Matthew had gained that much evidence against his in laws, in the past, that most of them were beheaded, and the rest were exiled out of the capital and never to come back into government. He had not told anyone, but he himself had taken over the executioner’s job, and he dropped the executioner’s sword down on each and every one of them!

It wasn’t just to vent out his anger, but he knew that he had to become a lot stronger willed…

He knew that this was only the start of death in his life…Beheading people, had to become something that he could do without flinching!

Not only had Matthew beheaded them himself, but he had also gone out of the capital and taken revenge on those who had ‘gotten away’ as well, making his revenge complete.

Yet, when the news of the whole clan coming to their deaths was heard by the emperor, he could find no evidence to punish anyone for it.

 

…And since then, the Second Prince had become a little distant and found himself loyal people to come to his side. Not only did he give up his right to the Green Haven throne, but he managed to still gather half of the population of Green Haven, to his side. He was even able to manage to snag relations with people, even though they had wanted him to marry their daughters instead, in return for their loyalty.

Having used Isabella’s death as his reasoning to state he wasn’t going to remarry as of yet, he had still been able to obtain their loyalty through other means. A family had been related to another family, that had been exiled outside of the capital, and the Second Prince was able to bring them back, gaining both of those family’s trust. Another family was Isabella’s friend’s family, that were already on his side, but he had helped them obtain a monopoly, making them even richer than before, and their loyalty immeasurable.

 

He knew that the young lady of the rich family had liked him very much, noticing that they had even asked the emperor to bestow the marriage between them.

Matthew had declined the marriage outright to the emperor, but not publicly. Beyond that, he told the emperor that he will find his future princess himself, this time.

Throughout his first sixteen years, Matthew had hardly said any kind of order, he was known to be quite docile. But after…He became a leader that seemed to be able to reach great heights and didn’t hesitate to state his opinion. His words to the emperor had been swift and determined, even making the emperor go slightly stunned himself.

His change of personality, and the secret knowledge of his allies growing larger and larger, had also gotten the Crowned Prince’s attention.

It looked like Matthew was secretly getting ready for a battle…

 

Having been so young and naive before, Matthew had never thought this kind of thing should happen, but…He had his own secret army called ‘slayers’, who he himself even trains with occasionally.

It was three months after Isabella’s death, that Matthew had learnt of his true heritage, making his decision firm on no longer accepting any right to become the Emperor of Green Haven.

His real father had visited him, telling him a story, that he didn’t believe straight away. But his mother hadn’t denied it when he had brought it up with her.

At that stage, he wasn’t in the mood to keep that kind of secret to himself, and bluntly asked her about it. If it were true, he figured his mother would somehow let him know and she would still continue to keep it a secret. If it were a lie, she wouldn’t have acted that way and most likely would have said something like, ‘Even if you have lost someone recently, it doesn’t mean you can condemn me this way!’.

But, she hadn’t…She had looked at him silently. And after a few minutes, she had finally nodded her head and looked away from him.

 

Matthew had to change his perspective from then on…The Emperor suddenly became someone else, instead of a father…He was just ‘His Majesty, the Emperor of Green Haven’ and Matthew was his loyal subject.

Knowing through his own spiritual essence, that the Crowned Prince thought badly of him, Matthew no longer had any affections for his ‘brother’ anymore either.

What he was still sure of, was that the Crowned Prince might look like he’s very friendly and happy with him, but Matthew knows that it is all an act...

You could say that Matthew had hardly been living before he was sixteen, because after all this…He grew up awfully fast!

It was only after he had met Sahara, that he found out that the Crowned Prince was also allied with the eldest son of the Rolland Estate…

Now that the Crowned Prince had gotten his pawn to take over the Rolland Estate, he had slightly more power than he did before, as the Right Minister was a loyal subject to the emperor and not him.

Like many other times, this was just another plan of the Crowned Prince…

 

***

 

It was nearly a week or so later that Sahara was just laying down, making a star, when a noise of rustling was close to her.

Looking towards the noise, she widened her eyes and sat up in total surprise!

“You!?”

“Mmm”

“How did you?” Sahara’s voice stammered and became nothing.

“I was looking for you. Are you well?” Matthew asked. It was at this time that he saw her eyes!

What a brilliant red!

 

They were both silent, as they both tried to come to terms to something sudden…

Surprisingly Matthew accepted her dazzling red eyes, having even more troubles looking away from her then he did before!

She looked…Somewhat sexier and more sinister than before! She seemed to have somewhat lost her childness about her through her eyes, yet…Looking at her overall appearance, he was a little stifled.

She was wearing men’s clothing, and was still quite short…

Was she really fifteen now? She still looks twelve…

 

Sahara let out a snuff from her nose, in puzzlement, as he seems to act like this wasn’t such a big deal…

Fine, I will too!

Since Sahara had been silent for too long, the man said, “You’re not well?”

