The Mysterious Empress 13 "You Like My Red Hair"

"Does big sister know if there's any carriage I can take to get to the Voclain mansion at the east of the city center?"

"So you're really a part of the envoy from Liiv," Eithne said, not answering his question.

Harith smiled awkwardly. He knew that as a royal, and an envoy, he could not act casually in a foreign kingdom as he did in Liiv. That was why he did not want to disclose his ident.i.ty, so that he could act like any normal tourist. It was his last wish to go around the city with some guards escorting him. Anyway, looking at the young lady whom he regarded as a big sister, he believed there won't be any harm in telling her his real ident.i.ty.

"Actually, I am the Fourth Prince of Liiv," he said awkwardly. "My full name is Harith Avra."

"So Your Highness is from the royal family. Please excuse me for calling Your Highness name blatantly," Eithne said.

"No, please continue to call me Harith! I will continue to address you as big sister," Harith immediately waved his hand. Then he realised the law concerning the royal and the n.o.ble in Aur might be different compared to Liiv. "Is it permitted to do so?"

"Isn't it too late to ask that?" Eithne chuckled. "No worries, there was no such law in Aur that prevent this kind of interaction between the royal and the n.o.bles. And I think it's the same in each kingdom, no?"

"I...think so," replied Harith.

"But don't blatantly call someone as big brother or big sister next time," Eithne said. "Some people are just very eccentric."

"Alright," Harith answered like an obedient little brother.

"Didn't you say you wanted to go back to the residence? This big sister can send you, that's if you don't mind sharing one carriage with me," Eithne said in teasing tone as she pointed to the carriage at the foot of the hill.

"I don't mind!" Harith said as he grinned. He thought for a moment before asking, "Do I need to pay Big Sister for this?"

"I will collect the payment sometime in the future," Eithne said in a half joking, half serious tone.

Harith just grinned as a reply. However, he never thought that this small debt will make their acquaintance to continue for a very long time in the future.

Jumping into the carriage, Harith was a bit overwhelmed by its interior. It was not like he never entered such a carriage, their royal carriage was much bigger and s.p.a.cious, but this carriage gave off a very relaxing feeling. Surely the materials used to build it was not any cheaper than their royal carriage, maybe even more expensive! He was more convinced that this big sister was a rich n.o.ble. Didn't she said she was a cousin of the prime minister?

It was well known that the kingdom of Aur had been without a fixed ruler for around 3 centuries. The last standing royal was the Voclain family, but without anyone knowing the reason, the royal family of Aur suddenly declined rapidly, or it could be said that the royal family was wiped out in one night. It was not enough with the royal family, the next few days, all the major n.o.ble family in Aur was annihilated, leaving Aur in chaos. n.o.body knew the perpetrator, and Aur was in turmoil for a long time without a royal family sitting at her throne.

It was until 3 years ago, suddenly a group of youngsters arose among the people with one of them possessing the genuine Voclain family crest. However, he did not claimed the throne, instead gave it to the other youngster. There was nothing wrong with the action as the law provided that the ruling royal family have the power to enthrone the next king, whether this king is from their own family or not. But by doing so, this royal family who lose reign of the throne will only be a high rank n.o.ble family, as there could be only one royal family. Nevertheless, the family who once was a royal, they were unmistakably much more regarded than the other ordinary n.o.bles.

n.o.body could refute that Abel was not the descendant of the last royal family which was the Voclain, as each family crest was special, especially those belong to the old n.o.ble family because those crest could be counted as a magical item. Only those who possess the pure blood of the family could incite the magical element of those crest. However, as the centuries goes, the word magic was but a fantasy, n.o.body could prove whether it actually did existed or not. However, the special characteristics of these crests were undeniable. It might be different if the crest mentioned was the family crests of those new n.o.bles, as they were but an insignia without any 'magical' element, just like the family crest of the Avra family, the royal family of Liiv. Meanwhile, the Koval family who served the royal family of Liiv possessed a family crest with these 'magical' element.

Harith glanced at Eithne, wondering whether this big sister was also a Voclain, since she claimed that she was related to the prime minister. She even went out by herself and was accompanied by only one guard. The guard did not even wear something like a uniform with some insignia to show which family they belong to. Or maybe this big sister was just like him, he always went out of the palace without the royal guards to accompany him.

"How was your outing today?" Eithne asked as she sat leisurely on the soft couch inside the carriage.

"I only went around the city center before coming to this hill. So far, I enjoyed the moments," Harith honestly poured out his thoughts.

"Hmm? I believe the capital of Liiv has much more to offer," Eithne smiled. This fact was not wrong, as Aur had been in turmoil for a long time that the management of the kingdom was not taken care of. The present capital city today was the result of the hardwork from 3 years ago. People were amazed of the power and effort that the new ruler did to reform the kingdom, and made Aur to stand again as tall as the neighbouring kingdom in just 3 years. Nevertheless, the fact that there were still some aspects in which Aur was inferior to the other kingdoms could not be denied.

"Well, Aur has her own uniqueness," Harith scratched his head, making the young lady in front of him glanced at his hair.

"Big Sister... really like to stare at my hair," Harith said awkwardly. He also get the same scrutiny in Liiv, and it was because it could be said that he was the only one who possessed such bright, flaming red hair. Red hair was not rare, at least not in Western Everole, but this kind of bright red colour, he was afraid he was the only one who have it.

However, the gaze that this big sister used to look at his hair is not the same that he usually get. There were some expressions in them that he himself could not understand but it made his heart to squeeze, making him feeling like he was suffocating. On top of that, people usually stared at his hair only once but he caught her staring at his hair for many times since the moment they met.

He realised that before, when they were up on the hill, the cold guard who followed big sister around also stared at his red hair more longer than any other usual people.

Eithne raised her brows in an oblivious way as she retracted her gaze from the fiery red hair and meet the eyes of the youngster.

"It's beautiful," Eithne answered in an unhurried way. "And it reminds me of someone."

This made Harith to raise his brow.

"I used to think that I am the only one with this kind of red hair!" he exclaimed, pulling some strands of his hair.

Eithne just smiled as she threw her gaze out of the window, watching the scenery outside of the moving carriage.

"You never know, perhaps it's true that it's only you who have it in the whole world," she said to the youth but the latter part of the sentence were only said in her mind.