Emotions, Amelina thought, was a complicated thing. Why, she almost killed everyone around her and possibly herself due to her own raging emotions- which directly influenced her shinsoo. Of course, Maschenny had personally drilled into her that she must never ever lose herself again, repeatedly saying that she must be perfect. But Amelina's heart was fragile, far too fragile for the world. No matter how many facades she pasted on her face, her true self can never hold the weight of a burden, of being pressured.

That was probably why, after gaining as much information as she could from the maids, Amelina fled. Her abundant amount of training was enough to not make her faze when she jumped through the window, ignoring the screams of the shocked servants. She was in fact, more afraid that the innocent maids would have to face her unstable condition.

"W-we only ever received the news that the first Jahad princess chosen was with Princess Maschenny, and we only knew of your name when we started working here. Any other information were confidential so none of us knew further than Princess Amelina will be coming home today..."

Amelina didn't know where her feet were taking her. She knew she wasn't heading anywhere towards Eduan's whereabouts, only running anywhere and everywhere her heart told her to. Visions of the familiar and unfamiliar scenes flashed by, her trained legs swinging in rhythm towards nowhere. By the time Amelina was gasping for air, she found herself in front of the nostalgic scenery of the lake she frequented some years ago.

A lake she will never forget all her life.

"Aguero…"

"Then, what were you saying about Maria...?"

"Well, for the second spot as a Jahad princess, there were two ladies who outshined the other girls- they were the eldest daughter of the Agnis branch and of course Princess Maria. We also thought it was a fierce competition, but due to Young Master Aguero's intervention, Princess Maria won and his own older sister failed. In the end…"

"…Aguero's sister… committed suicide..."

Amelina felt like puking all over after absorbing the information. A feeling which death was just around her- she too, was once subdued by that feeling. True, she never even met Aguero's older sister nor did she even care about her, but reality hits her too hard as Amelina felt it again; the hopelessness she felt just because she was born into this family.

The Khun family.

And while she never had a good impression of Maria, she would never go as far as to hate the older girl who caught the attention of Aguero. That's right, it is all because he chose her. Amelina was the one who was incompetent.

Aguero chose Maria on his own accord.

Over her, over his own sister until it led to her death.

The pounding of her own heartbeat rang like an uprising rhythm, beating faster as Amelina continues to process, no- swallow the fact forcefully. "I need to see Aguero…!"

Again, another wish which she herself wondered if she will be able to accomplish. Will she be able to face him now?

"At least, just to make sure he's there...!"

One thing Amelina never parted from her childhood was a little notebook which contained the only information she had about the Agnis household; which was a map which Miru drew for her. While the ink seemed to be blotched and was hardly legible, Amelina could still figure out the illustration. She never had the chance to use the map due to her own cowardice, but now it would be the most vital info considering she herself never really explored the whole Khun residence.

"But I just had to leave that bag in my old room. I need to go to the Agnis residence first to confirm things with my own eyes…"

'Confirm what?' a sudden thought crossed her mind. 'Are you sure you'll be able to tell if he's there or not?'

Now that she thought about it, what was going to happen to Aguero? He helped Maria instead of his own sister, which was equivalent to helping out an enemy. His household would've received the backlash if even the maids in the main estate knew of the situation. And the Khun family will never let go a chance to bring down their opponents.

"Don't tell me, Aguero is… no..." Amelina bit her fore thumb, beads of sweats began to form as she crouched down to look into her own frustrated expression in the clear lake. The lake from that fateful day. An image of herself laughing with Aguero came to surface.

'But he abandoned you, remember?'

Amelina gasped as she backed away from her own reflection that seemed to smile back eerily at her, an inner voice taunting her in her mind. "No, he didn't! Aguero did not!"

'But he left you. He chose Princess Maria instead of you. All of those talks about you being his little sister, and how he stuck around you- he was just using you. For his own benefits.'

"No!" Amelina threw a stone towards the water as her own reflection dissolves, splashing waters everywhere. "He would not…"

Doubts began to form at Amelina's crippling emotion, as she remembered back what Miru used to do behind her back, and how he suspiciously interacted with Aguero. While Miru already admitted to doing something behind her back and apologized for it, the retainer never clarified what he really did. He never actually confirmed what he did with Aguero, specifically. But still...

'Poor him. Don't you understand it yet? He became like that because of this family.'

"This family…?"

'Yes. All of the children in this family will never be happy, that is why you need to free them!' the faint voice whispered to her, a sense of urgency ringing into Amelina's head.

"Free… them?"

'Yes, free them! Free them from these political conflict, free them from being used by the others, and free them from doing something they don't even want to do.'

"But how...? I don't know what I can do...!"

'Miru said it remember?'

"Remember this, Ame. Don't-- no-- matter-- break--."

A sudden realization clicked, "That's right… I need to free them…" Amelina slowly stood as a new fire ignited in her eyes. "From the ten-years old competition…!"

Dark clouds could be seen from a distance as a certain family head stared unblinking towards the quite clear sign of a heavy downpour. Behind him was a bowing servant whose face couldn't be anymore paler than ever, life hanging on thin thread.

"W-we've thoroughly searched the whole estate, but the young miss cannot be found anywhere. Three maids are said to have met her but..."

The servant silently prayed for his safety, gulping every two seconds.

"She was supposed to be here, meeting me right now. And you're saying you can't find her anywhere?"

If the servant could just disappear by bowing nonstop, he would gladly do that. But unfortunately, he doesn't think just bowing down could make the pressure any lighter, nor would the dangerously buzzing shinsoo go away. In a desperate motion, the servant slammed his own head onto the floor, "I apologize! I will definitely find the young miss-"

"You know-"

The servant stopped his rambling, only now noticing a shadow looming over his body.

"If Amelina wasn't coming back here today, your head would've rolled on the ground right now."

A mighty presence. One that no one will ever dare to defy.

"But your blood stench would've defiled the whole mansion, so I'll stop at here," the man- Eduan glared down at the one person who dared to make his mood sour. "I'm sure you know what to do now."

"Yessir!"

Not even five seconds passed, Eduan was already alone in the room.

"Where did Ame go...?"

Author's note:

What would happen to Amelina? That is for you readers to find out :)

Sayonara!! Love chu guys!