It took a lot of strength to restrain herself from slapping Ruen’s face when Lianne was able to escape his hold. Though it would have been her only meager revenge, to her confusion, she couldn’t bear to slap him the second time after what he did to her in the library for stealing her very first kiss. Lianne gave him a sharp glare as she stood at the bedside wiping her moistened lips to dry what was left of his ardor. Though she hated it, she couldn’t deny the mounting heat within her caused by his kisses. Her face turned in a deep shade of red and Ruen could clearly see it. “I was wrong to even let my guard down. Even though you’re injured, you still play your games quite well,” she spat the words out. Ruen gave no expression of remorse, instead, he reached for the glass flute that she left behind in the pillows and handed it back to her.

It was early in the morning when she woke up upon hearing the whinnying of the horses stationed in the front of the mansion. It was almost sunrise she thought when she saw the fiery sun slowly climbing up the wall of mountains on the east side of the mansion. She put on her white robe and then walked outside her balcony. She had already anticipated then what she was about to see. There were millions of people gathered outside the fortified entrance gate of Regaleria. Few selected dignitaries were at the tail of an enormous glass block adorned with gold, silver, and high-priced stones. There was a chimera sitting at the facade of the block and surrounding it were blood roses and ferns. Of course, inside the glass block was the dead body of the King wearing another viciously adorned velvet robe. So typical of Garlow, she thought and then moved on to survey the people standing behind the glass block.

It didn’t take the princess long for her to visit back the town. After her breakfast, she immediately took off riding Arinna, but this time, she took another route. She decided to scout the south side of the mansion where a couple of meters away was the famous white sand beach connected to the wide stretch of blue-green ocean. It was a scenery she had always hoped to tour since she had seen only a small part of the ocean from her balcony, which was facing the east side; so there was always the sunrise and the mountains greeting her every day. She so much wanted to swim the ocean and taste the saltiness of it. Now, it was her chance to plunge into the water and feel the burning light of the sun touching her skin. She left her horse and her riding dress just a few meters away in a stony rock ledge when she arrived at the shoreline, confident that no one would find her swimmin

The water trickled down Ruen’s hair to his torso as he took a refreshing shower to cleanse his thoughts. It would have been one good way to relieve his stress, but every time he watched the water run down his skin, it reminded him constantly of how the liquid would mold well with Lianne’s body. It would seem that the water was luckier than he was for it could touch her and feel her without qualm. “Lianne...” Ruen murmured in desperation as he closed his eyes and recollected his thoughts to that last kiss they shared. It ached his heart somehow knowing he would never see her again. Would she be angry if he would come looking for her then? Would she be angry if he were to find her and have her imprisoned inside the castle? Of course, she would. He violently shook his head to clear the thoughts away. 

It was a very busy afternoon and probably the most joyous of all celebrations. At last, the Kingdom of Regaleria was set to go on the path of righteousness, on the path to glory and magnificence, minus the death and bloodshed of course. Or at least that’s what all the people in the mansion hoped for. Whether the newly crowned king will follow the footsteps of the late King Garlow or not, that was the prime question. King Garlow raised Prince Ruen after all, the traits of being like the late king, all he had inherited. Lianne knew she couldn’t stay away from the celebration, but she wanted as much as she could not to run into the prince in any of the hallways. It would be awkward if they were to see each other after that heated encounter the last day. Being in the horse field was her best option, but it seemed that all of her plans were wasted when the princess saw the