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
Shia’s eyes weren’t deceiving her. The figure descending from the void was Langrion! “Let her go!” He stuck a sword at Sirion’s hand, but just as Sirion had said, human weapons have no effect on him whatsoever. The sword slid from his body, as if his skin was covered with an invisible shield. Although the attack did not hurt Sirion, it helped to loosen his grip on Shia’s ankle, enabling Shia to crawl quickly away from him and stand on her feet. “What a surprise! You’re still alive! You are one lucky insect,” Sirion spat. “Sending an assassin to kill us while we were inside a monster’s stomach weren’t enough! Try harder, brother!” Langrion made another attempt to slice away Sirion’s body, but his sword just grazed smoothly in his stomach. “Insolent fool! Do you think your feeble attempts can beat a god?” Activated by the ash-colored cursed one staying closely by Sirion’s side, the possessed bodies suddenly started to clo
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,
Langrion unfastened the cape in his back and laid it against the ground. “W-what are you doing?” Shia said. Her heart was beating faster in her chest. What on earth was Langrion thinking of doing here, of all places? Langrion stroked the top of Shia’s head and moved his lips closer towards Shia’s left ear. “Let me prove to you that I love you, Shia. Let me show that I love you until your heart is content...” Even without hearing Shia’s answer, Langrion had already started to kiss the length of her neck gently. The kisses travelled down to her clavicle and into her left shoulder. He lingered at her skin a little bit more intensely, leaving a slight red mark at the back of Shia’s neck. Her insides began to tighten into knots. She was so nervous, she wanted to faint. Without a thought, Shia waved her hands and mentally instructed the shrubs to create a soft bed of leaves underneath Langrion’s cape. She made the trees bend down, enabling the
‘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
Lady Edelfina woke up with the dreadful news. “My lady, the king – he’s dead!” Talita exclaimed in one breath. For a second, Edelfina’s body trembled in shock. That was such sudden news! However, it was only a mere second of thought. The next thing she had felt was utter delight. “The king... is dead? Are you sure?” She couldn’t help but smile as she clasped Talita’s sleeve. The king is dead! That vile, stinking, rotting garbage of an old man is dead! What great joy! “Yes, my lady. He was found dead in his study this morning. The Royal Inquisition is currently investigating the cause.” “I see... I’m sure he died of natural causes, given the shock he received yesterday...” Edelfina stated. Indeed, yesterday was also a joyful event. Edelfina had left the castle early on the day before to fret somewhere. She didn’t want to bump into that Andry girl in her wedding dress, and she wasn’t invited to her uncle’s wedding. Not that she c
Is Danterion making a cruel joke? Did Edelfina hear him say his words correctly?... She did not have to ask him to repeat his sentence. He pulled her arms gently upwards and made her look at his face while saying in a low voice. “Come on, you’ve got to go... You’ve got to go right now...” “W-what?... Why?” She was afraid that the man with violet eyes would come and face her, but it was her Danterion – her lovely Danterion with his soft, ocean-blue eyes that held her up. “The Ancient One, I cannot stop him... He will send you to prison no matter what I do...” Danterion’s face was pained and anxious. She had never seen this side of him before. The Danterion she knew had always been cool and collected. Even when he would receive severe punishments from his deranged father in his youth, he didn’t show any emotions like this... But now, how come he looked so fearful? Suddenly, his words became clearer to her as he repeated them, shaking her
“Why does my back feel so cold?” Shia mumbled. Langrion dared not to speak. He simply put his cape around her back and rested his arms on her tightly, shielding her from the chilly morning wind. “Just put this on for the meantime. It’s still very early. You might catch a cold.” he quickly said. Thankfully, she wasn’t able to catch the guilty look in Langrion’s eyes. After helping her take a quick bath by the river, he offered to close the back of Shia’s dress for her, but to his surprise, he saw that almost all of the buttons of her dress had fallen away. He didn’t really know how, but maybe it had something to do with him the night prior. He couldn’t just bring himself to tell Shia that she was missing more than half of the buttons, especially at the lower parts of the dress. “It’s alright. I’ll get changed at the tent. We’ve prepared some clothes beforehand. It should already be at the tent,” Shia said, smiling back at him. The two of them c
As soon as she saw Hadrian Veer, Shia also saw the man with an ash-colored hair, holding a small blue flame in his hands. Soon enough, several men with twisted, possessed bodies started to surround them. In a heartbeat, they were immersed in an intense fight as Khailis, Langrion, Commander Rus and Ker began to draw their swords out, and the mage started to spurt frozen icicles from his palm. Someone started to shoot arrows in the midst of it. Many screamed and ran for their lives. It was, all in all, very chaotic. Just like Marmie and Gaf and the other cursed ones onboard, Shia couldn’t use her powers under the guiding stone’s effect. Her stomach twisted and turned into knots, and she couldn’t focus at her opponents. The ship was being violently tossed at sea, which didn’t help in maintaining everyone else’s balance as each one tried to stay alive. Perhaps more than the effects of the guiding stone, Shia really was sea sick! All she really wanted to do w