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“That’s an unusual name, why did you choose it in the first place?” Young Lord Wolfe asked as he gently nudged a plate of food closer to Winter. He smiled slightly at her exuberance, his amethyst eyes glinting slightly. From the outside, his gaze appeared rather friendly, but the intent behind the gaze was as cold as a viper sizing up its prey before lunging in for the kill.

However, it was not a look one would expect to find on a 9-year-old child thus it was missed by everyone present, a small party of the hawk-eyed Emma, Winter, and his butler as the young lord had bought out the entire upstairs of an upscale restaurant called Laronde for them eat and speak. For just like Winter, the Young Lord Wolfe was not necessarily a child but Akira, the Devourer himself. And as for why the formidable demon had supplanted himself in a crippled human vessel that hadn’t even reached adulthood, his reasoning was simple.

Akira had come to play.

It had been too long since he’d last spoken with that unruly upstart that he’d helped onto the throne. Perhaps the boy had become so enthralled with his new role, he’d forgotten the cost. Akira aimed to help him remember. And the very first piece sat right before him, wrapped tightly around his finger.

“There’s a story I once heard about a young woman who was curious and opened a box. From that box came everything horrible and terrible within the world – sickness, death, greed, war. Then she slammed the box shut, leaving one thing within it, hope. Since then, mankind has been able to hold onto hope to face the darkness Pandora released into the world,” Winter recited with a pleased expression.

Akira scratched his chin, his interest slightly piqued. He’d never heard such a story before.

“I chose the name Pandora so I could always remind myself to always be cautious and never lose hope. But I did forget to heed my own warning and got burnt,” she finished, her face adopting a cynical look as she regarded her right hand strangely.

.....

“The box,” Akira asked slowly.

“Huh?” Winter looked back up, dragging herself from her thoughts.

“Where did the box come from?”

“Oh!” Winter screwed up her head in thought. “It’s been a long time since I heard the story so I might be missing a few details. But the entire case was set up by gods who were upset with humanity. They granted the curious, beautiful Pandora to a foolish human who was so enchanted by her he ignored the warnings of his brother and married her. The same gods gave her the box as a wedding present and told her to never open it, but they had granted her a curious personality so her opening the box was inevitable in a way.”

Winter’s lip curled at the word inevitable and she briefly looked out of the window, the soft afternoon light filtering onto their table. She hadn’t even noticed how much time had passed, so happy was she to meet with her sole friend outside of the palace.

“Inevitable... do you believe in fate, Winter?” inquired the young boy who had previously been watching Winter recount her tale with an appropriately enthralled expression. He leaned forward and his wheelchair wobbled, causing Winter and his butler to simultaneously reach out and try to stabilize him.

“I’m fine,” Akira assuaged them both, patiently awaiting Winter’s answer.

There was something strange that hovered around the girl constantly, like an invisible hand that could manipulate the environment and people to its will. He had probed it gently with his senses and it did not feel like something his old friend, Helio, would do. The force felt like something not native to his world But one thing was certain, Akira did not like it. And things he did not like naturally did not have the right to exist.

Feeling the wide-eyed stare of her friend, Winter goodnaturedly patted his hand.

“Fate? I-I believe it exists. But I don’t believe that it is something we have to follow. We should fight to create our own path,” Winter said as she clenched her fists under the table.

There seemed to be hidden anger in her words and the Devourer hid a smile as the details became clear from his few words. It could be concluded that Winter knew of this force’s existence and disliked it. It was her good fortune that this force was also working against his wishes, so he supposed he could be magnanimous and help Winter suppress it.

“Indeed. But I don’t suppose I’ll ever be able to walk a path on my own,” Akira sighed quietly, injecting a slight amount of sorrow into his voice and gazing down slightly at his wheelchair-bound self. He commended himself for finding a vessel that induced an appropriate amount of pity from any onlookers.

“No, my lord you can’t think like that-” Winter exclaimed, feeling bad for her young friend. He was in similarly sad circumstances just like herself and the mirror between their life strengthened the connection she felt with the bright-eyed kid.

“Elias. Call me Elias. We’re friends aren’t we?” Akira interrupted playfully.

“But you’re a lord and I’m just a-,” Winter started nervously, completely devoted to her fake act of a peasant girl. Akira indulged her little act, as he could patiently wait for her to reveal her identity to him on her own accord.

“You’re my friend,” Akira repeated seriously, emphasizing the word friend.

