Beginning of the act

Clip clop

The carriage was moving towards the Rosenstein residence now. Jaden and Aliana sat without saying a word.

'I want to ask her questions...'

Jaden was getting impatient since past twenty minutes after they left Lilith's store. The sun had already hidden behind the horizon, and the moon rose as if chasing after it.

He couldn't bring himself to ask Aliana any questions but feel awkward about it. He could tell thst she was hiding a lot of things from him, by witnessing what had happened throughout the day.

"First, I will go change my clothes. As for your questions, I will answer those later."

Aliana was the one who broke the awkward silence in the carriage. Jaden only nodded in response.

The awkward silence spread again throughout the carriage. Jaden was busy thinking about something else.

'Who was the person in black clothes?'

That person had mysteriously appeared and dealt damage to one of the demon generals, like it was no big deal. Someone like that would've been famous, for sure.

"Say..."

Jaden finally opened his mouth. He was hesitating a lot. But he had to do this.

"Have you ever seen black hands rising up from someone's shadow...?"

Jaden looked outside the carriage's window. He tried avoiding meeting Aliana's eyes.

She stayed quiet for a while before glancing at Jaden. Aliana spoke while feeling curious.

"People with such an ability don't exist any more."

Jaden flinched and turned towards Aliana. She was sitting with her arms folded.

"They perished over 30 years ago."

Aliana said this with serious eyes. Jaden could tell that she wasn't lying.

He looked at the floor for a while. Then a question rose in his mind.

"What happened to them...?"

He didn't want to ask it out loud, but ended up spouting it out, unconsciously. He had the habit of blurting out what he was thinking.

"There was a bounty placed on them."

Snap

An old piece of paper appeared in Aliana's hand. It was a newspaper from 35 years ago.

「Shadow art user hunt decree」

The title was written in bold text. He read it carefully before looking at Aliana's face.

The expression on his face was literally asking; "Is this for real?". He simply couldn't believe his own eyes reading the article.

"Yeah. Don't give me that look. It was the emperor itself who passed that decree."

Aliana knew what question Jaden had on his mind. The current emperor was the one ruling at that time too.

The issue was that it wasn't him who issued the decree, but the people requested and pressured him to.

She folded the paper as it was before. And her snap made the air devour it with no trace behind.

"Is there no way that those people exist anymore...?"

Jaden's forehead had sweat on it. He had seen a person with those abilities just a while ago.

"There is... a possibility that they exist."

Aliana looked like she knew something. She looked at Jaden and opened her mouth.

"There might be survivors. I'm not sure. We can't rule out that possibility."

She had tried to look into shadow art users. Even with all the news articles and documents she collected, there were no leads found at all.

"Don't think too much about it."

Aliana said this while placing her palm on the window. She moved her hand across it, brushing off the vapors on it.

Her eyes fell upon the scenery in a motion outside. They reflected the lights on the streets.

"It's not like you've met someone like that."

Jaden flinched at Aliana's words. He had met a person like that, and even she had no idea about it.

Seeing his behaviour, Aliana glared at him. The gaze fixed on him made him feel tense.

"What is it...?"

When Jaden asked that, Aliana shook her head sideways. Then she opened the small window behind her.

"Are we not there yet?"

She asked the coachman, with a wrinkly forehead. Jaden observed her outfit closely in the meantime.

Her blue dress was dyed red. The blood used to form spears had splashed on it when she tried to fight Lilith.

That was the reason she wanted to change her clothes. There was no need for them to do anything else but visit the palace if not for that.

"We are almost there. Just one turn away."

They were about to reach Rosenstein's residence. He peeked out of the carriage, which was taking a left turn.

Crannnk

The sound of huge gates opening fell on Jaden's ears as they reached their stop. Wherever he looked, he could see gardens of roses.

There were different colours of roses planted in the fields. It looked like they were being maintained well by the person who planted them.

"My mother liked roses."

Aliana said this while looking at Jaden, who was taking a look outside from the window.

Criik

The carriage's door opened slowly after it came to a halt. Aliana glanced at Jaden while moving closer to the exit.

"What will you do? Come inside or wait in the carriage?"

She wasn't sure what he wanted to do. So instead of inviting him inside, she asked him if he wanted to or not.

"I'll wait outside. Just make sure you come back quickly."

Aliana was a bit disappointed by Jaden's answer. But she respected his choice.

A smile emerged on her face with a tint of sadness. Her tone didn't change when she spoke.

"I understand. You have your jacket returned to its original form. That's the part of my plan."

She got out of the carriage as she said that. Jaden simply nodded his head at those words. Silence embraced his ears the very next moment.

How did she know about dragon kids?

But he still asked the only one he was most bothered with for now.

Sigh

He sighed at the sight of the roof of the carriage. Exhaustion overtook his body before the main event had even started.

"How tiring..."

He said it out loud while covering his eyes with his hands. He was feeling a bit sleepy.

"Indeed."

Jaden flinched as he heard someone speak in front of him. Aliana had left the small window open through which she talked to the coachman earlier.

"Who are you...?"

Jaden asked while keeping his eyes shut. He was feeling too tired to open them.

"Don't worry about that."

The voice wasn't that of the coachman from earlier. Maybe they had changed the coachman?

"I had a few questions for you, young man."

The owner of the voice was an old man. That much was clear. But Jaden didn't remember anyone else who had that voice amongst the Rosenstein knight guards either.

He kept quiet for a bit. He tried to look outside, but he couldn't see who it was by peering through the gap in his fingers.

