"Lia..."

"Yes, Lia..."

The little girl's face instantly turned a little red, but after she turned her head, her expression returned to normal.

"Alright Lia... I wanted to apologize for disturbing you just now... I should have left here immediately when you came here, but I felt quite comfortable while looking at the stars on the night sky."

"No problem... everyone needs a little quiet in some situations."

Nelia's soft voice made Maric realize that the girl actually didn't mind Maric being here.

Normally noble children would show dislike spontaneously if they felt uncomfortable and tended to act like children in general. But the girl named Nelia clearly had a certain degree of self-control.

Or it could also be interpreted, Nelia was probably the type of girl who matured faster than other children her age.

While showing a friendly expression, Maric then extended his hand to invite Nelia to leave this place.

"As a nobleman, I know that apologizing is not enough, so how about we take a little tour of the palace... the palace is so vast that I'm pretty sure there are lots of extraordinary places around here."

"No, there are no extraordinary places in this palace..."

Nelia's tone surprisingly disturbed Maric's ears a little. The girl seemed to be rejecting Maric's invitation for some reason.

But when Maric looked once more, he didn't find any rejection reaction from Nelia. It was as if what Nelia had just said was just an illusion.

"How do we know if we haven't tried it?"

Maric then tried once more. Then after Maric had gathered courage and thrown away his shyness like a child who knew nothing, he immediately grabbed Nelia's hand.

But, a shout that was clearly not an illusion brought Maric's hand flying into the air with a short momentum.

"Stop it! Stop it! Don't touch me! Get your hands off me!"

With her pupils shaking violently, Nelia then fell down. Her legs were immobilized and all the girl could do was cover her head with her trembling hands.

While continuing to wear a terrified expression, Nelia played with her lips to whisper vague and repeated words.

"Stop it! Stop it! I don't want to, don't take me..why?!"

Maric, who knew nothing, immediately took a few steps back.

'What's wrong?! This is too much.'

Maric didn't know which noble family Nelia was born into. It would be very serious if he offended someone he shouldn't.

'I should have known that someone who comes to this place to find peace would usually bring trouble. This is my mistake.'

With that guilty expression, Maric immediately apologized.

"I'm sorry Miss Lia. I didn't know that holding the hand of a girl like you was so impolite. I'm sorry, please forgive my foolish actions."

Maric wanted to leave this place immediately, but he knew that it would probably leave a bad impression if Nelia decided to talk about it with the other noble children.

He couldn't just let the Noir family's reputation fall.

It's just that now Maric didn't know what to do. He couldn't think of anything, he was worried that the following actions he took might make things worse.

While Maric was worried about many things. Nelia, who was cowering in fear, now seemed to be calming herself down.

The breathing of the girl was irregular but slowly it returned to normal.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I'll go now."

And with that, Maric then turned his body to walk away from Nelia. But, the girl who had been frightened a moment ago now stopped Maric.

"Wait."

Maric wanted to pretend that he didn't hear it, but his ears clearly heard it. So Maric stopped his steps again to try to listen to what Nelia was trying to say.

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The girl behind Maric then opened her mouth.

"Can I come with you."

.....

In a quiet hallway in the royal palace. Maric was walking on his tiny feet with a girl he had just met.

The hallway was dark but also bright because of the moonlight that passed through the cracks on some sides.

Due to the height of the palace and the night breeze that blew in, the temperature would normally drop to a low point, but for some reason it was something else. Maric should have felt a cold temperature spreading throughout his body, but the sweat that appeared on his forehead showed that his body temperature was clearly heating up.

And to top it all off, the little girl beside him was walking leisurely.

Maric could not guess what kind of bad impression the girl had on him.

'I don't care which noble family this girl is from. I don't want to get involved with her.'

It was too dangerous to get involved with a troubled noble child. Somehow Maric had to find a way to escape that troubled little girl.

"Lia...hmmm..."

Maric scratched his chin with a finger and then continued.

"It's already too late. Maybe next time we meet, we can take a look around the area."

Beside Maric, the little girl replied by shaking her head with a small smile.

"You don't have to make a big deal about it. I'm just a little overreacting, so please forget what happened just now."

Maric who was under pressure spontaneously nodded. He could not refuse the little girl's words.

'The only good thing about this girl, she obviously has pretty good self-control.'

From what Maric saw, he guessed that the girl might feel uncomfortable in crowds.

Sometimes children were just too shy to interact with strangers and overreacted.

So Maric took the girl to a place that was quite quiet and away from the party hall.

And after a while of wandering around, they finally came to a magnificent place with many symbols carved on every wall.

"What is this place?"

"The throne," Nelia answered.

The large columns that supported the roof had intricate carvings, right between the columns, there was a stone chair with a mysterious symbol.

Judging from how magnificent this place was, it was safe to assume that it really was a throne.

Maric who had been looking around now stepped in to touch a mysterious symbol that made him curious.

He felt that he might have seen that symbol before, but he couldn't remember.

"This looks very ancient."

"I thought so too."

Hearing the little girl's murmur, Maric shook his head.

"No, no I mean it... It really does look very old-fashioned."

"Is that so, I think it's just a carving from a skilled craftsman."

"At first glance it looks like that, but take a look at this."

A wall in the room had some kind of complicated symbol, it consisted of seven large symbols with 13 dots surrounding each symbol.

As if it had an implied meaning in it, the lines and curves that formed the pattern were very intricate and carefully crafted. Whoever made that symbol, he must have dedicated his entire life to it.

