[Music Recommendation: Icarus ~ Phildel]

Oriana held her chest, almost losing her balance. "What do you mean it can’t be fixed?" she asked the young man in front of her.

Galen ruffled his hair tiredly; he didn’t want to be in the situation either. He had no love for the princess; he just wanted to escape from the poor life he found himself in, but now things had gotten worse and somewhat irreversible.

"I deserve to die, Your Majesty." He got down on his knees and bowed.

Sophie shook her head. "No! If you die, then I’ll follow you."

Oriana waved her hands dismissively. "Nobody is dying. I just need some time to really settle this in," she inhaled deeply.

Bessie, who was standing at the corner, watched the older princess of Orion acting like a child in love and rolled her eyes. She stood behind, watching closely how Oriana would handle the situation.

"I don’t know. I will have to talk to the King. Sophie needs to go back to Orion and let our parents know of the new changes," Oriana finally replied, looking at her sister with pity.

"For now, let me take her outside for a walk and see if it’ll help." She tugged Sophie’s hand gently.

Before leaving, Sophie turned to look at Galen, smiling at him sweetly. "Don’t worry, my husband, I will be right back." She waved, leaving with her sister.

Bessie dropped the maid act the moment the two princesses left. She scoffed, "I’m not expected to babysit that idiot now, am I?"

The charmer turned to look at the maid, "Were you talking to me?"

Bessie sneered, "Probably when you learn to mind matters that concern you." She replied curtly, and this had Galen bowing politely as he walked back inside the room.

The maid cursed under her breath, left alone. She stared blankly at the path Oriana and Sophie had passed, "I thought the older princess would be ambitious enough to help me punish Oriana..." she muttered to herself.

This was the reason she had decided to work with Sophie, seeing that the princess had the tendency to be ruthless, but lately, things have been changing.

"I guess I should change my master too," Bessie muttered to herself, turning to leave the passage.

Outside the palace, Oriana walked closely behind Sophie. She watched as her sister smiled happily, looking at the flowers. This was a part of Sophie she had never seen before; all she remembered of Sophie was being uptight and rude. Both of them never saw eye to eye. Oriana could remember clearly Sophie giving her a strict warning to never call her sister because she was the Crown Princess, but now all of that had changed.

"Sister!" Sophie turned, "I found a butterfly. I should get two for Galen and myself."

Now... Oriana thought to herself, Sophie was a whole new person. Living like she had missed out on all the fun of life. Somewhere in Oriana’s heart, she was grateful for the slight change in her sister’s life. Being a royal and a Crown Princess had made Sophie forget slightly about living; she did everything in her power to please their father, trying to be the best only to end up being used by others.

Oriana remembered when Sophie had first arrived in Avon and how they both almost fought for Adric’s attention, Sophie sticking up to the side of former Queen Gwen just to make sure she was winning in any fight to get Adric’s attention. With Sophie’s mind occupied with being in love, she wouldn’t be easily used as other people’s puppet on a string; neither would she curry up evil plans for no reason.

All that had to be done was to make sure Galen was loyal to her and Adric, Oriana thought to herself.

"Sophie, don’t hurt yourself. Most of those flowers have thorns," Oriana shouted, watching Sophie pluck any flower she set her eyes on.

Walking casually in the palace garden, Oriana saw two people talking. It was Adelaide and Nicholas, and from the looks on their faces, it was something really serious. She continued walking closer to them, not to eavesdrop, but to continue her walk when she heard Adelaide shout,

"We are getting married, and that’s final!"

Oriana paused in her tracks, seeing it was sensitive. She decided not to pass them but turn around to leave. However, Nicholas raised his eyes and saw Oriana before she could walk away.

"Your Majesty," Nicholas called, Adelaide turned at the same time.

Oriana turned. Without returning their greeting, she said, "I see you’re having a private conversation. You can go ahead."

Adelaide waved her hands. "No, sister-in-law. It’s not some type of secret discussion, as it will come to light soon. The Prime Minister and I have decided to get married. Since you already heard it, I should quickly go and inform Brother Adric." Saying this, the princess left to look for her brother, leaving Oriana and Nicholas.

Oriana waited patiently for some minutes before saying, "Congratulations on your marriage to the princess. I didn’t know you both were that close."

Nicholas couldn’t raise his head, as he was so ashamed of himself. "It’s not what you think, Princess Oriana-"

"It’s Queen now, I expect you to acknowledge my title," Oriana interjected, her face expressionless. She stared at the young man in front of her whom she had once fancied.

Nicholas bowed deeply. "I must have lost my mind for a second. My apologies, Your Majesty," he spoke with a calm voice. When he raised his face, he had a sad look in his eyes.

"Why did you lie to me?" Oriana asked what had been probing her mind since the day she found out that Adric was actually the young master she had met years ago.

Nicholas first acted like he was oblivious to what Oriana was asking. When he saw the look of seriousness on her face, he dropped his shoulders.

"I was trying to protect you."

Oriana scoffed, "From what? Protect me from what? And you thought you could do that by lying... messing up my own memory."

"It wasn’t my intention to lie to you. When I saw you in the palace, I knew immediately that you needed my help and had been forced to stay against your own will. I had to do everything in my power to keep you safe, even if it meant lying. All I ever wanted was to make you smile and keep you safe," Nicholas replied, taking a step closer to Oriana. He continued,

"I still have those feelings for you. I want to protect you and be the one you will depend on. Trust me, I have no intentions of getting married to the princess, it’s you I want-" When Nicholas tried to take another step closer, Oriana raised her hand, making a bridge between them.

She couldn’t help but imagine what would have happened if she had actually taken Nicholas’s hand and left Adric. Who knew how her life would have turned out? She remembered when Adric had told her to cut the Prime Minister off before it was too late.

"Lord Nicholas, I don’t know if my past actions made you think that we can ever be together. I felt lost, yes, when I came to the palace, and I was ready to take any hand that stretched towards me," Oriana started. "But I realized that I didn’t need a hand to save me; I needed a hand to accept me. And that was what Adric gave to me. I don’t know what you have with Princess Adelaide, but I won’t hesitate to strike if I ever feel like you’re a threat to me or my husband."

"Y-your..." Nicholas opened his mouth to talk, then closed it. He couldn’t believe it was Oriana talking to him.

Oriana brought down her hand to the side, "There’s now a bridge between you and me. And I will forever love Adric; absolutely nothing can change that. You should also know what you want and pick a side. Let us not be seen talking casually again, and if you try to make uncomfortable steps close to me, I will make sure you’re punished for it."

"Once more, congratulations on your marriage." Oriana’s voice was cold with no emotions, and with that, she turned and left.

Nicholas felt his throat dry up as he watched the princess walk away. The princess he used to know was meek and listened to him. They both were the perfect match, and he imagined getting married to her and having children together. But now, all of those dreams vanished into thin air.