'I've never seen a more tense breakfast.'

Rose sat in an extravagantly decorated room.

Draped in red curtains with golden accents, her eyes darted all around the room. 

'How much longer do we have to wait?'

Breakfast was almost ceremonial, with the members of the royal family gathering at the start of the day before going their seperate way. 

She noticed the curious glances from the two young individuals before her. 

The brothers of the real owner of the body. 

'That must be Thaddeus...' 

Her eyes fell on the young man who had been staring at her for sometime.  

She noticed his unusually bright blonde hair, standing out with it's striking yellow. 

'I have been getting quite the stares because of my black hair.'

In the kingdom of Aurumae, only members of the Royal Family had blonde hair which came as a result of an ancient dragon's blessings. 

'Quite handsome if you ask me,' she continued to eye the boy, noticing the extremely sharp features that made the boy look extremely handsome. 

Dying the hair black meant giving up on succession over the thorne, and once a member has decided to dye it black, they must never revert it back their original colour unless it is concerned with severe cases of national security or as a method of identification. 

—Ting

The small sound of cutlery tapping against the porcelain plate echoed through the room. 

The little boy besides Thaddeus had tapped on the plate with the fork, bored from waiting. 

'... Gabriel, the younger sibling of this body, he's pretty cute.'

Gabriel unlike his older brother was quite rough around the edges, but that was to be expected from a thirteen year old kid. 

Rose herself had dressed up with a white shirt and black trousers, with the shirt tucked in to make her appear formal. 

'Well... leaving matters of this broken family aside,' her fingers slightly tapped on the table, but barely made any kind of sound. 

'I have quite the busy schedule today.' 

Her eyes moved over to the closed doors, expecting an entrance any time. 

Of course the reason they hadn't commenced breakfast yet was because the major figure was missing. 

'How would he react to my black hair?'

  

With 'he' Daniela was referring to the Emperor. 

Multiple questions floated around her head, but she did not have an answer to any of them. 

'Are there any specific etiquettes, or anything I should follow? Hope I don't screw it up.'

—Creak 

The two large doors moved out of the way, making a small creaking sound. 

The sound was probably from the outdated doors struggling to function properly. 

Despite the extravagant appearance, most of the home decor had been outdated, but still holding on. 

"Good Morning." 

The stern voice of the man who had entered past the open doors made its way over to everyone's ears. 

"Good morning, Father." 

The two princes greeted the man with a slight bow. 

"G—Good morning!"

Rose followed behind, stuttering slightly while bowing. 

'Fuck this is hard, do I just sit down or raise my head now?'

Deciding on the latter, she raised her head only to be met with three curious glances. 

'Something tells me I'm the odd one here.'

The two princes sat down, followed by multiple attendants placing the meals in front of everyone.  

While that went on, she looked at her Emperor. 

'It's quite strange for him to be called Emperor when this is a kingdom, right?'

Rose was the last one to sit down as the attendent pulled the chair back for her. 

She made a slight nod of thanks, but noticed an unusual expression on the attendant's face. 

'This girl... I remember it. Daniela wasn't nice, and the simple gestures I am doing in her steady seems to some out as odd.'

Rose's memories of reading about Daniela through her mobile display came back flooding. 

'I had forgotten how much of bitch this girl was, not her fault... yeah, it was her fault, but I don't want to play that.'

Looking down at the meal in front of her, disappointment flasher her eyes. 

A bowl of soup with white steam rising from it sided by a plate of fresh cut fruits,  a piece of bread and a cup of red tea. 

'Looks... I'd prefer convenience store food over this.' 

She made a blank remark in her head, clearly dissatisfied with the meal. 

"Are you sure, Daniela?" 

The stern voice from earlier spoke. 

She quickly understood what he meant with those words. 

'Ah! He's asking about my decision on succession.'

Daniela lifted her head to face the Emperor.

"Yes, Sir."

She replied sternly, making it seem as if she was dead set on her decision. 

Making a slight expression of discontent, she opened her mouth, looking at the Emperor. 

"I have decided to not tread over suc... I don't want it anymore!"

—Cough cough!

"Huh!"

Thaddeus choked on his meal, while Gabriel made a loud gasp in surprise. 

Their expressions were totally reasonable considering the steadfast and stern Daniela made a strange reply. 

'Was that way too out of character? What was I supposed to do, I'm not too well versed in the art of being a bitch!'

