Chapter 3

“A place where you can see everything below.”

“Good.”

A cool breeze swept over my body. While climbing the tree, I sat on a hard branch to rest for a while, but the wind came and scattered my hair.

“Do you want me to tie it up?”

“Do you have a hair tie?”

“I brought it.”

Argen came up to the branch where I was sitting and looked in his pockets to see the blonde fluttering indefinitely.

He’s good at bringing things that I don’t even bring. Argen pulled a hair tie out of his pocket. Small jewels were finely attached to the ordinary hair strap. This hair tie was plastered with jewels of tremendous value.

“Um…… That hair tie.”

As the sunlight reflected on the jewels, a dazzlingly light shone so brightly that I stared blankly at his hair tie. Argen rolled it in his hand.

“I stole Lulahel’s hair tie.”

“……..”

I looked at Argen slyly thinking it was wise that he wasn’t caught. Argen said to quickly turn around then arrange my messy hair when I turned my body. Argen held my hair in his hand and tied it with the expensive hair tie. My hair was more neat and pretty when Argen did it compare to when I tied it alone.

“Tie it tight.”

“Tightly?”

“If it unravels in the middle, it’ll fall down.”

The tree branch was more spacious than our bodies, but it would be a great waste if this expensive hair tie fell off. Argen, who had been playing with my hair since I was young, skillfully tied my hair and removed his hands.

“Shall we go up more?”

“By the time we go up, the sun will set.”

“It’ll be pretty.”

I raised my head at an angle and looked into the vast expanse of the sky. The sun above continued to fall and soon sloped as if it were to hide in the mountains. The sky where the sun was setting was more beautiful when viewed from a higher place.

Argen said no more resting then moved his body, which couldn’t even reach the knees of an adult male. Instead of branches that are likely to break if we hold them by hand, we found many branches thick enough to support our weight.  I stopped going up further because the height was suitable.

“Arrived.”

Looking down at Argen who was coming up later than me, I hung my hips on a thick branch. It was so dizzyingly high when I looked down at Argen that I couldn’t help but swallow my saliva. Climbing to this height was absolutely impossible for an ordinary child, but it wasn’t a big deal for us because we had excellent physical abilities as part of the royal family.

“As expected….. I see the First and Third princes’ palaces.”

Argen finally took a seat and pointed his head in front.

We liked high places. A high place where we can see below us. I felt the cold temperature unique to the open field of view on my skin.

“I like this place.”

“Right?”

“Yes, a lot.”

Something caught my eye and I pointed at it with my finger. Argen sitting next to me looked where I pointed. A statue of a black leopard, the symbol of the first prince, and a statue of a green hawk, the symbol of the third prince, stood out first.

“…… It’s still in the same place.”

“It doesn’t change and it’s always been there.”

At first glance they looked like colored stone blocks, but they were strong allies given only to the royal family. Was it last year? There was an assassin in the Third Prince’s palace. During that time, I was playing with Argen while enjoying the midnight game, but suddenly I heard a loud noise at the third prince’s palace. There was a big uproar loud enough to be heard in the castle of Derolina where we were.

At that time, the statue of a green hawk, which was thought to have been built symbolically, wriggled and moved. I could see the scene clearly because the lights were always kept on at night in the third prince’s palace. The statue, which remained still, flew up into the sky with its large wings spread out.

Since the statue was always standing far away, the size couldn’t be possible, but at least at that time, I felt a tremendous deal of pressure. As if screaming, it raised its upwards and cried out to the sky. To us children, It was a shock that seemed to shake the world.

Everyone came out and looked up towards the sky at the sudden situation, and so did we. The green hawk, which flew into the sky, sat on a tree and looked at the two of us who were hiding. Then, as if it was wondering, it blinked a couple of times and descended again. It was a big shock to us who saw everything on this tall tree like now.

When the third prince was in danger despite having knights in golden armor as escorts, it was said that the green hawk guarded him without hesitation.

All I saw with my eyes was the scene where the green hawk came alive and I only knew that the Third Prince was rescued after hearing the maids rambling stories.

“I see the Emperor’s palace and the Second Prince’s palace.”

They are guardians given only to the descendants of the emperor. The first prince had a black panther, the second prince had a white wolf, and the third emperor had a green hawk. The emperor had a green snake, and when he married the empress, he handed her ownership over the green snake. Later, when the empress died, the green snake was also said to have died. Of course, we had no such guardians.

“It’s still gorgeous.”

“It’s luxurious.”

“isn’t very pretty?”

“Like that, It’s always beautiful.”

It was the existence of the emperor’s blood. We were children born from a daughter of a low-class noble whose family was neither wealthy nor politically helpful. If we weren’t blond, which was proof that we were the emperor’s children, we would have been abandoned without being recognized as a royal family member.

“It seems to be shining brightly.”

“you envy it, Arien?”

“It’s a lie to say I’m not envious.”

We didn’t even hope for such an excessive guardian. I didn’t even want much from the emperor. It was enough just to give us money to live and eat each month and to give us the castle of Derrolina.

“That can’t be true.”

As I was talking, Argen pulled on the hem of my dress and looked behind him

“Look behind you”

The only surviving imperial family was our father the emperor, the three princes, as well as Argen and I.

