I felt the warmth of his large hand on the top of my head as he cradled my head against him. His body against mine felt so warm. “I know that you will. Let’s make the most of the time that we have left,” Ren said seductively before he placed a soft kiss on my forehead. I looked up into his beautiful brown eyes before I nodded my head slightly in agreement. He was right, there’s no point in arguing about anything right now. He’ll do what he must do, and I’ll do what I must do. Tonight, is the night that we should just enjoy our time together. Ren’s face came closer, and I closed my eyes as I offered my lips to him. I moaned softly when his lips met mine and he began kissing me. His lips felt warm and tender, so did his arms as he pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around his body in return before I parted my lips invitingly. Ren immediately thrusted his wet tongue into my eagerly anticipating mouth. His lips sucked on mine before his tongue teased mine in an endless dance. I m

Finally, it was the promised time for me to meet up with Shin. I followed the instructions in his note to the letter. I stood at the waiting place just like he had instructed with the bag that I had carefully packed. Did I get here a little too early because I don’t see Shin in sight. Suddenly, I felt a soft tap on my shoulder. Quickly, I whirled around to see Shin standing right behind me. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that one of the empire’s leading generals could sneak up on me like this. Shin held a finger to his lips as he signaled for me to remain silent. I nodded my head in acknowledgement. Shin gestured with his hand for me to follow after him. I never knew that such a narrow and secretive passage existed in the palace. Although, I haven’t been travelling around the palace much except for the route from my palace to the hospital and to Ren’s palace. Silently, I followed closely behind Shin as he led the way. The path clearly wasn’t a commonly used one because we didn’t r

I nodded to Doctor Kai, signaling that it was fine for him to leave us alone now. The doctor seemed a little worried about me, but he decided to take his leave anyways. “Shin…” I called Shin’s name softly as I came to stand in front of him. “How was the ride?” Shin asked. “It was terrible…but I made it…” I replied honestly.Shin laughed quite loudly at my truthful response. I was sure that he was expecting that. Although I did complain, this much hardship was nothing compared to my old life. He probably didn’t know or had forgotten that I came from this small town, and I lived pretty much in a hut in the forest. I never rode on or owned a horse, so I travelled by foot. Life wasn’t easy for me then…and it definitely wasn’t easy for me now either…“Ready to surprise our prince?” Shin asked after he stopped laughing. Oh right…I need to meet Ren at some point…“Not really…” I replied honestly while feeling surprised that my voice didn’t shake. “I’m not looking forward to it either…bu

“Stay in this tent. If you leave without my permission, I’ll cut your head off,” Ren commanded before he headed for the exit. I could feel Ren’s menacing glare on me, and my body felt cold with fear. Things have taken a turn for the worst. As Ren left the tent followed by Shin, I was left alone in the large tent. Probably unbeknownst to Ren and Shin, I was far from admitting defeat. If I give up now, then everything will be for naught. Somehow, I’m going to convince Ren to let me work to earn my keep. My legs gave way from the tension, and I flopped down onto one of the chairs. I felt like I needed to cry from all the bottled-up emotions and frustration. However, my brain was too busy planning my next move that no tears came to my eyes. This is not the time for me to shed any useless tears. …Knowing that Ren wanted to have a private talk with him, Shin led the way to his own tent which was located nearby. Shin knew that Ren was extremely mad right now, but he had already decided o

Of course, I didn’t understand the details of everything that was in there. It seemed to have been sent to Ren from one of his senior war advisors. I put that report down and picked up another one. This one was written in a handwriting that was different and slightly neater than the one before. After scanning my eyes quickly through the writing, I figured out that this report contained various speculations for the real cause of this war. Wait! The cause of this war? Come to think of it, Ren mentioned that the people of my town were rebelling because of the tax increase after they joined the empire. However, the report in my hand seems to suggest that that isn’t the only reason. Increase in tax wasn’t even the main reason even if it was included here in this report as one of the contributing reasons. That’s what I thought earlier. The Elders agreed to pay the tax when they signed the peace treaty so I didn’t think that they would have a problem with it later on. My eyes quickly read