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“A curse? Why would the emperor do that?”

“He did it so that I wouldn’t run away.”

Dane interjected.

“Because I didn’t do what he wanted me to.”

Dane spoke in a low voice.

“I am the Chief of a family of assassins. Ashley. I wouldn’t be able to do anything if I lost my ears and eyes. And it seemed like the emperor took great care in removing my sight.”

“What for!”

“There is a medicine that is able to alleviate the emperor’s current condition. Something unlike what the 4th Prince makes.”

“His condition?”

“It can only be procured through precise steps in a specific formula. It is a drug that helps one believe that they have gotten better.”

I recalled the terribly potent scent of flowers that I had only smelled around Dane, Deros and the people of Rome. A drug was what Hernan had once called it. It was the drug he had taken to control his instincts.

“Only I can make that drug.”

Dane confessed slowly.

“I hold the emperor’s lifeline in the palm of my hand.”

Dane wanted to place the cloth back on his eyes. With his eyes closed, he searched for Lord Ray.

“Ray should be tied up in the room next to me.”

In a moment’s time, Soricks brought in a disastrously awful-looking Ray. Instead of being chained to the wall like Dane, his body seemed to have been tightly bound.

“Soricks!”

“Yes!”

Just like back when we tied Hernan up. Soricks happily sliced off the metal chains binding Ray. It was then revealed Ray’s right arm had been broken and his ankle unnaturally bent. His face didn’t look good.

“He needs treatment!”

I poured more bottles atop him than I did Dane. His wounds should be better off healing naturally but I couldn’t hold back since according to Sorick’s words, Ray could be crippled for the rest of his life if he was left alone.

“Urgh…”

Finally, unlike how it went with Dane, Ray, who looked a lot better now, slowly opened his eyes.

“Lord, Ray! Can you see me?”

“… I can.”

Fortunately, his clear navy-coloured eyes revealed themselves. I breathed a sigh of relief before grimacing.

“Princess. We don’t have much time left.”

Soricks reported anxiously. It was just as he said. I couldn’t spend any more time here.

“Bring me Meta.”

“Yes.”

With a signal sent by Soricks, Meta quickly appeared before us. Now, we had Dane who had been brought out of the darkness and didn’t look too good, the two knights, and Ray who was almost fully cured at this point.

“Give it to me straight. Are just the two of you alone enough to deal with all the people here?”

I asked Soricks and Meta. Meta seemed to wonder what I might have been planning for a moment before nodding.

“Yes. I think it will be possible. There are only a few guards here, probably because of the coup.”

Meta, who had already looked around this place, once replied.

“That must be why they’re torturing the prisoners.”

“Everyone who saw me here today should not remember I visited. But that probably wouldn’t work on the guards on the lowest floor. Since they are people of Rome.”

If anything were to seem even the slightest bit suspicious, they would report it to Deros. Under the current circumstances, he had detained his cousin, Dane, here. And he didn’t mind that Dane was being tortured.

“Rodos should be able to hypnotise the guards since he is a Templar of the Mind and Dreams. But we will need to find a separate place to keep the guards on the lowest floor. Since they are the only ones who are part of the Wheel of Rome. Hurry and call the patrols on stand-by.”

Meta left into the hallway for a while to check on the situation around us. I looked at Dane. He had been listening to the entire conversation quietly.

“Ashley, I can’t leave here.”

Dane spoke softly.

“I have to stay here to keep you safe. If I’m not here, Deros will first suspect you’re behind it.”

“I don’t want to.”

I interjected him firmly.

“Dane. Do you know that Fleon died?”

Dane remained quiet for a while.

“So… he died, huh.”

“Correct. Fleon has died. Right in front of my eyes. I had tried to save him several times but he still died in front of me.”

I knelt in front of Dane; And felt his hand in mine.

“I tried to save him time and time again. But Dane. It didn’t work. This was a future that couldn’t be changed.”

No, I had just been lying to myself. After Fleon died, I had never read my diary again. But I had already confirmed the facts.

Once more, the red pages of the diary was pointing its knife towards one of the people I cherished.

[The 25th Day of the Month of Haberon in the Year 826.

My brother, the 7th Prince, has been found dead in the dungeon.

