Having talent is everything.

Braden always knew that in this harsh world with complications having something like talent is needed.

Despite him being robotic-like in terms of his emotions, even he felt the pressure of having talent. Although his memories of when he is younger are still a blur, he knew that he could trust that person’s words.

Braden never said it out loud, but he had always had his suspicions about it.

He’s grateful, even though that person disappearing caused mother a lot of distress.

Braden has never forgotten what that person has taught him. About hope and about how there can be no hope without despair.

They say kids can adapt to new meetings and make friends quicker. His gaze fell on the girl who sat beside him; the two of them were playing the odd games he bought from the side stall.

“You win again.” He put the pack of cards down.

Nira pouts, her cheeks puffed up.

“It’s because you weren’t focussing.” She trailed off and turned to him. “Did something happen? ”

Braden doesn’t respond right away and finds himself sighed heavily for a few minutes.

“Say… If you’d have no talent, what do you think would you have done?”

“If I had no talent?”

“Like, if you always lost, no matter how long you played. Or if they were too hard for you to figure out. I wondered if would still enjoy yourself…”

“Hmmm…I think that would have been fun in its own way. I love my work.”

“Even if there was someone more talented than you in that field? Somebody that you could never beat? ”

“There’s more to life than just talent.”

He turned to her then. “Huh?”

A faint tint of pink appeared on the girl’s cheeks. “That was something my sister told me, but…your life won’t be interesting just because you have talent. By getting involved with others and making memories, hope, which is more important than talent, is born. ”

Hope huh?

“Your sister must be a good person,” Braden commented.

“Right! She is strong, brave, and so beautiful. I truly respect her.”

Strong, brave, and beautiful, huh? In other words, the woman has charisma.

“Those are good qualities to be a ruler.”

“My sister doesn’t want that, and she turned it away.”

“Huh?”

‘I did think she was a noble but–‘ if her relative turned away a ruler position, maybe she isn’t from here? The only ruler position in the Kingdom is the Empress one. But how is that possible?

Maybe he is overthinking it. They are both children, and she is most likely referring to a high-ranking position.

Braden didn’t know why he escaped from his cousin. But for some reason, he knew he had to go. He recalled Simon’s expression and sighed deeply.

He hates seeing that expression. Even though he was young, he understood many things that most kids won’t.

‘It isn’t your fault, and you did nothing wrong.’ Braden wanted to say these words, but in the end, he lashed out and just ran away. Maybe it was because he was a boy, but he did not know how to comfort other people. Even mother, when she is sad, there is nothing he can do. He hates feeling this powerless.

His thoughts broke off when he saw the girl down on the grass and a small bird perched on the girl’s finger. She seems pretty happy and carefree.

“Say-”

“Braden, ah…wait, you’re not going to lecture me too, are you?”

He raises his eyebrows. “Lecture?”

“I suppose it really wasn’t a lecture. But before I came here, I escaped from my guard. He kept arguing that while I have time, I should practice my skills.”

“Why aren’t you?”

“Braden, you haven’t seen that person torture me. He doesn’t give me time to take breaks at all. I intended to have breakfast early and sneak out.”

“Hm, no wonder you ate so little.”

Braden looked at the wrapping paper of the sweets he gave her all around them. No wonder her stomach rumbled after he called her an angel.

“Braden, what’s your family like?”

Braden blinked at her sudden question. Why is she suddenly asking him about his family?

No, he shook his head. He is just overreacting, and surely this girl has no idea.

__

She is treading on a dangerous line asking him this question. But Nira wanted to learn a bit more about him. She already figured and confirmed he was the Empress child. Only those with pure, noble blood can have that color hair and those eyes.

It surprised her when she first learned about the Empress. Though it was not made public, everybody knew that her sister came first.

Her sister is the one from the prophecy, so where did this other person come from?

But it didn’t matter, and her sister already refused to become the Empress.

Her real name is Natalia; the only reason she gave him her nickname was because she didn’t want him to find out. Unlike him, she isn’t clueless and naive. She knew better than to give out her real name, so she gave him her nickname no her assassin code name.

If he found out who she was, then he surely wouldn’t speak to her. For some reason, she didn’t want him to dislike her.

She has rarely found somebody her age to play with. Somebody outside of her family sphere of influence. For now, she can enjoy this, can’t she,

small moments of peace like this before she has to go back home.

‘I already know I will get punished for escaping like this.’ But it is worth the risk; she wanted to see not only her sister, who she hadn’t seen in the last few months, but also the town.

The town that was supposed to be her sisters, and the people, she wanted to know more about them. Natalia already knew what the townsfolk thought of the Ageha family, but she noted that their sister’s attitude differed from the rest of the family.

Despite all the terrible rumors, more people respect her. If her sister accepted the Empress position, then she would be able to unify the Empire.

“Your sister.”

“Yes?”

Braden awkwardly looked down. “You said she refused a position where she could rule.”

‘Did he notice? No, he wouldn’t have. This guy isn’t very clever.’ Natalia already determined that the past hour or so since she started talking with him.

But he isn’t a complete fool, and she recalled how fast he jumped from that tree. ‘His powers..’ It is impossible for somebody to jump that high unless they use magic of some kind. But using that type of magic requires a lot of skill; he is only young too.

It seems she will have to talk to her older sister about this. The Empress child isn’t as naive as they hoped.

Their family was one of the few who knew about the Empress’s child. They also knew who the father was. Later on, when she got home, her father would inform her what her first mission would be.

While she has had many missions since she was five, somebody always came with her. The mission her father wants her to do, Natalia knew it was to do with the Imperial family.

Now that she has seen the Empress child with her own eyes, she understood. It must be something to do with this boy. Her sister also received a similar job to do with the Empress.

Natalia sighed deeply. Can she do this? Maybe she ought to choose a different path than assassination.

To assassinate somebody means ending their lives swiftly. She always admired assassins, and they can end the other persons suffering easily. But the ones in her family are awful, and they take the word torture to another level.

She does not want to be the kind of assassin that uses underhanded means. But she understood there was something different about her. Kindness exists in her, a sign of weakness, something the Ageha family members should not have.

Her thoughts broke off when she felt a pair of soft hands brush something away from her hair. “There was a leaf.”

Her eyes widened at the contact, and for a moment, she froze. How–how did he get close? This boy, what kind of abilities does he have? What else is he hiding?

“Braden, can you use magic?” Natalia decided to ask upfront. She did not see the need to beat around the bush.

To her surprise, she watched as his innocent and naive gaze turned darker; a cold gust of wind blew then.

“If you’re asking me that, are you trying to confront me, miss?”

The words that passed his lips were cold, and his stare was deadly. For a moment, Nira could not breathe. It felt like somebody had sucked out all the oxygen in the air. What is this? Why did she suddenly feel suffocated?