The Argument

Aiomi looks differently from his brother.

He has this clean cut blond hair , with  tantalizing ocean blue eyes, he also has a tanned skin and he's taller than Hikaru, on the other hand, Hikaru has black long hair, which is tied neatly. He has this charismatic deep amber eyes, his complexion is pale yet you could see his cheeks are a bit pinkish. Both of them has pink lips and good looking.

In my opinion, Aiomi is older than his brother. Why did I say so? Because of how Aiomi scolded him.

You could see how Hikaru holds his patience.

Aiomi charges to him and started mocking him,

"You're so dumb! You were the king but you're so insensitive!”

That's what I heard.

Aiomi's voice is a bit husky even though he is angry. The shack where we hid isn't far, so we can hear some of their conversation.

We looked at Hikaru and Aiomi, they were arguing about something.

I want to go out of our hiding place and barge in but I might get myself to a bigger trouble.

Where am I really?

Out of the blue, Meimei asked me " Your highness, are you okay?"

There is 'the highness' again.

I am shaking not because I am scared, but because of how he scolds and mocks the emperor. But what can I do? I don't even know the whole story.

I just nodded and asked myself why are they so polite.

I looked at Mei mei, she refused to look into my eyes.

I stare outside, observing the siblings as I asked her, "Why are they calling me Highness?"

She swallowed hard before she looked at me and back to the siblings.

"I-It's because of..."

Before she could continue her words, we heard Aiomi screamed in frustration.

I haven’t heard their conversation well, I was so occupied by their politeness and that 'your highness' thing.

It puzzles me a lot.

Aiomi who looks infuriated suddenly left and Hikaru who seems exhausted from their quarrel looked at us.

We waited for Aiomi to leave the area, before we got out of the shack where we hide.

We walked to Hikaru's place, he looked burnt out.

He smiled wearily at us, he mouthed,"Sorry about that."

The servant excused herself, she bowed down and left us.

Hikaru stared at me, he placed his hands behind his waist and grasp it. He still wears those smiles, doesn't he get tired of smiling after all of it?

I felt comfortable around him, I don't know why but what can I do? He makes me feel secured.

"Sorry, he doesn't come here often." He said as he looked at the staircase a few meters from us.

He started walking and I just followed him.

The two of us walked towards the elegant staircase of the palace. Its handles were made of gold and there's a red carpet like in the middle of the stairs. The stairs is complimented by flowers possibly picked from the palace garden (I just thought).

As we slowly lift our feet from the steps, he suddenly asked me, “Aren’t you scared when Aiomi arrived, your highness?” Hikaru asked and even him, he called me ‘highness’.

It puzzles me a lot. When we are at the last step of the staircase, I noticed something.

I saw something What my eyes caught was its frame was velvet red, it was glimmerring in the darkness like stars have shone on it. The size of the frame almost filled one wall of the palace.

My sight became blurry, I froze where I stand. My tear drops on my cheeks, I can't stop staring at the portrait of the woman painted on that canvass.

I slowly turn around to Hikaru. He, too was looking at the portrait.

My voice cracked and trembled, "Who is she?"

Why do I felt sadness all of a sudden?