Shia had mixed feelings as she sat by the table for lunch that day. Because of her inability to control herself in front of Lady Edelfina, she had lost not just the whole afternoon to sleep yesterday but had been aggrieved when she remembered that her wedding with the blasted king was quickly inching itself forward. Really, the pressure of fleeing and breaking away from everything was building up inside of her. “Shia, you can’t crack under pressure,” Khailis said, exasperatedly to her early that morning. Khailis had deliberately tried to wake her up before the start of the day by stripping her blankets away, making her feel extremely cold. Although dazed by her actions, she was grateful. Time was running out for them. The sooner she gets out of bed, the better. The morning time flew by swiftly as they entered Mage Silas’ void and practiced wielding swords. A part of the deal that Shia made with the king was that Khailis wasn’t permitted to carry a sword anymo

Langrion picked up the ring Shia had thrown down against the hard floor of his cell. The ring on his fingers felt unusually warm, or was it because Shia had just worn it? He turned it around and saw that it matched his mother’s signet ring in appearance, but that signet ring was hanging securely around his neck. He had carried it with him ever since the day Shia had given it back. Even after spending a night together with Shia, he did not give it back to her because he was waiting at the right time to propose to her, and she knew that Nana’s death wasn’t the right moment. Now, he starred back at the duplicate ring she had tossed to him eagerly. He was perplexed. Where did this ring come from? Also, why did she give it to him? Under the dim lights, Langrey was surprised to see that he could make out the figures in its insignia. Unlike his ring, there was only the figure of a single heron at the left upper corner of the cross. Then by and by, Shia’s words earli

By the time that the great bell of Gaulane chimed twelve times, the preparation for Shia’s wedding had been complete. The servants had donned her into the dress his majesty had picked for her the day before. They had braded her hair upwards, revealing her long, slender neck and had decorated her hair with flowers and jewels of every kind. “Please add more pins to my hair,” Shia requested. “It’s already well secured, my lady.” “It’s alright. I just want to make sure it’ll not fall. Please add more.” Thankfully, the servant had consented to her request. They added more metal pins to her hair. If her hunch was right, she would need them badly today. After the servant finished fixing her hair, Shia tentatively looked at her reflection at the mirror. She looked like an exquisite porcelain doll – a soul less, lifeless caricature of beauty, which perfectly fitted the position of a queen to a vile old king like Caldwell the First. Satisfied, S

At the mere mention of Edelfina’s name, Langrion’s mouth hung open. “Listen, about Edelfina -” Before Langrion could finish what he was trying to say, however, Khailis and Marmie waved their hands towards them. “Hey, lovebirds, is this place alright? Should we set up our camp here?” Khailis yelled from the top of the clearing, just a few feet above them. “I think it’s okay,” Shia responded to them. “Let’s go ahead and help set up camp,” Shia said, dragging Langrion’s hand along as she walked faster towards Khailis and Marmie who had reached a clearing in the summit. Langrion could only scratch his beard with his remaining hand. So, Shia was still misunderstanding the relationship between him and Edelfina. He must make this misunderstanding clear as soon as possible once he gets another chance to talk to her. After they had chosen the perfect spot, everybody set up for work at the camp. Shia made vines and plants appear from the earth,

‘Angry’ was an understatement if one was to describe Caldwell’s feelings on that day. Like he had suspected, his lovely bride was a no-show at the Grand Cathedral. What’s worse, his most important prisoner had escaped the heavily guarded cell he had slaved away for many years to build, and it was almost destroyed by a fire into smithereens just within minutes. No, he was not just angry. He was furious! Fortunately, he had saved face by not announcing his wedding to the public on that day. He had only made private arrangements with the bishop, so if something like this should happen, he could contain the news more effectively. True enough, he only needed to murder the bishop, some clergymen and a handful of servants to keep everything at bay. The only thing he hated was that no one had seen how his young bride had left with her lady-in-waiting, and no one could also tell him how his cursed nephew had escaped when his cell had caught fire. Their