“Your grace, please, have mercy!” “Why? They’re the ones who wanted to destroy your mines. Why should I save them? No, I’ll send their decomposing bodies as a warning to their families.”“Please, your grace……”“They trespassed MY land and attempted to attack MY people and I’m not supposed to take that as a declaration of war? Letting them slowly die is already mercy. I refuse to show mercy to those rude enough to ignore my authority.”“Your grace, I know they have offended you. But we will not be the reason your grace has to fight against the kingdom. Please, your grace, we plead for mercy,” they cried, falling on their knees. Natalia could see their sincerity and knew they were doing this for her.“Fine, I won’t let them die. However, they will not have their legs either.”“Thank you, your grace! Thank you!” She got them out with a snap of a finger. Their legs resembled twigs, unable to keep their weight up. One of them sauntered up to her and pointed an accusing finger at her face.
“This is really an elaborate ball. You have outdone yourself once more, Duchess Natalia,” Lady Lorelei commented as she walked up to Natalia with a glass of wine in her hand. It appeared like she was already tipsy so Natalia searched for her husband or Duchess Everon in the vicinity. “I have Princess Temara to thank for that. Where is your husband?”“Who knows? I really enjoy the ambience of this ball. How does one even get this much fresh food in the North?”“I wonder that as well. Maybe you should sit down and have some water. I will get someone to fetch some for you.”“Thank….” she hiccuped, “....you.”Natalia sighed, calling the nearest servant to get her a glass of water. The rest of the guests seemed to enjoy themselves, dancing to folk songs and generally laughing and having fun. She never imagined this was the kind of thing that would happen. The balls at Ducroft were a lot stifling with the exchange of fake smiles and making connections. “If you keep staring, you might crea
The dragon appeared like a catastrophe in the skies, spewing fire the moment it came out. The large body covered the skies, leaving trail of destruction. Taking that distraction as a chance, Marvis ran to the door. To his surprise, without doing anything, the doors opened and shut behind him. The sight in front of his eyes were impressive. The torches lining the walls were very obviously fueled by magic, lighting up the several white statues of werecreatures and paintings of regal-looking werecreatures. Their animal-like features that they were always shamed for were fully captured in the paintings akin to human eyes or noses. The statues were also intricate and there were bigger statues depicting the ancient spirits the empire believed in. He felt something begin to heat up in his hand. The single feather Amaika gave him slowly became searing hot until he threw it to the ground. There was a bright light once more and he covered his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, Amaika was s
The lake disappeared like it was never there. They wore their clothes and had to find a way back out of the Ancestral grounds. Taking the same path they came through, the door opened easily for them but the situation outside wasn’t so easy. “I should've known it was you, Marvis.” Marvis felt a shock go through his body when he saw the Crown Prince face to face again after such a long time.“Y-Your Imperial Highness!” “Why did you leave me, Marvis? Why did you leave when I needed you the most? You said you were never going to abandon me and yet you did. What about our promise?” The crown prince asked in a small, sad voice. It made Marvis pause. It made it seem like they were the only two standing there, even though the Crown Prince had several armed guards around him and more taking care of the dragon. “You……you’ve always lied to me, haven’t you? You were never going to do anything you promised. You deceived all of us so you could gain the power to be the crown prince. Now, you wan
“It’s very…elaborate.”“What a nice word to describe big. You do not like it?”“No! I think it looks really nice.”“Okay. Let’s go in before I exhaust all the sophisticated words you can use.” She led him into the castle, giving him a tour herself while Amaika followed behind. It made the servants very curious, especially after she commanded Antonia to open the room she asked to be kept closed. “Do you think that is the master?”“Who knows? He’s a werecreature. I can’t even tell if he’s a he. Maybe a werecreature the Duchess decides to sponsor? Even the one behind him is dressed better. I think I’ve seen him around the palace.” The servants were unaware that all three that were being talked about could hear everything they were saying though they weren’t close to them. Amaika looked very proud, not minding that they were assumed to be a man. Natalia continued giving the tour, ending it in her office. Whilst inside, Antonia brought them snacks delivered from the palace. When she was
As the conference neared, people started making their way to the North Pawal Island. The Island was a neutral zone that was in the control of the indiginous Pawal people who weren’t generally welcoming to strangers. They maintained the same type of situation as Polivia but people tended to leave them alone because of the treaty. The delegation from the Empire were the first to arrive, taking up a considerable portion of the island. They struggled with the kingdom of Ducroft to share that portion and Polivia arrived third. The Kingdom of Berinda and the smaller nations began to arrive in droves until all the leaders were present. Eventually, everyone got a place to stay and the meeting was set to begin the next day. Polivia got the furthest end of the island away from the other bigger nations. “It’s a wonderful day to have tea, is it not, your Majesty?”“Only you would think of having tea in this kind of situation. It’s quite unnerving to have a meeting like this that’s the first of
The day they would reunite drew closer. Natalia tried to hide her anxiety the way she knew best, by pretending the problem did not exist. Even as the leaders converged in the middle of the Island, where a place had already been set up for them, she still calmly pretended all was well. It almost came apart when she set eyes on Fredrich once more. He looked different yet he was familiar. She had seen him like this before, when he became king. This life, she didn’t give herself the opportunity to see him crowned and she thought it was right that she didn’t. Seeing him as a king was seeing him further as an enemy. Life only become more miserable when he became king and began to act unhinged towards her. Fredrich thought his eyes would pop out of his skull when he saw her calmly standing behind the Queen of Polivia. Others, who had heard the Queen of Polivia was dead, were nothing more than shocked to see her still alive and well. The only one who looked so amused to see her was the Crow
Fredrich returned to his tent, feeling discombobulated. The comprehension of the fact that his wife who he saw die was still alive and gone because of his clear neglect was rocky. He couldn’t settle on what he was feeling. Now, she had become someone he couldn’t touch or claim. By law, they were divorced and had nothing to do with each other anymore. “Your majesty, what happened? Why do you look so distraught? Did they demand too much? Do we have to go to war?”“No, it’s…nothing. I just need to rest,” he answered, taking her hands away from his body. He had never treated Alana like that. It made her feel strange but she didn’t push it. She knew exactly how his temper was like. Instead, she went on to meet the one person that went with him, his personal aide, Wilbur. Alana prided herself on having a good relationship with his servants so she was able to get information very easily.“What happened in the meeting?”“Oh, it was very chaotic, your highness. I saw Lady Natalia with my own