It is a normal day within the Empire. Flare volunteered to help Aria with her shopping spree along with her personal guards within the upper district of the capital.

"Let's go over to that shop, next!" Aria pointed at a shop across the street. She was filled with joy and excitement as she ran to one store after the other.

"Please, wait! Miss Aria!" One of the guards begged Aria to slow down as he and another guard carried multiple presents at once.

"Wow. Despite being rich, Aria sure is buying a lot of stuff." Flare stood next to Gauri.

Gauri watched Aria enslave two other guards by carrying multiple bags. "Yeah. Looks like we won't be shopping anytime, soon."

"Why's that?" Flare asked as he looked at Gauri.

"Miss Aria sure bought a lot of things. The amount of gifts are bordering ridiculous." Gauri said as he looked at the gifts that were already inside the white carriage.

"I still don't get why she has to buy so much stuff... it's not like family's already rich, though. It has to be some kind of miss." Flare questioned about Aria's

"Look, kid. It's not just the miss. All young girls are like this." Gauri said.

"Really? Back in my hometown, there are three girls who dress almost exactly alike." Flare said, as he thought about Air, Fal and Luna.

"Just forget it." Gauri leaned his back on part of the carriage and lifted his chin. "Look up. That's the heart of the capital."

Flare looked towards the top of the capital to see the Imperial Palace. "Yeah. I know. That's where the Emperor is supposed to live."

"True, but not quite." Gauri moved a little closer to Flare.

"Hm?" Flare said, plainly.

"The Emperor is just a child. He's being manipulated from the shadows." Gauri stated.

Flare blinked. "You mean the Ministe-?"

Gauri quickly placed his hand over Flare's mouth and shushed him. "Don't say it out loud. They'll have our heads, if they catch us." Gauri quickly looked left and right to see if anyone was listening in on their conversation. He waited for about four seconds, until her let go of Flare's mouth. "Alright, we're good." Gauri sighed. "Now as I was saying... he's the reason that this country has corrupted."

"Yeah. I know." Flare nodded.

"Really?"

"Yeah. He's the biggest reason that I came to the capital.

"I thought you said you wanted to join the Imperial Army and make money for your village?" Gauri questioned.

"I do. And that's why I came to the capital. You see, "he's" been pressing heavy taxes onto my village. I was hoping to join the Imperial Army, make enough money and move up the ranks. I was thinking that if I did, I could get close to where I could stop him." Flare said.

"I see..." Gauri blinked. "Well in this country, you need common knowledge." Gauri glanced at the wanted Night Raid posters. "And there's something else... you should consider worrying about."

"Hm?" Flare looked over to where Gauri was looking at. He saw a couple of wanted posters on the wall. He saw posters of fugitives, such as Bulat, Akame, Sheele and Najenda. "Night Raid?"

"They're a group of cold-blooded assassins that murders people at random within the capital. As their group name suggests, they attack at night. So far, they attack and kill the wealth and high-ranked officials within the government. If you ever encounter Night Raid, do not ever fight them. Do your best and run away." Gauri told Flare.

Flare can see the serious look within Flare's face. "I will. Thanks for the warning."

"And also, you take care of that." Gauri pointed behind Flare.

"Huh? Take care of wha..." Flare paused as he spotted Aria skipping towards them and two guards struggling and carrying a massive box. "How are we supposed to fit that on the carriage?" Flare questioned.

Later That Evening

Flare was sitting at the dinner table along with Aria and her family. They were sitting at a long and fancy table eating five course meals, such as spaghetti, roasted chicken, salad and soup, while the guards-including just stood in place and watched them.

"How did you shopping spree go today, honey?" Aria's Mother asked.

"I had a wonderful day! I bought a lot of presents, today! I even bought this huge gift that the guards struggled to carry. But I asked Flare to help them and he managed to carry my gift all on his own, no problem at all." Aria reminisced earlier that day that Flare had carried a massive gift over his head and placed it on top of the carriage.

"Oh really?" Aria's Father seemed to be a little surprised.

"Are you sure, Aria?" Aria's Mother asked.

"Mm-hmm." Aria nodded. "He's really strong. Stronger than all our guards combined!" Aria bragged about Flare's physical strength.

Aria's Mother looked to Flare, while continuing to smile at him. "Wow. Not only do you look handsome, Flare, but you are really strong, too." she complimented.

"Oh, thanks." Flare said, while eating a small bit of spaghetti at a time.

"So, Flare? How is the food?" Aria's Father asked Flare.

"It's really tasty. I've never had..." Flare paused for a moment. "What's this dish called?"

"It's spaghetti." Aria's Mother answered.

