3. Meeting the Female Lead- Part 2

The people in this world is adoring the existence of the goddess Athena, the goddess of war. They believe that magic is bestowed by Her Grace as a gift for her followers to survive the harsh wars in the past. Athena’s statue is built in the middle of the busy plaza of the most famous and secure town in the whole continent, Snowflake Town.

This town is where the king and his royal lineage reside. The castle is situated on top of a mountain, 13 km away from the main entrance of Snowflake Town and surrounded by a long stream of a beautiful river. Trees and flowers were planted on the riverside, and people love to spend their blissful time beneath those trees together with their beloved ones. Whether during the day or night, these places are overcrowding with people and hawkers stalls.

Right now, we will talk about Seiran Knight, the female lead of this world. Seiran Knight is the daughter of Duke Arklight Knight, a SS magic-user and the army’s Commander of Grandia Empire. She has fair, white skin, blond wavy hair that reached her hip, a pair of mesmerizing almond-like eyes, and tantalizing pink lips. Her stunning figure is her prized possession along with her killer hips.

She is only seventeen years old girl that slowly maturing herself into a graceful and noble young lady, like a beautiful flower that blooming itself amidst the strict ambiance of the Duke Knight mansion.

On top of having a gorgeous appearance, Seiran is also gifted with dual magic aptitudes by the goddess. Seiran’s could control water elements and the rare light element. And, she is an A rank magic-user despite her young tender age.

Seiran is the most beloved daughter of the scary commander and the most cherished little sister of the three overprotective high-ranking officers in the empire. No one dared to mess with her. You’ll be implicated severely if you even touching a strand of her beautiful blond hair.

While, Jae Woon’s identity in this world is Danial Vermillion, the abandoned son of king Alexander Vermillion. He is dubbed as unlucky, ill-bringer of fate, and the ugly-duckling prince. His face is too ugly to the point even his own father, the king himself is loathed of his existence and was disgusted to see his own son's face. That’s why Danial is thrown away into a small room, in the deserted pavilion located so far away from the other main resident. No one is happy to see his hideous face and bloating stomach. Compare to the life of Seiran Knight, Danial is leading his miserable life in a pure living hell.

Both of them meet each other for the first time when they were eight. Seiran is practicing her swordplay with her brothers and other princes. She valiantly swinging around her wooden sword, imitating every single move that her first brother teaches, and perfectly executed the moves without breaking up much sweat.

Her wavy blond hair is fluttering behind her as she stabs the air multiple times with a serious face. A ray of sunlight is shining brightly on her like some sort of halo, giving a perfect picture of the goddess' descending on the world of humans.

"Okay, stop! It's time to end your practice for today, Ran." Arthur claps his hand twice as a sign that the sword practice had ended. He put a towel on his sister's head and slowly rubbing her face with it. "Little girl, why bother learning about sword when you were blessed by two elements? Look at the callous on your soft palms! A noble lady didn't need this rough and callous hands!"

Seiran rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"It's better to learn many things. The future is boundless, older brother. Who knows, maybe, in the future, we might unable to conjure any spells or use magic? How should I protect myself then?"

"There's me!" Her three brothers, Arthur, Sean, and Julian answered in unison voices. "We will protect you!"

"Urgh, talking with you guys is making my head pounding with dizziness." Seiran snatches the towel away and runs to the private room near the sword practicing field. "Don't follow me!" She warned her brothers immediately as soon as she saw those three overprotective idiots moving almost at the same time to follow her around.

"Ran...!" Her brothers tried to argue.

"You follow me, and I banning you from entering my room ever again!" She interjected their words.

Arthur, Sean, and Julian's face turned dreads. They plopped down on the ground, feeling dispirited.

So cruel. The three of them thought mentally.

Seiran spends ten minutes in the fitting room. She changed her clothes into a simple white dress that surpassed her knees and tied her hair in a ponytail. The dress is adorned with ivory gems and she decorated her hair with a simple hair accessory, a plain red ribbon with an expensive jewel in the middle. She checked her reflection on the mirror. After posing for a whole five minutes in front of the big mirror, she nodded her head in satisfaction. This is good enough, she mentally said.

Seiran left the private room with a lighter heart. On her way to the field, she bypassed a bunch of bushes filled with cherry and raspberry. The bushes are moving as someone suddenly stumbled off from there and collapsed in front of the startled Seiran.

"Hey, are you okay there? Should I...!" Seiran managed to stop herself from screaming in fear. This boy is...the ugly first prince? She scanned Danial from head to toes. He is indeed ugly, and his face is hideous. And yet, rather than feeling scared or disgusted, Seiran felt pity towards him. She touched his dirty face full of bloated pimples, hesitantly. "Are you okay, my prince?" She asked. Tears are brimming in her eyes as she checked Danial's condition.

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Danial's sight is blurring. He is hungry. But no one out there is providing him with food, so, he pulls a very dangerous stunt in an attempt to soothe out his hunger.

He gathered his tiny bit of courage and bravely sneaking into the royal kitchen. He managed to steal some leftover bread, but, he got caught though and was beaten half-dead by the palace guards. They took away his hard-earned food and mercilessly dumped the bread into a bucket full of horse's dung. Danial gritted his teeth as he heard their sneering and mocking laughter bustling in the air. Feeling a wave of extreme anger, he managed to land a punch on one of the guard's faces and escaped. Hah! Serve him right!

Danial hid behind the bushes for almost an hour. As he confirmed that the palace guards no longer searching for him, Danial reluctantly comes out from his hiding place. He needs to return to his room before the night falls.

However, he makes a mistake. He forgot about his weakened body and his hunger. He collapsed on the ground as soon as he stepped out from his hiding place. And from his peripheral vision, someone is out there, watching him fall onto the ground with a horrified expression.

He is bound to get beaten again, Danial mentally said. He closed his eyes tightly, as he is waiting for any sudden punch or kick in nervousness. Instead of those, a warm hand tenderly touched his face. A mellow voice is asking about his condition with such honesty that Danial is forcing himself to stay awake and opened his heavy eyelids.

"Are you okay, my prince?" She asked.

Almond-like eyes stared into his brown-eyed one. Her eyes are glazed with unshed tears. The gaze is gentle and full of tender feelings. Danial couldn't sense any disgust nor hatred from the beautiful girl beside him. This is the first time he meets such a person who didn't flee nor screamed in fear when they are meeting him. On top of that, she is a girl. He is amazed by such a rare fact.

"Don't touch me, my lady." He replied with a low voice. He reluctantly pushed away Seiran's hands. "You'll dirty your hands."

Seiran flinched when he heard Danial's icy voice. Her heart clenched in disappointment and dismay. Why? She only wanted to help him.

"My prince, please allow me to help you! I'm a healer. I can heal your injuries."

Danial forced his body to move. His body is swaying dangerously as his legs couldn't support his body weight.

"No need. If you heal them, others will add more bruises to my body when they saw me walking away healthy and unscathed."

Seiran gripped her knuckles tight enough to turn them white. This injustice, how could anyone allowed such a thing to happen? Why the Emperor treated his own flesh and blood so unfairly like this?

"Let me help you, please!" She asked.

"Why?" Danial whipped his head around as he glances at the beautiful girl behind him. His forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Why would you help a nobody like me? Why bother yourself with this insignificant one? You knew me, right? I'm an ill-bringer of fates. I brought terrible ends to those around me."

"I..." As Seiran tried to counter Danial's words, her brothers' worried voices are then heard.

"Ran? Ran, where are you?! Ran!" Arthur, Sean, and Julian screamed their little sister's name in panic. "Ran!"

To be continued.