"It was my turn to be a clown"
-Kim Dokja
...Little miss? Xiaomao shot him a irritated look, she narrowed her eyes, staring in the distance. Her head tilting sharply, with her jawline tense.
What did he say????
For a moment Xiaomao's face nearly scrunched up in forms of hurt and sorrow, yet no one caught her expression before she pulled her Facàde back on.
"Yo don't worry about it. Just a silly thing Ren did." Second Reality whispered next to Xiaomao.
Xiaomao said nothing, realizing that Ren was pointing at her. She looked at him, annoyed a bit.
"So you are the rumored Little Miss, correct?" Emperor Aranthor said, his voice sounding like a boy not a day older than 15.
"Uh... yes that is correct. I am...Little Miss." Xiaomao said with multiple hints of awkwardness and bewilderness.
"I would like a word with you. Ren you may come along if you like." Emperor Aranthor said nodding to Ren and gesturing they both follow him.
They all reach a office within the palace corridors, opening the door one could see the basic and simple office it was.
It was embraced with a pure ivory wallpaper, with a table in the middle and a chair on the side. Quite simple the design, but Ren and Xiaomao saw not a single window.
The emperor brought in two extra chairs and gestured Ren and Xiaomao to sit. As they both sat, Emperor Aranthor began to speak.
"So I've heard that you've been helping out our Naveen the medic."
"Yes sir, I have helped him out a little." She said modestly.
"Strange, you know? You are quite a unique one." The emperor stared at Xiaomao covering his eye to see her through the small lines of his hand.
"Watch carefully Mao. He's trying to summon his power. He's trying to read your aura." Second Reality said watching them both.
Hmm? I don't need to do anything right?
"Yeah, just watch" Second Reality responded floating midair.
The emperor shook his head in wonder, he turned to Ren and did the same thing, his face scrunched up and wrinkled.
"How odd. Little Miss you said you were of the Rose complex correct?"
She nodded, sitting still not wavered by the emperors suspicions.
"I've got a personal question to ask Little Miss," he said shifting in his chair. "You don't have a special ability or wall do you?"
"...special ability? like my great talent for making medicine?" She asked adding confusion in her tone.
"Nevermind. Well Ren have a good life ahead of you. Take care. Both of you are dismissed." The emperor said sighing and rubbing his temples.
The two both bowed infront the emperor and walked out the office.
"What was that about I wonder..." Ren said gazing at the distance of their location to the nurse ward, where Airen's corpse was being kept.
-------------Timeskip ~ 2 days-------------------
It was the day of Airens funeral. The sky was cloudless, filled with the rays of sunshine. Lines of people gathered at the main hall sharing their respects for Airen.
Whispers echoed around the palace, rumored she was murdered. Others said she had tormented on herself.
On the other side, Emperor Aranthor stood next to the coffin of Airen. He looked around noticing Xiaomao in the line with the other students maids. He looked to the other side, Ren with the nobleman and the guards. He stood by his father, staring at the distance ahead.
Emperor Aranthor couldn't help but think things not relevant to the funeral. First he thought about mint ice cream. He craved for some mint ice cream. His mouth watered as his mind fell into the hands of mint ice cream.
He shook his head to think about different things. He decided to think about something else. After a while, his mind wandered on what happened two days ago.
His mind wandered on how he couldn't read Xiaomao's aura. His mind was filled with shock, that the little miss, a little nobody had an effect to his amazing powers.
His powers worked on everyone. The gardener, the medic, the consorts. Who in the Shengyu Kingdom was this little miss?
Not only was that he couldn't read her aura. She was merely a Rose member. Low ranked and a student maid.
His only thought was to keep an eye on that little miss. For who knows what trouble she could bring in this world.
There was absolutely no knowledge on her. Only that she was bought to the palace by two men for work. He was sure they weren't her parents either. Well he certainly hoped not.
They were ugly. Pointy fang like teeth, and spiky hair. Instead of a vertical beard, they both had a horizontal beard.
