The empire's princess was simply... beautiful.
Not the kind of beauty you saw in posters or on red carpets. This was the regal kind - refined, radiant, impossible to miss. Where Zeyra was sharp and silent, like a shadow with knives, this woman was like the moon in the night sky.
Graceful, poised, breathtaking.
And her eyes… God. Her eyes were sharp, golden, calculating. Not the kind of eyes that looked at people. The kind that assessed them.
The air around her shimmered faintly with an ethereal energy, and even without activating the King's Eyes, I could feel the pressure. Not threatening. Not hostile.
Just there. Like gravity.
Her guards stood behind her - six in total, dressed in ceremonial armour with the empire's emblem. They gave Auren and their master their distance, but were ready to act at any moment.
Wearing half-masks of polished obsidian shaped like roaring beasts, each carried weapons that looked more like cursed relics than tools of war.
Even from here, I could tell they were dangerous. Deadly.
Probably handpicked from the Empress's personal forces.
'So that's the Imperial Princess,' I thought slowly. 'The daughter of the Empress and likely the next in line.'
I must've been staring too long again, because Zeyra leaned in and whispered under her breath, "We are late."
Right.
Snap out of it, Ashen.
I straightened my robe, adjusted the collar, and took a slow breath. My boots clicked softly against the marble as I stepped forward, heading toward them.
Each step echoed like a drumbeat.
I could feel eyes shifting to me - servants pausing, soldiers stiffening, the faint murmurs beginning to rise.
Let them watch.
Let them wonder.
But even as I walked, I couldn't suppress the thoughts circling in my head.
'I need to know more. About him. About her. And most of all…'
I glanced at Auren again, who was watching me with unreadable eyes - not smiling, not scowling. Just… observing.
'What kind of game am I walking into?'
-
As I closed the distance - trying not to trip over my ceremonial robe like an idiot - one thought kept circling the drain in my head.
The King's Eyes.
I still had two uses left today. And standing in front of me were two people who, if I were reading this story instead of living it, would be the protagonists.
A shining twin brother with golden features and the charisma to match.
And the Imperial Princess herself, surrounded by mystery and far too many intimidating bodyguards.
They were the two I had in mind when I saved the uses of the skill, suppressing the urge to use it on every interesting-looking figure I spotted the entire day.
But I'm glad I did.
If there was ever a time to use my cheat skill, this was it.
First up - my brother. The walking statue of nobility that was carved out of divine light.
I focused on him and activated the King's Eyes.
The world sharpened. For a moment, everything else blurred - just a frame pulled into focus - and then the system responded.
Name: Auren Thorn
Title: The Golden Flame
Condition: Peak physical harmony
Age: 21
Rank: Elite Aurist / Advanced Arcanist
Class: Magic Swordsman
Aura Path Potential: S
Mana Path Potential: B+
Special Trait: Golden Pyre – A celestial flame that burns as strong as one's will
I blinked. Slowly.
'…That's me. But if I had a glow-up from God, trained every day since birth, and got kissed on the forehead by destiny.'
He's an Elite Aurist and Advanced Arcanist despite being so young.
How was that even possible?
The S-Rank Aura Path was even more unprecedented. Zeyra had an A-Rank in both aura and mana, and she already felt like a walking atomic bomb.
This?
This was something beyond that. Something rare. Mythical.
He was broken and had no need for a system.
I sighed internally.
'There goes any hope of big brother syndrome. He's not just stronger - he's golden, polished, and terrifying.'
'To think I have a twin of all things. An identical one! Ashen and Auren do have a pretty good ring to it, but I don't think I will ever get used to him. It's like looking at myself with a filter on.'
Still, I had one use left.
And the woman standing beside him, Princess Valessia, might as well have walked straight out of a dream. Not a hazy, whimsical one. A dangerous one. One with sharp edges.
She stood tall, dignified, in an elegant indigo gown woven with shimmering silver threads that shimmered like moonlight. Her silver hair was pinned into an intricate style with what looked like enchanted crystal pins, and a subtle aura of power clung to her skin like perfume.
She wasn't like Zeyra, who hid her strength behind cold eyes and tighter lips. Valessia radiated presence. Every glance she gave felt deliberate. Every step, practiced.
And her guards? I didn't even want to look at them too long. The way they watched everything, even me, made my skin itch.
Even as someone who wasn't an Ascendant, I could feel an unexplainable energy emanating from her.
Which is why I absolutely needed to peek with my King's Eyes...
There was a delay, as if she was able to resist the skill and the system, then:
Name: Valessia Eldros
Title: The Silver Star
Condition: Unstable mana due to the sealed spirit within
Age: 20
Rank: Elite Arcanist / Intermediate Aurist
Class: Elementalist
Aura Path Potential: C
Mana Path Potential: S+
Special Trait: Spiritborne – Naturally attuned to elemental spirits. Can commune with and summon greater elemental entities; affinity and strength scale with emotional resonance and magical focus.
I stared.
Then stared some more.
'S+ Rank Mana Path. S+! What kind of cheats are these people using?'
Even with a C-Rank Aura potential, the sheer weight of her mana potential and her trait… no wonder she was considered a royal weapon. She was a walking magic nuke, and if that wasn't enough, her ethereal beauty was hard to fathom.
And don't think I didn't notice her interesting condition.
But that wasn't all from the system. What came next almost made me lose my composure...