"VERINE!!" Ah, she is here again. It's been a few days since the whole fiasco with the assassin and the giant friend coming to my rescue, and now my older sister comes to my room to py with me a few times a day. She really has a lot of energy for a child. I mean, she talks to me about how she spent her day, about her daily training, her studies, and such. Where she finds the time to py with me, I don't know

  "Ahh, our little Verine is the cutest in the world!" Even now she keeps hugging me, pinching me, stretching my cheeks, and even smelling me all over. What is she, a dog? She even overcame her fear of the little ones; it doesn't even bother her that they are resting all over my body.

  But I am gd for her visits because she talks about this world, its races, and the nations that surround us, so I am learning a lot about this new world I was thrown into.

  I knew that this kingdom was called Okbar and that it was a desert kingdom, seeing how the children of Velisandra lived here, unless it was some bizarre situation that it was actually a snow-covered region and that the little ones were some kind of snow scorpions...that would be cool!

  But who knew this was an actual fantasy world with magic and giant scorpions? The thought of different kinds of my little ones excited me so much that I actually unconsciously started giggling, which in turn made Ana hug me even tighter.

  "So cuteeeeee!" Yep... she started her daily routine of squealing whenever I slightly do anything, and the green aura that surrounded her boomed again and spread all over her.

  I understood what that aura was after constant expnations that Ana gave about the world; it was mana. She expined to me that all living things possess mana in this world and even that there are some theories that mana itself was alive. It clicked to me that the green thing surrounding her form was mana and that green meant she was family and had strong loving feelings towards me.

  I turned my head towards the door where the two guards were still standing even after the incident. Mother and Father are probably worried, which is understandable.

  The one who sounded like a newbie had a blue aura around him, whereas the other, grumpy one was mostly gray with a hint of blue when I looked at him.

  Blue meant friendly and kind feelings towards me, and gray was neutral—no particur feelings towards me or none at all.

  And there was also a red aura, which I experienced firsthand—malice and hatred, all the negative feelings one can produce. Remembering the assassin's hand on my neck made me shiver slightly as I buried my head into Ana.

  "What's wrong, Verine? Are you cold?" Ana was slightly concerned and took out my bnket from the crib and covered me with it; she is a kind older sister. The little ones also came up to my face and nuzzled against it to make me feel better, and it worked.

  There was also the st type of aura I've seen. It was stranger than the rest because it was actually a dying mana that I've seen—the purple one. Ana expined to me how she was training and recently learned how to imbue mana into her weapon and give it properties. Her mana made her weapon slightly hotter, but she said she was still learning, and when she mastered her mana control, she could envelop her weapon in fmes—so cool.

  I guess the theory they have about mana itself being alive might be correct, remembering E's spear that night.

  "Afraid...?" I looked towards the wall when I heard a voice in my mind, a sweet, motherly voice. I knew who it was; it was my giant friend who was no longer in the room with us. She returned to the temple where she is staying now.

  She and I were linked; we could feel each other's presence and feelings. We knew if one of us was in danger, and I knew she would come to my rescue immediately, like the st time, but I worry about the pace. They moved me to a different room, as my st one has an enormous hole in it.

  "No, not anymore," I replied to her in my head. I asked her once what her name was. She just replied she never got one, even though she was the guardian beast worshiped by people here. It felt strange, so I asked her if she would like me to name her... Her response was, well, it exploded with loving feelings she sent my way, so I took that as a yes.

  "Ishara" when I said her name, I could feel the bond between us getting even tighter and stronger It was then she could feel me anywhere, and I her. I knew we'd made a genuine connection.

  "Creak!" The door opened, I turned my head, and saw a figure wrapped in a green aura just like Ana. It was E.

  "Ana, you are here again. How many times have I told you to finish your studies first before coming here? Now quickly hand her over." E might have sounded strict, but I knew she was nothing like that towards Ana; she loved her as much as I knew she loved me.

  "But Mother! How can I resist the temptation to come and hug Verine!" Ana fiercely protested and hugged me even tighter.

  "Ana" oh, she did make E a little mad, and she knew that, so she weakly released me and handed me over to E.

