He Could Not Help Everyone

Emma looked at Haoran with a look of astonishment.

"Why would you do that? I don't understand," Emma said. Haoran only smiled and pinched Emma's nose.

"It's okay if you don't understand," Haoran said. He retrieved his cellphone from Emma's hand and put it back in his pocket. "Don't forget, this afternoon, we'll go see Mr. Neville."

Emma nodded. She tried not to think about Haoran's words, which she thought was unusual. The girl returned to her lunch and, before long, she finished the sandwich and fruits in her lunch bag.

After she finished eating, Emma laid down on the grass. Her stomach was too full to immediately do something serious. She noticed many other students too had also taken advantage of the soft, thick grass they were sitting on to lie down and relax.

"We still have 15 minutes, right?" she asked, turning to Haoran. Haoran nodded, still enjoying his sandwich slowly. Emma took a deep breath and then pulled out the black sunglasses from her shirt pocket and wore them.

This way, she could see the blue sky directly. The sun didn't feel hot, but the glare still made Emma's eyes uncomfortable. Her sunglasses weren't the polarized type. She didn't think of buying more expensive but decent sunglasses.

In the corner of her eye, Emma caught a line of moving white clouds heading to block the sun.

'Ah, if only the clouds can get here faster, everything will be more comfortable,' she thought.

'At this rate, the clouds will get there in half an hour. Useless. We'll be already inside the palace by then,' the girl said to herself. She turned her face to the left and stared at the clouds. She casually raised her hand with the intention of 'pulling' the clouds to move faster toward her.

"Ahh! My hat!" Bianca shrieked suddenly. She stood up and chased her summer hat, which hovered lightly to the west. She managed to catch it in time before it plunged into the fountain.

Some leaves also flew from east to west as the wind blew a little strongly. A minute later, the clouds that were to their east were now floating above the heads of the students. They were nicely blocking the blinding sun from Emma's view.

'Wait a minute... What? Did I just control the wind?' Emma asked herself. She took off her sunglasses and sat up while looking up with an astonished face.

Earlier, she idly 'called' the clouds to approach her. She didn't understand how she did it, without thinking at all. But at that time, she just didn't like the glare and wanted to cover the sun temporarily.

'Uff... Emma, ​​how many times do you have to remind yourself. Don't use your power casually,' she scolded herself inwardly.

Her chest felt a little tight. Emma grabbed a bottle of water to drink and felt a little relieved. She should have known whenever she used her power, her energy would be drained, and she'd feel tired. Luckily, she didn't get injured and lost her memory like what had happened two nights ago at the Eiffel Tower.

She drank for the second time, and suddenly, a flash of memory appeared before her.

Ah, that's right. Usually, whenever she used her power, some flash of memory would appear. She's slowly getting her memory back this way.

Emma watched as Arreya fetched water from a running spring by cupping her hands and gave it to her husband, who was sitting while leaning on a large tree.

"Drink up," said the beautiful woman in a melodious voice. "I didn't expect you'd exert all your power to give life to this valley. Now you're hurt."

Kaoshin gulped the water and closed his eyes. His face looked in pain, but as usual, he's calm.

When Kaoshin opened his eyes, the man instead smiled and shook his head. "If I could do it many times, I would. I can't bear to see so many starving people in this area. Did you see how much they're suffering? Surely you still remember the faces of those poor little children? Many of them are the same age as Emma, but they've never tasted proper food all their life."

"I do remember that."

"This planet needs at least one hundred herbomancers to give life to all its arid regions," commented Kaoshin.

Arreya chuckled when she heard that. "We don't even have one hundred herbomancers in Akkadia, and you're also one of the strongest herbomancers I know. This planet is lucky that you and I are stranded here."

"I wonder why this planet's condition is so terrible? When we're at the moon, we saw how it had a lot of water, but still, the areas that needed water didn't actually have it," Kaoshin murmured in puzzlement.

"Their seawater is salty; it's not suitable for daily consumption or growing food. It's also their own fault that they now have such severe global warming." Arreya shrugged. "Too bad."

Arreya leaned over to Kaoshin and put her hand on his forehead with great affection. "You're burning up."

Her voice sounded really worried.

Kaoshin pulled his wife's hand down from his forehead and squeezed it gently. "I'm alright."

"You always say that even when you were heavily injured in a battle. I can never believe your words if you always say you're okay," Arreya's brows furrowed. "If only I had the ability to heal, it would be better. There's no point in having five types of power at once if there's nothing you can use to heal the person you love."

Kaoshin smiled at his wife's complaint. "You know, Leon had told me countless times that he's jealous of Princess Arreya's amazing powers. He said that he's willing to exchange his healing power with yours any day. So, the grass is always greener on the other side."

Arreya looked at her husband with a pair of twitched eyebrows. Finally, she could only purse her lips and murmured. "Jeez, Leon..."

"You still don't like him," commented Kaoshin.

"I know he's your best friend, but I can't force myself to like him because of what happened at that time," said Arreya.

"He has apologized," said Kaoshin patiently.

"And I've forgiven him. But I can't forget what he did."

"All right, it's fine. After all, we won't ever see him again. There's no need to talk about Leon or anyone from Akkadia," Kaoshin said gently and closed his eyes again. He seemed to be in so much pain, but he hid it well from his wife.

Arreya nodded and finally smiled a little. She agreed with her husband not to talk about the past anymore. After all, they were now in a new place and living their own lives. No one else was important to Arreya except her husband and daughter.

Little Emma really liked seeing the interaction between her father and mother. The little girl rested her head on her mother's lap while looking at her father, whose eyes were still closed.

"Mother, if Father could grow plants to feed so many starving people in this valley, why didn't he do it for all the arid regions we passed?" the little girl asked suddenly.

Arreya brushed her daughter's hair and smiled slightly. "He can't, Emma. Your father could die if he did that. We're not gods who have unlimited power. Every energy we spend will drain our soul. Your father has such a kind heart. He can't bear to see the villagers who helped us yesterday suffer. They've never tasted decent food all their lives. But he sadly could not help everyone."

Little Emma rounded her eyes.

"I'll help Father to help them!" the little girl said in determination. Little Emma raised her hand and showed Arreya her palm holding a small seed. From Emma's tiny palm, a faint green light radiated and slowly, the seed budded. Starting from the leaves, then the small stems, and roots...

"Emma, ​​don't!" Arreya exclaimed. She restrained and pulled her daughter's hand so Emma would stop using her power. "You're still too young. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Hey, you're looking pale again." Haoran's worried voice broke Emma's reverie. "Do you want to rest? Our friends and teachers have started walking into the palace."

Emma shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Haoran asked again.

"I'm sure." Emma held out her hand, asking Haoran to help her up. Haoran pulled her up before picking up their lunch bags and threw them in the trash.

"Let's follow them," Haoran said. The girl nodded.

While walking toward the palace, Emma glanced at the sun, which was still covered in clouds. Her mother had mentioned she had five types of powers. Emma wanted to know what powers did her mother have and if she had inherited them all.

Later, she would have to find time to check her powers in secret. But in the meantime, she needed to pay attention on their visit to the Versailles and take the painting from Mr. Neville. And finally... tell Haoran about her parents.

She decided she could trust Haoran.