Aster let me walk outside my bed chamber after telling him that I will be careful and to assure him that I will be safe, I told him I allow the guards to go with me wherever I go in the palace. He was still skeptical about it but if I will stay longer inside the four corners of my room, I will surely lose my sh*t especially since Lady Marian didn’t come back last night, which made Aster send more men to find the two all over the downtowns surrounding the Headow Stronghold.“Still no news about them?” I asked Cecil with a worried look.She was standing still beside me waiting for me to ask her for anything that I needed, especially since it was getting harder for me to move with my growing belly. I am just grateful that I don’t feel any kind of dizziness or pain. I just crave a lot of roasted chicken and apples, and the favorite place I wanted to read my books is the Garden of white roses, which is just near the gazebo, the very first place where I met Aster Bentham.I shook my head, e

[ASTER’s Point-of-View]“LAURENT!”I called his name as loud as I could.All my senses are on full alert while we all look for King Laurent on the outskirt of the west premise of the realm. The forest was thick with old giant sequoias and the mist was thick, making it so difficult to search for a person’s body— no… I shouldn’t think that my best friend died in that ambush that happened in one of the brothels in one of the alleys downtown. One of his men survived the attack and managed to follow the assassins in this part of the forest. I just wish we are not too late. I wish he was still alive and just unconscious somewhere.My sense of smell doesn’t work in this kind of place when all I can smell is the musky scent of the forest trees, the bushes, and the freshly moist dirt. I filled my lungs with the cool, fresh air, hoping it can somehow calm me down while I keep the pace of my horse slow, my ears sensitive to any rustling sounds surrounding us.“LAURENT!”I heard Lady Marian’s des

“Aster! Your GRACE!”I heard Lady Marian’s hysterical scream as the creature behind the white fog stood at its full height, towering over all of us with its gigantic length. I watched it, wide-eyed and waited for it to attack the three of us. My mind registered the next things I have to do to fight the wild beast and thought of putting down Laurent on the ground gently, not wanting to agitate the creature more.Then loud, aggressive snorting and deep grunting noises filled the place. As the creature approached closer and the thick cloud of white mist subsided, Lady Marian and I’s tensed bodies relaxed, relieved that it was just the horse that the Emperor left in the middle of the forest.“D*mnit, horse! You almost gave me a heart attack,” I hissed nervously at the animal. Of course, I am not scared. I am not ready to kill any wild creatures that might attack us. But with Laurent with the bones on his limbs all broken, there is no way I can fight back, knowing that Laurent is as fragil

I flinched from my bed, making myself ready for whatever Emyr would do. I saw James step forward with the spear in his hand pointing at Emyr but it was too late for me to yell at him not to fight the Beta.“Your Grace, I apologize but you are not to—-”Without saying any word, Emyr caught the Talaphatian soldier’s neck with one hand and lifted him up in the air. I watched them, wide-eyed, as the soldier did his best to get out of Beta's hand while Nina stayed behind me, her hand holding my shoulders, stopping me from running to stop Emyr from breaking James' neck.Emyr glared at me with an evil smirk on his face. The tension rose like wildfire inside my room when I heard James wheeze and grunt in pain, gasping for air. I see the dread in his eyes and that’s when I found out he was dying already. Panic-stricken, both of his hands are on Emyr’s hand, pulling it away as hard as he could. But the Beta’s strength is just so formidable that no one in the room dared to attack him.“NO, EMYR

“AHHHH!!!”I screamed at the top of my lungs and Helena flinched away from me, shocked at what was happening. I can’t process where the pain comes from. It feels like every inch of me is aching. Especially my hips. It was just so excruciatingly painful that I had to stand up from my seat and prop my arms on the balustrade of the balcony, begging for someone to help me.“Help me, please! My baby!” I screamed but no one made a single step forward to see my condition. My eyes are getting blurry and I am in a deep panic. My whole body is already trembling in pain.“Get her inside,” Helena commanded the soldiers, and two of them pulled away from the balustrade to push me inside that building. I have no idea what kind of building it is but I saw that there are rooms inside. Helena led me and the soldiers inside until she finally stopped in one of the rooms and opened it.“Get her inside.”They dragged me inside the room and placed me on the bed. I can’t do anything but clench my teeth, supp