However despite all the commotion, the Emperor's expression remained unchanged. 

It seemed as if a small smile of joy tugged beneath the hard covers of his golden moustache. 

"I shall respect your wishes, and hence forth, you are no longer considered a candidate for the thorne."

"Yes, your majesty." 

"Majest... y?"

Gabriel spoke out lightly, surprised at what seemed to be an unused term amongst them. 

'Shit... I think I went to hard with my acting.'

"Father, if I may, can I ask for something?" 

The small smile tugging beneath showed up, surfacing into a complete wide smile. 

"What is it?"

_________________________

"The guy at the tavern said here..."

Waiting outside the large gates of the city, he looked out for any sort of establishment. 

Squinting his eyes, Finn looked around the green covered land. 

"Ah!" 

He took notice of a small wooden structure, a shack close to the entrance of the deep forest outside the city. 

He slowly made this way off towards it. 

He took out a small piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. 

Looking at the contents, his eyes frowned. 

"Tch! I can't believe it!" 

Folding it up, he threw it back into his pocket. 

"I lost the bloodline talent all because I forgot about it!"

He made an helpless mutter. 

The reason for Finn's rage was quite simple. 

After forming a core succesfully, a talent could be unlocked, but various elements went into it. 

One of it was hair colour. 

Yes. 

If the colour was white or black, their bodies were more attuned to the energy called mana, which meant a better chance of unlocking a good talent. 

Brown hair meant average talent, but after brown came red. 

Anyone with red hair could be considered to have the lowest of talents. 

"I could have unlocked a better talent had I stuck to the core formation I did in my previous life, since I already had black hair."

Before long, he had gotten closer to the small shack he had spotted from the distance. 

"Hm... the guy that lives here seems to be some hermit." 

Making his way over to the fence, he pushed open the small wooden gate and entered the small ground.

As he made his way in looking around, he noticed multiple pieces of logs piled up after having been chopped down. 

Distracted by the sight of the broken wood, he continues walking with his mind elsewhere, before—

—Thwap!

He crashed into a rigid yet soft wall. 

"Huh... what...?"

"Lost your way, kid?" 

Regaining his sense, Finn looked up to see a robust man standing in front of him. 

"No! Mister, I apologise."

Finn took a step back before bowing down to apologise. 

"It's alright." 

The brown haired man wiped the sweat off his brows with a towel thrown over his shoulders. 

"I was actually here for a job." 

Finn spoke softly, slowly evaluating the man in front of him. 

'I couldn't even sense his presence!'

His eyes skimmed across the bulky man, spots of his shirt drenched in sweat. 

"Hm... you look pretty... strong?"

The man made a mock comment at the fragile boy. 

"Appearances can b—"

"Decieving? Fine I'll trust you." 

'Eah! That fast?'

"Besides..."

The man searched around his pocket, and pulled out a small black ring. 

"... it's just delivery."

He gestured at Finn, who opened his palms and extended his hand forward to accept his work tools. 

"It's got a room worth storage, gather the wood..."

The man pointed at a stockpile of chopped log a few feet away from them. 

"and deliver to these addresses." 

He handed over the black ring and a small black card over to Finn. 

"I'll give you ten ryū per house, how's that?"

Even more shock made up to his expression. 

He stood shocked at the equipment, and the generous pay the man was offering. 

'Is he trying to fool me? Yes! That must be it. After tempting me with such a large pay, he'll make me work to the bone and—'

"Here is your advance payment." 

The man dropped a small pouch onto the open palm that he still hadn't retracted. 

"Huh...?"

Curious, he pulled back his hand and slowly pulled back the thread only to see the golden coins shine bright at his face. 

—Gleam!

The yellow reflective spots fell on his face. 

'This is the real deal! Who is this guy?!'

...

"Who is that guy? Within an hour, I made almost eighty ryū, something that would have been impossible had I done some work back at the city."

He mumbled as he made his way back to the shack after completing all the delivery. 

"And this ring..."

He slid a finger over the smooth ring. 

A storage ring was a piece of equipment made from advanced magic that involved imbuing a code on an object which could later be used a storage and can be carried around with effortless convenience. 

"These things cost a fortune, almost five hundred if I remember right, and a digital tracklist," he rotated the black card in his hand. 

"Why is he working as a lumberjack?!! Isn't he practically rich?!!"

_________________________