“Why?”

The Imperial palace was also prepared according to the number. The palaces that were not needed were modest, and the palaces used by the royal family were splendid that in anyone’s eyes, a noble man lived there.

“You can really see everything from here.”

The last time I climbed this tree, I couldn’t reach this height.

“I can see everything.”

“What does it look like inside?”

The Imperial palace, which we always wanted to escape from, could be seen from here.

With my head dropping over Archen’s shoulders, we watched the place that was completely different from our lives. Where we lived was an abandoned castle. It was a place that was luxurious and gorgeous enough to be burdensome to us, but it was poorer and lacked much more than the castle used by most nobles.

“The palace where the emperor lives is always beautiful.”

I could see the largest, widest and most splendid palace in the imperial city, the emperor’s palace that anyone would want to covet. We don’t know the exact name, but it was a palace where the emperor lived.

The two of us stared quietly, for a long time, at the Imperial palace that had nothing to do with us.

“Can we leave this place…?”

Argen grabbed the strands of my hair that had flowed down over my body and twirled the ends with his fingers. A brief silence settled for a moment on the sensitive topic Argen spoke of. It was a topic that we usually don’t bring up, but we always say it once during this time of the year.

‘We can get out.’

I Mumbled inwardly, but Argen had no answer.

We just sat like that for a long time. The soft sunset was in my eyes. I looked at it for a long time as if I had been possessed by the sunlight slowly hiding behind the vast mountain.

“My eyes will get worse.”

Soon I was restrained by Argen’s hand covering my eyes.

“I’ve already seen it all.”

I moved my head back avoiding his hand covering my eyes. The sunset meant that we had to go back. It didn’t matter if we were there or not, so I didn’t care about the time, but when it gets dark, we wouldn’t be able to see see the traces we had carved on the trees.

No matter how reluctant we were to go back, it was a home to us first of all. A place where we can sleep right away and quench our thirst. Looking at the sunset sky from high above, nothing was as beautiful as that, but it was impossible to spend the night here.

“Shall we go back?”

“I should have finished the fruit.”

When I said we should go back, Argen nodded and muttered a bit after. Come to think of it, I was so busy playing that I forgot about the fruit.

Going down was easier than coming up. I came down so quickly and easily as if I was on a slide, just enough to not burn in my hands.

Soon after, I jumped off and shook the leaves off my face. They were not only stuck on my face, but also everywhere else. Argen, who came down from the tree, also brushed off the leaves. After roughly finishing, we went back to our secret place, following the traces left on the trees.

We arrived at our secret place when the sky turned dark and purple. I was going to go right back with only the fruits, but something unexpected was waiting for us. I opened my eyes wide with embarrassment.

“You ate it?”

“No.”

“Who ate it?”

“Someone ate it.”

“Who is it?”

“Who.”

This was a secret place that only the two of us knew.

When we saw that the fruits that had been piled up in abundance had disappeared, both of us couldn’t choose what to say. I couldn’t see it well because it was too dark, but when I saw the empty leaves, I noticed a little messy trace left enough to say that someone ate them. Even the large and wide leaves were torn slightly, leaving claw marks.

”……”

“…… Do animals live here?”

Since birth, I have never seen an animal other than a flying bird.

However, there was no other conclusion since it was too little for a person to eat. Looking at the torn leaves with claw marks, I tilted my head.

“It’s going to be dark soon.”

The darkness grew deeper as we put our heads together thinking about various scenarios. In the end, I got up from my seat without finding out who ate the fruit. we had to walk through the grass in the moonlight, but we never got lost because we had walked here before.

Sitting on a rock, I chatted with Argen, watched wild flowers for no reason, and moved as slowly as possible. It felt like an hour or so, but more time had passed than I expected. I thought we should get inside the castle soon, so I went to the nearby area, but somehow Lourahel’s carriage, which had gone out, stood there in the fog. We stumbled back reflexively.

“She’s back already.”

“I thought she wouldn’t come in for a day or so.”

Seeing that the lights were still on in Lulahel’s room, I was reluctant to enter. Eventually, Argen and I unanimously decided to go around the Castle one more time. We were softly conversing with each other when I looked up at Lulahell’s room and found that the lights were turned off. Only then did I relax a little.

Even though no one was watching, we still quietly snuck into the castle.  The castle was dark without a single light as if to confirm that no one was waiting for us. Thanks to this, we had to rely on the moonlight through the windows to go to our room.

“Shall we go in?”

“Let’s go…..”

It didn’t take long to get to our bedroom. Arriving at the door, I grabbed the handle and pushed it. The biggest reason we chose this room in Derolina castle was because of the handle that was low enough for a child’s hand to reach.

I went through the door that opened silently and turned on the light. We were thinking about washing and loosening our tired bodies on the bed, but had no choice but to harden ourselves to the scenery in the room that came view.

“…… Haa.”

“I knew it.”

“I didn’t know.”

“Why didn’t you know this?”

“…… Ugh.”

“It happens every time.”

If I walked one more step, I would be stepping on a piece of glass. I forgot our room was in tatters and was forced to  look at the curtains stretched out on the floor and the miscellaneous things we had been trying to collect were dying. Just in time, the clock hand moved and signaled midnight, our birthday was over.