CHAPTER 16 **A Heart in the Depths of Winter**

After a small moment, of not being able to answer her silent question of why she felt like she could be herself with confidence, Sahara looked away and sighed.

Whoa! She felt like she could have done good with a fan in front of her! Those eyes of his were intense…

Back to…Normal…To...That’s right! Being myself…

…Whatever the reason, it’s nice to be myself with more than one person in the world…

Sahara heard him clear his throat and ask, “Send it off?”

“Mmm, at night-time.”

The man looked at her strangely, but she didn’t elaborate further.

The type of cultivation this lass was using, seemed interesting. He knew of the basic kinds that many people used, such as adding to one’s weapon or one’s knowledge. But this cultivation seemed either invisible or set on gravity?

“What cultivation is this?” He finally asked, putting his hand around the star, to find that it didn’t move.

It doesn’t seem to be attached to anything…

“Bending Space.” Sahara stated openly.

What would be the point of keeping it a secret from him? I don’t think he wishes to harm me. Besides…It might not matter anyway… Haha, it isn’t even the biggest secret that I have!

“…Ben…Bending Space? That’s a rare but highly regarded meditation!” Matthew stopped for a moment but was too excited to leave things there, “This type of cultivation is well respected! It’ll give anyone a bright future that has it!”

He knew that ‘Bending Space’ meditation was very hard to understand and thought that this young lass must be some sort of genius to have figured it out!

Sahara shrugged, “I don’t use it in front of others. I learnt another meditation to cover it up.”

“Yes, don’t tell anyone! Not until you have a strong backing! But…Why did you tell me?” Matthew suddenly becomes aware of this fact indeed and couldn’t help but smile as he looked away for a moment. He felt elated that this little lass trusted him! Why was it a feeling that was even better then…Better then fighting with the crowned Prince?

Well…Anything was better than that!

Good question!

Sahara, after a moment, shrugged again, “I dunno.”

Feeling both worried and special at the same time, the man didn’t know how to respond. Not only was this meditation very wanted but there would definitely be people who would want to make her their puppet!

As they fell into their own thoughts for quite a few minutes, the sky darkened. It was a cliché moment in her eyes, watching the sunset with a handsome stranger. It would set a nice scene for any type of romantic stuff, but she was sure that nothing romantic was going on here…

Sahara turned to him, “Do you have a wish?”

“A wish?”

“Yeah, something you want? A dream?”

The man gave a small smile, while staring at her. After a moment he replied, “…Yes.”

She smiled back, “Okay, say ‘Star light, star bright’…”

After he repeated her childish words, Sahara made the star go further and further away, so far away that it went out of sight.

The man thought that it was over and looked at the little lass.

...But this was training to her, and she continued to push the star further and further away...Push the limits! Push the boundaries! Push further and further!

Doing this kind of thing was like having two sets of eyes. Her eyes could see what the star could ‘see’, because there was ‘no space’ between it and her, and she continued to make it go down a path that she had traveled before.

“Closer…Further away…” Sahara mumbled, as she concentrated on her cultivation training.

Minutes went by, and finally, the star went a little bit beyond her last ‘star’s’ journey, that she had sent out previously. By this time, sweat had formed on her forehead and her spiritual essence had run very low.

As Sahara took a deep breath, she smiled. When she had first started doing this, the stars would only fly up to the edge of the capital. But now, they reached beyond the outer towns outside of the capital and she could see what was beyond that. It was a very big land, and she had finally seen some magical beasts!

…That vast land reached for miles!

To be in a world with such differences was scary but also exciting! Sahara felt like she was sometimes playing a new game, with how new things were here…But she was always quite careful and one good thing about the star and her cultivation training, was that she couldn’t die…So, she could go as far into the unknown as she wanted!

It was sad though, upon how much this residence had knowledge beyond that of towns outside of the capital. Sahara had not been able to read anything beyond the basics of what was outside. Magical Beasts roam the land…Yes, but where do they come from? Why are they there? Did they come out of nothing? Do they reproduce differently…Or at all?

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Yet, Sahara knew that to find out more she’d have to actually leave the residence and perhaps join some school or something…Apparently, they were ‘academies’ here…So, she’d probably have to go to one of those…

Suddenly, something touched her face and in defense Sahara grabbed it in haste.

Normally she was alone, so seeing the man beside her startled her!

Oh! Forgot about him!

Sahara let go and made an apologetic face, “Sorry.”

He gave a small laugh and wiped her face gently, “You worked hard.”

Such a caring tone only startled her further!

She let him continue, while she silently sat there. She felt her face go red and her heartbeat quicken…

Feeling him look at her so intently…She got nervous. Sahara wasn’t new at all with men, but it had been so long since she’d been so close to one to feel this way!

He’s only wiping your forehead, no big deal!

Sahara tried not to hold her breath, she tried to just sit still and even closed her eyes, hoping that that would help her not care about this situation but…It really was troubling her senses!

Matthew eyed her with a smile, even knowing that he probably has dabbed away most of what was there but kept going anyway…Perhaps it was to tease her or…Maybe it was to just see her like this a little longer. She was so adorable!

Tensed up, yet openly letting him do whatever he wanted with her…

This lass!

She’s young…Yet why do I want to lean over and kiss her so much right now!? Would it be weird if I kissed her on the cheek? Could I just do that?

After he finished, finished being ‘stupid’ and coming to his senses that is, he put the handkerchief away and stared at her.

“How old are you?”

Sahara bit her lip, looking away. She half was stunned to his sudden question and half still trying to calm her racing heartbeat down.

Why does he need to know?

