May I introduce myself, Your Highness?

Chapter 1

No one had ever seen a kwami. Some claimed they were the benevolent guardians of the universe; others—the hideous monsters, preying on human souls in the darkness of the night. No one had ever risked finding the truth. And if anyone had, they never told the tale.

The tales of the kwami's children, though, were plenty.

Everyone envied them. No one was ever eager to become one.

It was rumoured that the children of kwamis were born as humans. They lived a very short life—five years at most—and spent all of it encountering an unfair measure of suffering and misery until it literally killed them. Or rather, almost killed them, because if through all the pain and misfortune, one such child was able to preserve a pure and loving heart, then one of the kwami might snatch that babe from death's grip, bring them into their paradise, and raise them as their own.

Those children were said to have unimaginable beauty and magical abilities bestowed upon them. They were said to be powerful enough to alter the flow of human history, but as far as anyone knew, none had ever visited Earth after their ascension to paradise. If they had, they'd never let themselves be discovered, remaining somewhere between a myth and reality in everyone's imagination.

Which was why Adrien couldn't just ignore the tiny bundle of dirty rags he encountered on the corner of a muddy road. He bit his lip, his eyes transfixed by the mop of messy dark hair peeking from the holes of the child's shawl, a pair of blue eyes watching him intently, the tiny hand with a red thread tied around its wrist, sticking out from under the child's barely-holding-together clothes. A small black kitten, nestled in the child's lap.

The girl—he reasoned it was a girl for how delicate her features looked—tried to say something, her lips barely moving. Her voice was so weak, Adrien couldn't distinguish a single word through the pounding of his own heart echoing in his ears.

This babe was a prime candidate for being adopted by the kwami. She looked to be around four or five years of age. Judging by the state the child was in, misery, poverty, and starvation were her fate. Yet her eyes, though tired and full of sorrow, hadn't lost their shine. There was still hope lurking beneath her tears.

Adrien looked around at people walking past as if they hadn't even seen the beggar.

"Let her be," the merchant to his right huffed irritably. "She's gonna kick the bucket by the end of the day. Don't prolong her suffering. If she's lucky, one of those kwamis will take pity on her."

Adrien couldn't find it in himself to risk it. While the girl did look like she had all the chances to be snatched by a deity, who could guarantee that she would be? Who could assure him that in her suffering, she had never cursed her fate or bore grudge against her destiny? Who could be certain that kwamis existed in the first place? And how could Adrien hope to one day rule this country well if he were to let its citizens die on the streets, hoping for some fairy tale deity to save this child in his stead?

He reached into his pouch and searched for food. A lonely cracker and a few dried strawberries were all he'd found. But perhaps, less was better for a tiny human who looked like she hadn't had any food in weeks.

"Here you go." He put a cracker into the girl's hand.

She raised her tear-filled eyes to him and smiled, with a shaking hand, breaking a piece of the cracker and giving it to the kitten in her lap.

Adrien's heart broke.

"Ugh!" The merchant puffed, spiting the girl's way. "What did I tell you? Don't waste food on her! She'll die in a few hours anyway."