Hero Or Villaness

Reality is really unfortunate...

That's what I thought to myself while remembering the past for a bit.

During that day, I was smiling sadly to myself- looking at the beautiful ocean view.

I was in one of the royal palace's small vacation homes that were near the ocean, standing near the balcony.

I remember was trying so hard to feel the calm wind going through my hair that day because I knew that the beautiful view is just a lie.

"Oh! A naughty one..." I said to myself that day, thinking that Athan will be quite the trickster. I remember rubbing my stomach, feeling very happy and then felt Athan kick me again.

Then suddenly I remember during that one moment of peace, the ugly truth came once more as someone pushed me off the balcony.

During that time, I held my stomach wanting to protect it as I remember time slowed down.

I landed on a small mountain of sand but instead of just landing I rolled all the way down. I remember holding my belly tighter to protect Athan as I continued to roll on the sand.

When I finally stopped rolling, I looked up at the sky. It looked peaceful and quiet, maybe thinking that if I die the least it could do is give me a beautiful view to give me one last beautiful lie.

Yet even if I knew that I held on to my dear life, crying to be saved because I just want my son to live.

I wanted to be selfish for once because I want to see my child's first walk or know what his or her first words are and see my child's first tooth grow and finally, see he or she becomes a wonderful person that I know he or she will become.

I remember thinking that. I begged and begged what seems like hours for me. When I suddenly coughed up blood, I remember crying even more.

I know that I should die because I did all those bad things but I remember thinking I just want to live a little longer.

I remember seeing the sun slowly set and I panicked. I screamed at the top of my lungs as I felt my body temperature drop.

"S-someone, a-anyone, p-please I-i d-don't care i-if I-i d-die j-just s-save, my baby..." I begged the world once more but yet again no one came.

"F-f*ck my fate!!! J-just save my baby, please!!! I am sorry for being selfish so please j-just save my child!!!"

I remember before I could shout again I saw a figure of a person and that person spoke saying, "I will save you and your child, under one condition to never let your child rule for the rest of his life..."

My short flashback ended and I couldn't help but laugh bitterly a bit. I felt bitter, very bitter.

Suddenly I felt two large hands pull me away and I saw Carlo's face giving me a sad smile while saying, "No matter what you think... you are a good person. "

I felt as if Carlo punched me in the gut as I protested, "Carlo, no I-"

Carlo then put his hand on my mouth to keep me quiet as I stared at his eyes, sadly.

More and more tears fell down on my face and Carlo gently wiped each tear saying, "Sis, I know you are a good person. So don't think otherwise for actions speak louder than words..." Before I could protest Carlo continued while wiping another tear, "So sis... I will help you and you don't need to tell me the full story because I will wait until you are ready... so let's get your son back."

"Thank you really, Carlo, " I said and Carlo shook his head saying, "No because I couldn't thank you, sis, on how much you influenced my life. "

"Eh~," I said teasing him a bit to lighten up the mood, feeling sorry for my sudden outburst.

I looked at Carlo's beautiful eyes while he said, "I take that back..."

I laughed a bit and saw a small smile started to form on Carlo's lips.

After that when I looked at the wall clock- a full hour has already passed and I was staring at Carlo, looking through his doc.u.ments.

Carlo then felt me staring and flashed a handsome and dazzling smile, standing up to hand me a piece of paper.

"I gave you a spot in the foundation day ball as the opening act, sis," Carlo said while I looked over the piece of paper.

"A song, " I said, feeling slightly surprised.

"Yes, a song..." Carlo said, seeing Carlo slightly nod from the corner of my eyes but even so I continued to stare at the paper whispering loudly, "And what's more the song is..."

"Sorry sis but we need to be careful so you could get out of the Palace quickly because the longer you stay-" Carlo stopped upon seeing me nod in full understanding.

"I get it, thank you, Carlo," I said. Now all I need to do is make sure Athan is not there or get him if he is.

"Sis, you never told me but what's the name of your son?" Carlo asked, interrupting my thoughts.

I felt a little surprised by the sudden random question but I turned to him and saying, "Athan."

"Athan, huh? That's a nice name." Carlo said. I started to feel a bit happier at that one moment remembering my son's cute and adorable smile.

"I know..." I said, sadly and hugged Carlo once more, whispering "Thank you, Carlo."

Even if it was just for a moment, I could only hear the sound of Carlo's beating heart as well as the sound of my heart.

"Your welcome sis..." Carlo said, hugging me tightly. Ahhh... I promise I will repay you for this Carlo.

I then pulled Carlo away from me and he said, "Now all you need is to practice."

