Even back then, her sister never treated her with kindness. She"s always disliked her. No, that"s not true. Even if it was vague, Lyn recalled a time where her sister and her got along with each other.

When did that change?

"Lyn," Kazuya"s voice is gentle. "Ssh, don"t cry. Look how silly you look now."

"Stupid."

Why sister? Why does she have to swallow herself in hate? What happened to her strong and beautiful sister? Lyn shook her head, didn"t she know already? Behind that strength is a weakness and insecurity far deeper than her own. Her sister is not wrong. It"s normal for her to worry about her since she is the current King"s child. If it weren"t for her peculiar situation, she would become the heir. The Mist Kingdom laws state that the children of the current King become the heir.

This is how the Mist Kingdom has maintained its laws and regulations. With this rule, people will not have to fight while there are squabbles amongst siblings. The end result doesn"t change.

"Lyn, I understand what your thinking. I know it"s very difficult for you. No matter how resolved you are, you don"t want to fight your sister. She is still your own flesh and blood. But, remember Lyn, this is the Empire."

Lyn immediately understood Kazuya"s words. Ah, that"s right. This is the Empire. Things like family ties are fragile in this day and age. Siblings squabble and argue all the time. Some arguments end up turning severe, leading to the death of one of the parties. Didn"t she know that very well? She is acting like a child crying about this.

Kazuya continued to wipe her tears. His large and strong hands made her relax a bit. "Lyn, don"t worry. You can keep investigating this case and work everything out. If it ever came down to a showdown with your sister, I will…"

At that comment, her eyes widened in alarm, "No!" Lyn exclaimed. "You can"t, Kazuya."

"Can"t what?" he wore his usual trademark smile, causing a huge pain to emerge in his heart.

"You can"t kill somebody for me."

People may call it extreme, killing. It"s only a simple case of being framed. However, Lyn knew what this meant. Even if she were to escape the case, her sister wouldn"t let her go. This is already a declaration of wat. Lyn knew what would happen if she continued to ignore it. Her sister will drag in more innocent lives - they will get killed.

Can she turn a blind eye to that for her own happiness? The truth was harder to swallow. She doesn"t care about her own happiness. She cares more about those innocent lives.

It really feels strange. Being close to Kazuya like this. They"ve been dating for so long, so there is no longer anything "innocent" and "pure" about their relations.h.i.+p. There are still times where she feels embarra.s.sed about his words and actions. But even then, she gets lost in the pa.s.sion and desire of being held by him. However, now that they are married, there is something different. It"s not that innocent feeling that"s for sure. But recently, being held closely like this evokes a new feeling.

"What"s on your mind, Lyn?" Kazuya asked her as he gently caressed her hair.

Lyn doesn"t say anything and further buries her head on Kazuya"s chest. Warmth filled her body, so warm. Why is this person always so warm?

"You must be tired. It"s okay, go back to sleep."

Lyn lifts her head to look up at him. "Kazuya, do you love me?"

Kazuya sends her that look, "why are you asking now?" But it was brief since their eyes met directly, and his expression changes. As he gently caresses her cheek with his palm, "I love you, Lyn. So, you don"t have to worry about anything. It"ll be difficult to deal with your family and the other elites. But I won"t let them get in our way now. I"ll be with you forever, so I"ll make sure to convey it to them properly this time."

He"s so unfair at times. If he says stuff like that, how on earth is she supposed to get angry? Or even lecture him for being reckless?

Lyn leaned into his palm, "I"m really tired, Kazuya, so very tired."

Lyn knows that he knows that her tiredness has nothing to do with her being sleepy. She"s tired already, of all this. She wants it all to end, all this pain and suffering. This cycle of hate, she wants it to be over.

She must have fallen asleep, because when she next opened her eyes. The room tinted with an orange glow. "It"s evening already," Lyn observed. To think she slept so long. She shuts her eyes briefly to make sure, but she couldn"t feel their presence downstairs anymore. They must have left hours ago. Her gaze flickered to her right and found, Kazuya fast asleep beside her. He looks like a child when he is sleeping. Her gaze softened when she found his arms securely wrapped around her waist. Why does this person sacrifice so much for her?

Because of love? Is love enough for a person to take such actions?

Sensing a presence on the balcony, Lyn sighed and removed Kazuya"s arms from her waist. He was holding onto her so tightly, so it was difficult at first. Lyn covered herself up with Kazuya"s cloak and made her way over. Once she arrived there, Lyn saw a man with white hair leaning on the frame. "s.h.i.+oka.."

"And there she is."

A deep sigh escaped her lips, "I thought you"d wait until I contacted you."

"You being abducted by your brother wasn"t in our plans," s.h.i.+oka seemed irritated. "And now you"re fooling around with Kazuya."

"I was just taking a quick breather. Don"t worry. I know what I"m doing."

s.h.i.+oka glanced over at Kazuya and then scratched his hair. It looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself.

"Your brother, I mean that Prince from the Sun Kingdom Zepher. Isn"t he important to you? More than Kazuya? Back then, you missed him a lot."

Lyn shook her head, "That"s not it. The me then did not see the value of relations.h.i.+ps at all. I can say this now since a lot of time has pa.s.sed, and my mindset has changed a great deal. However, the relations.h.i.+ps I had with others then, I regarded them all with the same value of importance. In other words, the relations.h.i.+ps I had with people were not important to me. A cold person, even though I was helping out others with their problems and solving them. I couldn"t form a fixed relations.h.i.+p or connection with anyone."

Everyone is alone; they are all empty. People no longer have any need for others. It is easy to find replacements; even those talented ones aren"t spared. Any relations.h.i.+p can be replaced. Why do people insist on making friends.h.i.+ps and relations.h.i.+ps with each other? Back then, Lyn could not understand such logic, let alone accept it.

"Even though I couldn"t understand it, I became curious about Kazuya. I wanted to know more and more about him. To get closer to this person that radiates the same aura as me, and yet there"s something different. . ."

That person is different, and that"s why even now, she wants to hold onto to him.