Kael’s lips curved slightly.
He said, “I’ll make a cloak for Princess Serene!”
He was always so gentle.
Because of my frail health, I was always strictly confined.
I envied his freedom, his boldness, his wild spirit.
I couldn’t help but be drawn to him.
The year I turned sixteen, Kael sat perched on my palace wall, the silver bells on his belt jingling softly.
A blade of grass in his mouth, he asked if I wanted him to teach me to ride a horse, to shoot an
arrow. Did I want to?
I wanted to. Of course, I wanted to.
Unfortunately, to this day, I never learned.
“Lyra, Lyra!”
“Wake up, do you hear me? Don’t you dare sleep!”
The noise in my ears was deafening.
My eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. I couldn’t open them, and I didn’t want to.
Why wouldn’t they let me sleep?
I was so tired, truly so tired…
“Your Majesty, she’s just a wretch. Why make such a fuss over her death?”
Lena’s head maid couldn’t stand it anymore.
“You know pregnant women shouldn’t be exposed to even a drop of blood! Her Majesty is already distressed, her condition fragile, and she needs someone by her side, yet there isn’t even a healer to check on her, Your Majesty!”
My fleeting consciousness was brutally yanked back.
I remembered what year it was, and where I was.
My kingdom had fallen, its name changed to Kael’s.
Kael’s Queen was Lena.
It turned out, whether I married him or not, the outcome was the same.
Blood washed the royal palace. His subordinates asked: “How should Princess Serene be dealt with Should she be eliminated for good?”
Kael glanced at me, his expression cold and cruel.
He could tame even the most savage beasts; why would he fear a delicate princess rebelling?
He said, “Keep her for now. If she truly disobeys, then kill her.’
I finally understood that Kael’s hatred was something that could never be erased.
I should hate him too, yet I had to admit.
He was a capable ruler, a good emperor who unified the lands, achieving what even my King had
failed to do.
When he first forced himself upon me, I had considered killing him.
But the hand holding the hairpin, poised near his neck, trembled.
And then what?
The realm would plunge into chaos, war would rage anew, and the rivers of blood in Aethelgard would never cease.
…What was I supposed to do?
I was both in agony and numb. Just as I was about to find release, he was still tormenting me.
I silently urged: *Go, your Lena needs you.*
The sound of footsteps gradually faded.
Kael truly left.
He went to Lena’s chambers. When she saw him, her face lit up with joy.
“Your Majesty, you’ve come.”
“Is my dear sister all right? It’s all my fault, for being so foolish and letting that monstrous creature hurt my sister.”
“Even though I’m pregnant, please, punish me, Your Majesty.””
