Patrons went back to their noisy selves although several were still staring at her. “Who cares if you’re someone’s fiancee or not?” he grinned. “By the way, did he tell you? That I saved his life.”“Yeah, Marc is a hero,” said Loyd, looking at him fondly. “He saved the vampire king’s life.”She took the glass Marie was handing her. “Now that I think about it, yeah, he almost told me about you. I think he was saying, “Your friend...” when I started screaming about going back.”“You shouted at him. Now you’re a hero,” Loyd pitched in. She noticed some tables went silent around her. She ignored them and swallowed. The scene in the throne-room from five months ago replayed in her mind.“Thank you, Marc,” she said seriously. “What did you do?”“It’s nothing,” he sighed. “Compared to what he had suffered. I’ve never met someone like… your boyfriend. He’s your boyfriend, right? Excluding Loyd obviously; he is the most amazing. Anyway, I was at the palace gate when the evil vampire king was

“Wait, Your Highness! Your outfit! How silly of me.”The woman gestured to her assistants, who gingerly carried what she was going to wear for this evening over to her. She stared at her dress in a daze; it was easily the most beautiful gown she had ever seen. The sleeveless, low-cut dress was neither black nor silver, or both perhaps. It shone whenever it moved in their hands. Delicate forest green laces were sprinkled with…diamonds.She swallowed the urge to refuse it, biting down on her lips not to slip that it was too expensive and she couldn’t accept it. Unlike the other dresses she had received from him, this felt so different. This gorgeous dress was full of his adoration for her; she looked away, blushing at her thought.After she put that on with their help, she stood before the mirror they had removed from her wall. Her lips were a few shades darker than her red hair; her cheeks appeared naturally flushed; and her eyes looked glittering, just like all the jewels over her bod

When he led her down the stairs, she eyed Marie, who was biting her lips and giving her a conspiratory look. An hour later, she was in his mansion, having lost the crowd at last. Marc and Loyd arrived with Marie, Both whining they would have come sooner if they had known. In the garden, they sat down for dinner, five of them. Reign asked Mr. Hacke to join and the old man cried before he took a seat at the table. “You’re coming with me back to the kingdom, my darling,” he announced, in the middle of their noisy chats.“Am I? Why?” she set down her fork. “Are you…giving me orders? Already?”He tilted his head, candle lights half-shadowing his face. “If you’d love to stay behind, of course you can. I’m not giving you an order. Chaos could break out soon without me or you with the remnants of…” he halted as though searching for words, “my enemy. I simply thought you’d agree with me to come along.”She looked down at her plate.“I’m sorry I brought this up at our engagement dinner.” He k