The Tyrant's Pet

Princess Aries Aime Heathcliffe. Beautiful, smart, and humble. A well-loved princess with a humble personality. She was someone who was often involved in charity works, involved in politics, and also handled high society well. 

She was a little bit of everything. The favorite princess. 

Ironically, that wasn't the reason many loved Aries. The real reason she was quite famous was that she had broken boundaries between aristocracy and common people. She fought alongside the powerless, became their voice, and stood beside them. 

That was what Aries was like. 

But there was also one thing Aries was infamous for. That was her sharp tongue to men proposing to her. For a favorite princess such as Aries, marriage proposals from local nobles and from other countries flooded her. But because of her pride and her awareness of the men's intention, she became vigilant to all the men who showed an interest in her. 

That was when she met the crown prince of the Maganti Empire. That man, who was like any other noblemen, showed interest in Aries. But unlike others, the crown prince got close to her as a friend. Rejecting a friend's confession was hard for her, but she didn't think this 'friend' would make her life a living hell. 

Her princess life was a roller coaster ride. Her reputation was a good mix of good and bad. The beauty that she was also well known about had become her curse. The curse of being loved by everyone... resulting in the mass murder of her people. 

What did people like about her? What do men see in her to become a subject of lust? If she knew things would happen like that, she would've accepted that particular marriage proposal instead of being stubborn. If only she was wiser, she wouldn't mind sacrificing her happiness and married voluntarily. 

Aries let out a deep sigh while staring down at the pavement. Abe's question reminded her of the 'old' Aries. Someone who was carefree and full of positivity. She couldn't return to being that Aries. So what's the point of asking her that?

She snapped her eyes when she felt a squeeze in her hand. She turned her head at Abel, only to see him smirk. 

"Better?" he asked with that cocky smirk, but somehow, that made her smile. 

"Better." She nodded, pressing her lips into a thin line as she took a deep breath. "Princess Aries is anything but good. She has too much pride in her, it's an insult that 'marriage' is a necessity for her. She loved her people, and they loved her in return. But... I hoped they didn't love me that much."

"Huh? Why?"

Aries smiled bitterly as she cast him a quick side-eye. "If they didn't, they won't fight for me. If they didn't fight for me, they wouldn't have to meet their demise. I'd rather get betrayed by them than know they all died because of me."

"That's strange..." Abel muttered, looking ahead at the busy street while they strolled. To him, he wasn't well loved in the past. He wasn't like this in the beginning, but the people's betrayal shaped the ice around his heart.

In his case, he never had people fighting for him because they loved him. He thought things would be different if people chose him instead of condemning his existence. In other words, he couldn't relate to her entirely. 

Their situation was the complete opposite. One was loved by all, the other one was condemned. And yet, both were equally unhappy with their experience. 

"How about you, Abel?" he raised a brow when she looked at him warmly. "What was Prince Abel like?"

'Prince Abel? Right...' He took several seconds to think about what this 'prince' was like before becoming the emperor. 

"He was nothing." He smiled brightly while her brows furrowed. "Darling, I was the emperor ever since I was born."

A frown dominated her face, perceiving his words as another boast. "You mean you've been the emperor ever since you're an infant?" she asked, laced with sarcasm, but he nodded.

"Abel Bloodworth had been the emperor for a long time. That's why I can do my job even with my eyes closed. It's just too easy filled with recurring events; it's boring." Abel shrugged nonchalantly, leaving her in awe of his 'confidence' in lying. But he wasn't. 

What he said was true and nothing but the truth. She just couldn't understand it, since she didn't know. 

Abel hummed as he cast her a side-eye, noticing the dismay and doubt in her eyes. "But I can tell you about this Abel."

"Who?"

"Abel." His brows rose, while a playful grin plastered across his face. "The only son of this small family. He had three sisters; they're all lunatics. I was never close to them... or I was close with the sister that came after me."

Aries listened to him with a furrowed brow. She had learned the history of Haimirich and the royal family. If she remembered correctly, Abel was an only child. Apparently, the royal family only produced one child every generation, like a curse. Conan and Aries hadn't tackled that entirely because they were distracted by plotting to find her replacement. 

"Our family is small and strange. We weren't the family who would laugh during dinners; I never recalled a dinner where we spoke a word. You can say we were like strangers living under the same roof," he continued despite that she was doubting his story. "But one day, everything changed when a person came into our house. That man... was the only human I respected." 

"Why do you always talk as if you're not human?" she murmured, still listening to his story even though she knew it was a 'made up' story. But there was this part of her who thought he wasn't lying completely.

Abel laughed. "Because I'm not," he replied playfully, while she frowned. "Anyway, that man was my first friend. He was also the reason my sister left home."

"They eloped?" 

"No. She went out to find him because he promised he would return. He didn't."

"And then...?"

"She also didn't return." He answered in a matter-of-fact. "Last time I heard, she married a good-for-nothing man. And then the youngest also ran away from home. She was merely an infant when she eloped with a man."

"Isn't that kidnapping?" Her expression died the more she listened.

"Well, actually, darling, it was my little sister's idea. The poor man had no choice but to take that child."

"Your story only made sense in the first half."

He laughed, knowing this story was hard to believe, so he was telling her. "And then me. I went out to see the world. You remembered that man I was talking about? He inspired me to see how beautiful the world was. Unfortunately, not everyone was like him. I didn't see the beauty of this world, but what I did see is how rotten it was."

For reasons unknown, her heart clenched upon hearing that last remark. Although Abel's tone was light, there was just something in his words that felt real.

"Knowing my other sister, she probably stayed in that house. With her personality, she couldn't be bothered. She likes playing god," he continued, ending the short story of the family he had in the past. 

"Abel, where did you borrow this story?" she inquired which made him grin. 

"From Abel." His eyes squinted into mere slits as he smiled brightly.. "The first emperor of Haimirich."