Chapter 1

Unlike thousands that we had lost in the war that dark day, I was not given the option to be dead. I think I would choose to die if I was given the chance. At the very least it would have been an honorable ending to my short life. I would rather have such an end than sacrificing myself at the expense of the liberation of my kingdom.

A ruler who willingly gives their life to their subjects in cases of distress. That’s what my father had taught me before he sent me off to my demise.

My father believed in our liberation. He believed that we, as a Kingdom, would be free one way or another and he could not let his one and only offspring his only successor to fall on the warzone. I did understand where he was coming from, he worried for the future of his country, he worried for his only daughter’s life. That’s why he had fallen ill, that’s why our enemies had taken advantage of my father’s state. A widow with a young daughter and a land-full of subjects looking for his orders.

When Jasmine told me about The Sorceress, I thought it would be my way out. How would I have known that old wench would doom me with the unimaginable? Jasmine, my handmaiden, my sister, my confidant. The one person I can ever trust in this hell-ridden world. I have no reason to believe that her reference to the Sorceress was nothing but altruistic, with underlying malicious intentions. Growing up together, side by side, she had been nothing but a safe haven for me, especially after my mother the queen had passed away. Jasmine had always been there for me, being the daughter of the oldest servant under my father's reign, she was born and raised in the Palace’s culture, growing up as well-groomed as a princess, just without the title.

I had always heard stories about The Sorceress when I was just a little girl when my mother was still alive. She would tell me how she had sneaked behind my father and the hopes of giving him a child. After being married for a decade, my mother could not bear any child, leaving my father as a topic of discussion in the sneaky undergrounds of the henchmen, my father’s supposedly trustworthy helpers when governing

the lands. My mother must have felt ashamed that she had no way out for the one thing that she had desired the most. She must have been so desperate to give my father a successor, someone who will take over the throne when the time came, so that the crown would not be passed to one of the hyenas of henchmen, waiting for my family to slip up.

My family, or rather my bloodline, had been ruling this country for the past 300 years. They had inherited the crown from the Great Prince Kingsley, who had bestowed his nephew, his sister's son, as the next in line once he fell to his demise. I did not want to lose my birth given the right to the throne, I did not want to lose my title as the princess oh, the more done that I did not want to lose my country in the hands of the lowly men who were waiting for my father’s sickness to get worse to find it as the opportunity to attack my kingdom.

I wanted to save my country, I wanted to save the beautiful landscapes, I wanted to save my subjects. if that had to be my very first Duty as an up-and-coming ruler, so be it. I could not stomach seeing the beautiful towns of my kingdom be burnt into ashes until nothing left of rubles left Behind.

“Madam,” the jester approached me with a concern painted all over his face, “The Sorceress as not in her lay.” I felt the Sheetz rise from my core, all of the blood rushing to my head. that it was not my servants’ fault that that old wench was not where she was supposed to be. And yet, the panicked side of me wanted her to be found immediately and brought to my Palace without losing any more men in this God-forsaken War. First of all, I was afraid, I could change my mind any minute that she did not help me.

I did promise to my father that I would not be joining the war, but that's not necessarily meant that my father would have known if I did behind his back. After all, once the time came for me to step to the crown, once my father eventually left this world, I would be the ruler of this Kingdom, and I would have the responsibility to lead my men, my soldiers through War if there is a need to be.

I could not help but think about my mother, one thing that I had been doing a lot more of lately. The pain and embarrassment that I had been feeling must have been at some semblance to what she was feeling when she had no choice but to go to The Sorceress. I wondered if she knew the price he had to pay for the house she had asked for? I wonder if she knew that she was willing to lay her life at the price of a new ruler? I could not help but Wonder she had been proud of me, seeing me working so hard to become worthy of her sacrifice?

“I hear that your father the King has fallen ill, Your Majesty,” The Sorceress said, not spending an ounce of effort to hide neither her amusement nor her smugness. If only I had another way of helping my Army while respecting my father's wishes other than begging for mercy nurse of this old wench. “I am saddened

to hear that the King has been feeling so much pressure and saw that it had crushed him. You know, his majesty has been nothing but very kind towards me, even after our rough fallback. Please give him my well-wishes for his fast recovery. I could also help him with a fast recovery if he wishes, but you know all of my favors come at a price.”

“I will let him know upon your arrival to call my lady. But I doubt my father will be willing to undergo any other sacrifices, just to amuse a wicked person such as yourself, especially not at his age, especially not after all of his losses.”