Haimirich Empire. A land once gazed at with awe and respect from afar, now a place people wouldn't even dare look at. It became a place where people had silently treated as a place where plague and all disasters would come from. They were afraid that if they even gaze upon the unguarded gates of the empire, misfortune would cling to them like a leech.
Yet, a petite woman with long blanched hair that was tied up for its tip to not sweep the dry ground, stood in front of the once glorious gates of the Haimirich Empire. Her complexion was pale and her expression was plain.
Her blanched eyelashes fluttered ever so tenderly. A soft gust of wind blew past her, making the small bell tied around her white hair ring softly.
"What a huge dilemma," she whispered, snapping her dull eyes up at the tower of the gates.
"Tilly!" A young boy that also had the same silky silver hair waved at her from the window of the tower. "The gates are open! But they're heavy! Just jump over the gates — no one's here!"
"Jump?" the petite woman who just looked like a ghost scanned the towering wall. "It was high."
Her voice barely reached her own ears, but the boy heard her loud and clear.
"Come on!" urged the boy at the top of his lungs. "Ah! I found a cool chair here. You can sit on it for days without feeling numb!"
"A chair?" the woman blinked, and in a snap of a finger, she appeared right beside the boy. "Was there tea and biscuits?"
The boy's face twitched, seeing the pure curiosity on her face. "Well…" he scratched the back of his head.
"Maybe if we go over there." He pointed a finger at the castle from the distance. "I only found a chair here, but that place looks expensive."
The woman, Tilly, slowly followed the direction the boy pointed at. She blinked and blinked, staring at the castle that stood silently but still exuded thick magical energy.
"Do you think there's someone there?" asked the little boy, setting his eyes on the castle. "This entire place is surrounded by a magic barrier. If I stepped foot on a different path, the place just looks different."
"Someone is protecting this place," said Tilly, keeping her eyes on the castle. "One, two, three… that's a lot of people."
"Were they living there?"
"Sleeping." She scanned the entire land to the farthest place her eyes could reach. "Everyone is just sleeping."
"Sleeping?" the boy frowned, furrowing his brows. "I don't think this land just sheltered vampires. I heard it was mostly humans."
"And the person in here is keeping their bodies alive," explained Tilly to the boy, planting her hand on top of his head. "Whoever is maintaining everything in this place must know many things."
"Do you think he knows where Sunny is?"
"I hope he got tea and biscuits." The boy gazed up at her with dismay at her remarks. "Tilly is hungry."
"Right, right. We haven't had anything, right?" The boy let out a deep breath, already used to her short attention span. "Tilly, how about we fly to that place? I don't want to keep running. Claude just kept on teasing me about not growing taller due to our endless traveling."
Tilly gazed at the young boy whose face suddenly turned red in miffed. When a shallow breath slipped past her lips, she dragged her feet to the wooden stool and sat down.
"Tilly is tired," she announced softly, eyes fixed on the boy, who now has the same height as her after sitting. "Law, since when did you grow taller?"
The young boy named Law cocked his head to the side. "I grew taller?" he asked, pointing at himself.
Tilly nodded, but she didn't explain because she found it bothersome. Back then, whenever she sat down, she was still gazing down at him. But now, her neck was slightly cocked back with her eyes up.
"That obsessed mother snatcher!" the boy, who was around fourteen, ground his teeth as he recalled an insufferable being. "He kept pressing my nerves whenever my big brother carry me, telling me two years had passed since we left the mainland and I didn't grow a centimeter."
"I'll kill him before my mother comes and he tries to seduce her for fun." The young boy turned on his heel, facing the castle with determination. He then climbed up the deck, and when he stood up, he gazed down at Tilly who was still sitting daintily.
"Tilly, if you need me, I'd be inside that castle." He pointed at the castle again, eyes at Tilly. "Or just scream, alright? I'll just haunt down Claude since he's already doing sightseeing. I need to save my mother from that pervert."
Tilly blinked and the moment she reopened her eyes, all she saw was the young boy jumping from this height fearlessly. She cocked her head to the side, no trace of worry that the boy might not land safely.
"If he wants to save his mother from a pervert, shouldn't he start with his father first??" she wondered, but her question just got drifted into the wind.
Tilly let out a deep exhale, turning her head in the castle's direction. She didn't move a muscle, unable to detect if that was because she was lazy or simply exhausted. Although she didn't really know what exhaustion felt like because breathing was already tiresome for her.
"Abel," she whispered, keeping her gaze at the silent castle that just appeared so distant in her eyes. Not literally, but more like a place that was untouchable and hard to break into. "It took me two years to get in this place, but why… did you allow yourself to sleep this long?"
<strong>*********</strong>
<strong>[ Haimirich Imperial Palace ]</strong>
"Your Grace!" A little girl's voice echoed through the thin walls of the palace. "Your Grace~! Where are you?"
The little girl that had silver hair with hazel streaks was running through the empty hallway, looking for a particular person who had been with her for the past two years.
"Your Grace!" she kicked one of the doors open, panting for air the moment she caught a figure standing in front of the window. "We have visitors, Your Grace!"
The man slowly turned on his heel, facing the little girl. There, Sunny, now five years old, was standing by the door with a giant smile on her face.
"I know," said Isaiah calmly, holding his hand behind him. "Mathilda Grimsbanne and her company had finally stepped foot in this land."
Isaiah slowly set his eyes back to the window, showing no sign of relief or any emotion in particular. "Though I fear what will happen when we wake them up." He then shifted his attention to the bed where the emperor was sleeping soundlessly for the past two years since that night.
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