-------------------

'A question... Who is it?'

Jaden thought about it for a while before finally opening his mouth. He didn't know who it was.

"What is it?"

Jaden swallowed his own saliva. He was feeling nervous for some reason.

"This is just a hypothetical question."

The man began talking, getting Jaden's attention. His coarse voice sounded unique.

"What if you had a girl you liked and her parents were against your marriage?"

Jaden could sense that something bad was going to happen if he didn't answer. Actually, he didn't want to answer it, but he won't get hurt just for soeaking with honesty.

"... I would run away somewhere far with her."

Crack

Some sound came from where the old man's voice was coming from.

"Is... that so?"

The old man sounded a bit different now.

"Do you mean to do that regardless of the status difference?"

The old man's one question had increased to two now.

"Of course, yes."

Crackk

"Interesting. You indeed are interesting."

He began laughing. Jaden felt nervous for a while. Then the old man stopped laughing.

"It was nice talking with you. I shall take my leave for now."

Jaden got up from his place and tried checking who it was. There was no one out there.

Clank

Someone opened the door of the carriage. Jaden flinched and sat down on his seat again.

"It took me a while."

Jaden tried to look around. He was trying to avoid having eye contact with Aliana.

"Hmm. Did something happen while I was gone?"

Aliana could recognise the change in Jaden's behavior. He wasn't being expressionless anymore. Rather, he was trying to hide his expressions.

"N-nothing at all."

He said this as his gaze fell on Aliana. He blinked his eyes twice and looked aside.

'All dresses suit her.'

He thought while looking at the opposite side. He wasn't really interested in relationships, but he couldn't deny that Aliana was pretty.

"What? Were you busy admiring my beauty?"

Aliana smiled at Jaden. He was still trying to avoid meeting eyes with her.

"N-not at all."

Jaden said this while Aliana sat in her seat. He was lying a bit.

'Well. She is a bit pretty. Only a bit.'

He thought as he looked at her reflection in the window. Aliana wore a dark blue tea-length dress. She seemed to like clothes in blue shades.

Sigh

"We are taking our leave."

Aliana said this to the coachman. She wasn't really looking forward to the Crown Prince's birthday.

It was only because Jaden was tagging along with her that she was attending the banquet. Or else, she would've just stayed in.

Clip clop

Just a few more minutes, and Aliana's real plan would be set in motion. The carriage headed out of the Rosenstein residence.

"Change your jacket's form back to the original one. I had told you before I went to change."

Aliana did tell Jaden to do it before she left. But thanks to the mysterious old man, he forgot about it.

Swish

Jaden didn't even take a moment to get his jacket back to its original form. He didn't want to get scolded by Aliana.

"I hope everything goes well."

Aliana said this while looking at Jaden with a smile. He could feel a sudden chill.

"I-i hope so too."

Jaden tried his best to smile back at her. He had let down his guard for a moment. But he realised who Aliana was.

She had mercilessly killed people in the auction hall. She was strong enough to kill a demon general, too.

'I hope I don't end up like Lilith.'

Jaden felt his feet going numb. It was almost late in the evening.

"We will be reaching there soon."

Snap

Aliana said this while snapping her fingers. She pulled out the bracelet from her storage magic.

"You need to just kill one of the people there on my signal."

Aliana put the bracelet on her own wrist this time. Jaden looked at her with a dumb face. He had never killed a human before.

"What? You can't do it? Are you trying to go against our contract?"

The smile that knew that the person in front of her was cornered made Jaden get sweat. He could tell what was his wrong move.

'Ah. I'm doomed.'

Jaden's face went pale. He had forgotten about the contract for a while.

"O-of course, I will follow it.'

Jaden didn't want to kill people. He wanted to say it. But he decided not to.

Aliana stayed silent for a while, trying to choose her words carefully. She was aware about what Jaden was feeling at the moment.

"This isn't your previous world. Here, people will kill you if you are weak and kind."

Jaden was aware of those facts too. He gulped down his own saliva, falling silent.

What if the people he killed were innocent? Wouldn't that just make him a cold-blooded murderer?

"Don't worry. I won't ask you to just kill innocent people."

Aliana didn't want Jaden to drown in the guilt of taking innocent lives. She knew that he was no madman who enjoyed taking lives.

Their body shook from the sudden shock of the carriage coming to a stop. They had arrived at their destination; The imperial palace.

"We don't know what else might happen."

Clank

The door opened, and Aliana got out of the carriage. Jaden followed her.

He looked up at the huge architecture that he had seen during the day from afar. The lights and decorations made it look even more fabulous.

The exquisite structure became larger progressively when they began walking towards it. The guards were all occupied with their work, so the sounds of the two's footsteps went unnoticed.

Tap tap tap

"You will mix up with a few people after entering, got it?"

Aliana said this to Jaden as they walked into the building. He looked at her with nervous eyes.

He was worried because Aliana's plan sounded absurd to him. She wanted him to kill a person, but what about the rest of the plan?

"Just do what I told you, play along with my plan, and in the end, do 'that' thing we talked about last night."

Aliana had a smile on her face. They were both now standing in front of a huge door.

"I will conceal your presence with my magic. So do your best not to mess up after entering."

Jaden was simply zoning out at the sight of the huge door. Her words never managed to enter his ears.

What he was feeling was something one could never understand nor explain. What would you feel if you were about to meet the protagonist of the story you had written?

'So the protagonists are behind this door...'