As he sat down beside her, so naturally and like they did it all the time, Sahara saw his worried expression and was a bit stunned.

“I’m fine!” She stated.

Sahara continued to stare at him. He seemed a little older now, but still so handsome.

My dreams didn’t give him any justice…

 

Sahara already knew that real life was a hell of a lot better than dreams, but this seemed to make a hell of a lot more sense, at this precise moment!

His green eyes were mesmerizing, along with his soft looking, perfect mouth! His hair was long, which Sahara wasn’t used to, but it was really quite captivating to look at, as it hung down in front and behind him. It wasn’t as beautiful as the manga characters that she used to read, as his hair wasn’t as thick and behaved but…It still looked really cool!

His brows and nose were neat and well placed, and he had such a fantastic smile!

Surely…He must have so many fangirls…Oh, he reminds me of those good-looking manga guys and their fangirls so much!

 

Feeling herself go red, that she had dreamt about this handsome man, she turned away from him.

“Then, that is good!” Matthew lifted his lips slightly, he was watching her every move and found himself so happy already.

She was definitely staring at me! With those beautiful red eyes! Has she perhaps thought of me naked? Is that why she’s blushing!? Geez, why am I thinking so…Erotic when it comes to her!?  

After Sahara calmed herself down, she slowly came back to the present and finally thought about something important!

Why is this man here? How did he find me? Did he say he was looking for me? Was he looking for me all this time!?

Honestly, Sahara wasn’t used to feeling so…Special! In her last life she was ignored very often, and she rarely talked about herself when they didn’t ask in the first place. Yet…This man…

 

Sahara couldn’t deny it, she was very moved by this! To have someone come find her after so long, was only something that happened in her dreams, past and present…Someone had cared that much!

Turning back to look at him, she found that he was looking at her…

Ah! Scary, this one’s real! Don’t make mistakes!

Sahara quickly looked away and blinked.

Normally she wasn’t like a little girl that had a crush, so she tried to calm down. She was still getting over the fact that he had suddenly shown up and now, adding to that, how great he was to look at!

She then laid back down, to find him doing the same…

 

As they were silent Sahara wondered what was wrong with her.

It had been so long since she was like this with a man, that she’d forgotten what it felt like…

Perhaps my teenage hormones might be finally kicking in…

She knew that hormones would have probably started ages ago, but she wanted some kind of answer! Or something to blame! She’d honestly had her period already, for about a year, so her hormones can’t really be at fault…

Ah…Sahara could feel it…She was nervous!

Closing her eyes, she remembered why she hadn’t felt like this for a while…Towards the last years of her previous life, she had stayed away from guys. She had completely stopped dating and didn’t go out looking for a relationship whatsoever.

Remembering why she stayed away…

That’s right…

 

Sighing, Sahara opened her eyes, feeling more herself, and started to play with the leaf that was in her hands again.

After she had made several stars for future use, in silence, she put them away.

“Where’d you put them?”

Oh…Oops! Yeah…I forgot…

“Away” Was all Sahara replied with. Her voice had been slow and carried some kind of guilt…

Oops!

“Away?”

Dammit…

“Mmm.”

Silence passed between them once again.

Sahara let out a sigh in relief, to the man not asking any more questions…She had no idea how to explain it or if it was a good idea to even explain her ‘storage’.

…Probably not…Secret is best. Ah, but I’ve already told him a secret!

She closed her eyes and attempted to relax. There was no reason to be tense, at least that was what she thought…

Suddenly, something jumped on top of her and startled her!

 

“Arf.”

Sahara blinked, as she had already sat up in fright.

It was just Naruto!

Her heart was already beating so fast, and this little shithead went to do that!

Letting out a deep breath, Sahara then smiled and grabbed and hugged him.

“Arf.” Its little growl was so cute to her, that she giggled. But her laughter wasn’t really heard by it, as it was staring at the man.

“A fox?” The man said, staring back at the fox.

 

Sahara looked up, smiling and nodding, and Matthew smiled when he looked back up.

All that time away from her seemed to have vanished into a puff of smoke for him. His plans and people went flying out of his head…Her smiling face was like a torch, in his deep, dark depths of an abyss. His heart pumped faster…

Sahara watched as his eyes sparkled and felt his handsomeness stun her, once again.

She sighed.

I need to stay away from this gorgeous hunk of a guy, or I could go against my own resolution of staying away from men!

As she patted Naruto, who had been turned into a rank three beast with her help, Sahara remembered what was inside its body. “What is done with a nucleus?”

“Nucleus?”

 

“Yeah.” She got out one from her ‘storage’ and showed him. “These.”

Matthew’s eyes brighten up, as he took it from her. He had read that these things used to be quite common, but over a hundred years, they had become very rare!

Putting into the nucleus his own spiritual essence, he nodded his head, confirming that it was indeed a nucleus!

“This!”

Sahara waited, but the man said nothing more…