"Of these seven intricate symbols, have you seen them anywhere else?"

"I've never seen it anywhere else. What's the problem?"

Nelia answered with some confusion. Maric then continued.

"Exactly, why does this symbol look mysterious while it is inside the royal palace. If this symbol was created by the royal family through the hands of their architects, shouldn't this symbol be spread to various places other than this room?"

With the complexity and beauty of the symbol, it would make sense if it was worn by the military, noble families or anyone else in the kingdom. And Maric wouldn't have noticed it if he had seen it somewhere before.

Would that mean it was actually the symbol of the Royal family? No, Maric had seen the symbol of the Royal family and it was very different.

'It honestly looks more like a religious symbol than a royal symbol, but I've never seen a church with a symbol similar to the one here.'

"Look again, this symbol looks really beautiful."

Nelia's eyes followed what Maric's hand was pointing to. Maric continued.

"There are two dots that look like eyeballs, and teeth that line up to form a mouth. I think this is a symbol of the skull with thirteen points surrounding it."

"A skull symbol?"

"Indeed. But if the person who made this symbol is a true artist, it must have a deeper meaning."

Maric then placed one hand under his chin before concluding.

"The skull is usually regarded as the embodiment of death. It is safe to assume that this Symbol is a symbol of death."

"I guess you're right. But if it is indeed a symbol of death, then what is the symbol beside it?"

Maric then looked at the symbol that Nelia had pointed to. Right next to the symbol of death, there was a symbol with a pattern that was difficult to understand.

Since it was opposite the symbol of death, it should also have a meaning.

"The opposite of death. What do you think is the opposite of death."

"The opposite of death?"

"Ah... You don't understand?" It's actually very simple, the reason why each symbol is in the opposite position, it's because they are symbols that cannot be united but exist in the same place. Similar to the two sides of a coin. And because of that too, if we know one side, then it's very easy to shoot the opposite side."

Maric then paused for a while and then confidently began to conclude.

"The side opposite death is, of course, life. It is the symbol of life."

"Oh.... Life."

Nelia's eyes widened slightly. Now her expression was filled with interest and curiosity.

There were about seven mysterious symbols, and in an instant two had been identified. With a little excitement, Nelia then looked at the other symbols.

"Death and life... then, the symbol above the symbol of life must have some kind of interest too."

"Yes, you're right... now it's your turn. Guess what that symbol actually is."

Nelia turned her face away. From her now sharpened eyes, she began to notice every line and curve in the symbol on the wall.

It is very difficult to understand the meaning of a symbol when the symbol itself is too complicated for people who rarely see it.

But since Maric had given an example, at least Nelia understood a little about how to read a symbol.

"Hmm.... At first glance, these lines seem to connect at the same point. The most interesting thing about the symbol is that it is a straight line without any slight bends, perhaps this symbolizes some kind of light. Yes, light, sunlight or moonlight."

Maric then looked at the symbol. as Nelia had said, the line pattern of the symbol did indeed look like a ray. But it was too soon to assume that the rays came from the sun or moon.

A pattern that is very easy to understand if the rays do come from a source. But that doesn't exist-

"If the rays did come from the sun or the moon. I think there should be some sort of circle right at the center of the line that represents that ray."

Once again, Nelia looked at the symbol, she then nodded in agreement at what Maric had said.

"Maybe... If the ray has no origin, then we can probably call it light, just light.. a symbol of light."

One more time, the meaning of the symbol was confirmed. Maric also thought the same thing, that it really was a symbol of light.

After Maric agreed, his eyes then looked towards the symbol opposite to the light symbol. Just like before, the symbol on the side must have an opposite meaning.

"The opposite of light is...."

"Darkness..."

Nelia answered briefly as if her thoughts with Maric had merged into one.

'I think this is enough. Knowing four of the seven symbols seems to be enough to comfort this little girl... It would be very difficult to identify the remaining three symbols even for me, because they have a very abstract pattern.'

Maric then reached for the necklace from around his neck and removed the gem that looked like a stone to then show Nelia a deep black gem.

"Lia... That symbol of darkness reminds me of something... once someone gave me a very bright gem with strange engravings, but now it has turned pitch black like an owl's feather."

Without waiting any longer, Maric immediately took Nelia's hand and placed the black gem right on top of Nelia's palm.

"It is said that the black gem is able to see the future... but in my opinion, the black gem might be able to see a person's heart rather than their future, because the deep black color symbolizes a sinless purity."

Although Maric increased his tone slightly. Nelia only seemed to be listening to part of what Maric was saying.

Nelia's small eyes were still watching the black stone in her hand.

"Why are you carrying a stone?"

"It's a gem, not a stone. Look at that beauty... I always carry it with me because to me that black gem looks very precious."

Nelia's eyes then flashed as she began to ask questions.

"Precious? You want to give it to me."

Maric nodded slowly in response.

On the other hand, Nelia was paying more and more attention to the black gem in her hand. She then opened her mouth to mutter softly.

"So dark.. so dark..able to see the future and one's heart.. so, my future and heart have always been filled with darkness."

Hearing that, Maric's eyes narrowed. He did not expect such an answer to come out of the little girl's lips.

'Why do people like to think bad things about themselves instead of something more optimistic.'

Changing his mind, Maric then took the black gem back from Nelia's hand to put it away.

"Give me about two days. I'll give you a better gift than this useless black stone..."