The Flower of Separation

"But you're still pretty."

Eh? Her serious thoughts broke when she heard his words. Braden had let go of her face, and his cheeks were bright red.

This kid is so bold- 'I wondered what he would say after grabbing my face like that-' Natalia was speechless. She didn't know how to react to this.

Although she is the odd one out in the Ageha family, she is still a member of the Ageha family. She still belongs to a family of killers. 'I was raised in a strict environment, an environment with no love or affection. This is my first time hearing this type of comment.'

"Kids shouldn't say such things," Natalia commented.

"But I heard your sister was engaged at seven-" Braden quickly covered his mouth when he said those words.

Right, it was something she recently heard about too. It seemed her sister did have a fiance before the annoying guy from the Blank family came along.

That made sense; after all, her sister is twenty-five years old. Why would her father wait that long to find a suitable partner for her? Sure her sister becoming the general may have affected that.

But most noble children get engaged between the ages of ten to thirteen. The fact that somebody like her sister did not have a partner was strange.

She heard many people in social circles make comments about it. But these comments came from the younger generation; the older ones never said a word on the matter. Even though normally they would be the first ones to say something.

These people knew about her sister's fiance.

"Where did you hear that from?"

"Aunt Mo told me! She said your sister was engaged to my mother's older brother."

Natalia blinked when she heard those words. For a moment, she froze in shock before quickly regaining her composure.

"The Empress has a brother? But I didn't see anybody like that in the ceremony."

Or rather, none of the Empress family members other than General Mo appeared at the coronation. Those stingy elders from the council did send an invitation to people in the Zestra family, and the Uncle replied.

'We regret to inform you, but she does not have any direct family members other than us right now.'

Natalia recalled this well because they discussed it during her visit to the imperial palace.

Only those with direct blood to the Empress could attend the ceremony; uncles, aunts, and cousins could not attend.

Braden must have realized what he said since he awkwardly looked away. "Damn, I ended up saying it."

"You can't just leave it there; my sister's fiance was the Empress' older brother?"

"I only just learned this, so my understanding is quite weak. But since I have told you, I might as well say it General Ageha and Uncle Aaron were engaged when she was seven, and he was twelve. It was the youngest engagement in the history of the Empire. However the reason people talked about it was due to their status in the Empire."

Seven and twelve? Natalia raised her eyebrow at that; that is far too young, isn't it?

"Back then Uncle aaron was the strongest knight in the Empire, there were many who wanted to form a union. Why did he accept your father's offer to wed him to a girl five years younger? Moreover your sister's reputation then-" Braden coughed. "I mean you understand right?"

"Of course." Natalia nodded. "No normal person would accept such an offer."

"But it seemed Uncle Aaron was already planning on proposing the idea to your father, so when your father wrote about it, he accepted it immediately."

"That seems a bit strange."

Braden shrugged his shoulders. "It was unusual, but uncle Aaron was only twelve then. He was still young. He probably didn't think that a seven-year-old girl would be so dangerous. People thought he would regret it when he became older, but that did not happen. They had quite the stable relationship."

"Then what happened? Where is he now?"

"Did you hear about the monastery incident?"

Natalia nodded. "I have a general understanding of it. But I realize there must be more to things."

During her studies, Natalia noticed that there was something off about the information regarding the incident. 'When I asked sister Lillian too, she acted weird.'

"This is where the details are blurry. It seemed like my mother was in the monastery as an apprentice. During that accident, she was there too. Uncle Aaron and your sister were supposedly there too, but not inside the building." Braden shook his head. "The only other thing I knew was Uncle Aaron disappeared after that incident."

The monastery incident is something everybody in the Empire knew about. Who would target such a sacred and holy ground? No matter how corrupt the Empire has become, normal people would not attack that place.

Moreover, such destructive flames, as far as people in the Empire know, only one person could use such fire magic. People suspected that sister Lillian caused the fire. But Natalia knew that her sister wouldn't have been capable of doing that then.

'My sister isn't a genius; sure, she has a lot of mana. But if it weren't for sir Lucas, she wouldn't have control of her mana.' It was something she learned two years ago. It surprised her when she learned such news. Her sister seemed so perfect in her eyes, but her sister was just like everybody else.

She would not have gotten to where she is today without hard work.

"Miss Natalia, there is also another strange part in this story." Braden trailed off. "Is sir Eric truly the eldest son of the Ageha family?"

Natalia blinked when she heard those words. "What do you mean by that-" Before she could finish questioning him, she heard the sound of the doors creak open.

'Nobody goes to these parts-' Natalia felt her heartbeat increase. Did the enemy find them? Although she is confident that she could fight them off, it would be difficult with Braden in this state.

Natalia braced herself to see the enemy but what she saw stunned her more.

There stood a man with half silver and half black hair with a bandage across his eyes.

Natalia's eyes widened when she saw who it was.

"Sen!"

"Miss Natalia." Sen immediately rushed over to her and grabbed hold of her shoulders. He scanned her up and down but still shook her furiously. "Are you injured anywhere?"

"I will be in a second."

She almost forgot how much of a worrywart he was. She hasn't seen him at all since the day of the coronation. It seemed her father punished him for letting her out of his sight.

"When did you get back? I thought father sent you to the North."

When she heard what his punishment was, she wanted to kick up a fuss. Everybody knows getting deployed to the North is the same as sending somebody to their grave.

Natalia did not think the punishment was suitable. Sure, if he hadn't lost her, she wouldn't have met Braden, and sister Lillian wouldn't have caused that mess.. But it was still too much.