The Flower of Separation

But perhaps her father is using this as a chance to see what the Empress could do. Lucas is just an excuse, a cover- but no that seemed wrong.

There is one other thing but surely her fathe r wouldn't be stupid enough to test Lucas. He has remained by her side all these years but the man has yet to show her his true strength. When they first met he often said comments about being able to destroy the Empire with the flick of his hand.

At that time she didn't reply to those words but she was listening. He means it, he could truly destroy everything if he wanted to. But despite that he is still going along with her plans.

'What a foolish person.'

Lately she does not know how to handle him. 'I thought I got a good grasp on his personality but that appears not to be the case..' His emotions seem to fluctuate like lights. One second she thinks she understand what is on his mind but then he displays such odd behaviour.

Like the case with Ramon and his reaction to those rumors about them being a couple. It seemed odd, Lucas was changing. But then where would that leave her?

"Miss Lillian?"

"Let us go."

..

The path to the tower was not a simple one. Not that walking through a forest would be easy, but father deliberately destroyed the paths to the tower. Normally when someone sees something destroyed the last thing on their mind would be to go through it, especially during these circumstances. Why would they waste their strength on the unknown when they can find an easier way?

She was different from the others. The moment she saw all those debris and the broken paths, she headed in that direction.

'I have to admit fathers game is quite smart. In normal circumstances these people would pretend to be smart and get away with it. By doing this it is truly a test of survival to see if they have what it takes to remain in the family.'

Lilian paused in midthought. To think she has such thoughts even in her head now. This cursed bloodline will end with her. She does not intend to have any children. If her brother is alive and he wishes to have an heir, she would dispose of it immediately. Or at least find him a woman with enough light magic to suppress the darkness.

She will end this cursed blood with her. She will not risk anybody having such pure dark magic ever again. The darker ones magic, the more corrupt a person is. She needs to root out the corruption to change the Empire, so to do that the Ageha family. The Ageha family blood must die out.

"Are you sure we can truly trust that man?" Ramon slid up beside her.

Zushi was keeping Teo company and conversing with him. She kept looking back occasionally, but he showed no reaction to her. When she first heard Teo's story she automatically assumed that he was talking about the Empress. After all it should be a woman with powerful light magic and the one with the lightest magic in the Empire is the current Empress.

Unless somebody else appears but that won't be possible. The Empress has those eyes, the ability of the previous Empress. She is most-likely the one with the lightest magic, and yet Lillian recalled her reaction when she attacked her son.

'I thought I saw dark magic, there was that rampage against Rosa too. Perhaps there is something I am missing.'

Recently she has distanced herself from Lucas, but she needs to stop that. The one with the answer to these questions can only be him. It makes it sound like she is only using him for that purpose. Even if that is the case, why does she feel so disturbed by it?

'I will use you and you will use me, it seems fair.'

That was the deal they made but recently it seemed wrong to her. Is it because of Lucas' strange behaviour?

"Lillian? Hey Lillian?"

Ramon lightly shook her shoulders and she turned to him. "Yes?"

The man looked troubled and he sighed deeply. "That one there walking with the Empress, even if he has the mark of the dragon god we should be suspicious."

"You don't have to worry, he is only a wanderer."

At those words Ramon seemed alarmed. "A wanderer? Are you saying he is from another place?"

"Oh? It seems you are well informed."

"I looked into it since I stumbled upon strange areas with whirlpools."

"Whirlpools?"

"Yeah, normally whirlpools do not appear. So it intrigued me."

A whirlpool, sir Ramon saw it? Indeed it seems what Teo was telling her was correct. Despite her fascination towards the story she still took it with a grain of salt. Until she sees it with her own eyes, she will not believe him and even after she sees it, it depends on the situation.

"Did you speak to one?" Lillian referred to the wanders. Since they have lost their human form it would be rude of her to refer to them as human. But to outright call them a monster would be rude.

"I did, it was a young girl. It seemed she only just recently lost her human form when she fell into the whirlpool. So when I met her she still had her human state. She didn't want to cause trouble and go into town so she remained in the forest, she built her own hut out of wood and decided to die there."

"Did you visit her often?"

"I got her the things she needed. Honestly it rubbed me the wrong way since she intended to die. She told me the moment she transformed she would have a knife ready. It seemed she couldn't accept the reality of her situation and thought that by doing that it could save her."

Lilian saw the distressed expression on his face and sighed deeply. This person does not change, he is still far too kind for his own good.

"Were you with her to her last moment?"

She saw no need to white wash her words despite seeing the pained look on his face.

Even if it is something painful, it is better to confront it. The more a person runs away from the pain, the more they delay their own passage of time.

By keeping everything hidden, one day his emotions will explode and that will not be a good thing.

She remembered how she hid the pain of losing her brother, she bottled up those feelings for years. At some point she started to resent Zushi for forgetting everything. How can she forget? How dare she forget him? If her brother didn't go back to save her then their plans would have gone smoothly. The Ageha family would not have grown this large.