The area where they went to have their snack was a separate garden closer to the main palace.
'Must be where guest are allowed to roam, that's why it's closer to the main palace.'
She looked around the garden and saw pathways with bricks and stones, the area lighted with light stones embedded into the ground with earth magic.
The flowers light and gave of a soothing aura. The lavender, daisys of different color and jasmine flowers just bloom on the sides. While bushes of hibiscus, hydrangeas, and lilacs flowers bloom to lead the path or create a private space for people to converse.
'I love fantasy worlds, because most flowers that have different environment to grow end up growing in the same areas.'
She just had to laugh at the logic of this world and feels more of how this is just a game created for peoples entertainment.
"Is something funny our dear princess? You seem to be is a happy mood." Ariel looks up at Sakura and lightly pokes her cheek when he saw her laugh.
'Yup, I'm just laughing how we're all just fictional characters. How maybe even now, are every move will lead to choices of A, B, or C.'
"It'ths such a pretty gardeth." She claps her hands in joy and giggles a bit too.
"It is a pretty garden, but not as pretty as you princess." He lightly pinches her cheek and smiles up at her.
"Whose prettier, me or your wife?" Sakura smiles a bit evily in her hands, waiting for his answer.
'Either answer will be a no go. So let's see how he'll answer.'
"... why do I feel like our princess aims for my downfall with that question?"
"Irrevrenth! Answuer thee questionth!" She looks down at him with a small smirk in her lips, gaining Ariel to actually become speechless with this child's twisted mind.
"I believe both are prettier than this garden."
"Oh~? Ith see... I'll accepth that answuer. For now..." she lightly mumbled the last part while smiling with other ideas.
"...gulp" Ariel can see her mind turning with ideas, but doesn't know what.
'... but it seems it was a good idea to take her to her mother's garden. It feels like she opened up more of herself to us.'
He sighs a bit in relief and continues till they reach an area with a table and five seats. The chairs a off white color, with flowers and ivy leaf designes molded as its main trait, the table made of wood and glass.
The glass itself showing how expensive this is, because the creation of glass is an expensive progress that not many know. Only a few people do, but they learned it from the main source who first created glass. The dwarfs.
'Mostly all what we use are imported by the dwarf kingdom, that shows prestige, but their products are of the highest quality so that's another reason those of royalty and nobility use their creations.'
She can only whistle in her mind of how well it is created by just a glance. It looks like the glass was rooted to the wood. The shine of the wood shows that it was well waxed and carved, and expensive wood at that.
'I actually can't wait to meet the different races, I wonder if I'll see them earlier that the game beginning. When I'm 16.'
Azrael gently lifts Sakura off his shoulders and places her in the chair that was a bit higher, to make it easier for her to sit and reach around the table.
But what caught their attention were the extra chairs.
Ariel narrows his eyes but quickly smiles to hide his thoughts. He turns to a maid who brought dishes of different pastries and stops her from moving away.
"Who else is sitting here with us? I don't remember hearing an additional 2?"
He smiles gently and waits for her answer.
She looks down and felt a bit of a flush from being looked at by a gorgeous and powerful man, but quickly found her bearing and tries to answer him.
"Um, a guest has arrived today. But when they heard his highness was busy on a meeting, they decided to spend their time with her highness, Sakura."
"And who are they to actually ask and be allowed to spend time with her highness without his majesty's permission?"
"They-"
"Who do I need to ask permission to meet my granddaughter?"
Two people show up from the entrance, the aura around them gave off the sense of power and elegance.
The man had an expressionless face, while holding his companions hand. The women smiles lightly and her eyes twinkled with a crystalized gleam to them, her face not even showing her age, the same can be said of her partner. The couple both look young and only their hair with a bit of whiting shows how old they are.
Noticing who they were with just a glance, both Ariel and Azrael kneel with one leg, while the opposite arm cross in front of their chest, their heads bowed to the ground. While the maids bow fully without a hint of looking up.
Sakura took it all in and stared at the gorgeous couple. The man was composed and poised with not a hint of an expression, his eyes seemed to glow and shine a ruby red. The inner parts, it is hard to see, but there was a bit of powder purple.
