To think I would meet her here, Emily Hoffman, as you guessed, she is indeed a capture target, a smart one to say the least.
Her life itself could be said to be a tragedy. She was the princess of a small kingdom. Compared to the empire, the kingdom was nothing though.
Her mother was an elf who fell in love with the king of that kingdom. The king had highly regarded her mother, but tragedy struck as her mother passed away when she was born.
Unlike the normal fantasy world where there are half-elves, there is no born half-elf or something like that. You are either born as a human or an elf.
But there is a chance for you to awaken your other half. If you are born human, there might be a chance to awaken your elf side and then be a half-elf.
From there you could increase your strength or power and become full or stay half, taking advantage of both species. In the world of Ether, half-species are highly regarded rather than being looked down upon.
Having the advantages of both their species, they would be recruited by everyone. But it had become a small problem when it came to Emily.
The king loved her mother, but because of her birth, she died. Plus, when she was born, there was red scar-like stuff on her face, giving people a repulsive feeling to look away.
Many healers had tried to heal the "scar," but none worked. With no one to protect her, and her looks caused her to have a tough life of bullying and loneliness.
But none knew that the girl was just biding her time. While she looked normal, her intelligence was off the charts. She was waiting for the moment to strike, and strike she did.
She had awakened her elf side, becoming a half-elf. After that, she was taken in by the elf empire, becoming a direct attendant of the elf princess. Also, due to her awakening, her scar had disappeared.
She had turned from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan, but it was only on the exterior. Inside, she had already turned dark. After she was taken in by the elf empire, she slowly started controlling the market of her kingdom.
She had single-handedly plotted and brought down her kingdom and given her previous family a terrifying death. She stayed in the elf empire, just like a good girl.
She had become a person who only moved for profit. If there was no profit, then she would rather die than act. Her real character and ruthlessness were hidden from the world.
Conquering her was a huge undertaking. You must first bring out her real character, then you must work hard to change her and then make her good, and then conquer her.
Easy to say but hard to accomplish. But right now, I am dealing with a child, and I am sure that it's going to be much easier to deal with... I hope.
While I was thinking to myself, the bullying continued, and just as things were going to escalate, I made my move. Moving from my hiding spot, I came behind them.
I screamed. My voice got their attention, and all of them turned towards me. Seeing me, all of them paled. After all, I am the son of a duke, and their status could not be compared to mine.
Having me see them bully someone could be dangerous. At that time, a 12-year-old brown-haired black-eyed boy moved forward to talk.
"Ahh, yes, young master Austin, what do we all owe the pleasure of meeting you?"
'Playing dumb, huh...'
"Don't try to act ignorant. I saw what you did, bullying a girl and not only your sister. What kind of brother are you?"
My words caused his face to contract, and anger came rising. No matter what, he was still a prince, and the utter disrespect from me caused his anger to rise. But before he could say anything, I took action.
"I don't want to hear anything from you. Leaving the fact you are doing something as bullying in the Princess Olivia's party is enough to blacklist your family."
"As long as you get out of my face, I can let it go. And if you have any problems, I don't mind talking about it to my uncle."
The more I spoke, the more fearful they became. When I talked about talking to the Emperor, they lost their confidence, and just like scared chickens, they ran away. After seeing all of them going away, I moved towards Emily, I gave a hand towards her.
But instead of answering, she hid her face and moved away. So I looked more clearly at her. She was wearing a blue one-piece dress, green hair that slid to her shoulders, and green gem-like eyes.
Right now, she was sitting on the floor hiding her face with her hands while only peeking a look at me with her eyes.
"Don't worry. I am not going to hurt you. I already sent them away."
Even then she just hid her face.
"You will hate me after seeing my face, just like everyone else."
Just then, a small reply came from her in a low whisper. She looked towards me with her gem-like eyes. Seeing this, my heart felt a bit uncomfortable. No matter what, she was just an 8-year-old going through a tough time in her life, while I was just using her weakness for my benefit.
'Sigh... I can at least try to be a bit better.'
Thinking so, I came closer to her.
"Why would I hate you if I saw your face?"
"Everybody says I am ugly, so no one will like me."
My answer surprised her, and she looked at me, not knowing what I meant.
"Show me your face and let me see if I would hate you or not."
My words caused her to hesitate a bit, but then she took a deep breath and removed her hands. A childish face came into my view.
She could have been said to be cute if not for the ugly scar that ran on her right side, giving a repulsive feeling.
Emily looked directly into the eyes of the boy who had just saved her. She wanted to know how he would react to her face.
Will he be just like the others, repulsed by her?
But to her surprise, the boy didn't show any reaction. He just looked directly at her face, causing her to turn it away, as it was the first time that someone looked at her so directly.
"You have beautiful eyes."
His gentle and magnetic words came to her ears, causing her to flinch. She looked into the boy's eyes, and she saw pity, happiness, and warmth?
'Why... why aren't you repulsed?'
"Don't you think that I am ugly?"
"Why are you ugly? All I see is a girl who has a small scar on her face, dressed in a blue dress, who looks pretty."
His words caused her heart to beat faster.
Emily had always been good at detecting emotions from others, and she could tell that what the boy said was the truth.
She looked towards the boy who had a gentle smile on his face and was offering her his hand. For the first time, a genuine smile came on her face.
'Mother looks like I found it, my Prince Charming.'