"Oh, yeah. Spaghetti. Thanks." Flare chewed on Spaghetti, but accidentally let out sauce from his mouth.

"Ah!" Aria gasped.

Flare looked over to Aria and heard her gasp. "What's wrong, Aria?"

"You have spaghetti sauce on your face." Aria quickly moved from her chair and grabbed a white napkin. "Here. Let me get that for you." she wiped the spaghetti sauce off his left mouth.

"Uh, thanks..." Flare said.

"No problem." Aria smiled after moving back to her seat at the table.

"Aw, look at our daughter being really nice to out guest." Aria's Father teased.

"I know, it's really cute. We might just have a future son-in-law sooner than expected. "Aria's Mother teased.

"Uh?" Flare looked at Aria's Mother for a moment.

"M-mom! Stop embarrassing me in front of Flare!" Aira blushed.

Aria's Parents giggled after seeing their daughter blush.

Flare stared at Aria's Parents for a moment. 'Future Son-in-Law?'

Later That Night

The moon was out, and the stars were shining.

Flare was in the guest room, fully clothed and lying within his guest bed thinking about Aria. 'Aria seemed really happy. Especially on having me around. Does she treat all her guests this way, too? ANd better question... where are they? Are the pieces not adding up, or something?' Flare had begun to over think. 'Alright, Flare. Think. Think. What happened, today?' Flare had begun reminiscing on what happened that day. 'First, I had breakfast with Aria and her family this morning. Nothing unusual. Then, later that afternoon, I went shopping with Aria and the guards. That's okay. Then out of nowhere, Gauri decided to warn me about the Minister-wait.' Flare paused. 'Why would Gauri warn someone like me, a foreigner about the Minister, even though I already knew about him? How long has he known about it? And if he knows about the Minister, does that mean that Aria and her family knows about him, too? Probably not. But...' Flare suddenly thought about Aria and her parents. What he could not get out of his mind was them smiling at him . 'They keep smiling at me, like everything in the capital's fine. Even though it isn't... do they know about the corruption and is trying to move forward with their lives? Or are they apart of the corruption?' Flare gulped, feeling that his throat is a little dry.

"I need some water." Flare told himself as he got out of bed.

Five seconds later

Flare quietly cracked opened his door and stuck his head out, temporarily. He didn't sense anyone around for a while. 'Everything's clear.' Flare proceeded to leave his guest room and walk down the halls. He roamed around for a little bit, then stopped and looked at a giant window. He noticed the moon was a quarter from being full. "The moon's almost full... I wonder, how Air, Fal and Luna are doing? They're probably sounding asleep at this point." he muttered while staring at the sky through the large window.

"What are you doing so late?" asked a feminine voice.

Flare heard a voice, then looked towards his right to see Aria's Mother standing in the hallway, dressed in a white gown and holding a book in her hand. She had a mild smile on her face. "Oh. Sorry. I felt thirsty and I just wanted to get some water from the kitchen." Flare replied as he walked towards Aria's Mother.

"It's okay. You don't have to leave your just to get water. I can have servants bring you water if you want." Aria's Mother said, continuing to smile at him.

"It's alright. I can get it, Miss..." Flare paused as he didn't know Aria's Mother's name.

"You can call me Carly." she said.

"Right... Miss Carly." Flare responded, then noticed the book she was gripping.

"Is that your book or something?" Flare pointed at the book.

Aria's Mother looked at the book and hid it behind her back. "Y-yes. It's my diary. I write personally things within it. Lots of girls in the capital has them."

"Oh. Okay." Flare said.

"I assure you, everything's alright."

"Really?"

"Yes. If you don't mind, please go back to the guestroom. I promise that I will bring you water." Aria's Mother said, as she kindly used a hand gesture to tell him to leave the halls, while smiling.

"Oh. Okay. If you say so." Flare replied, while turning his back.

"Thank you very much, Flare." Aria's Mother replied.

Flare was preparing to head back to the guestroom for a moment, then he suddenly stopped as a question hit his mind. He slowly turned back to Aria's Mother, who was smiling. "Miss Carla?"

"Yes?"

"Before I go, you wouldn't mind me asking a question, would you?" Flare asked.

"Anything at all." Miss Carla said with no worries.

Flare paused for a second, before opening his mouth. "Have you ever heard of the Empire being corrupted?"

Aria's Mother gasped after hearing that question. Her eyes suddenly opened, revealing her eye color to Flare for the first time.

Flare could no longer see the happy expression on her face. 'I knew it.'

Thank you guys for continuing to follow. I know that Aria's Parents never revealed their names, so I'm just going to give them some.