure, her golden blonde hair and emerald green eyes were the reason behind it.
'Every coin has two sides. If it shows one, the other is hidden.'
She thought while walking out from the opposite side of the tunnel. No one was standing there aside from the coachman of the shabby-looking carriage.
The cloak's hood almost fell off as she climbed into the carriage. But she managed to pull it on before her face was exposed.
She looked at the coachman, wondering if he noticed anything. The old man had no expression, which made her assume that he didn't see a thing.
He wiped his sweat while pulling the reins of the horses tied to the carriage. The customer he had bought there had gotten on the board.
'W-was I imagining things...?'
He thought while driving the carriage somewhere else. He was just taking his customer where he was asked to.
------------------
-"Such a useless prince! You shouldn't even have been born."
The voice echoed in his mind as he stood at his spot. The boy was seeing a nightmare that had been haunting him for a long time.
The shadow of the woman, whose face he had forgotten because of shock and trauma, kept on shouting at him. The boy didn't cry.
His pitch-black eyes had no glow in them. The expressionless face didn't show any emotion as he spoke. The boy has been repeating only one thing since the beginning.
-"I'm sorry."
He could feel his consciousness sweeping away as the dream progressed further. Soon, he was breathing heavily.
He found himself sitting on a soft bed in an unfamiliar place. But the boy showed no reaction, despite his situation.
"Where...?"
The white curtain surrounding the bed made it even tougher for him to determine where he was. One thing he was certain about was that it wasn't his room.
His gaze shifted towards his outfit. Those weren't the clothes he remembered wearing.
Though they weren't of high quality, the clothes he had on him currently were more than decent. The fabric was soft despite the design, which looked quite outdated.
He hadn't noticed something until his eyes lowered unknowingly to meet the person lying beside him. Seeing the woman, the boy moved a bit away from her.
"Who...?"
His monotone voice fell on the woman's ears. She woke up from her sleep and rubbed her sky-blue eyes.
The green hair that covered her eyes partially fell aside when she pulled them with her hand. The boy's appearance was being reflected in her crystal-like eyes.
He was mesmerised by the blue gems in front of him for a moment. But then the woman's voice made him get back to his senses.
"Hm? Did you have a good sleep?"
She asked while crouching close to him. While trying to put some distance between them, the boy made a small mistake.
Before realising it, he was falling from the bed. Unconsciously, he shut his eyes tight and bit his lips to prevent himself from shouting.
He certainly remembered the feeling of falling down, but he didn't feel any pain. The grip he felt across his abdomen made him slowly open his eyes.
The tree vines that held him gradually pulled him back onto the bed. The woman put the boy's small face in her hands and observed him closely.
"There are no wounds... Good..."
She let out a sigh of relief as she mumbled that. The boy couldn't understand why she was caring for him.
There was no one who had cared for him to this date. His dull eyes showed no emotions whatsoever.
He pushed the hands away and looked around the room. Then he got down the bed and bowed his head. His soft voice made the woman's heart ache.
"I, Adrienne Agustus, the prince of the Agustus Kingdom, shall repay this favour one day."
His eyes were closed as he said that. And when he opened them, he didn't bother to look behind again. The only door within the room was being approached by him.
The back of the small boy looked lonely to the woman. The boy surely seemed to be someone around 9 years old, but he was acting too mature.
Suddenly, his legs levitated in the air, and he felt something around his waist. The tree vines dragged him back towards a chair beside the bed.
As he was forced to sit there, Adrienne gritted his teeth with anger. He had thought that the woman was someone who had helped him, but her actions made him feel as if he was wrong about that.
The woman approached the small table beside him and took the glass on it in her hand. The empty glass got filled with water out of nowhere.
The anger in his eyes transformed into curiosity. He had never seen magic before, but he recognised it.
The woman made him drink the water while he was feeling a bit tense. She had to do something to stop him from running off. If he ran away, there was a chance that the people who had harmed him would try to do it again.
"Curious about magic?"
She untied the vines, letting the boy go. Forcing him to stay there would've only made matters worse. She had to give him a reason to stay there.
But keeping him with her forever would do no good for both of them. There were several reasons that the boy needed to go back to where he came from.
Adrienne, a prince, getting attacked by a bunch of shady people in some corner of the Elven Forest was definitely an assassination, no matter how she saw it. At this moment, she could think of only one way to trick the boy of curious age into staying with her.
"If you stay here for 5 years, I can teach you all I know."