He didn’t interrupt her silence, as she pondered whether or not she would tell him.

Do I answer to how old my soul is or body? It’d probably freak him out if I said 44 ish…

“…Thirteen.”

Sahara had a bad feeling about this year…She was originally the thirteenth young miss, that was born on a ‘black Friday’…And now, she was thirteen years old.

No doubt, with the feelings she’s had…

…Impending imminent doom!

Letting out a long, sad sigh, she evoked curiosity into the man beside her. “What’s wrong.”

She let out a small laugh, “…I have…I’m bad luck. You should probably stay away from me.”

Bringing her knees in, she hugged them.

Sahara no longer wanted to see him or talk. She was pretty sure that her instincts weren’t the only thing that brought bad luck…She had begun to think that even she was bad luck for males!

In her previous life, Sahara hadn’t believed it at first, but so many things happened to men that were close to her, even ones that she was just friends with!

These things ranged from being unable to hear for the rest of their lives, to as far as cancer and even death for at least two of them…

After the second one died, Sahara had had enough! She thought of it as helping the male population out, that she doesn’t get close to any of them anymore.

“Who tells you this?”

Sahara sincerely wanted to hysterically laugh, but she didn’t. She shook her head instead, still not looking at him.

His hand on her chin, made her flinch, and she was forced to look at him. “Who told you that you were bad luck? Mmm?”

Was this man…Trying to coax me? His charm has suddenly doubled!

Sahara had talked about her instincts and premonitions in her past life, and no one had really believed her! Well, it wasn’t entirely like they didn’t believe but they hadn’t taken her as seriously as she had liked…

She has no idea what happened after she died, but she had told at least two people about her impending death by car. She wanted to know what they thought, after they had found out…Were they surprised? Did they even remember the premonition at all anyway?

Sahara sighed to how much she thought other people cared. She knew the human race was full of people that only cared about their own lives and that why should she have it much different…It’s just…It would have been nice to have one person say, ‘Hey…Didn’t she say that she’d die in a car? That’s fucking scary man!’

You know…Just something!

She knew it was stupid talk, who in their right mind would think that someone could live by their instincts? There were many people that hardly knew what they were…

Many times, Sahara had felt like she was different. Perhaps she was really the only one that felt this kind of stuff. Perhaps, this ‘Instinct, good and bad luck’ only happened to her...

Sahara would never think that this was a gift, when the bad luck that she got from it was quite astronomical…But they did somewhat determine her life!

So, what was she to do, but come to terms with this! She had to accept and adapt to her instincts and call them master…

What Sahara did realize was, over so much time of living, she feels like she’s not too bad of a person and she does like who she is as a person!

When she does follow what her instincts tells her, it is quite good! Things tend to go her way!

Even when Sahara lost it and went ‘bad’, her instincts were still with her all the way, helping her…

It’s very hard to explain and harder to want to tell people, because of how many hadn’t believed her about them before.

The man’s eyes were in front of Sahara, while she was thinking all this, they seemed to look straight through her! They were warm and cosy, making her like them very much…

But Sahara’s cold eyes did not show any kind of signs of melting…As they knew she could not tell all this ‘bullshit’ to him. He just…Wouldn’t understand…And then, like a number of people already, they might just think that she was crazy!

As they continued to stare, Sahara wondered towards her heart potentially melting, except she remembered about the last scheme with Gabriella. If that hadn’t happened, she might not have run away, staying out at night, drinking alcohol and being alone with a man. And since then, Sahara seemed to have started to revert back to her old self, of only depending on herself…

If he stared at me before that…Perhaps, she would have started to melt…Now, it was back to not really believing in humanity again. Maybe it had been a childish, innocent want, since being reborn, that she had wanted to try believing in them again but…Perhaps it was all just a waste of time…

Matthew felt his heart ache for the lass’s eyes. They seemed so deep and full of experience…

What has she been through, to look like this?

Unable to gaze away, wanting to melt her inner core, he rubbed his thumb against her soft face.

Truly, he always had worries these days. Assassins, schemes, plots, lies, scandals, conflicts…He could hardly sleep because of troubles!

He was used to them all now, used to always being on his guard, always ready to turn around and stop something from hitting him from behind.

Yet, this little lass seemed to suddenly become the biggest worry he’s ever faced. He found himself a new goal to not only protect her but to have her beside him and melting in his arms…Actually, he felt like that wasn’t exactly what he wanted either, perhaps…He just felt like he wanted her to smile right now, smile before it was too late…

Too late? Too late for what?

But…In an instant, the little lass backed away, got up and left. “I advise you to stay away me.”

Matthew stood up as well, but his gaze never left her retreating figure.

Feeling like he hadn’t had enough, he went to chase after her but…Suddenly, she disappeared!

Grabbing his heart in some sort of reflex, he stopped.

His spiritual essence came back to him, from being within her…

During their time together, he had used his ‘Emotions’ meditation cultivation, to seek answers from her. The first time, at the tavern, her emotions showed signs of dejection and longing. But she had been mostly happy and relaxed.

This time though…

Looking into the direction that she had disappeared in, he felt his heart break. Her emotions, among many, had the feeling of impending imminent death…

Why was she so sure that she was going to die very soon?

“Someone!” He yelled.

“Your Highness.”

“Discretely watch her, don’t let anyone harm her!”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

It might have been normal not to give his subordinate reasons for telling them to do things but…This was the first time that he just wanted them to do as they were told when he didn’t even know the reason himself!

It was just…A feeling…A strong feeling…One that didn’t seem to leave even after he had someone he trusted watching over her.

Dammit! What on Earth is with all those emotions in such a young child!?

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