'Heh, I think it is called tyrian purple. I remember my friend told me of this color, its other names can be either royal or imperial purple. How fitting.'
While thinking so, she noticed his hair had a flair of ruby red and highlights of the purple, with a bit of white popping up here and there. But when looking at him you can see where Mihkael got his eyes, they held a mystifying affect on people, they were upturned, and the eyebrows perfectly shaped, not too much nor too little hair, the eyelashes were in the midrange, not too long, nor too short.
His nose sharp and well sculpted in his face as well with his full lips, not too rosy, but a healthy glow to them.
But the women with him didn't fall back while being next to him. Her steps were graceful, the evening ball gown type dress she is wearing didn't pickup any dirt while moving with each step she takes. The dress made with silver satin, that lightly changes under the evening sun. Her face held a pale yet healthy glow to it, her cheeks filled with a natural blush, and her full rosy red lip held a smile that gave a calming effect, her eyes, almond shaped held a light blue color. They shone a silver when looked at a different angle.
Her figure thin yet not too much. She was an alluring beauty.
'.... are you sure they are my grandparents? I heard her say grandchild, but she no look like a women who has a grandchild.'
Sakura wondered how unfair this world is, how much it looks to be a perfect area to make harems for any gender.
"Rise." The man lightly waved them to stand and pulled the chair himself for his wife to sit on. She sweetly smiles up at him and whispered a thank you filled with tender love.
'I don't believe this was something that occurred in the game. I know, because Sakura met her grandparents for the first time when Rose showed up.'
"This child is mine?" Mihkael looks down at Rose, the girl hiding behind her mother. This was the first time she appeared before so many people who didn't live in the orphanage her mother worked in.
And this was the first time she ever heard of her father. The man looked down coldly at the pair of mother and daughter, causing Rose to hide even more.
Seeing the girls actions, he eased up the pressure he released and lightly gestures her to get closer. At first she hesitated, but stood straight with her chin up and walked over to his majesty. He smiles at her show of strength and allows her to stand in front of him.
He stands up and hovers over her with his height, causing Rose to gulp nervously. He lightly pats her head and felt the energy in her blood. It glows a light blue energy, meaning that the blood they share is compatible; she is his child.
The people in the surrounding gasped, and a noise of a glass shattering is heard. Everyone turn to the sound and see Sakura bleeding from the hand. Her hand seem to have held the glass cup to tightly, to the point that it shatters in her hand.
"Can't be... father would never have a bastard child with a maid!!". 'He loved my mother!!.... didn't he?' Her voice filled the halls, but her true thoughts hidden in her mind.
The emperor looks at her in a disapproving way.
"Are you saying that the magic that is used to reveal ones birth is mistaken? Do not speak foolish things if you don't want to embarrass yourself next time."
He felt others gaze at Sakura in contempt when she tried to deny Rose, even with the proof of the light blue color, showing that they are connected, and it's the color of paternal connection.
"I-I didn't..."
"Sakura, enough!" A womens voice can be heard in the entrance, the previous empress and emperor arrived and the same time Sakura called her half sister a bastard child.
"Your majesties!?"
Sakura was startled, but knew from looking at portraits, that this was her grandparents. This was the first time she ever met them and she didn't expect it would be in such a way.
"But!!"
"Did your tutors not train you to not speak back to your elders!? Do not say another word, or else you'll bring shame to our royal family!"
Her grandmother frowned when looking at her, especially when she saw her grandchild hands bleeding, she didn't expect to meet her grandchild this way, nor find out that she had another hidden away somewhere.
But what was more important, was to get Sakura to see a healer.
"Go to the healer tower and have that checked, then go to your chamber and contemplate what you have done."
"!!!.... yes, your majesty."
Sakura does a curtsey bow, and turns away, her back straight and held held high, yet if people looked at her hands, they can see them shaking.
'Why, why ,why!! Why do they protect her so! It's as if father raised her from infancy, and I'm the bastard child! Even the first meeting with my grandparents ended in disaster because of her!!'