If they truly were her parents, well... let's hope she's adopted. Even though Xiaomao wasn't the most prettiest or most charming, she surely could slap those two men on the cheek and it wouldn't be considered a insult.
That's enough of hearing Emperor Aranthor's mind yapping away about Xiaomao's enigmatic past.
The funeral was finally coming to an end and everyone dispersed from the area.
Aranthor decided to use his free time on some valuable things.
He went straight to the palace aquarium.
There's was a great wall, and when I mean it, there was a huge wall. The wall started from the ceiling to the ground. With clear glass and filled with water an aquatic creatures, multiple people often went to calm their nerves here.
However most people didn't really get the hype over fish, so mostly it was a quiet location.
If Xiaomao was ever given the option to choose where she'd wanna work, she knew that she would choose to be here.
Aranthor was on one side of the fish wall, while Xiaomao and Second Reality was on the other.
Xiaomao had her eyes for the Siamese fighting fish. These particular fish resonated with her quite a lot. When she was younger someone used to ask her why she had a liking towards these sort of fish.
"I survive just like the Siamese fish."
But no one would really understand that explanation. They would respond with a huh and then lose interest in the topic itself.
Second Reality too was fascinated but their nature.
They both eagerly stared at the fish wall like little children at a festival. Both of them eyeing the little Siamese critter.
Well this is one thing that that hasn't changed. Xiaomao told Second Reality.
"True, we always liked them didn't we, even before..." She said her sentence fading middway. Xiaomao didn't even question it.
Both of their faces were filled of great nostalgia of their younger years. The little adolescents who've grown up too early.
"Wait she???" Second Reality abruptly asked, giving Xiaomao a questioning look. "Why do you keep on referring me as a she. I'm literally a dude. Remember."
You sure look like a girl... she grumbled as she eyed him down.
"That's better. You still can't forget your own brothers gender ya'know" Second Reality said rolling his eyes.
Xiamao sighed, bringing her face closer to the clear glass. Her thoughts roamed to that bastardous boy. His choice of nicknames were not the best at all...
Second Reality? Xiaomao called, after he roamed in his spiritual form far across the fish wall.
"Hmm? What do you want." He responded still playing around with the fish.
Why did Ren make the nickname..?
And how does he know it?
"Don't make me repeat things that will obviously hurt you. Do you want to think about those things now?" Second Reality said in a cold and rashful tone. Seemed like he wasn't so keen on bringing up whatever past it was either.
To those words, Xiaomao didn't respond she yawned however, pulling back Second Reality back into her body.
Let's go, Second Reality. We still have so much things to do.
And with that she left, closing the doors of the aquarium behind, in the distance you could notice the Siamese fish waving goodbye.
Meanwhile with Aranthor, he just stared ahead at the sight he was shook from for the last few minutes.
It was Xiaomao talking to herself. Now this may seem normal, however to Aranthor it looked as if she was conversing with another being of sorts. And she engaged in the conversation with gestures and everything.
Aranthor couldn't even squint his eyes any further, if he did his eyes might've popped right out of its sockets.
He was confused, he was bewildered. He was in a swirl of emotions.
Until his mind came up with the only logical answer.
She was insane, to speak more clearly - schizophrenic.
Why else would couldn't he read her aura through his ability. It worked on everything else. Even on poop.
If she was schizophrenic then her mind would be in a state of relapse and he wouldn't be able to read her aura at all.
This was the only logical answer.
Aranthor rubbed his temples with his two front fingers, he quit thinking about the intricate scene he just saw and decided to call it a day.
After all he was probably just tired. With the funeral, with the weird scene. Everything.
It would be so much easier after a good brain break. So thus he decided to walk out of the aquarium bidding farewell to the fishes.
Meanwhile with Xiaomao, she and Second Reality were giggling with their hands covering their mouths after the little scene they had just made.
They knew Emperor Aranthor was on the other side of the aquarium, they thought that their actions were quite humorous.
After their fit of giggles subsided, they eventually drifted off to sleep. Unknown of what large day tomorrow will be.