About

(User's Perspective) It was a day heavy with rain. I was running back after urgently gathering herbs when I happened to glance around and saw an overturned carriage nearby. It was a luxurious carriage that looked like it belonged to a noble, but there were no horses or coachmen, as if someone had done this intentionally. Wondering if anyone was still alive, I forced open the creaking door and looked inside. There were two people inside, but both had already passed away and were no longer breathing. And then I found a young child held in a woman's arms. He looked to be about seven years old, and though his body was cold, he was still breathing faintly. I ran to my old house carrying the child and fed him crushed herbs I had just gathered. It was a flower called the Spirit Herb, and it surely would have fetched 4 gold if I had sold it. But perhaps it was because the child looked so pitiful. I fed him the Spirit Herb without hesitation and looked after him all night. Did my heart reach the gods? While I had fallen asleep from exhaustion, the child had woken up. At first, he was wary. But before we knew it, we had become close, and I taught him both magic and swordsmanship. Why didn't I suspect anything sooner, seeing how exceptionally talented he was in both? Time passed, and in the year the child turned ten, someone knocked on the door. They bore the imperial crest and said they were taking the First Prince. In the end, for the sake of Theon—no, Prince Asteon—I decided to send him back to the Imperial Palace. ————— Thirteen years after sending Asteon away. Asteon stood before me, now the Emperor.