“Yes. Yes, we are,” Winter agreed with a smile. Akira could practically see the girl’s silent promise to devote herself as an even better friend to the young lord.

“You should walk it for me. Both my fate and yours,” Akira told her in that heartwarming moment, his voice still in the high register of childhood but still managing to ensnare any listener’s ears.

“You told me how your family doesn’t care about you so you don’t want to have anything to do with them. But wouldn’t it spite them even more if you managed to crawl into their hearts and make them regret the way they’ve treated you up until now? Wouldn’t you be able to secure better prospects for yourself in the future this way?” Akira argued logically.

Winter naturally recoiled at Akira’s words and a slight frown appeared on her cute, little face.

“Future prospects? As in marriage?” Winter chuckled sourly and shook her head. “I’ll be long out of the picture before anything like that needs to happen. And my family wants me dead and gone. I’m simply doing them a favor by making these arrangements.”

“Doing them a favor? You sell flowers occasionally, how much money does that make? Your business with Arabella’s, how lucrative is it for you to make enough to run away from the capital with adequate protection as a young girl?” Akira asked, hitting the hard questions. “You’ve tried this before, the first time we met. You won’t survive on your own.”

“I can!” Winter replied indignantly. “And everything has a purpose! I sell flowers so I can hear people’s gossip and buy the newspaper for the capital’s news. My business at Arabella’s will bring in a lot more wealth in the future when her atelier is successful.”

But Winter didn’t seem completely convinced in herself, a fact that was glaringly obvious to Akira’s shrewd eyes. He continued poking holes in Winter’s argument, continuously wearing down her desire to run away. After all, how could he play his game if the key character was missing?

“And how successful have your efforts been?” Akira asked, propping up his head on his hand and giving Winter an almost mocking look.

“Quit making fun of me, you’re too young for this behavior!” Winter chided in embarrassment, engaging in her strange habit of speaking to Akira as if he were her junior.

“And you’re too young to run away from home,” Akira expertly countered.

The two sat in a deadlock, quietly sipping tea. Winter had impeccable etiquette for a young child despite only receiving a few weeks worth of teaching from Mrs. Laroche. Akira was slightly too well spoken and clever to be an ordinary child. However, both did not interact with children often, as Emma was an unsual girl as well, thus neither noticed the other’s strangeness.

“I’ll stay home until I’m a little older. That’s all I can promise,” Winter finally bit out after the two had finished their staring contest.

Akira shrugged his little shoulders. “That’s good.” And then perhaps remembering the age of his vessel, he added sweetly, “Then you can be my friend for even longer.”

Winter laughed and reached across the table to ruffle his light brown locks, the afternoon sunlight making him look like a cherub. “Fine, fine, fine.”

“If you take your sister’s spot though, you can stay with me even longer!” Akira added slyly, trying to extort more time for Winter to stay in the capital.

Winter instantly frowned and retracted her hand. “Elias, I shouldn’t have told you that!”

Akira put up an offended pout. “But it’s true! I hardly have any friends, what will I do if you leave me?”

His big eyes blinked endearingly at Winter and the young girl found herself tongue-tied for a heartbeat. This was the scene Sir Finn walked into, his light footsteps easily picked up upon by Akira although he said nothing.

Akira slid a level glance at the knight who was poorly disguised as an ordinary gentleman, his noble bearing still prominent without the navy uniform. Sir Finn, Akira had found, did not seem to care for him very much the few times they had met. Winter for her part, looked slightly bashful she left the restaurant with her ‘cousin’.

His little face fell back into its typical cavalier coldness, a smile hanging from his petite lips although there was a malevolent air around him like a dark cloud.

“I chose well, did I not?” Akira murmured to his butler, Chester, another servant of his in disguise.

The shadows moved and twisted around the tall butler followed by a low, “Yes, sire.”

He liked the tenacity that hung around the girl, the unrelenting spirit in her eyes. It was quite reminiscent of her father, Emperor Helio, back when he went under another name and was still fighting for his place in the imperial family. It had been beautiful, the things Helio had done with the power Akira had given him. He’d razed through the imperial bloodline, leaving scarcely an infant alive, and sat down on the bloody throne he regularly took lives to maintain. But Helio had made one mistake, in assuming that his end of the bargain to Akira was fulfilled. In fact, it wasn’t.

And the Devourer would make him pay most dearly for that error.