Dark Heart.

"OH?! um... o-okay... i-if you d-don't mind, I would l-love that!", Annabelle said while stuttering. She stuttered a lot back when she was still a child, but had quite given it up since. But as soon as she was in front of Zagan, she felt all her confidence and self-esteem plummet. She couldn't quite figure out why that happened. Also, it didn't help that Zagan scared her quite a bit from time to time.

Annabelle wanted to simply know Zagan a bit more, and maybe even help him out of his misery. Annabelle could tell that Zagan was lonely and had no one to talk to. She pitied him, thinking that such a talent and mind was slowly rotting away because of the cruel world.

"Then, lets go to the magic training grounds. I'll ask Arnold to guide you there. You can change into your magic robes in the changing rooms attached to the training grounds. I'll join you shortly.", Zagan said, this time looking at her in the eye.

"Y-yes... thank you...", Annabelle expressed her gratitude.

'Let's improve our relationship with Annabelle... she would be a very important tool in the future, especially when she awakens her true talent as a runesmith. She would be able to make amazing artifacts and construct incredible magical barriers using Rune Magic...', Leon thought.

Annabelle would indeed be a very important chess piece, kind of like the queen, on the chess board of the future of the world, where Zagan would eventually fight against the final boss.

'Lets try and make her more reliant and dependent. I would eventually like to make her fall in love with me one-sidedly, so that she does everything I ask her to do for free.', Leon had a goal in mind for the progress with Annabelle.

At this point, Leon and Zagan's personalities were working together. Leon's intelligence and knowledge, combined with Zagan's cold and calculating nature, together made the current Zagan a complete monster. He was unhesitant, and had no remorse for trying to manipulate an innocent girl's mind.

'Its necessary for this to happen. The future depends on this...', was what Leon told himself to justify his clearly evil plan.

He went to his room, changed into the mage's robes he had found from the skeleton, and went out to meet with Annabelle.

----------------{Annabelle's POV}----------------

'I didn't expect Zagan to ask me to practice magic with him like this...', Annabelle thought as she slowly started to undress.

'Honestly, I'm a bit scared as to why he did this... I know he is a very cold and ruthless person, and he himself said that he doesn't like people... what if he has some ulterior motive for this?!', Annabelle suspected something was wrong.

'Ugh! why do I always get the short end of the stick!? Firstly, I am forced to marry a guy who hates me for some unknown reason, and secondly, I bottleneck at the 4th circle of magic!', Annabelle grumbled inwardly at her own bad luck.

'I can't even be confident at the fact that I'm stronger than him! I'm regarded as a once-in-a-generation genius, and I'm still lacking compared to that monster!', Annabelle felt her inferiority complex fire up a little.

'But... he did have a very sad and tragic childhood... He probably had to force himself to grow up faster than normal, and had to constantly fight the feeling of loneliness and hollow...', Annabelle sympathized with Zagan's past.

'If he wasn't like that, he would've probably been regarded as a hero, or something... too bad...'

'But the most tragic thing is... his princely and perfect looks totally gets wasted on a face with such cold expressions!!!!', Annabelle's cheeks flushed a little, imagining Zagan smiling warmly. But immediately her flushed cheeks went back to normal, and she became serious.

'*Sigh... He's a perfect man who would make any woman want to be his bride, myself included, but... I just hoped he would pay me a little more attention, and maybe at least spend some time with me to get to know me better... Its like he isn't even giving me a chance to win him over! I wouldn't want to burst my own bubble, but I know I'm quite a beautiful maiden with quite a warm heart, thanks to my parents... but even then, he's always so cold and indifferent to me...', Annabelle sorted out her feelings for Zagan.

Annabelle finally finished changing into her mage armor. It was a set of blue robes, a white hat with a pointy tip, and finally black stockings and black shoes, for maximum mobility. There were runes written on the robes. She even wrote some of them herself.

It wasn't anything beautiful, but it was certainly quite efficient.

'I've never seen Zagan practice any magic in front of me before... I haven't even seen what his mage armor looks like...', As Annabelle was thinking all of this, she heard the training facility's entrance open and someone entering.

Curious as to who it could be, she went outside and saw a tall man, wearing some light plate armor, and a scabbard for a longsword hanging from his waist. He had beautiful blonde hair, and had crimson-red eyes. He was Julius Von Asherion, the eldest prince of the Asherion empire.

Startled by suddenly coming across an unexpected individual, Annabelle thought to go and greet him, as a courtsey.

"Hello, Julius!", Annabelle called out to Julius, which startled him a little, as he didn't expect Annabelle to be there.

"oh? why hello there, Annabelle! It has been quite a while, hasn't it?", Julius asked, with a warm smile on his handsome face.

'He's handsome, but I find Zagan more attractive...', Annabelle thought.

"Yes, it surely has. I was actually invited here by none other than Zagan, your brother. He suggested that we practice magic together, you see.", Annabelle explained her situation and reason for her to be present there.

"Ah... *Sigh... Sorry for my brother... he has been mistreating you, hasn't he?", Julius said with a worried expression on his face.

"Oh, not re-", Annabelle couldn't finish her sentence before Julius spoke up again.

"Oh! how could he! How could he mistreat such a charming and beautiful young girl! doesn't he have any conscience!", Julius continued.

"no, but-", Again, Annabelle was inturrupted.

"argh! If I was Zagan, I would cherish you to the fullest! I would make sure that you would never be sad again! I would make you so happy!", Julius kept saying these words while looking at Annabelle.

Now, he suddenly picked up one of his hands and placed it one Annabelle's shoulder.

"You hate that boy, don't you, Annabelle?", Julius asked.

Annabelle was now getting quite uncomfortable. He was clearly hitting on Annabelle, even though she was engaged with his own brother.

"no, I don-", again, she could finish.

"Oh, you pitiful soul... Its so tragic to see such a beautiful individual get done in by fate like that... if you want, I can make you happy...", Julius's expression turned from a warm and worried one to a gleeful one. He put both hands on Annabelle's shoulders, and was slowly pulling her closer to himself, against her will.

"J-Julius, enough... I need to go now, so let me-", Annabelle tried to resist, but she was no match for Julius's physical strength. After all, Julius was an aura-using swordsman, and Anna a 4th circle mage.

"Why are you still with that bastard!?", Julius's expression now turned sour.

"You can leave that piece of shit and come to me! I'll treat you so much better! Just forget about-", Julius couldn't complete his sentence.

His entire body suddenly shuddered with goosebumps. His heart suddenly started beating faster, and his breathing became erratic. He felt confusion, and most importantly... Fear.

"Forget about what exactly?", the words came from the entrance of the training room. The voice was deep, clear and cold. A voice both Julius and Annabelle were quite familiar with.

It was Zagan.