"..." Julia stopped walking for a moment, slowly turning her head to Alessia, she asked. "Did he now?"
"Um..." Alessia averted her eyes. "...Yes."
"I see." Julia nodded with her plain expression and strode off in a different direction than she was heading before. "Lead the way."
"Yes!" Alessia quickly caught up, walking two steps ahead of Julia.
Iris silently trailed behind Julia without a word to the rest of the group, and quickly the sound of their footsteps faded into the distance, leaving the boys behind, awkwardly standing in place.
"Where were we even going before?" Alden broke the silence, returning his gaze back to the direction they were previously headed.
"Uh." Alan scratched the back of his head, looking around his surroundings.
The boys were surrounded by fields of crimson flowers, varying in all sorts of species but still holding a common ruby hue.
"To the dressing rooms." Lucian explained their doubts.
"Oh yeah, right." Alan nodded, finally remembering their destination.
There was a reason Lucian called it the dressing 'rooms', just like how they set their beds in the middle of the garden right beside a pond, the four of them placed wardrobes holding their clothes in a different part of the garden.
The wardrobes weren't the only thing, they had a lounge with sofas and tables somewhere, then a kitchen next to the river, which they never used, and also a jacuzzi near the training ground.
'Hmm.' Now that Alan thought about it, they were treating the entire garden as a house of some sort...
"Eh, who cares?" Alan shrugged, leading the path to the dressing rooms.
"Sometimes I wonder about your choices..." Alden muttered, closely following behind Alan.
Very soon silence took hold of the place, it was a quiet, comfortable one.
"Filth."
"You literally have no reason to even say that."
Only to be broken by their bickering.
...
Step Step
Their boots struck the stone flooring, creating sharp, echoing clacks through the vast hallways of the castle.
Alessia moved at the front of the group, walking forward while nervously fidgeting with her fingers, occasionally glancing back to check on Julia.
She made a quick peek to glance at Julia's expression once more, and sure enough, it wasn't great.
Julia's eyes were slightly narrowed as if displeased, her lips dragged down to a small, tight frown.
Alessia didn't even know what to say or know why the cheerful atmosphere was suddenly replaced by such a serious mood.
This was, after all, her first time getting to know Julia, in their youth, every child of the grand duke families was forced to visit the royal castle, they would make more trips to the castle even as they grew older.
But she never once saw Julia, nor did she have an encounter with the fourth princess, Alessia came to the royal castle without even properly knowing whose ceremony they were celebrating.
The only reason she even found her was because she decided to follow her brother Alden to Julia's garden, having heard Alan and Lucian were staying there.
So she came just to see how Alan and Lucian were after a long period of time of not seeing one another, especially Lucian, whom she caught feelings for during the last six years.
Despite somewhat getting over him, she of course had some lingering feelings, her main reason for going was to see if Lucian would say anything to her, but she was only left disappointed...
Either way, it was a pleasant surprise to find a garden in an area she didn't even know existed within the castle.
An even bigger surprise was when she saw Julia, she never imagined the princess was so beautiful, of course as a princess, beauty was a given, but Julia was a unique case, holding unusual eyes Alessia had never seen on humans.
The only face of Julia she had ever seen was the bright, lively attitude, now faced with such a one-eighty, Alessia wasn't even sure of what to say.
Step Step
All of Alessia's thoughts remained within her brain, never voicing her questions, the three of them continued walking through the hallways without change.
They turned a corner in the hallway, moving into another corridor, along the right side was an open wall with stone railings, granting view to a small garden with a little pond in the centre.
Passing by, Julia glanced at the area, silently observing all the little details of the place, from the species of the green plants to the lily pads gently floating along the pond's surface.
A small smile flickered on her lips, but soon she noticed two people on the opposite side of the place, behind a stone pillar.
Two maids were standing behind the pillar, one with her hands covering her mouth, whispering words to the other maid, while offering a sideways glance to Julia, not even attempting to hide her displeased expression.
Whatever fleeting smile Julia gained, vanished, her eyes once again facing forward, her lips pulling to a frown.
Pat
From behind, Iris silently patted Julia's shoulders, quietly supporting Julia in her own way.
"Hah..." Julia sighed, releasing some of the unnecessary tension she'd been building up, the real reason she was in such a heavy mood was, of course, due to the emperor.
Her father, if he could even be called that, had never directly called her for an audience before, in fact, he never properly conversed with her in the first place, always observing from a distance, staring at her with eyes she never understood the meaning of.
With all sorts of thoughts clouding her head, she walked forward with an expressionless face.
...
"You're here." Arlo greeted them with a small smile, he lightly waved his hand.
The trio finally arrived at their destination, standing before them was a large double door, coated in pure gold, inscribed with designs and patterns.
It was the audience chamber of the royal castle, where the throne of the emperor resided, where every important meeting was held, and where the emperor was currently at.
"Thank you." Julia lightly bowed to Alessia for leading the way.
