Emptiness

A FAMILIAR AROMA filled the princess' nose, it woke her up completely from her deep sleep. Pearl opened her eyelids, revealing her beautiful blue eyes, and she soon heard the familiar voices of the knights. 'Hmmm? It's morning already?' She thought to herself as she caressed her head. She's having a bad head ache.

"Ugh." She groaned in pain and annoyance as she picked herself up to leave the carriage. She slammed the carriage door open, as if she wanted to break it.

"Somebody make me lemonade!" She shouts like a mad man, the knights flinched in surprise of the loud noise but they were quick to act. They were a squad of knight tasked to protect Pearl wherever she may be, thus they've known her since she was a little lady and they've seen her grow up.

A knight immediately walked to her, holding a cup of lemonade that they had prepared before they started cooking breakfast. The princess likes drinking, but she didn't like having a bad hang over, and she's often annoyed and would ask for some lemonade the moment she wakes up. Sounds too carefree for a princess right? The Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess didn't mind her chaotic character, and because of that she gained a infamous nicknames.

The unrefined princess, the insane lady of Novak Grand Duchy, etc. Because of those nicknames, ladies close to her age didn't want to approach her. Well, at least there was one lady, who was the most elegant lady she's seen that was her age, that became her very best friend.

"By the way, where's Hades?" Pearl asked the knights after taking a sip on the cup of lemonade. And just before they could say anything , the attention shifted to the sudden noise. It was Leo on the horse, and he looked as if he was being chased by a beast.

Leo hurriedly jumped off the horse and ran to the princess. For some reason, his eyes scream fear as if he was going to die soon, and the knights became alert. What could be the reason that had their commander run for his life so desperately? And where's their young master? Huh? Wait, no way…

Did their young master lose?

Leo stopped his tracks in front of Pearl to take a quick breather. "P-princess, hah…" Leo panted as he called for her. Pearl raised a brow at him, she wasn't in the mood for this. "What?" She asked and Leo pouted at her, he was seriously close to crying like a big brat.

"P-please… Protect me!"

Huh? D-Did they just heard and see a knight commander asking a ducal princess for protection?

"Oh, Leo~" Somehow, all of them shivered at that voice. It sounded sweet, but it gave off this ominous feeling. They glanced to the direction that Leo came from and saw Hades, stained with dirt and blood, while holding an unsheathed sword. He was wearing his usual unreadable smile as he walked towards them.

"Leo~ Let's not waste our time, okay? Didn't you say I need to prove that I'm not a weak man? So, come out and fight me, shithead~" Hades talked and walked like a predator with a smile, he even cursed like ruffian in a polite tone! 'Is this what the bandits felt? Is this real fear?'

The knights shivered at that, and Leo immediately ran and hid behind the princess. Pearl was dumbfounded and confused, she didn't know what was going on.

"Leo, what did you do?" Pearl asked.

"I only told him that, it wasn't like him to be bothered about why he wasn't guilty of killing the bandits that tried to rob us earlier. I mean, they were all strangers to him, and it's normal to not feel anything like guilt even after killing off a stranger!" Leo argued all of a sudden, and Pearl, who was already in a foul mood, couldn't tolerate his stupid mistake.

"Are you out of your mind? You expect a knight who's a decade younger than you to understand that?! He may be old enough and have received harsh training since he was young, but taking a person's life is different!" Pearl stated, and Leo only became confused. Somehow, that statement made Hades sound like an ignorant and naïve little boy. He's not even close to that!

"Did you not understand what I just said? I said, he was bothered about why he wasn't guilty taking a life!" He cleared up, raising his voice, and his tone started to become a little too informal. Pearl glared at him as she faced him fully.

"That's the point, and you're the one who doesn't understand! So what if he was bothered by not feeling guilty?! That's normal for someone who's taught differently, and you're teasing him about it?! Did you bump your head?!" And Pearl argues again, but Leo didn't back down.

"It's a stupid and unmanly afterthought for someone who basically went through hell half of his life!"

"Humans question themselves too! Are you not one?!"

"I am! Are you implying I'm not?!"

And they continued their pointless argument. 'Both of them don't understand a thing, sigh.' Even Hades was getting tired just listening to them, he was now not in the mood for any of these. He changed the course of where he was walking to and placed the sword on the nearby table. An older knight walked closer to him and gave him a clean towel and a new set of clothes.

"Young Master, we set up the bath house over there. The water is nice and warm." The knight said to the younger, pointing a tent that was set up near the carriage, and Hades simply nodded at him as he takes hold of the towel and new set of clothes. While he did, he also felt the knight stare at him for a while. Hades stared back at him, tilting his head in confusion.

"What's wrong, Sir Jack?"

"Ah." The knight, Jack, realized and somehow let out a chuckle."Forgive me for staring too much, Young Master. I just thought that it's been a long while since I've seen your eyes glowing green." He mentioned and took a good look at the glowing green irises of their young master.

"Ah." Hades paused for a moment, but ended up smiling.

Glowing green eyes. At first, his first brother, Morado and his second sister, Maize were surprised to learn that the medicine they created had a one side effect. After taking the medicine, his jet eyes would glow in a deep green color, and it would last for about three hours. Luckily, there was no harm caused by this side effect and there was no need to remove or add unnecessary ingredients. It had been a sign that the medicine is working perfectly.

"I didn't have a chance to take my medicine yesterday, that's why I took one before I fell asleep. Now that I think of it, it's already eight in the morning? I left my pocket watch in the carriage." Hades explained and asked. He had a good guess of the time because the side effects of his medicine show six hours after he takes it.

Jack nods back at him in confirmation. Silence reigned between them for a moment, but Jack broke it. "How are you feeling? You should've just asked us to handle those ruffians earlier, I don't know why our young fool of a commander let you dirty your hands like that." He asked, showing his concern for the young man. Hades simply smiled.

"That's the problem, Sir. I don't feel anything." He stated, and left without saying another word. Jack and some of the knights watched his broad back as he headed to the bath house.

There are times that they can't help but want to tell the young man to stop pushing himself to the point that he's half dead. They have seen how rough his training was, it was harder than theirs, because the Grand Duke trained Hades all by himself. They thought, Hades desperately wanted to prove everyone that he deserved to be called a Novak.

That's what they thought.