"That little rat!" A feminine voice shrieked out angrily from a room where two women were present. Princess Gwenore and Raziah were in Gwenore’s chamber because Raziah had decided to come and visit her to see how she was settling in the next day after the games. She just came to spend about a minute or two and then leave, before Gwenore had brought up the topic of what happened yesterday.

"I can’t believe she would even think of doing that!" Gwenore lashed out again, her eyes blazing as she stared into space.

"I also kicked her off the horse," Raziah reasoned to the king’s second wife whom looked like she was about to murder an entire army, "Ember isn’t a problem for me. I can deal with her type very well." Raziah added for clarification so no one would think she was vulnerable in the least.

"I still need to talk to her. I can’t just let this slip by," Gwenore motioned at Raziah’s arm which had swollen up a bit, but Fabia had already taken care of it, "This is what she did to you! That...!" She gritted her teeth to stop herself from uttering anything that wasn’t Princess-like. But God, she badly wanted to insult the living daylights out of ember. Choking her too wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

"I’m fine." Raziah pulled herself into a standing position, getting ready to leave her chambers. When she woke up this morning, her husband was surprisingly not beside her, and she had told herself it didn’t mean anything. After the question she had asked him yesterday, he never spoke to her after that but she didn’t know whether he was keeping his distance or he was just very busy.

Gwenore stared at the wristband for a second, before she gazed at the other small bracelet Raziah was also wearing, the same one Maria had gifted her on her birthday.

"Why don’t you want to be queen?" Gwenore blurted out before Raziah could excuse herself from the room. For every born Princess, the goal is to become a righteous Queen that can stand beside her husband and deliver him everything he needs for a successful reign as King, for as long as it takes. The Life isn’t as luxurious as commoners see it to be, because the positions come with a lot of responsibilities that need to be met. So for a Princess to claim and do that in front of so many witnesses, there has to be a big reason for that.

"Simple. I don’t need the memories." She responded smoothly.

Gwenore’s lips pouted from confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

"There’s already enough to deal with in my life." Raziah glanced back at her with an Indifferent look, gave her a curt nod, and walked out of the room. Glancing to her right, she sighted the king’s chambers that was said he hardly uses. It was right next to Gwenore’s room, and it made Raziah wonder why he doesn’t go in there as often as he should. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Shaking her head softly, she walked back to her room. Raziah came across the throne room, with the doors slightly ajar just enough for her to see a little of what was going on. The voices from inside were deep and faint, and they seem to be addressing an important matter.

Aragon was sitting on the throne, his hair let down. His dark eyes made piercing eye contact with every one of the Other kings attending the meeting, and she watched his lips move and eyes dart around. The same man who once had the most beautiful blue eyes in her vision, and now he was someone different. As she continued to stare at them, it had her once again recalling the words of the person she met yesterday at the catacomb, and what he said about exposing who she truly is to the supernatural community. The more reason why she was so desperate to stop the person from whatever he was plotting, but she couldn’t get that swirling horrifying feeling of his presence out of her head, and that flat yet treacherous voice that kept reverberating inside her head.

Then there was the question about her husband and who he truly is. Why was it only his tombstone that had more unknowns than the others? Who else knows he isn’t... exactly alive? How lengthy does she have to go just to uncover the truth behind everything?

She blew out a loud and heavy sigh, already coming up with a headache. Fabia had already prepared something to take care of the headache she couldn’t keep ignoring, and all she needs now is a good amount of sleep.

As soon as she looked away from her husband, Aragon’s eyes turned to take a glimpse of his wife standing right outside the door. He knew she’d been standing there for a while now staring at him, which was a new thing because she hardly stares at anything but food. But it wasn’t surprising since she’s found out about one of his most critical secrets. When he had decided not to tell her anything, even though it was to taunt her and see how far she would go just to uncover the truth, and the results that would make their way to the surface about her as she does that, he never imagined she would find out about this so fast.

He thought he had buried everything, and it still fascinated him how she found him out so soon. He even went about through the same forest, but couldn’t find anything concerning him. He might have to go exploiting further again before someone else finds anything.

When her eyes turned a bit colder, he just knew someone that wasn’t human had approached her. Her eyes never light up except when she’s with humans, and it’s very hard to even notice her lit-up eyes because of the freezing cold that had covered almost everything. Now, he was thinking if there would ever come a day when she would see any Vampire or witch...and she wouldn’t look like murdering them on the spot.

Even worse, a day when she would smile genuinely at him.

"Your highness," Acacia walked up to Raziah, bowing a little.

"Sorceress," Raziah regarded her with a small nod of her own.

"I came to inform you that we would be leaving in the next..." Acacia couldn’t help but glance around at the princess’s injuries, "Next seven days," She finished with a light smile. It’s like the injuries weren’t healing, and were only getting worse Everytime.

"I don’t understand," Raziah mentioned out, trying to recall if anyone ever told her anything about leaving, "Where and who is leaving?"

"You, Me, and one more person. His Majesty... hasn’t told you anything?" Acacia questioned, gauging her reaction carefully.

Raziah almost frowned. He never tells her anything just to catch her off guard, and one of these days she might just end up kicking him in the face again, "I’m just hearing about it. His Majesty asked us to leave, To where?" She stared back at the sorceress.

Now Acacia wasn’t sure how to answer that. She thought the King would have already settled things with her, and she didn’t know if it would be ok to tell her the truth about their exact destination. Raziah doesn’t hide the fact that she dislikes every one of them, and she might burst out if she finds out they were taking her to another place filled with non-humans, "We will be visiting someone I know, and he suggested you come along with me," Acacia managed to quickly reply without slipping up.

Raziah’s eyes almost narrowed suspiciously at the woman, but she only nodded so they would finish the discussion to go their separate ways.

"We were supposed to leave in the next three days," Acacia continued, "But you still look...Ill,"

"How long are we staying?"

"Once I’m done with what I’m going to do, we would return to Erandell immediately,"

"Then let’s leave in the next three days!" Raziah declared. The faster she gets it over with, the better for her.

"Are you sure? You..."

Raziah’s eyes fluttered back to the King again through the door, who was still so busy with the meeting they were having, "I’m very sure. Three days from now is just right," she replied strongly.

"I’ll see to it immediately," Acacia nodded, though she still felt quizzical about it all.

Raziah only retired back to her room after she paid everyone she knew a visit even though all they’ve been was bothersome about her coming to see them when the reverse should be the case. She even stayed with Uariel for a while, even though he was a witch. It’s weird to say she still felt as comfortable as she used to be with him before, but it was manageable since she was mostly distracted by his cooking skills. She didn’t hesitate to taste everything he made, and he always had a side dish to give her for every meal he prepared, saying it would help her recover faster.

She finally retired back to her room when it was nightfall. The reason she didn’t stay indoors this time was that she didn’t want to be caught off guard about some game again, and even if there was anything, Uariel would definitely let her know this time. So when she was sure there was nothing going on in the palace except for the second tournament that was going on, and she wasn’t participating since she had already been eliminated yesterday, Raziah simply headed back.

What had her stopping in her tracks was when she saw flowers. Different varieties of flowers had been mixed together, petals that formed a single line and went all the way to the door of her chambers. Raziah’s lips formed a thin line, and she turned around to check whether someone was following her, or If it was some kind of prank. Why would there be a path of flowers all the way to her door?

It was when she started opening the door very slowly, peeking inside to see what could be waiting for her...that her jaw dropped, and her legs almost turned into jelly. Raziah was dumbstruck by what was in front of her, and the main source of it was there, lying on her bed seductively.

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