"No."

"Just why?!" Fiorentia glared resentfully at Felix who had flatly rejected her plan countless times.

"I've told you countless times that the answer is 'no'," Felix sighed at the sight of his stubborn twin sister furrowing her brows in anger.

"And I've asked you countless times for a valid reason!"

A year had passed since that day when Fiorentia regressed and watched the memories of her previous lives. Currently, they were walking down the open corridor from where they could see the garden.

"This kingdom will perish," Felix stated expressionlessly. "Nothing will change no matter how much we try to prevent it."

"So what should I do?" Fiorentia shouted in frustration. "You said that most of my deaths were because of the war, right? But you said that it's useless to prevent it? Why?"

"Because the Emperor of Chaldea is a crazy warmonger. His ambition is to unite both the upper and lower central continent under his reign. And somehow, you're also their target, although I don't know for what reason. But in case, it's better for us to lay low now. Remember, we're still powerless children without parents."

Fiorentia stopped on her track as she heard Felix's last sentence. To this day, she could still remember the knights returning with their parents' cold bodies wrapped in a fabric. Then, she felt a warm touch on her trembling hands.

"Sorry," Felix muttered as he held Fiorentia's hands gently. "It wasn't my intention to make you remember it."

Fiorentia only nodded without any words. They stayed still for a few seconds before she finally calmed down.

"I know —that according to the memories, I've tried to defend the kingdom a few times which only ended in failure," Fiorentia said quietly. "But with the way things are now, we can't waste every option and opportunity we have. I want this to be the last time, Felix —"

"Fio, I understand what you say," Felix interjected. "And I've considered that option and your words as well. But the risk is too high. I'm not sure whether I'm not going to break down after dreaming about your 13th death. So, I'll never take that option, unless there's a variable that can turn the tables, a variable that never existed in previous lives —"

Before Felix could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a loud sound coming from the garden.

"What in the world is that?!" Fiorentia's eyes widened in surprise.

"It sounds like something fell into the pond. Let's take a look."

The two children walked towards the huge pond in the middle of the garden where they were greeted with a sight that shocked them to the core.

"Is that —a kid?"

Fiorentia gaped. In the middle of the pond was a silver-haired boy floating unconscious. Felix quickly took off his shoes and ran to rescue the boy.

"Fortunately the water isn't deep," Felix muttered as he dragged the boy to the land. "Don't worry, he's still alive. Though the question is how did he suddenly appear."

Fiorentia called the servants. They took the boy to the guest room, changed his clothes and lied him down on the bed. Felix quickly changed his clothes and followed Fiorentia to see the silver-haired boy.

"He seems to be younger than us," Fiorentia commented as she observed the boy. "5? 6?"

"7 or 8, I think. And his small stature must be because of malnutrition. From the clothes he wore before, I suspected that he was either abused or neglected. The former was more believable, but strangely there are no scars on his body. I asked the maids to check a while ago and they said his skin was very smooth regardless of his skinny body."

"Maybe he's an illegitimate child of a noble family," Fiorentia guessed. "If that's the case, then malnutrition and abuse suspicion can be explained. As for the matter of scars and his skin condition, I think it's either someone treated him with a very precious medicine, or —"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

" —he has a blessing," the two spoke at the same time.

"Well, whether our suspicion is correct or not can only be answered after he wakes up," Felix sighed. He dragged a chair to the side of the bed and sat down while Fiorentia chose to sit on the bed right beside the boy.

"I think he'll wake up soon."

***

"Ha! You piece of trash! How dare you soil my shoes!"

"Pearls are pearls and stones are stones. There is no such thing as finding a pearl amidst stones. Do you understand the difference between pearls like us and stones such as yourself?"

"Get your hideous face out of my sight now!"

Different voices kept ringing inside the boy's head, along with silhouettes that shook his mentality, bringing up the fear he always tried to forget. The boy knew that this was a dream, but his fear overcame his recognition of the fact.

"It's really ironic, to think that the stain I hate the most would be the one whose appearance is most similar to mine."

"Why can't you just die like your mother?! It's pointless for you to live anyway. No one wants you. No one wishes for your existence."

The boy tried to cover his ears, but the voice kept ringing inside his head unstoppably.

"My Noel —forgive me —I can't —fulfill my promise to your mother —"

"Where are you taking me?! I don't want to! Let me go! I want to stay with my brother! Noel! Noel!"

