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nThe citizen gathered together on the street shouting and cheering for the royal family from the south entering the Northern empire for peace negotiation as the war had been going on for years, and all of the people suffered a lot from it.

nPrince Adira was in charge of all preparation doing the best he could to make the festival he held for the royalty as engaging as it could but all the credit went to the crown prince who appeared in the formal royal suit at the last second with the letter of an emperor for a day with him.

nHe could only clench his fist as he was fooled by the emperor, only Kyrana was there to control him from killing anyone and ruining the day.

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"Greeting, your highness. We welcome you to our empire.

" all of the children of the emperor stood in line from the oldest to the youngest and Kyrana was standing at the end of the line watching the crown prince take all the credit her brother did.

nThat foolish crown prince was shaking hands with the enemy, the crown prince from the south, and signed the peace letter without any second thought making Kyrana and Adira furious.

nAnd the first princess from the north, princess Lyria kept glancing her eyes at that crown prince whose name was Ares. They were the same age.

nAside from the crown prince, the other royalties who came to visit the northern empire were the third prince and the first princess which was nowhere in Kyrana's sight. And apart from the royal family were their knights, they radiated the scary and cold aura.

nKyrana wore her mask to hide her face since she will do a lot of killing in the next few hours and her first target was none other than the youngest princess from the south.

nIf that princess dies, there will be no way two empires could be at peace, right? Princess Athena was even younger than Kyrana but she was rumored to be a hardworking and bright princess who had the hair of the color pink, bright like the tulip petal. Looking for that type of hair in the empire surrounded by snow wasn't such a difficult task.

nShe was very brave to dare go astray from her older brothers, and those men didn't even care about their little sister's disappearance as they went on a tour along with the crown prince to the imperial palace.

nKyrana was interesting in that princess and had the curiosity of how strong those muscles could be.

nWith the dagger behind her back, she walked around the empire with the slight grin hiding behind her mask.

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"Dumpling, dumpling. Buy three and get one for free. Dumpling~

" the festival was very crowded and the aroma of the food forced her to buy the hot and warm dumpling instantly since someone always said about how their favorite food was the dumpling.

nSince it was the festival, Kyrana decided to use that time which her brother won't be able to look out for her all the time to sneak the man in her torture room out.

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"Hey!! Brown head!!! Let's get out!!! It's time.

" killing the princess could wait, she took his hands and ran from that room. He was slightly taller than her when she saw him getting up and standing in from of her a moment ago which made her feel a little bit anxious.

nShe handed him the dumpling while running from the vast emperor which knights were present at each and every corner. Using the knowledge of the palace's layout to her advantage, they managed to escape but the more difficult task awaited them as crossing the mountain around the empire won't be much easy.

nThey stopped and stood in one place at the outside wall of the empire taking a breathe before they continued. But it only seemed that Kyrana was the only one who was exhausted from all the run when she saw that guy stuffed all the dumplings into his mouth without leaving anything for pitiful Kyrana who didn't even drink one bit of water to eat that precious dumpling.

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"Brown head, let me take off your blindfold.

"

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"Oh?? Right...

" he was surprised as he was running around without even the need of his eyes, but a surprise to Kyrana, she only noticed how her hand was held tightly by that guy the whole time, and she didn't even notice until now.

nShe took back her hand to untie his blindfold and that green eyes which had her in them were so pretty like an emerald.

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"Why do you wear a mask?

" the brown-haired guy asked Kyrana and tried to take off that mask.

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"What?? Do you want to see my beautiful face?

" she said teasing him but his response was quite the opposite of what she expected.

nHe nodded and said

"Yes.

" blushing at her.

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"Let's just get out of here first. And didn't you already know my face when you're assigned to kill me?

"

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"I was only ordered to kill the princess whose name was Lyria.

"

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"Lyria...?

"

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"Isn't your name Lyria?? Why are you making that face?

" that was the first question Kyrana couldn't answer, she didn't know why but she found herself unable to speak the truth.

nIf that day, she wasn't the one he came into her room to kill, she would might never even cross paths with him.

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"Nothing. Let's take a run using the festival street, it will be easier.

" she walked ahead of him, and thanks to her mask, that guy could only see her forced smile and not the miserable eyes behind that white and black mask.

nThat guy walked beside her keeping up with her speed jumping around with his thin legs on the green grass under the blue sky enjoying the noise of the crowd. His heart was pounding when seeing the black hair of the princess in front of him was fluttering along with the wind.

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"You have beautiful hair...

"

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"You too.

"

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"!!!

" he definitely didn't expect that kind of response from the cold and heartless woman who he could only hear the scream and begging of her victim every night begging her to spare their lives.

nBut if she was a heartless woman, he wasn't much different.

nTwo heatless people walked around the festival together, even Kyrana was always nagging him about escaping as fast as they could, that guy kept saying that they should enjoy the moment.

nThey got to eat the festival food, dancing to the music, buying a new set of clothes with the festival concept. Kyrana never wore such a dress brightly like that before but in her eyes, the guy in front of her who wore such a light blue shirt and pants was so handsome in her eyes.

nShe was curious to know what she looked like if she wore such a bright thing like that, and as she expected, when she looked at herself in the light blue dress, the only thing she could see was the stain of blood on the corner of her ears.

nSuch a thing as a bright color dress only dragged her down when she needed to kill someone. It was useless since such a pretty color will be stained with the color of blood.

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"Booyah!!! HAHAHA!!!

" her eyes shook constantly when that man let out a loud voice like that, her dress was stained with red liquid, but it wasn't disgusting and smelly like the blood. It was the painted water in the balloon which that man threw at her.

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"What're you doing??

" she giggled when seeing her dress became a mess because of that, but it got pretty much more interesting.

nShe grabbed the powder they put in many bright colors on the table in the stall and splashed it right back at him.

nIt was fun, her mask turned into a much more unique mask with all the color stain on it.

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"HAHAHA, stop it...

" her body was soaked in water, but she couldn't stop herself from playing. She played with the other kids her age too, just for an hour, she could abandon the princess's title, the cold woman who only knew how to kill, the child who only needed to find a way to survive to a little girl who would play with other kids her age.

nIt was fun and simple, she found it fun.

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"Lyria!!! My name is...Kira...

"

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"Kira...what a beautiful name--

" she gathered all her courage to compliment that guy's name but when she looked up at him to his voice, his beautiful voice, he was gone.

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"What's this...princess Kyrana??

"

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"Bro...brother???!

"

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"Princess???!!!!!!!

" all the kids ran away isolating the two siblings in the center of the festival, Kyrana's water balloon dropping on the ground, a little of it splattered on the prince's shoes making the jet black shoes no longer black but black and red instead.

nShe was terrified by the sight of that and she was scared that the red water might turn to the blood of the brown-haired guy who she spent most of the time with.

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"It's alright, everyone. Please enjoy the festival. I'll bring her highness back to her palace safely.

"

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"...

" the prince pushed her shoulder a little bit to signal her to improvise the situation instead of turning her head down like that.

nShe raised her head gulping her saliva which stuck along her throat and let out a voice from her shaking lip,

"Please...enjoy the festival...everyone.

" with a forced smile on her face as she knew very well what will happen after she goes back to the place called the 'Palace'.

nTo be continued....!

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