Groaning, I glared at Carlo jokingly but still said "I know..."

---

"Young master." Athan heard someone said to him after he went out of Prime Minister Basar's mansion.

"Yes?" Athan said cautiously while looking at the person, who called him as they rode inside a carriage, going to the palace at full speed.

"The Prime Minister ordered me to let you wait in one of the rooms that I will present to you because we will be going inside the ball after the Emperor's speech." The person said to Athan, who nodded while he looked at the person for some time.

The person had sharp-looking black eyes and unique gray hair that should only present for people during old age and Athan said, remembering what the maid told him just minutes ago, "Your Yoel, right?"

"Yes, young master. I am Yoel Ackroyd." Yoel said as Athan nodded.

Despite Athan's cold upfront- his mind thought of different things because of the unbearable cold atmosphere. 'Should I reply or ahhh!!! Why am I so bad at talking to people?!?' Athan thought but after that short conversation, Athan didn't say a single thing during the whole trip not until the palace came into close view.

"Wow~" Athan whispered, secretly admiring the large palace.

The Palace had large windows and fancy golden bars on the balcony but that really didn't impress Athan that much but what impresses him the most is the numerous people going in and out both commoner and noble alike.

"The f-fountain is even bigger than the one in the village!" Athan whispered excitedly, ignoring his gut feeling screaming him to not go inside.

Then for a while, Athan's once serious looking eyes turned into a happy and sparkling look like how he is with his mother, Arista.

"..." Yoel didn't say anything but a small smile formed on his lips as he looks at Athan's happy and excited smile that was not there until a minute ago.

Then Yoel noticed that Athan's smile suddenly dropped so he turned to what he is looking at and saw the statue of the current Emperor- Amaranthos Da Valde Dragosten.

"?" Yoel looked at Athan with curiosity but stayed silent and looked at the statue of the Emperor then turning to Athan.

'He looks like the kid version of Emperor Amaranthos.' Yoel thought but immediately dismissed as a certain thought dawned into him, 'You know what they look so alike that they could be father and son... no Yoel. You can't think like that. '

While Yoel scolded himself, Athan suddenly opened his mouth asking Yoel as he continued to look at the statue of the Emperor intently "What is the last name of the Imperial Family, Sir. Yoel?"

"Da Valde Dragosten is the last name of the Imperial family, Young Master," Yoel said and saw Athan's eyes widen a bit.

"?" Yoel stayed silent, feeling curious why Athan reacted like that but in the end, Athan just stayed silent.

'Until you calm down, I will not release you even if you are Dragosten.' Athan remembered one of the first words of Nerezza said to him.

"T-the Emperor has blue and purple eyes right?" Athan asked Yoel, dropping the uncomfortable silence.

Athan saw Yoel nodded and immediately Yoel saw Athan's face paled. 'N-no w-way, I-i c-can't be related to him right?'

Before Athan could ask Yoel one more thing Yoel said, "Young Master, we have arrived but first we must hide through the crowd."

Then Yoel grabbed a cloak that was beside him during the whole trip and put it on Athan.

While Yoel put the cloak on Athan, he noticed his lips trembling and asked, "Young Master, are you alright?"

"Y-yes... I am just a little bit tired so shall we go?" Athan said and Yoel nodded not trying to further question Athan as he opened the door of the carriage.

Yoel extended his arm while saying, " Young master."

Athan cautiously took his hand and went down the carriage, ignoring his gut once more that screamed 'Don't go inside.'

As Yoel guided Athan through the crowd, Athan bumped into someone and he fell down and that person said, "Are you okay?"

"I-" Athan stopped as he saw the beautiful woman right in front of him and the woman said, "Are you okay, boy?"

"Your Majesty! We are sorry for the inconvenience!" Yoel said, bowing to the woman in front of Athan.

"Y-your majesty?" Athan said with his voice cracking slightly.

"Ah. No need to be so formal but here." The beautiful woman lifted Athan up and said, "Be careful next time okay then I am sorry for this short encounter but I must go because I am quite busy but I do hope I will see you in the ball later."

Athan stayed silent during the whole time and saw the beautiful woman waved at him, flashing him a kind smile yet Athan knew she was giving a fake one for some odd reason.

"Yoel, who was that again?" Athan asked Yoel, turning to him. Yoel looked down on Athan as he stared at the leaving figure of the beautiful woman saying, "That was her Majesty, the current Empress of the Dragosten Empire. Catherine Da Valde Dragosten..."

"!" Athan stayed silent and when he opened his mouth to ask another question, Yoel interrupted him saying, "Young Master we should go before any more people see you so let's get going for we are behind schedule."