Chapter 123- Roses and Hardships

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Hearing the sudden exclamation, Adori moved her eyes toward the source of the voice. There, she saw a man suddenly appear in front of her. He had white hair and a slightly hunched body.

He donned a gray robe that covered his head and his body. His skin was wrinkled and his face appeared to be old. What stood out from him was a beautiful headband with a golden crystal on his forehead.

He looked at Adori with a gentle smile and spoke. "You look like in a big trouble, young miss."

"Looking at your skinny body, it seems that you are starving quite badly. Furthermore, looking at you a bit more closely, it can be seen easily that you are also inflicted with many diseases." The robed man approached Adori closer and spoke.

"It's quite bad, indeed. If don't eat properly as fast as possible, you will die within three days. However, even if you manage to find enough food, without receiving a proper medical treatment, your body will eventually succumb to the diseases." He spoke calmly about her condition without any shred of sympathy.

Adori didn't answer him and only stared at his face.

When he approached really close to her, Adori drew her trusty knife and pointed it at him with her trembling hand as she fearlessly glared at him, sending him the signal to back off of her.

"Ahh, what a beautiful perseverance! Seeing someone like you really sets my heart fluttered with excitement!" The robed man exclaimed loudly as he saw her action.

Instead of backing off, he approached her calmly and easily grabbed her outstretched hand, making her drop her knife.

Studying and feeling the creases of her hand, he muttered. "Hmm, it's a rough yet beautiful hand that only those who do hard physical labor have, you are truly a diamond in the rough, aren't you? Or I should say… diamond in the mud?"

Adori was still unresponsive as she stared at his eyes without any fear. Looking at her response, the robed man smiled as if he was satisfied with it.

He looked at her muddy golden eyes and spoke. "Do you want to survive?"

Hearing that, Adori only stared at him even more intensely.

"If you want to survive, just nod your head." Said the robed man.

Moving her nonexistent muscles, Adori managed to nod weakly. The robed man smiled widely, showing his pure white teeth.

Taking her hand, he spoke with a soft yet chilling voice that reverberated in the narrow alley. "Then, I will guide you to become the greatest princess of Zahard ever be!"

. . . . . .

"After that, I was brought to one of the Zahard family's flying castles. There, I was treated, given delicious foods, and granted a treatment way beyond what I had ever imagined. Of course, there was a price for them, and it wasn't cheap."

"I was trained rigorously to be one of the candidates for the next princess of Zahard in the next competition that was going to be held in two decades. If I fail the competition, I would become a servant in the Zahard family for a lifetime."

"Fortunately, Snake Charmer, the one who took and made me one of the candidates to be the princess of Zahard, didn't evaluate and take me wrongly. After my body had fully recovered, they found out that I was much stronger than the regular people."

"And after a series of tests, they also figured out that my talent in shinsu control was overwhelmingly greater than most people, even compared to those of the ten great families."

"Not to mention, when they saw that I was gifted with sharp instincts as a warrior as well, they rejoiced that they had found a natural-born talent. However, when I first picked the sword, it was when they finally realized that I was more than what they had expected."

"The sword bent to my will, just like the members of the Arie family could do. However, considering my other talents, I can easily reach the higher heights with the sword, making me to be considered as a prodigy."

"After finding my great talents, some of the officials of the Zahard family decided to give me their full support to win the competition."

"They were truly serious as they quickly appointed a member of the Arie family to teach me the famed and fabled sword technique of the Arie family, the Arie Sword Style."

"I trained ceaselessly every single day without fail. Being blessed with talents doesn't mean that I don't have to put hard work aside. No, it would only mean that my potential is great."

"I knew that my contenders weren't normal people as many of them were talented girls from the ten great families. In the end, I did succeed to be the princess of Zahard with my sword and intense desire to survive."

"However, I didn't feel any happiness nor did I rejoice after becoming a princess of Zahard. Instead, what I felt was a sense of exhaustion. In the end, it didn't matter who and what I was, the tower is still the same. I was tired of merely following the flows, I wanted to seek the answers." Said Adori with a long voice.

"Fortunately, I could finally have the clues that lead to the answers as soon I was selected to become a regular and met you on the floor of tests, and the rest is what you have seen and known by yourself." Adori ended her long story.

Liu Guanyi nodded in understanding. "It was truly an interesting story, princess. It's understandable that you feel tired of the tower because of your experiences. However, I feel glad instead that you have faced and gone through so many hardships at such a young age."

"Because without them, I wouldn't have been able to meet the now, strong and tenacious Adori Zahard." Liu Guanyi said with a smile.

Adori blushed slightly as she turned her head away. "No need to tease me, Liu."

Liu Guanyi only smiled and spoke. "Well, I am simply being honest. Did you know that many beautiful flowers fall prey to predators as they are easily attracted to them?"

"Although I have never seen it directly, I do know that." Adori answered casually.

"Well, it's the same thing as being gifted, isn't it? Both of them attracted the attention of predators. From many beautiful flowers, only a few of them can survive on their own."

"Without adapting to overcome the hardships, those beautiful flowers will eventually extinct. However, those that manage to thrive by themselves are the ones that truly above the rest."

Liu Guanyi stopped for a moment before continuing. "Just like roses, all of them are beautiful, yet they are powerless to defend themselves. However, a thorny rose is different. It is beautiful, yet it's also capable of defending itself."

"Without hardships, we won't be able to ascend higher, and you won't be able to mature as you do." He spoke with a smile full of vicissitudes.