"No —!" the boy cried. "Shirel —! Empress —!"

***

" — Shirel —! Empress —!"

The boy's painful cry awakened Fiorentia and Felix who were snoozing. Felix quickly called the doctor while Fiorentia tried to hush the boy by patting his head.

"It's alright, no one will hurt you here, you're safe now," Fiorentia spoke gently.

Just in time, Felix returned with the doctor who immediately checked the boy's condition.

"I assume he is having a very painful nightmare," said the doctor politely. His eyes, which were staring at the boy, were filled with concern.

"I see," Felix nodded. "But when will he wake up? He's been sleeping for almost a day now."

"If I may be so bold, Your Highness, this child is currently in the state of recovering his mental health," answered the doctor. "Perhaps unconsciously, this child regarded this place as a safe haven, thus allowing his guard to loosen up and his body to rest."

"So you're saying that he'll wake up sooner or later?" Fiorentia interjected.

"Yes, Your Highness."

After the doctor went away, Fiorentia sat back at the bedside, carefully holding the boy's skinny hand.

" — do you pity him?" Felix suddenly spoke out when he noticed Fiorentia's gaze towards the boy and her careful touch.

"It's not like that," she refuted. "Just —I suddenly thought that if it wasn't for our uncle's kindness, wouldn't we be at the same state at this kid?"

"Well —if our uncle was someone who couldn't tolerate anyone threatening his authority, he would already kill our late father long ago. Peaceful brotherhood between royal siblings is a very rare precedent."

"The more the reason I don't want him to die," Fiorentia muttered.

Felix knew where this topic would go, so he stopped speaking. He didn't approve taking high risks just for the sake of her self-satisfaction. He himself had admitted to Fiorentia that he couldn't bear the thought of having to dream about her 13th death.

He shook his head and got up from his seat. "Let's talk about this later. You stay here, I'll get you dinner."

"Coward," Fiorentia mumbled in disdain as she watched Felix's figure disappeared behind the door.

It wasn't like Fiorentia didn't understand his concerns. But what made her resentful was because Felix didn't even reconsider the knowledge she received from the memories he showed. She felt that he was underestimating her, although she knew that it wasn't his intention to do so.

Annoyed, Fiorentia jumped down from the bed and walked towards the couch across the room, stomping her feet with a loud voice. She didn't realize that the ribbon on her waist was loose, until her foot accidentally tripped over it. She fell face down, her nose hit the cold marble floor hard.

"Uurgghh —" Fiorentia groaned in pain as she tried to get up. Her eyes became wet.

At that moment, another groan was heard from the bed. Fiorentia turned her head and saw that the silver-haired boy had awakened. The two stared at each other for a while until Fiorentia broke the contact because of the pain from her nose. Her tears started to fall before she was able to stop it.

The boy was flustered seeing the girl he didn't know sitting on the floor and weeping. He instinctively tried to get out of the bed, wanting to comfort Fiorentia. But because he just woke up from deep slumber, there was no strength on his legs and he fell down to the floor.

"Ah —" the boy tried to speak up but he suddenly paused and bit his lips. Then, he slowly crawled towards Fiorentia.

Fiorentia watched the boy approaching her slowly. She wondered what he wanted to do to her by coming closer. To her surprise, the boy raised his hand and patted her head cautiously.

"Don't —don't cry —" the boy spoke with a little struggle. "It —t's not painful —"

'Is this kid trying to comfort me?'

Fiorentia was stunned. The boy clearly knew that they were strangers and that he could ignore her. But he still came to her wearing an innocent flustered expression —like a baby animal seeing it's mother for the first time.

Just as she thought about how naive the kid was, Fiorentia's gaze stopped as she noticed something on his face which no common child could have —the purple eyes of royalty, with the exact similar shade like hers.

"Purple eyes — ? H —how —? Who —?"

Under the moonlight, the boy's silver hair was shining brightly. He tilted his head innocently, as if wondering what made Fiorentia frozen. Then, his eyes widened as if he just remembered something important.

"It's Noel! My name —ah, wait —it's Emmanuel! I'm Emmanuel Yereich Chaldea! Nice to meet you, big sister!"

A year after her regression, Fiorentia finally found a variable who could become the key to change her tragic fate —a variable named Emmanuel Chaldea.