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It didn\'t take long for the man to arrive. I heard his footsteps closing in, slow down, then finally come to a stop. I could see his shadow on the ground a little bit in front of me, and his actual body through the bush I was peeking through.

The old butler looked around in confusion, as if trying to find me.

So… he came after all, huh?

I wasn\'t surprised. I already knew he was going to come from the moment he fell silent earlier today when I spoke with him in his mind. The fact that he came also revealed to me that he truly did care about Axilia, unlike the king, her own father. 

Now, why was I hiding, exactly? To test this butler, of course. If he was on Axilia\'s side, he was a potential ally if this kingdom decided to turn on me. But when it came to allies… they needed to be formidable ones. Otherwise, they would only drag me down.. That\'s why, I was testing this butler\'s skill.

I had my presence concealed right now, so I wasn\'t surprised that he couldn\'t detect me. That was part of the plan, since I wanted to test out his reaction speed.

I suddenly dashed out of the bush I was in, Chaos katanas drawn and heading straight for his neck.

"Hm?!" The butler immediately spun around faster than even I expected and sent a flying kick that struck the bottom of my arm and knocked one of my weapons out of my hand.

"Ngh… not bad, geezer," I said, using Blessing Magic to heal my own injury and dematerializing the Chaos weapons.

"You… what was the meaning of that?"

"What do you think?" I asked right back, challenging him. "You\'re not stupid, butler. You know full well what I did that for."

"… You are testing my capabilities. But what for?"

"Well." I looked into the distance. "I uh… kinda killed your prince, earlier today. His soul flew away, and he\'ll probably try to get revenge on me in the future. No matter how strong I am, I cannot take on this entire kingdom by myself. And if I die… Axilia — no, Aucerina — will break. If you truly care about her… I need you to prevent the prince from trying to kill me with his whole army."

"W-What…?! You killed… the prince?!" The butler backed away a few steps, as if he was looking at a monster. "You\'ve only been here for a day, young man… how were you able to kill the strongest warrior of our kingdom?! And wait… Her Highness is not here with you, yet you are able to survive and move around just fine… don\'t tell me, you have already mastered the art of True Essence?!"

I smiled slightly, crimson red eyes reflecting the bright moonlight. "Your prince… wasn\'t all that strong, I must say."

"This should not be possible…" The butler muttered, getting into a fighting position. "A person from the Living Realm cannot comprehend True Essence, no matter how much guidance they receive. Their bodies should only be able to use mana, not True Essence… yet I can sense you are now extremely strong compared to last night, in the matter of one day… so how?!"

"Old geezer, you can calm down," I said with a sigh. "If you want to fight me, sure, but I really don\'t want to have to kill you. I don\'t think you\'re a stupid person — you know full well who is innocent and who is evil between me and the prince. Or rather… the princess and the prince."

At this, the old butler hesitated briefly, but then sighed in defeat and lowered his arms.

"… Kid. Correct me if I am wrong, but last night, when I met you for the first time, you did not seem to actually love Her Highness at all. My guess is… you were just forcefully dragged here by her against your will, no?"

"… I can\'t deny that," I replied. "But I\'ve made up my mind to help her now. Not because I\'m some kind-hearted hero… but because she reminds me of my past self. I swore to my dead parents, I swore to myself… that I would never let someone else suffer the same way I did. That\'s why I\'m doing this. If you\'re worried about me harming Axilia… that\'s something I\'ll never do."

"… What if you do it unintentionally?" The butler asked quietly.

"… What?"

"I mean… what do you plan to do after the matter with Her Highness is resolved? Leave her behind here, and return to your Living Realm? I watched her grow up — even now, even though her mind is broken, she values those close to her more than anything and is willing to do anything for them. There are only three people in this world who are close to her like that. One of them is dead, the other is missing, and the last one… is you, boy."

"… I intend to take full responsibility for her," I said firmly. "We\'ve already gone too far for me to just leave her behind now. That would make me no better than that prince."

"… I see. In that case… I can feel safe leaving her with you."

"Tell me about her past, old butler."

With a deep sigh, the butler folded his arms and began his tale.

"Very well. The story dates back to before Her Highness was even born. Listen closely, for I will only tell this story once. It is something that only myself and the royalty of this kingdom know, an internal affair that must be kept secret at all costs. And so, the tale begins…"

*****

The story starts 20 years ago, before Aucerina was even born.

At the time, the queen of the kingdom was pregnant with Prince Auldren. King Acrius the Third was sexually frustrated, since having concubines was not traditional here. As such, when he spotted a beautiful young woman on the streets, he was consumed by lust and made a move on her.

Being the king, she was unable to resist his power and charms. She may have been already married, but the relationship wasn\'t going the best. She thought the king was truly in love with her, completely unbeknownst to the fact that she was just a side fling for him. She carried the hopes that maybe the king would make her the new queen, but alas… they were soon shattered.

Unfortunately, they were caught by the actual queen not long after they began, but by then, the woman was already pregnant — and not just with one kid, but two. Both were girls. The king, thinking the kids were his, was at a loss for what to do. The queen wanted them dead and honestly, so did he, but the now-heartbroken woman who realized the truth threatened to tell the entire population of Mordem what the king did if they murdered the children.

She was in possession of a special artifact that could broadcast messages after she died, which was the bargaining chip for her. The king and queen thought of numerous ways to kill her, but they could not do so without damaging the kingdom\'s reputation and risk a public riot.

As such, the two children survived and grew up. Both became stunning beauties, one with black hair and pink eyes and one with black hair and black eyes. The one with black eyes, Lixi, remained with the woman, while the other, Aucerina, became a princess of the kingdom.

It was only later that the mother found out the two were actually not even the king\'s children but her actual husband\'s, but by then, it was too late. Aucerina had already grown up, and her power and talent was unbelievable. The only one who could match her skill and surpass them was Prince Auldren, who was a year older than her.

And that brings us to the next topic of this tale.

To keep Aucerina in check, the king and queen constantly compared her with her brother, Auldren. Aucerina thought she was really the daughter of the king and queen, but the prince knew the truth — though he never told her anything.

At first, Aucerina was a cheery, innocent, and happy girl. She loved the king and queen dearly, and she was too young to understand the condescending insults Auldren threw at her, thinking it was just normal. But as she got older, she realized what was going on. All the achievements she accomplished wouldn\'t even earn a glance from her mother and father, while the slightest bit of thing Prince Auldren did would result in loads of gifts and showers of praise for him.

The difference in treatment was all too clear.

By this point, Aucerina had grown up. She was old enough to understand what was going on. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how good she became… she could never surpass her brother in her parent\'s eyes.

"Mommy, look — I hunted 37 wild boars!" She would boast.

And the queen would say, "Hmph. My dear Auldren could hunt double that in half the time."

"Daddy, look! I can create my own True Essence techniques now!" She would declare proudly.

And the king would say, "Hmph. Auldren did that two years ago."

Even the few things that Prince Auldren couldn\'t do better than her-

"Mommy! Daddy! Look at my drawing!"

"… Hmph. How useless."

-Were met with such cold words.

Such was the childhood of Princess Aucerina. Such was the past of the girl now known as Axilia.