Someone had assassinated him.

I’m scared. People keep dying.]

Tears drenched my cheek. Wetting both the back of Dane’s hand and mine.

“I hate this, Dane. I want to stop losing people. If I lose you too, I won’t be able to be myself anymore.”

I knew. If I lost him now, what I had been afraid of would come true.

“I don’t want this. Dane, please.”

I don’t want to be ruined. I didn’t want to end up like Castor. No, I didn’t want to.

“Ashley.”

Dane pulled on my arm to bring me into his embrace.

“Your tears smell like the winter.”

Dane whispered with tears sweetly and gently. He embraced me tightly.

“You always seem to be surrounded by a cold winter. Ashley, what do you want?”

Ha had always brought me what I wished for. He had always appeared before me like a dream and brought me sweet miracles. I liked how kind he was.

“Live. Live and leave here. Far from here.”

To a place where the prophecy would not reach.

“… You.”

Dane’s voice got caught in his throat.

“You’ve just asked me for the cruellest favour.”

Collapsing slowly, Dane pulled up the corners of his lips.

“Alright, I’ll do what you say.”

He didn’t shed any tears. But he looked like he was crying.

“Because I live for you. My final moments are yours too.”

He felt for my face with his hands before placing a kiss on what he could find. It was my eyes.

“Ashley. If you ask me to live, I’ll survive somehow. I can even live a miserable life for you. But even then, there’s something I could never possibly do. For as long as I am in the Empire, I will be tracked and remain blind forever. I can’t live for long if I am to be left alone like this.”

He whispered softly. Feeling him look at him, I slowly shifted my gaze. Dark eyes were staring back at me. As if I was staring at a mirror, we stared at each other for a long time.

“Lord Ray.”

It was a low voice. Even I couldn’t even manage to recognise my voice. But Lord Ray seemed to have. He knelt as if he had been waiting.

“Hand me the sword.”

He grabbed the sword Soricks had left behind before placing it on the ground before me.

“Is the oath you made on your sword still valid?”

“It was an oath I am to keep, forever.”

I got up slowly. Straightening my hair.

“Alright. I shall now command you for the first and last time. You cannot refuse me.”

I stood up the way I was taught by Rebecca.

I looked down at Lord Ray as if I was used to giving orders.

“From this moment forth, I am no longer your mistress. Your master is Dane.”

I closed my eyes. And I smiled when I opened them again. The remaining tears in my eyes crossed my cheeks.

“You will treat Dane as your master, protect him till the day he dies and even then, you must not die.”

“…..”

“Let me repeat myself. You cannot refuse. This is a command. And finally…”

You might call me cruel. I wanted him to leave and continue to resent me.

“Leave this place.”

The dead could not resent me.

Lord Ray bit his lips. Even under the dim sunlight, his expression remained crystal clear. I wouldn’t be able to ever forget his face.

“I…”

For the first time ever, he stuttered.

“I shall… heed your command.”

He had given up love, emotions and success just to follow me. But I had just told my knight to abandon me.

“You are no longer my mistress.”

He rose slowly. With his sword laying flat on the ground, he knelt on the ground once again. He lowered himself on the dirty floor and kissed my foot.

“But I am still your sword. Till the day I die, I shall heed your commands.”

What expression did Ray and Dane see on my face?

Along with Soricks, Ray helped Dane up and we escaped from the dungeon.

The sky was unpleasantly sunny.

“Ashley, your palace, along with mine, should be placed under surveillance. Let’s go to brother’s palace.”

“… Alright.”

For a while, Dane stayed in Fleon’s palace. By the time the dungeon was cleared and the matter had settled, it was already evening.

Granius, Rebecca as well as all the patrols–everyone had assembled together.

“The longest we can take is three days.”

“I can’t believe you’d have to leave the country. It’d be hard. At the very least, it would be hard to avoid gazes unless we can find someone to help you at the border.”

“A Templar of Feathers wouldn’t be able to fly for three days straight either.”

They would start tracking Dane the moment they realised Dane was gone. Dane did say that he expected Deros to take two days to track him down the moment he realised he was gone.

Staring at them all slowly, I opened my diary.

The pages were still red.