To make your beloved a king-it's either you die or he does.
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Diana knows the future. She also knew that her engagement to Alexander, the bastard second prince, was a scheme to limit his influence for the throne.
"I shall make you king," she sw...
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Are you all not mad anymore? 🤡 Here it is, for real. Enjoy. ❤
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Compared to years ago, the Peduha slums have been cleansed less murky. Some even claim that the emperor had connections to the underworld. As for Diana, she had no time to enjoy the entertainment of Peduha slums with a better reputation. The sun had already set when she reached the inn mentioned in Alec's letter.
She paid the carriage, pulled her hood down, and entered. She knocked the counter with the coin and the snoring man sat upright, knocking a half-full bottle of alcohol.
"I'm a guest. Room 17 is waiting for me."
"Welcome to Fid-" the man could not finish, he was already back snoring, clutching Diana's silver coin.
So she had no choice but to navigate the rooms of the shabby inn based on their door number. The longer she searched, the more Diana was convinced to take her son away from the place.
She might jeopardize the diplomatic treaty of two empires, but Alec mattered the most. Now that the boy left the safety of the place she trusted, it was up to her. At last, she found Door 17 and knocked.
"Who is it?" asked a woman from the inside. Although muffled, Diana could recognize the fear in Calenta's voice.
"Can the little fish swim?" She asked instead, with a trembling voice and a lump on her throat.
The door creaked open, and a boy, with black hair and red eyes, peeked. Just like a thousand times Diana asked before waking him up in the morning back in Levich, and somewhat the repeated dialogue became their code, he answered, "Yes, it can."
"Where did it swim?"
The door opened wider, exposing Calenta's relieved face, and a boy who was holding back his tears and answered, "Home. It swam home."
Diana kneeled and embraced her son, and as always, she was always the first to cry.
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"Lady Lizzie was abducted, My Lady." Calenta began.
While listening to the story, Diana sat by the bed, still embracing Alec. Despite the old bed, it never squeaked as her son sat still, fighting his tears bravely.
"When they found her, they said she was unconscious and parts of her clothes and the ends of her hair were burned."
The arms around Alec tightened. Feliziia, or dearly called Lizzie, was Diana's student. As the first to trade with Levich, Devanti Norvillon's information network infiltrated the empire and discovered that Er-Uno Sid's trusted hand was Diana, and very much alive. Thus, Devanti and Sid struck a deal; the Norvillon Duke shall sell additional spirit stones to Levich than the usual limit, in exchange, he asked for two things.
One was to use Sid's connection to enroll Devanti's two sons in Eornian Academia, a renowned and exclusive school in the east, that rarely accepts students from the west continents where Gran Dacchia is located. Two was to send a qualified tutor for Feliziia, even for a short while. And Devanti specifically requested for Diana.
Thus, before traveling to Gran Dacchia as an official envoy for the treaty, Diana stayed in Norvillom Duchy with Calenta, Alec, and Fedimon in secret. The latter also worked there for the renewal of the treaty between Norvillon Duchy and Levich.
For a month, she taught Lizzie. They said she survived the slums. As the Duke's long lost daughter, the girl struggled with her etiquette, but she was wise beyond her years. Although sometimes childish fitting for her age, Lizzie had a hunger for learning.
Diana then left for Gran Dacchia as an official envoy, leaving Alec and Calenta in the care of the Norvillons. The thought that Lizzie's bright blue eyes expressing fear during her abduction, Diana was sad for the child. She glanced at Alec, who tried to keep his emotion but his eyes were red as she patted his head.
"It was chaos, My Lady," Calenta continued. "Although I haven't seen Lady Lizzie personally at that time, one of the maids told me. Then they locked the castle. Only the doctors, the mages, and her maids were allowed in her room."
"And then, how did you end up here?"
Calenta's face paled. Diana could also feel Alec flinch and freeze in her arms. "The duke..." the maid whispered. "He pointed a blade at us. He was mad. Mad, My Lady. Extremely so. He said.. he said, we should leave before he could also do to Young Master what has been done to her daughter."
This time, it was Diana's turn to freeze. The circumstances had all connected. Xander disappeared because he went to the North and in some way took his Lizzie. It didn't end well, that both the girl and Xander were hurt.
But how and who hurt them were unanswered. No. Devanti might be the one to hurt Xander. Diana recalled the emperor's behavior that morning with the guilt and the hopelessness etched on his face.
"The duke said, that all debts must be paid. 'An eye for an eye,' he said. After they snuck us through the Medakaz Gate, the duke's men left us here yesterday." Finally, Calenta broke down and sobbed. Alec pulled away to let his mother embrace his nanny. "He was so scary, My Lady. So angry."
Despite the complicated emotions, Diana understood Devanti's anger. More than the face that Lizzie inherited from Kirien, the child was the North's new moon. Devanti would not be kind enough to forgive those who hurt his daughter, intentional or not. The 'Devil of the North' as he is called, is never merciful.
With the thought, Diana gasped.
"Calenta..." she whispered. "Calenta!" She shook her friend's shoulder. "Who else knows that you're staying here?"
"Only Duke Devanti's men, My Lady. Before they left us, they asked Young Master to write a message that only you could decipher. They were kind enough to deliver it to the palace. Then they left us to survive on our own."
"No." Diana's grip on Calenta's shoulder tightened.
The North is not kind.
More than their infamous reputation, she lived with them and once saw the heads of traitors and criminals decorate the castle walls. The North is never kind to those who hurt them, and they find ways for revenge.
"We must go," she said, finally standing up. "This is a trap."
Like a whirlwind, Diana barked orders to Calenta to only pack essential belongings, as she was also putting a jacket on Alec. The boy who sensed her urgency, gripped the dagger his mother gifted him a long time ago.
She pulled Alec to the exit, Calenta following behind. "We have to leave right no-"
Her words were left unfinished. Diana gasped in fear as the door slammed open.
