@ManniP, I appreciate the Golden Tickets! There was a storm building up inside Raziah’s eyes when Felix and Acacia saw her approaching them. Everyone knows Acacia was the type that loves to show off her skin with the short attires she wears around the palace, but what Raziah was seeing right now was a little too much. Has she no shame?! At all?! "Your highness..." Felix drawled, surprised to see her. "Malcolm is in there." Raziah flicked her gaze between the both of them suspiciously, "I want to see him, right this second." She added sternly, her eyes holding no room for arguments. "Your highness, he’s a little... Busy right now." Felix replied lowly, almost taking a step back when she shot a cold glare in his direction. "I’ll barge in there myself if you don’t inform him that I am waiting right there, Acacia," Raziah faced the woman. Acacia, who had just woken up from sleep, sighed deeply as she ran her finger through her hair. She looked very deprived of sleep, little black dots gathering under her eyes as she kept staring at everything sluggishly. "We are investigating what happened last night. Malcolm is giving his own report on the Vampire he fought because he was too injured to state it last night. The One caught by Zoan is being interrogated at the moment too, but we still need as much information as we can gather to find all the culprits," Acacia explained tiredly, wishing there was just a bed for her to fall into. Raziah paused, realizing they could be right. What other business would they have with Malcolm if not this? And from the way Raziah had seen and noticed things since she came here, Acacia and Tatiana didn’t just have those titles as the king’s sorceress and enchantress for nothing. They were very close to the King, and she was pretty sure while she and his Majesty were leaving to visit the kingdom of Sabaean, he had put the both of them in charge of the kingdom’s affairs till he got back. "I still want to go in," Raziah demanded. "Malcolm will be out soon." Acacia tried again, but the Princess was too stubborn to be convinced. She just wanted to see if with her two eyes that Malcolm was alright and safe, and was in no way getting... Seduced or something. Acacia opened the door, and Raziah walked into the room. It didn’t look like a Normal room with beds and room furniture, instead, it had a few tables and chairs. Scrolls and textbooks sat down on a shelf by the side, and the smell of work and books filled the room. Tatiana was sitting behind a desk, with Malcolm standing in the front when her highness walked in, surveying every part of the room with her keen eyes. When nothing suspicious called her attention, she finally gave her full attention to the people in front of her. "Your highness, Is something wrong?" Malcolm asked, walking up close to her. "What are you doing in here?" She asked him, glancing at Tatiana who just put on a sour expression on her face. Raziah knew the enchantress has never liked her, and the feeling was very much mutual. She would even appreciate it if they kept their weird relationship this way. The only thing linking them together was the King, and Raziah was very determined to find a way to end the marriage and cut off every link she had with them. "Giving an account of what happened yesterday. Were you asked to come in here too?" He responded with a question of his own. Raziah only nodded, "I thought of something else, but it’s been cleared up now. You still have lots of explaining to do before I let you off the hook. See you later," She said curtly, whipped around and headed for the door where Acacia was calmly waiting. They locked eyes once again, and she saw this lazy smile hanging on the sorceress’s lips. It looked sly and her eyes were also twinkling with unsaid words as she looked between the Princess and Malcolm. "You talk a lot when you’re around him." Acacia pronounced just as Raziah was about to walk past her out of the door, making the Princess halt to listen to what she had to say, "How close are the both of you, your highness?" There wasn’t a sign of mockery in her tone, she just seem genuinely interested in knowing more about her. "Close enough that I would have married him if I was a commoner," She replied as a matter of fact, before leaving them to be. Felix who had been standing there had to keep the shock from showing all over his face, while Acacia was left utterly speechless. She was now asking herself questions... Does the Princess have feelings for him? Acacia had noted how differently she had looked at Malcolm. She didn’t cast him the same cold looks she gives everyone around her, and there was this calm gleam in her eyes as they had conversed a minute ago. It wasn’t completely wrong to say she has no feelings for him, but does the Princess even knows anything about these types of feelings? She always looks dead cold in the eye, aloof and uncaring. When she first came to Erandell, Raziah