While walking Scarlet was thinking about the last word she told to the little man with the sword,
"I know I'm nowhere near the kind of person who should say things like that... I was never gentle to my subordinates, nor to my own family. I also don't even understand why those words came out of me."
She sighed softly but continued her thoughts.
"But for some reasons... I feel like he'll do the things what I couldn't. And I believe he's the only one in this kingdom who will protect our legacy, no matter what."
A small relieved smile appeared on her face as she kept walking.
Meanwhile... the young boy stood under the rain unable to understand what he was seeing. Where was the queen going, dressed like a warrior? What was she planning? Why would she leave without even telling anyone?
Questions kept circling around his head, but the queen didn't look back even once. She simply walked forward, her steps steady, her gaze just stayed fixed on the road ahead.
As she moved farther and farther away, her figure slowly blurred in the rain. The boy kept watching her, even as the downpour soaked his hair and cloths. Even as she became nothing more than a shape in the distance he didn't look away.
Then, suddenly, a woman rushed out from the castle gate . In her right hand she held an umbrella, and in her left, an old lantern. She was the maid from earlier, the one Scarlet called a friend, and she was also the young boy's older sister.
"Oi, Loid!" She called. The young boy's name was Loid. Loid turned to her just as she reached him.
"What are you doing out here in this middle of night and in the rain?" She scolded.
"Look at you, you're completely wet right now."
Her voice sounded angry, but it wasn't real anger. It was the kind of anger older sisters use when they're worried but don't want to show it.
Then, she shoved the lantern into his hands,
"Here. Take this."
Loid barely had time to grab it before—
BONK!
Her hand smacked the top of his head.
"OW! Sis! Why did you hit me?!"
"You talked too much."
"What?! I didn't even say anything!"
She pinched his ear and started dragging him toward the castle gate.
"A-AWW! Sis—stop! It hurts!" Loid whined.
"Just shut up and walk."
After a moment she released his ear and rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Come on. Let's get you inside and change your clothes before you catch a cold."
The siblings walked toward the castle, but halfway there, she glanced over her shoulder—toward the road Scarlet had dissapeared. For a second, her expression softened. Like she understood exactly why Scarlet left. Like she had seen this coming. She smiled faintly and whispered in her thoughts:
"You'll never change."
Then she turned back and entered the castle with her little brother.
The queen. She was terrifyingly strong. Even if hundreds of soldiers had come at her that day—armed or unarmed—she would still have won. It wasn't her physical strength that made her unbeatable. It was her willpower. Her temper. That fire inside her that pushed her to fight with reason… and sometimes without one. She trained in martial arts endlessly, not to show off, but because she wanted to protect herself with her own hands. She knew that in moments like that day, no one could save her except herself. And that unbreakable mindset made her far stronger than any soldier of the world government.
Six years later.
Princess Lily and Loid sat across from each other in the dining room, eating quietly like proper royals. They were the only two having dinner that hour.
Lily was four years younger than Loid — fourteen that time, while he was eighteen.
When eating their peaceful silence broke when Lily suddenly snapped:
"Oi! Loid!" Loid froze mid-bite.
That tone... He knew something terrible was coming for him. Lily's expression was terrifying. Her eyes were sharp and murderous like she was ready to stab someone right then and there.
Loid felt his stomach drop. He had learned a lot about the princess over the past six years…Especially about her temper. She was her mother's exact copy.
Then the disaster hit.
"I wanna kill that bitch," Lily growled.
"She's too annoying."
Loid swallowed hard. His Adam's apple jumped up and down. Sweat started to roll down from his forehead.
"Yo-Your Highness… calm down," he managed to say, though his voice quivered.
"She didn't do anything bad enough for you to… kill her."
Lily turned her deadly stare directly at him.
"What did you say?"
She raised her knife toward him. Loid's soul almost left his body. But the chaos paused when Loid's older sister walked into the room. Loid looked at her with desperate, teary eyes — tears only in his imagination.
