Empress Natsume ✓

LV

They have travelled for half a day and now it's the afternoon already, the sun is scorching hot and Natsume could barely stand the heat, she wasn't accustomed to it, though she likes going outdoors, she doesn't go out during summer like this time, choosing to play indoors with her servants rather than going out like she usually did.

Travelling for a day and half, including their yesterday's travel, they should have arrived near the village already but Natsume saw nothing but an endless sight of trees and mountains.

"When are we going to arrive?"

She asked for the tenth time and he didn't respond to her, as always. He just keep his back and line of sight straight while riding his horse.

In all honesty, he doesn't know when will they arrive. According to his memory, this path should be the one they had passed through before going to the mountain. Base on their situation, that wasn't the case.

The horse they're riding neighed and jerked upward, deciding to stop in its track. Natsume almost fall out of the horse due to its movements, thankfully, she got a hold of this big brother's waist.

He didn't notice that he already reached a cliff. They have gone this far and yet he can't even catch a glimpse of the Takahiro village, just an endless sight of trees and mountains with not a single person in sight.

"We're lost... "

He finally admitted it to himself. It's not that he was bad at direction, it's just that this forest at the foot of the mountain is too complex, no wonder his group of bandits chose this place.

When dusk finally came upon them, they have climbed a big tree to sleep on, afraid that a wild animal will attack and eat them if they sleep on the ground.

Again with no fire, darkness engulfed them.

"Stupid mosquitoes!"

Natsume slapped her arm when she felt it being bitten by one of these blood sucking beasts. She unexpectedly felt a little liquid on her hand, she must have crushed it.

"Good for you!"

She exclaimed and began clapping her hands around her in hopes of crushing more mosquitoes who keep hovering around her with an annoying sound.

"Go die! Die! Die!"

"For once, will you just shut up!!"

This pretty boy is quite annoyed now. After he finally managed to snuck out of their hideout with this girl (which is quite a challenge for him). He's now facing another problem one after another. The first one is that the group of bandits is fast catching up them. Second, they're lost in the middle of the forest after travelling for two days. Third, they might miss the meeting with Lord Takahiro and his effort will go down the drain. If that happens, not only didn't he receives any benefits, he will bring trouble to himself by messing up with his own group.

He was deep in thoughts, what he needs now is silence to figure things out but this girl can't just shut her mouth.

Natsume pursed her lips while looking at him with her bright eyes blinking innocently. Even her stares can be quite annoying.

He let out a sigh before lying down on the thick branch of the tree, while Natsume is at the opposite side of him.

"Say... You know my name but I don't know yours"

She said with a low voice, her voice carried a childish tone, sweet and smooth. He didn't respond and closed his eyes, deciding not to reply lest she speak endlessly again. Oh, how wrong he was. She doesn't know when to shut up if she's in the mood to chat.

"My father named me Natsume because I was born in summer. Although many men in this era find it disappointing for a girl to be their eldest, my father is not one of them. When I was born, he was overjoyed and the bell in the village rang from dawn till dusk, the village feasted for three days to celebrate my birth. Thinking of him now, he must be so worried of me. He's already old, worrying will advance his age even more. Did you know? Even if I'm an only child, my father doesn't pressure my mom to give birth to a son. Though many people demands my father to have a son including our clan, he never once touch another woman aside from my mother. Isn't he too loyal? My mother once asked me that if there are many ambitious men, most of them are just peasants, ten are with wealth, five are with power, two are with supreme power, and one has the world in his palm. Which one will I choose? It took me a long time to answer that, and so I told her to wait and I will tell her my answer tomorrow"

Really doesn't know how to shut her mouth. Hearing her talk about her parents, he listened quietly at the side. After all, he was also curious. What would it be like to have one's parents?

"So after a day, I came to my mother to tell her my answer. I told her that if they're all ambitious, I wouldn't choose any of them. My mother laughed at my answer, she said that if I'm going to choose a man without any ambitions, I will lead a harsh life. What man without any ambitions can feed and protect his family from harm? He will only love me but we'll live in poverty, in this time of endless bloody wars, those who don't have powers are abused and easily got killed with just a word from the nobles. When I heard that, I quickly changed my answer and told her that I want an ambitious man with power. She then asked me 'are you willing to be cast aside for his ambitions?' To which I replied 'No' she said that if I don't want to be sacrificed, I have to be smart and sacrificed him for my ambitions instead. I actually don't understand. What does it mean to be smart to outsmart someone with ambitions?"

Hearing her talk until now, it makes his head ache. The world of nobles is truly troublesome and complicated, them and their overly elaborated etiquettes and scheming thoughts.

This girl in front of him, he could tell that she's loved with her dotting parents and is ignorant of this world. Yet he knows that this innocence of her will soon be tinted with red, he knew from the words she spoke just now that sooner or later, her clan has no choice but to hand her over to a man with power. She's the sacrificial lamb and she doesn't know it herself.

This is how it is in the first place, if you're born from a noble family in this era, a man will go to war at the age of ten and a woman will be given to a man for political purposes as soon as she reached her puberty. That's how it is and there's no escaping it, even the commoners have harsher lives than them.

Compared to what he is going through life, hers is nothing.

'Sacrifice your beloved one to save many' that's how it is for her.

'Washing your hands with blood is the way to survive'
That's how it is for him.

"I've talked too much about myself. How about you? What's your name? What's the meaning of your name? Why don't you share something about your life?"

Face with these endless questions, he doesn't know how to answer or, rather, he doesn't want to answer any of her questions. She'll probably have a nightmare if he did told her something about his life.

"Just sleep"

He commanded, closing his eyes again without any interest of her ramblings.