"Oh!" Alessia seemed flustered for a small moment before quickly waving her hands. "It's fine, it's fine."
"..." Julia remained silent, staring back with a small, faint smile.
"Well, um... I'll get going...?" Alessia awkwardly smiled, taking small steps back, then dashed off in an extremely unladylike manner.
After the running steps receded into the distance, Julia focused back on Arlo. "Why are you here?"
"Well, I was called for an audience?" Arlo replied. "Actually I was going to come bring you, but I guess Alessia beat me to it."
"I guess so." Julia cut their conversation short, walking forward towards the golden double door.
"Geez, guess you're in a hurry." Arlo could only shake his head.
Julia paused, stopping just before the giant double door, she glanced back at Iris, who didn't escort her.
"I'll be over here." Iris raised a thumb.
"Okay then." Julia nodded back, turning around, she pressed her hands against the door, pushing it open.
...
Thud
Julia and Arlo stepped into the audience chamber, from behind them the ornate double doors swung shut with a heavy, echoing thud.
Step
The sound of their footsteps reverberated through the silent chamber, swallowed by the high ceilings.
Ahead of them was a long red carpet, leading them forward towards something, along the sides of the lengthy carpet, high pillars of gold stood planted into the ground, reaching the ceiling above.
The stone walls were polished to an unnatural degree, clear to the point of almost being able to see one's reflection on it, attached to the walls were towering cross windows, laying rays of sun onto the ground.
They kept walking until reaching the end of the chamber.
A flight of stairs covered with the same red carpet from before, guiding their eyes to trail up the stairs.
At the peak of it all was a throne, it was much simpler and less extraordinary compared to the rest of the chamber, nonetheless it was the most eye-catching part of the place due to the person seated upon it.
Blond hair fell down to his shoulders, framing his face like a lion's mane, his clothing was extravagant, with a dark blue cape wrapped around his shoulders.
A pair of empty, cold blue eyes stared back at Julia and Arlo, unblinking as if scanning the two from within, a crown, a simple gold crown, circled around the top of his head.
Julia didn't even need introductions to know who it was, in fact, no one did.
Cassian Von Valenheart, the emperor of the Northern continent, the ruler of the lands, and the supposed father of Julia.
"You two have grown." His deep voice broke the silence, snapping Julia and Arlo out of their trance.
"Your majesty!" Arlo knelt on the spot, lowering his head to the emperor.
But Julia didn't, she remained standing, staring back into the emperor's eyes, not offering any respect or acknowledgement.
"Hmm." Cassian's thoughtful hum echoed through the silent chamber.
Buzz
'A fly?' Julia got distracted for a small moment, in front of her was a small fly trespassing into the audience chamber.
"An insect." Cassian muttered, his expression didn't change.
Splat
Before Julia even blinked, the fly exploded into miniscule particles of blood, then evaporated as if it were never there.
Julia clenched her teeth, her iris trembled slightly, a small sense of fear gripping her heart, it was easy to forget, but the one seated before her was one of the world's strongest.
"I have called you two today." The emperor continued speaking, gazing at Julia. "As you may know, today's your age of coming ceremony."
"So...?" Julia practically forced the words out of her mouth, unable to fully rid the fear gnawing at her.
"First of all, congratulations." Cassian praised her.
"Congratulations...?" Julia trailed off her words, falling silent.
Just how much did she hope for such words before? Just how much did she pray for even the slightest bit of acknowledgement from the emperor or any members of the royal family?
Just how many days did she spend wishing to hear a word from her siblings, her father?
"Yes, I've called you to inf—"
"Shut up."
Julia cut the emperors words off.
Veins throbbed at her temple, her jaws locked in raw, unexplainable rage she couldn't handle, so much that it completely overrided the fear she felt moments ago.
Just how much did she curse the royal family for their neglect and torment? Just how much resentment did she build within herself over the years of her life, towards the members of the royal family?
Just how many days did she spend craving to escape from the castle keeping her trapped?
The answer? Much more than she ever hoped, prayed or wished for acknowledgement from the family.
Cassian fell silent, staring back without speaking or even having a shift in expression.
"After this ceremony." Julia reached into her pocket. "I'm leaving this castle, and the whole continent."
She pulled out a ball, held within her fist was a brown cluster of dirt, from below Arlo looked up in horror, already predicting what was coming.
Julia lifted her hand, and hurled the ball of dirt straight towards the emperor at breakneck speed.
SPLAT
The ball blotched into a mess, like it struck an invisble wall before even hitting the emperor.
Thuk
Dirt flopped over the pristine, clear carpet, dirtying and staining the perfect scarlet silk.
"So don't speak to me any more." Julia finished her sentence.
She instantly spun on her heels, striding off to the double doors, without an ounce of respect to the emperor.
Thud
Very soon she exited the audience chamber, leaving the place in absolute silence, and with Arlo's pale face, as if he saw a ghost.
"Your sister is quite something." The emperor mused.
"Indeed..." Arlo still couldn't close his hanging jaw.