A Dream Foretold.

Prologue Arc (2). Letters to Me.

[Alice’s Perspective]

 

“Those two are taking a little bit too long, huh…” I mumbled staring at the distance as my hand caressed the thin threads of hair of the little sleeping beauty on my lap, the skies were turning dark and the air was now shivering cold.

 

It was unusual as the two who should be strong enough to find the Feather of Love by themselves within at least twenty minutes still haven’t arrived even after an hour had passed, almost like the two of them had been attacked… but there is no way a monster of some sort can tackle both of them.

 

“I wonder what is taking them awhile…” I stared up at the skies as the moon’s glittering light brightened before us as the coldness of winter struck us like a storm.

 

In normal situations, I wouldn’t be this cautious as my sword abilities are more than enough to handle even an A rank monster by itself but that is if I was alone… the issue here lies in the adorable sleeping beauty on my lap who still haven’t waken up even after an hour.

 

Though, I didn’t mind her not waking up yet as her sleeping face was super adorable like a cute fluffy kitten. Her cheeks were as if pancakes, my hand wouldn’t stop poking it… it was amusing to see my finger bounce off her cheeks.

 

“Why are you too adorable…?” I wanted to ask but decided to take it to myself as I smiled before my hand caressed her cheeks like a child, her cheeks were super smooth, and her lips were like ruby, unlike mine which was ugly.

 

Even as the first Princess of the Empire, people looked at me with disgust, not because of my appearance but because of my orientation of love… I didn’t like boys, rather I found them ugly and disgusting.

 

Many males around the Empire have this sort of superior complex embedded into them, which from my guess stemmed from before the Twin Goddesses existed as, before their existence, men used to have a higher authority.

 

“If only I could be with you, forever…” I whispered into the night sky, staring at the sleeping beauty Amelia on my lap… remembering the scene of eight years ago, the person who I call my hero and the person who changed me.

 

“Even if the mind does not remember, the heart will forever remember… I still hope you will never remember what happened eight years ago, please don’t remember…” my voice echoed before her body twitched, shivering from the coldness.

 

I was taken aback by the shivering and panicked as I had no jackets, or any warming device with me since I wasn’t expecting the quest to take this long... I was expecting everything to be finished before the night strikes.

 

“What should I do…?” I asked before her body trembled even more as a staggering pain struck my heart before my hand unconsciously moved, sitting her properly on my lap before hugging her tightly whilst releasing tiny amounts of my own mana hoping that my mana would be able to heat up the surroundings.

 

Releasing such minuscule amounts of mana at intervals was a headache to the mind as the slightest bit of miscalculation would end up injuring her or the surroundings around me, the flaw of the system was that it doesn’t recognize foe, or ally and will strike anyone other than the caster.

 

And so, after a few moments of releasing mana around me, the trembling of her body relaxed alongside my heart which was panicking though my hands were numbing down as constantly releasing mana is not something one would recommend.

 

“Grrrr,” out of the blue, the sound of a wolf’s growl echoed throughout the surroundings taking me by surprise as the what should have been steady mana release rate intensified for a second, burning a few dozens of grass around me in an instant.

 

“Grrrr,” several more wolf growls echoed throughout the surroundings as I looked around us before a thick white fog covered our surroundings, making my surprise even more of a surprise as more wolf growls echoed throughout the fog.

 

I was now stuck in a precarious situation, without the help of Elaina and with the restrain of Amelia’s sleeping, my ability to fight was at its lowest making even the weakest wolf a dangerous opponent, let alone several dozens more.

 

“What should I do…?” I mumbled to myself before looking at Amelia with a wry smile as her body twitched once more, if only I could rest her down to the floor… but that would be too dangerous considering the fog around us.

 

Not to mention, this fog felt a little bit too unusual…?! As if the embodiment of all my worries, two presences appeared under my radar, approaching us at a slow pace… it was two strong presences filled with malicious intent.

 

“WHO?!” I asked in a panic as I placed Amelia on the floor without hesitation, standing up with my hand on my rapier’s handle in preparation for a potential battle.

 

The two presences kept walking towards us, before the fog in front of us split, making way for two figures… one was a little girl with blue hair and golden eyes like Amelia, whilst the other was someone I would never expect…

 

“Brother…?!” I asked before the figure of the man with black hair and crimson red eyes became clear, it was none other than Prince Louis who was the other person who was on the scene during the assassination attempt on Amelia.

 

Confirming my suspicion, the man waved his hand with a smile before answering, “Hey there, sister… has your date been doing well?” as the two of them stopped a few dozens of steps before both Amelia and me.

 

“What are you doing here?” I asked before the little girl beside her snapped her finger as the fog vanished, revealing several dozens of wolves surrounding us in a circle as my own brother answered, “I am only here to follow the orders of our grandmother.”

 

“The Empress Dowager, what is she thinking about surrounding us?!” I shouted whilst tightening my grip on my rapier’s handle as he answered, “Nothing much, simply taking over the Amaya Archdukedom’s “only” heir… oh wait, she isn’t the only one… right, Lisana Amaya?”

 

“Shut up, why are you even bothering answering her?” the little girl answered, my heart immediately stopped upon hearing the Amaya family name on the little girl’s name. It was not unusual for noble families to have illegitimate children, but for an Archduke like the Amaya which is considered the noblest amongst all the noble families, it was super unusual.

 

“Anyways, enough playing around here…” she said before snapping her finger once more before the wolves growled at the same time as they ran towards my direction, unconsciously, I unsheathed my rapier, swinging it in a horizontal swing in front of me.

 

The swing touched several dozens of wolves, slicing them in halves as blood spilled like raindrops falling from the sky, not stopping there, I twisted my body sideways, swinging once more with as much force as I could before, out of the blue, the presence of mana appeared behind me.

 

With as much force as I could, I turned around and attempted to swing my rapier towards the direction of where the mana appeared only to see the little girl standing before me, holding Amelia before her as I forcefully stopped my swing before the little girl smiled.

 

“As I promised to the Empress Dowager, I won’t kill you… so, enjoy your sleep,” the little girl’s voice echoed before drowsiness struck me like an avalanche, both my hands and feet felt numb as my rapier fell to the floor before my brother appeared in front of me, taking me by my shoulder as he smiled.

 

“Well then, let’s drop these two to the Dungeon of Lachina, shall we?” he said to the little girl before the little girl nodded as everything around me turned dark as I fell unconscious.