The Flower of Separation

The moment she saw those flames, Natalia did not hesitate to wake Braden up. The boy seemed very puzzled about the situation, but he followed her. She brought them to a small storeroom area in the west wing of the manor.

She called it a storeroom, but there was a bed in the corner filled with dust, and there was no window. 'I chose a random room, but what on earth is this place?

The ground was cold, and there was a faint decaying smell in the air. The two of them wearing fancy clothing seemed out of place in this cold room. Speaking of clothing, she briefly glanced at Braden's attire and realized something. They are both wearing blue, and even the style of the clothes appeared to be similar.

If they had appeared in the ballroom together, people would surely talk.

"Should we be hiding here?" Braden broke the silence.

"Ssh." Natalia placed her hand over his mouth. "If you talk so much, the barrier will break."

At those words, Braden slowly nodded, and she moved her hand away. "But the entire place is in flames. We should be trying to get out, not stay inside."

Natalia sighed. "You don't get it; that is what my sister expects people to do. The flames are most likely worse outside than inside. We should stay put in one place."

Her sister told her this before.

'In the event, I lose control of my ability or just go on a rampage. Natalia, this is what you should do.'

"I thought you would be upset," Braden muttered.

"Upset?" She repeated.

"She ruined your birthday party."

Natalia laughed and shook her head. "If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have such a grand party anyway, so I am grateful."

Besides, her gaze flickered towards the watch in her right wrist. If her sister truly didn't care for her, she wouldn't have given her this. She wouldn't have given her that advice either. Despite being born into a family of killers, Natalia could feel genuine warmth from her sister.

Her thoughts broke off when she caught sight of Braden wincing in pain. Her gaze fell towards the patch of blood forming on his shoulders.

'Did I grab him too hard when I woke him up?' But if she didn't do that, they wouldn't have been able to escape. Her sister's flames can spread quickly. The Ageha mansion may be large, but a fire attack of this scale will still cause some damage.

"So-sorry I-"

Braden laughed weakly. "I am fine young Miss ageha."

At those words, her cheeks colored. "You learned who I am."

"I already had a faint idea when you said you have a sister who refused a position of power. There are not many noble households with that type of choice."

Certainly, if one gets offered a position with power in the Empire, nobody would refuse it.

But even though he learned her identity, he still came to her party. Natalia shook her head. He probably had no choice but to come since he is the Empress's son.

"Did you get attacked on the way here?" Natalia decided to change the topic.

She is not very comfortable when it concerns questions regarding her family. She did not have the confidence that she would say the right things.

Braden nodded and explained how he sustained his injuries. After he finished explaining, she felt the blood drain from her face and break into a sweat.

'That sounds like something sister Bridget would do. Her specialty is using dark magic to brainwash the soldiers and have them attack each other.

But would sister do something so stupid?

The answer to that is yes. Natalia heard what happened to Rosa. This must be her indirect revenge/warning on sister Lillian. Sister Bridget must understand that the Empress is crucial to sister Lillian's plans.

"Your family is a piece of work, attacking the Empress so boldly."

Natalia sighed deeply when she heard Braden's remarks.

"I am sure I don't have to explain this, but my family is not normal; there is a lot of infighting going on."

This much is okay to share. Besides, even if her father puts on a show during public gatherings. He cannot hide it when his sons/daughters try to kill each other. Still, his acting was top-notch, according to the servants. Sister Lillian too, how on earth does she manage that?

How does she pretend to be normal around the very people trying to kill her?

"I am aware of that." Braden looked her up and down. "I can't figure you out."

"Huh?"

"You're not like General Ageha or that woman who attacked me earlier. You have dark magic like everybody in this house, but there is something else-" Braden paused and mumbled. "Perhaps it's light magic?"

At those words, Natalia froze. How on earth did he figure that out so quickly? She indeed has half-light magic, but normal people shouldn't be able to figure that out at a glance.

When they first realized something was off about her magic, sir Lucas had come to the Ageha mansion then. One of his first tasks was figuring out what the issue was. When she first heard it, she thought she would be in trouble.

'An Ageha child with light magic? Father will kill me.' To her surprise, that day, he didn't, nor the following day. She waited patiently for her death sentence, but that didn't happen.

After a week, father summoned her, sir Lucas and sister Lillian were there too. Father was discussing how many people would know. Sir Lucas even said that only those with high-level mana would figure it out.

'Even then, only the special ones will find the exact answer; at most, the regular ones will see it as special magic. They won't find out it is light.'

Natalia recalled the day of the coronation very well, even though his magic knocked her out. She was vaguely conscious during his confrontation with sister Lillian.

This kid is not ordinary; there is something about him- her thoughts broke off when he cupped her cheeks.

"What-"

"I truly did think you were an angel when I saw you that day; now that I get a closer look, I can tell you are human."

'This kid, forget about him being strong, isn't he too blunt with her?' Then again, they did get along well and spoke a lot that day. If his magic didn't go out of control, they would have spoken for another few hours.

That day if she didn't ask him about him having magic, that accident wouldn't have happened. Later on, she heard from the servants how the boy was bedridden for days.

'I wanted to go to the imperial castle so many times and apologize. But I can't just show up without an invitation. Normally I could enter the palace easily, but only when sister Lillian was there. With her sister's suspension, she hasn't returned there.'

It would be difficult to ask for permission. What business would the thirteenth daughter of the Ageha family have at the imperial palace when her sister isn't there?

Thankfully she did not go through with it.

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