  "Here..." Such a weak voice. I guess I should make Ana feel a little better before she returns to her studies and training. I reached out my hand and pced it gently on her face. "Hehehe," I giggled as I looked at her.

  "!!!!!" "Mother, don't you see Verine doesn't want me to go? I must stay for her sake!" Ah, it backfired.

  "......" E just stood there and watched her. I imagined her with a slightly darkened, smiling face. "I w...will go!" Ana was now genuinely scared of E as she ran towards the door, but not before turning her head towards us and, with a cheerful voice, yelling, "Verine, don't be sad; big sister will be back shortly!"

  "GO!" E shouted at her, "Hiiik!" And Ana, like always, produced a fearful shriek as she ran away.

  "Sigh," a sigh escaped E as she cradled me in her arms. "What am I to do with that girl? She is so much like me that it's actually scary. I worry about her... but I am gd she loves her little sister so much," E spoke warmly as she gently pced me back in my crib.

  "Now, my little flower, it's time for sleep; your little friends can join you." E caressed my head and kissed my forehead while my little friends crawled all over my crib and my body. E was first against it and fiercely protested, but she understood in the end that they would never harm me and that they would protect me.

  "Sleep now, my little angel; Mother will be here." Her soothing voice made me feel drowsy, and I slowly drifted away.

  "She is sleeping... so cute." E caressed Verine's little head as she looked at her; she turned her head towards the guards and spoke to them in a low, commanding voice: "Leave," unlike her gentle, motherly one earlier, which made one think it was all an illusion.

  "Yes, your highness!" The two guards saluted and quickly vacated Verine's room.

  "Report," she quietly whispered, and behind her in a kneeling position, a figure wrapped in bck leather clothes spoke with a cold, manly voice.

  "We investigated the assassin that was...handled that night by the great guardian. We were able to identify him as one of the former Shadow Stinger operatives, code name Slither, that defected to the nobles side," the man spoke as he remembered the trouble he had to go to in order to identify the mess of a body that was left by the great guardian.

  "Ah... so it seems my brother-in-w and his faction are truly so hateful of our second princess just because she inherited my features and not mine." E spoke with a cold voice. She was not a native to the Okbar kingdom; she was previously a knight from the Elsara Empire, which bordered Okbar to the north. She met her husband while on a diplomatic mission, and they fell in love at first sight.

  But her white skin and silver hair were not too favored in Okbar, particurly when it came to true-blooded nobles of the kingdom and the leader of those nobles, Garlon, her husband's brother and her brother-in-w.

  "I will never allow them to harm her...never..." E wove with a fierce determination in her heart, and she was gd her youngest had a great, big, reliable guardian by her side as well.

  "Yo...ur highness, Prince Garlon, please...!" A short, fat man was kneeling, all bruised up, and as blood slowly trickled down his face, two men wearing Okbar kingdom knight armor were holding him by his arms as he cried and begged for his life towards a man sitting cross-legged on a throne of his own making.

  "I have told you before failure to meet my expectations means death, have I not?" Garlon, the younger brother of the king, resembled his older brother Varl in his rge build, short bck hair, and tanned skin, but unlike the king's face that had scars all over from countless battles, his was as clean as a precious gem; not a blemish or a scar could be seen. There was also one more thing that distinguished Garlon and Varl: Varl had a kind face, even if it was scarred all over, while Garlon's face looked cold and emotionless.

  "My Prince, we couldn't have known.... The beast, it... came to protect the Princess. How could we have known!? The kneeling, short, fat man yelled out, his tears from the pain falling even faster.

  "Not my concern; show Lord Derlot down... to the dungeon." Garlon rested his head on his hand, smiling coldly and issuing a cruel order to the two guards.

  "Yes, Your Highness," the guards shivered slightly but carried out the order, dragging the screaming Lord Derlot down to the not-so-famous dungeon.

  Left alone, Garlon's face darkened as he recalled the reports from his spies inside the temple and even the royal pace.

  "So the little half-blood was blessed by the goddess herself... That will put my master's pns in jeopardy; I need to find a way to get rid of that beast." Garlon tapped his finger on the throne, lost in thought; the light from the candles flickered, revealing a sinister horned shadow behind him.

  AN: Hope you liked it will try to to 2-3 chapters a week!