Chương 6: The boy

If you pointed a dagger at a child not older than seven years old, he would either run, look scared or cry for help. But this boy, this little boy looked as if he couldn't careless about the tip of a dagger pointed at his nose by a petrified older girl. His expression didn't even change at all when she slowly hid the dagger when she saw that he was just a kid. "Do you like it here, too?" He asked calmly, like she wasn't almost about to stab his face.

She stared down at him like he had two heads, a moment passed before she answered. "Yes…it's quiet."

He nodded with the cutest dimpled smile Victoria had ever seen and went closer to the pond and sat at the edge, admiring the tadpoles and the fishes.

"How did you sneak up on me?" She was a trained warrior, she spent years in the temple and months in the battlefield, she found it very strange for a child to have snuck up on her like she wasn't trained to be aware of her surroundings at all times.

"I didn't, you were just distracted." was his reply…something about this boy, felt familiar. The pond, the bridge, the flowers, the songs from the birds…it all was as if she had been here before.

"Where are your parents?" Victoria asked, sitting down on the grass, not even caring about her dress. "Do they work in the palace?"

The kid shrugged, "Kind of." Then he looked at her. "Are you the Light Realm girl?"

Victoria sighed, hugging her knees. "Yes."

She half expected him to get up and run away back to his parents. To him, she was an enemy to their people…and she truly was. She was planning on murdering his King after all and plunging them to one thousand years of disorderliness due to no true Demon King.

The boy only blinked and tilted his head so innocently it made her heart almost burst into bits right there. "Do you miss your home?"

Victoria eyes went wide, she wasn't expecting that question. This boy liked taking her by surprise it seemed. "Yes, I do…a little. But this castle is very pretty."

"Would want to stay here forever?"

Victoria shook her head, "no, I don't."

The boy looked away and Victoria decided to turn the tables and do the interrogating. "What's your name?"

The boy was silent for a moment, "Stefan." He said finally.

Victoria smiled for the first time. "Aren't your parents going to be mad at you for talking to someone from the Light Realm, Stefan?"

Stefan shrugged again, "they're busy, and I don't care if you're from the Light Realm, My Lady."

"Really? Why?" Victoria asked, genuinely curious.

"It don't think it's fair to judge people because of where they're from." He replied, Victoria had to remind herself that this boy was most likely a seven year old.

"But the Light Realm is an enemy of your people, we've killed thousands of your kind in battle over the years." Victoria pressed, "Surely you should have a family member who was killed due to the war, everyone does." She thought of the Alcazarian soldiers she had killed with her fire abilities in the war, she would hurl fire balls at some, made some catch on fire and even slash at some with a blade.

Victoria was responsible for over two hundred deaths of Alcazarian soldiers while in the battlefield, those soldiers must have had families who waited for them to return…but never saw them alive.

Stefan thought for a moment, "I have lost someone. But the war is finally over, so they'll be no more bloodshed. So why shouldn't we make peace now?"

"You're a funny boy, aren't you?" Victoria gaped at the small boy, how could someone so young, reason like this? Like he was a teenager who had seen everything the world have to offer. "How old did you say you were?"

The boy was about to reply when the voice of a man yelled from behind them. "There you are!"

Victoria turned around to see a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair and brown eyes running towards them. Judging by his outfit, he wasn't of noble blood. Just a worker in the castle.

From the corner of her eyes, she caught the boy rolling his red eyes with a huge sigh.

The man exclaimed, "I've been looking everywhere for you –"

"Are you his father?" Victoria asked, standing up.

The man's eyes lit up in recognition then his face went straight to confusion right after. "Me? Um…" he took a quick glance at Stefan who was now standing beside him, before answering. "Why, yes. I am."

Victoria smiled, "you have raised quite a boy, he's so intelligent. I hope you do realize your son has so much potential."

The man laughed nervously, then took a glance at Stefan with a strange look. "One would say he has the mind of a man."

"My point exactly." Victoria smiled, somehow finding his expressions strange but trying not to show it.

"Thank you very much, My Lady. But I must take him in." He glanced at the boy again as if trying to convey a hidden message. "His mother wants to see him."

Victoria nodded watching as the man, took the boy by the hand and ushered him back into the castle. Leaving Victoria standing there alone without her young companion. If a mere child was ready to forgive the other side of war for peace. Why wasn't she? Why was she still hellbent on revenge?

'I made a promise to Father Ambrose, I also have a Realm to set free and parents to avenge.'

She took one last look at the scenery again, feeling nostalgic for no reason before leaving to the stables no so far from there.

Inside of Victoria's quarters, Mallory took a step back from her work. Staring in amazement at the dress she just spent over three hours on. "There's no way the other ladies can compete against this." She said out loud to no one really and giggled in delight. Then went back to work to add some final touches before the sun went down and Victoria came back from her stroll.