"Please, sis… stop her…" he thought looking at her.
His sister understood what he thought immediately and faced the princess.
"Lily, you look furious. Did something happen with your friends earlier?"
"Yeah, it's about that f*cking royal family senorita."
Lily's voice trembled with anger as she added,
"She keeps bragging about her parents about how they buy her gifts, give her so much love, more than anyone else. But this time... she crossed the line."
Loid's sister leaned forward, curious to hear what Lily was going to say next.
"What did she do?"
Lily gritted her teeth.
"She compared her parents to mine. And while doing that... she badmouthed mom."
A few moments earlier, the girl had been nonstop bragging about her parents. The four friends were sitting around a small round coffee table in her house, sipping coffee. The chairs were placed neatly around it, giving the space a cozy and elegant look.
The girl who always bragged about her parents looked completely different from her personality. She had a soft, oval-shaped face with a naturally balanced jawline. Her jawline was neither sharp nor round. Her eyes were calm and expressive, her nose small and smooth, and her lips shaped like a heart. Long dark hair fell over one side of her face, giving her a simple but royal kind of elegance.
She was beautiful... but her personality wasn't. She was wearing a deep red top with a floral textured pattern to match the outfit with her clean appearance.
But then, while she was bragging about her parents again, she suddenly crossed the line. Her tone changed. Her face twisted slightly with disgust as she started comparing her parents to Lily's parents.
The girl lifted her cup, sipped the coffee and added,
"My parents brought me another dress as a gift yesterday. They're always doing that," She bragged.
"Honestly, I don't know how you deal with yours, Lily."
Lily didn't react to it, but her friends looked uneasy. The girl continued anyway.
"I mean... your parents don't even do half of what mine do. It's kind of sad, isn't it?"
One of the girls tried to stop her.
"Hey, that's enough—"
But she ignored her and leaned forward with a disgusting grin.
"And your mother?" She scoffed.
"Running away like a fool, leaving her daughter behind... how embarrassing. My parents will never think about leaving me behind."
Lily's fingers slightly tightened around her cup. The girl continued with a disgust smirk. She was totally annoyed just by thinking about Lily's parents.
"And your father..." she laughed under her breath,
"Isn't he just a dog for the World Government now? A dog that brought disaster to our whole kingdom."
The table went totally silent.
But Lily didn't react at all when the girl insulted her family. She simply held her cup of coffee, calm and silent, watching the drama unfold. She didn't argue, didn't defend herself, didn't even raise an eyebrow—because she knew replying would only drag her down. It would make her lose her values. Just like her mother, she chose dignity over shouting.
But now, back in the dining hall with Loid and his older sister, all that calm was gone. She cursed non-stop, every insult firing out of her mouth like bullets. Loid and his sister felt each curse slamming into their heads. In their imagination, every word physically hit them and pushed their heads backward one after another.
Lily suddenly stopped cursing. Loid's older sister took that tiny pause as her chance and softly said,
"Lili, didn't you want to go shopping tonight? We can go now. It might refresh your mind... help you forget what happened today."
Then, with a playful tease, she added,
"So? Shall we go and buy you some new, beautiful clothes?"
Lily didn't even look up. Her jaw tightened as she replied.
"I'm not in the mood right now."
But even after Lily refused, Loid's sister didn't listen. She hooked her own arm through Lily's arm, and pulled her up from the chair.
"Come on. We're going shopping," she said confidently.
But, surprisingly, Lily didn't resist this time. She simply let herself be dragged and started walking normally beside her.
"O-okay, I'm coming. Just stop dragging me."
While leaving, Loid's sister turned back and winked at him. By the winked she showed that the mission is succesful.
With that, Loid watched them disappear and thought,
"Womans are dangerous..."
Returning to the present, Loid and the old guard stepped down the castle stairs, quietly talking as they walked. They passed through the castle gate, where a few guards stood waiting for their leader Loid. So they could head to the funeral together. And yes, at this time, Loid is the leader of the kingdom's guards.