What was that?

I slowly opened my eyes, only to see Eldest infront of me. And what's more surprising?

She's not even wounded nor scratched!

I checked myself too and sighed in relief as I saw that I'm still alive. "What-" before I can even ask, another explosion was heard.

Hard wind blew upon us, which made it hard for me to see our surroundings. But I am certain with one thing.

The hallway is now a mess.

"Finally finished." I heard Ashley spoke as I saw her shadow from a distance infront. But then, the sight became clear and there I saw her surprised expression as she stared at me, then to Eldest. "H-how.."

"Haaaa, that made me a bit exhausted." Eldest scratched the back of her head. "If I'm you, I'd put a stop to this nonsense."

Ashley seems lost at words. Before she can even process the scene in her mind, a lightning striked her which made her fall hard on the ground.

I stared at her in horror. She spat out blood as she glared towards us. "Why you.."

Eldest raised her arms. "It's not me." A playful grin has been now plastered in her lips. "Why not ask her majesty yourself?"

Majesty?

Then and there, I saw Aureus standing behind the motionless body of Ashley. Her silver eyes staring at her with a blank expression gives me an off feeling. As if something is not right.

"Why.." Ashley blurted out, only to cough out blood again. With her hand turned into a fist, she struggled so hard to stand up again. "Eldest.. seems to be.. playing with me huh?"

What is she talking about?

I was about to ask when flames suddenly emitted in her palm. She waved it and the flames sliced through the Empress.

I gasped in horror as I stared at Aureus' figure whose completely fading away into ashes.

That's it!?

"Hey, hey. Calm down." Eldest flicked my forehead which made me focus on the scene. "That isn't the real Empress. It's a clone I made."

A clone?

"This is a bit tiring now isn't it, Eldest?" Ashley asked as soon as she regained her balance in standing up straight. Her red and orange eyes glanced at me. "Don't worry, your highness. I have no intention of doing any harm at all.. yet." With a grin, she dissapeared as gust of ashes flew around her.

So that girl can also teleport like Aureus and Eldest. Will there be a time that I can teleport by myself too? I hope so.

I heard Eldest clicked her tongue which made me snap back to reality. "That girl is hiding something."

"Hiding what?" I asked, confused.

She eyed the hallway which is now a mess, before glancing at me. It made me surprised to see her annoyed expression as she is glaring at me. "Nothing. Don't mind it that much." Then she turned around and walked away, leaving me behind.

Days passed ever since that horrible meeting I had with the heiress of the Florida Empire. That brunette girl is none other than the Imperial Princess Ashley Florida.

It doesn't make sense. How did she become a trusted ally of my mother if she's around thesame age as me? Then I remember, I never saw her in my glimpses of the past. Did the timeline here changed?

Klydeur was also getting busy these days. We were both given education and mostly, all hard works are given to me. With the teachers saying I am the crown prince, the rightful heir to the throne, and soon I'll be the future Emperor.

Just merely thinking about it already makes me sick.

But if I am going to be the Emperor, that means Klydeur is not chosen by the Empress? And come to think of it, in my glimpses of the past, Aureus chose Klydeur as her successor since he is her favorite son.

Now, what happened?

"Your highness, are you listening?" My teacher whose probably teaching about the tasks of an Emperor asked, which made me blink my eyes in confusion. "You're not listening then."

I sighed. "Sorry."

You see, this is one of the worst days I ever had. I'd gladly play with Klydeur and Eldest rather than stuff these books and tasks in my head. Being this young yet I've got so many responsibilities, thesame thing goes to my brother.

I just wonder, what will be his position if he isn't going to be the Emperor?

Time flies so fast and I never even noticed it was already noon. Finally a break from all these tiresome lessons! I quickly ran in the hallways to find Jamie but as soon as I arrived at the garden, I saw Klydeur and the brunette girl sitting on the bench.

"Oh, hyung!" Klydeur seems to notice me, and so he waved his hand at me. "Come over here!"

Before I can even protest mindlessly, someone eventually appeared beside me. "So rude. Your brother here is the future Emperor."

"A-apologies." Klydeur apologized. "Do you want to stay here for a while? I want to introduce to you my tutor!"

Say what? A tutor?

While I have so many teachers that I don't even remember their names?!

Aureus, I'm so gonna kill you.

"Well?" Eldest glanced at me, waiting for my answer. "Are you atleast, prepared to face that wench?" She leaned in closer to whisper, which made me flinch and look at her in confusion.

She just gave me a silly grin. "Guess not. Now, let's hurry and leave-" but before she can pull me away, someone pulled me by the arm as well. Eldest looked back at me, then to the person who is also pulling me.

"His highness doesn't seem to like the idea of leaving." Ashley grinned as she spoke. "Maybe he wants a time to meet new friends, not some old friends."

That was rude, I wanted to tell her to back off. Her words might have hurted Eldest here! When I looked at her, she was just staring towards the brunette girl blankly, but her golden eyes somehow showed annoyance on it.

"Um," I heard Klydeur's voice. He must have felt the tension and got awkward with the situation. "If hyung have something else to busy himself with, he can go. We have other days and time to spend anyways, Ashy."

A-Ashy?

"If that's your decision, your highness." Ashley let go of my arm in a rude manner, which made me look at her in disbelief. She went back towards Klydeur with a wide smile as they started chattering with each others again.

I huffed out a sigh. This is really unfair. He have a tutor and I have those old troublesome teachers.

Whirling my head towards Eldest, she crossed her arms. "You want a tutor?" She asked yet it sounded like she said it in a matter of fact tone.

Nodding my head quickly, I walked away while pulling her with me. "Being the future Emperor is a stress. I need a tutor, not those troublesome teachers with weird eyeglasses and mustache."

Eldest stiffened as she followed me, letting me pull her arm. Then I heard her laugh. "Yes, yes. I understand that." As soon as we arrived in my study place, I sighed in relief as I didn't saw my next teacher.

"Can't I even have a tutor instead of teachers?" I whined. "It's soo boring!"

She held her chin for a moment. "Hm," then just like what she always do, a small finger popped out of her sleeve. "You already have a tutor."

Hearing those words, I looked at her with a smile. "Really?" I felt my silver eyes twinkled, still looking at her with a smile. "Who is it? Tell me! Tell me!" I even held her by the shoulder and desperately shaked her to give me answers.

Eldest stared at me for a moment, her golden eyes glowed as she grinned at me. "Your tutor is here already."

"Really?" I looked around the room we are in, but I saw no one. "But there's no one here. Who is it-"

I felt a hand touched my cheek, which made me stiffen as I looked at her. Eldest still have that playful grin as I stared at her golden eyes. "Me."