As an older brother, how could he bear to watch his family risk her life?
In the days that followed, little Lodi kept learning magic under Riven's guidance. Although she did not practice many times, with an expert's guidance her progress was still extremely fast. On this day, just like usual, the little princess learned another new spell.
"Look," she excitedly wanted to show it to her brother.
But the moment she recited the spell, the bookshelf beside her lost control and toppled toward her. The moment he saw this, Riven's heart nearly stopped for a beat. He instinctively lunged forward. Subconsciously, he used his back to block the heavy bookshelf. Cold sweat slid down the boy's cheeks, but he completely ignored the sharp pain in his body and worriedly asked the girl whether she had been hurt.
Seeing his younger sister obediently shake her head, the heart he had been holding up finally settled. Riven pretended that he was not injured. But little Lodi's eyes reddened because of this. At last, she had family who doted on her and loved her.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the biased white-haired older brother only now realized that his younger sister was missing. The older brother had given all his tenderness to that scheming younger sister, and as for the little princess who truly cared about him, no one even noticed when she went missing.
Back then, it was the little princess who saved the gravely wounded crown prince. She carefully bandaged his wounds. She even covered her brother with the only blanket she had. After finishing everything, the girl was filthy all over. Because she was afraid her brother would dislike her, the tiny girl could only curl up on the ground all alone. The cold night wind made the little princess tremble, but in her heart she felt sweet. She was finally no longer that pitiful child with no family.
However, just as the little princess had fallen asleep, the crown prince woke from his unconsciousness. The wounds on his body had already been properly treated. Only then did he notice a tiny little figure curled up beside his hand. The man subconsciously wanted to pat his little sister on the head, but in the end he held himself back. According to the high priest's prophecy, darkness would one day swallow the light, and the only solution was to stay away.
The crown prince cast a complicated glance at his sister's black hair, then turned around and left coldly. But what he had not expected was that the two of them would meet again the very next day. The little princess followed behind the maid stiffly. She couldn't help it. On her timid little face still hung a fawning smile. That shrinking, timid appearance made the crown prince inexplicably irritable.
"Thank you for what happened last night. But I also have to thank you for managing to pull out a torn old blanket from all those things and cover me with it. Go on, tell me. What reward do you want?"
The man's arrogant attitude was no different from charity, and the little princess's eyes reddened in grievance. How she wanted to tell her brother that that blanket was already the best thing she could find. But in the end, the little princess only voiced her wish. She told her brother that she wanted a few beautiful new dresses. Of course, all of these were for Lowina. She did not want even one for herself.
Hearing this answer, the crown prince had not expected such a wish from his sister. So he wanted to give her a gift. He not only had dresses made for Lowina, he also casually had a few custom made for his sister. He treated it as repayment for the girl taking care of him that night. That way, he could continue ignoring the sister with a clear conscience.
It was just that the crown prince had not expected that the maid would take credit for what he had done. So when he heard his sister say that, that was why he became so angry. He planned to go find that maid and confront her face to face. Unexpectedly, just as he left the small garden, he ran into her.
"Did you like the dresses I gave you?"
Before Lowina could even react, the crown prince aggressively questioned her about why she had lied. Lowina was so frightened that her whole body trembled. But when she thought of all the grievances the little princess had suffered over the years, she suddenly was no longer afraid.
"Your Highness, you truly are a despicable man. You are only slightly kind to people when you yourself are in a good mood. When you are unhappy, you simply cast them aside. In your eyes, our princess is not even one ten-thousandth as important as Princess Lily. But if that is the case, why give her that tiny, insignificant bit of hope? Do you know how painful it is when a sincere heart is trampled over and over again?"
Lowina's words were like sharp blades stabbing into the crown prince's heart. Outraged, humiliated and enraged, he wanted to retort, but he could not say a single word. He remembered the joy on his sister's face when she called him brother. Then he remembered the despair on her tear-streaked face when she was abandoned. Was he really as terrible as Lowina said? The more the man thought, the more his heart hurt. In the end, he fled in a sorry state.
That scheming younger sister openly bullied the little princess. Afterward, she even ran to their imperial father and falsely accused the victim first. The girl looked at the man seated in the place of honor with reddened eyes. Her tearful, delicate appearance made it seem as if she had suffered an enormous injustice. She said pitifully that she had only wanted to take a look at her sister's hairpin. She had not expected her sister to get angry.
Lily put on a well-behaved look of I don't blame big sister. With just one sentence, she won everyone present's favor. For a time, rumors spread all through the palace that the ill-omened imperial princess had bullied the princess of light. Many people said Princess Lodi had no upbringing. Some even said that the divine prophecy was about to come true. Only by executing the little princess could the people's hearts be stabilized.
Before long, these words also reached the second prince's ears. The young man's eyes suddenly darkened. This was completely different from the timid little girl in his memory. Noah vaguely remembered that their first meeting had been on a winter afternoon. Little Lodi had been huddled on the steps, sadly tugging at her own hair. She was even muttering that it was all because she was too dirty that people disliked her.
The second prince's gaze was unconsciously drawn over. Just by looking at her hair, he had already recognized that this child was the darkness from the high priest's prophecy. But as an imperial princess, she was dressed far too poorly. The little princess looked thin and small. She did not look dangerous at all, as the prophecy had said.
Thinking this, the second prince walked over against the light. Seeing the girl shivering from the cold, he was inexplicably compelled to take off his cloak. The sudden warmth instantly made the little princess's eyes turn red. But this cloak was truly far too precious. She wanted her brother to quickly take it back.
But the second prince gently shook his head. He thoughtfully adjusted the collar for his little sister.
"Just think of this as concern from your family."
The young man had many cloaks like this, but the little princess's expression at the time was as if she had found a treasure. So how could such a sensible child do something like snatch another person's belongings? The second prince prepared to find a chance to ask his elder brother.