looked like she didn’t give two damns whatever was happening around her, especially when Acacia had tried to make her speak the other day, and she had only given her that one-word answer of hers. Till her confrontation with the King last night... And no matter how jealous she must have felt about everything, there was this excitement that came with it. . . . Raziah was on her way to check up on Princess Gwenore. That would be her last destination before she heads back to her chambers to meet her husband. But paused in her steps when she got that prickles on her back again, and immediately knew there was someone close by. She watched her steps as she continued her way, and soon enough the person hiding in the shadows stepped out to face her. Actually, he wasn’t hiding in the shadows, he just happened to be leaning on one of the pillars in front of her. His light brown eyes found hers, and his robes danced behind as the King approached her. King Eleazar. "Your Majesty." She bowed respectfully at him, without taking her gaze away from his. "Princess Raziah," he nodded back curtly, not looking like he was in a good mood. He had this slightly dim expression in his eyes that she wouldn’t have even noticed if not that he was close enough, but he looked very composed as usual and reeked of power, "I wasn’t able to see you after last night’s events." He added. Nodding at his words, she replied, "is there something you want to discuss with me?!"She inquired softly. "Two important topics that need your attention." He looked very serious that it piqued her interest. But first, he gave her a once over which reminded her that she hadn’t freshened up this morning, and her first day as the king’s wife to everyone... She was busy walking around the palace with mismatched outfits and scattered hair. As much as she would have loved to care about how she looked right now, the feeling of awarenesses or shame didn’t come. "I want you in particular, to look after my daughter here." Eleazar looked dead serious, his light eyes darkening a bit as he said so. "I feel there’s more meaning to those words," She didn’t hesitate to respond. "There’s no one that doesn’t have secrets, Princess." He replied. That’s true, but why hand her the Job? He is just indirectly telling her that there’s something Gwenore wouldn’t like others to find out about, but then again, Raziah was the one who made this marriage happen. That was solemnly on her. But... Gwenore wanted it too. She’s head over heels for Aragon, and it was very obvious. "I’m not making any Promises, your Majesty," Raziah told him straight up. She already had so much in her hands right now. Accommodating more would break her more than she’s already been broken, and when would they all realize that she wasn’t the type that cared about other people except if what is happening has something to do with her?! Or...if that person had miraculously managed to touch a sweet part of her, which was rare. "You don’t have to. You’re both the king’s wives now, and both reputations would always be on the line. Protecting each other is now a must." He countered. "And what is the second topic of discussion?" She asked, feeling bored. How she would love to just have everyone leave her alone! "It’s about the archers that we captured the other day. The ones that had almost shot my daughter," Now Raziah was a little interested in what he had to say, "What about them?" "At first, they confessed that they came about Gwenore, but your husband didn’t believe them because he felt something was a little off about them. I didn’t know what was running in your husband’s mind, but it bothered me a lot after you all left...and I brought in a witch to interrogate the culprits herself. She was the most powerful around in all the neighboring kingdoms, and informed me that there was truly something very wrong with the archers." Eleazar continued to expatiate, and Raziah could feel the unease creeping up her skin again. Something was terribly wrong, and he was about to reveal it to her. "A Very Powerful Spell was used to brainwash them. Something even I myself couldn’t sense. And it took about the lives of three witches, including the powerful witch herself, in order to break the spell cast upon them," Eleazar paused this time to study the look on her face. Somehow, she was still able to keep that lazy and deadpan gaze in her eyes. "And immediately, we extracted the real information from them. The main information about the mastermind seemed to have already been wiped out of their head, but they told us the real person they had been after that day...and it wasn’t Gwenore." He said it so carefully, critically gauging her looks. "And who was it? Who were they truly after?" "Raziah, the strange Princess with Golden locks," He revealed. ################ ################## Thank you so much for your support, everyone! ~
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