Her face was twisted with pain and anger, envy and hatred, but if looked closer, hidden in all that was pain: pain of favoritism that was show to her half sister with just an appearance.
'....today was my debut to higher society... before beginning the school that all noble and royal teens attend in their 16 of age..."
Hot tears can be felt dripping down her eyes, and she knew that everyone will talk of the second child of the emperor, and the embarrassment of the first one was. Before she can wallow on with her self pity, a small voice bloomed in her head.
'Soon, they will discard you for her. You already mean nothing to them.'
'!!! Who!?' She quickly turns around, but sees no one, she then turns to look at her surrounding and saw no one else either.
".... I must be stressed from this incident..." she light shakes her head and continues on.
'Hehehehe....'
Only the light whispers of laughter can be heard in the shadow of the hallway, following behind Sakura.
Maybe... if she wasn't so stirred up, she would have noticed the voice was that of a male and not her own thoughts, maybe she could have went and gotten help, or if only she spoke to her family.... the incidents that would happened would have never occurred....
Sakura can only sigh with the misunderstanding that the other Sakura had, but her family didn't make it easy for her either.
'If only they told her that they did it to protect her from being badmouthed or shamed. But they just ended up making it worse for her.'
While thinking of the game Sakura, Her grandmother sits beside her and lightly pokes between her eyebrows, catching her attention.
"Hehe, What are you thinking about, your eyebrows are furrowed into a frown, that's no good."
".... why are you here?"
"Huh..."
"Why didth you show up? When I was alone withouth mama, you no show up to be there for me? So why now?"
"....was Sakura lonely?" Her grandmother smiled lightly in sadness and tried to carry her. But Sakura dodged and turned away.
"...you weren'th there when I needeth you, what makes you think I wanth you now?"
Sakura didn't know why she said those things, she knew she had to kiss up to them to get a better future, but she was annoyed with them.
She wonders if its because of them just appearing now after her going through a life or death struggle, or because of how they treated their grandchild in the game, which lead to her losing herself to the corruption.
'If only she had one parental figure that didn't seem as if it was forced just because her father pays them. Even when she knew Raphael was actually there for her, those voices didn't make it easy for her to believe in him. But if she had either her father or grandparents.... maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have fallen to those thoughts. To those lies that filled her mind. What's more, their actions fueled it more, that in the end, it made her believe that things words, and her reasoning just weakened more and more, till the point she ended up losing herself all together.'
Sakura may have pitied the game Sakura, and that's what must have lead her to say such things in her first meeting with them.
"I'm sorry..." but before she can say anything else, she heard the womens low whisper, she quickly turns to her and see a look of pain and guilt fill those beautiful light blue eyes.
"Why...."
"Because Sakura is right. I should have showed up when you needed me the most. But don't worry, from now on I'll be here, alway by your side. Please believe in grandma, ok?"
"....promise?"
"Promise." She reaches our towards Sakura, waiting for her to open herself up. Sakura look at those outstretched arms and felt a feeling fill her, she slowly inches closer and then hugs her grandmother, tightly hugging her and barrowing her face in the crook of her neck.
Her grandmother smiles and lightly pats her. Feeling that she gained something she lost. Azrael and Ariel smiled warmly at the scene, and believe that this will bring the princess reassurance for the coming future.
The previous emperor looked at the scene, and his eyes loosen up at his grandchild hiding her tears in his wife's shoulder, showing that she matured far too quickly for her age. To actually hide her emotions, even when she is just a child.
In a way. It reminded him of their son, and he felt even more pity for her.
'They weren't able to have a proper uprising because of their status, but I won't make the same mistake I made with son'.
'I will show her it is fine to express herself, to show weakness, if not to the world, but maybe at least to them.'
And that is how the first meeting between Sakura and her grandparents went. With this one meeting, a big impact will twist fate, even more so that she already has.
'I wonder in she can change her fate or not...'
A small whisper can be heard blowing through the wind, hidden away by the whistles and sounds of the birds chirping at the wind blowing.