bChapter /bb62 /b

Valencia

Sir Nichs left the room after saying that, and Maiy closed the door behind him.

She let out a sigh of relief and had her hand on her chest.

“Thank the Goddess, I arrived before he did anything funny.”

I held the scroll up and read through it again. It didn’t specifically mention that the feast was tonight.

I tossed it onto the desk and looked at her.

“You don’t seem to like that man.”

Mary gave em a disgruntled look.

“Most of the courtiers are not nice. And I apologize for leaving you alone with just him, but I figured it was safe because you were in Prince Killian’s quarters.”

I recalled how she had said earlier that the safest ce for me to be was with Killian. He also had reiterated the same fact.

“What do you mean by not nice?” I asked, and she approached

to

resume giving me a massage.

“I told you most of them only see women as ves for their own benefit and enjoyment. Sir Nichs is one of them. He recently got promoted to a higher rank. He is the son of a former farmer.”

That was an interesting thing.

“A farmer’s son made it high in the court. That is nice.” I quipped, but she shook her head.

“Nichs used to be a stable boy not long ago. He scaled

rough trickery and deceit. I would ask you to be careful around him.”

That seemed to be the norm everywhere. I recalled bitterly how corporate was filled with scheming bullies who would trample on the juniors to climb up the corporatedder.

“I dont want anything to ido /iwith him,” I said, and another voice replied.

“I think you should”

I was about to shout at people walking in and out of the room as if it were an open space but then realized it was none other than Killian.

My heart leapt up with joy at the sight of him, and Mary too had a positive reaction to his arrival.

“There you are. I hoped iyou /ialso had afortable sleep,” I said as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

“Oh yes, the beds on the upper floor are particrly soft and nice.” He mumbled, and Mary was quick to add.

“That is because I deep cleaned, and washed the linens just yesterday morning.”

Mary answered, and her smile was radiant.

“Ahh, I see nowi. /iGood job, Mary‘ He smiled, and her cheeks flushed at thatpliment

“If you allow me, I would do the same for your bed too.” She added excitedly as if washing linens and bed covers was the bgreatest /bjob ever.

Killianb, /bhowever, waved his hand in dismissal. “Nah, you work hard all day as bit /bis. I dont want you to overwork byourself/bb./b”

He said, but she took a step forward and said. “Not at all, prince. It would barely take a few hours”

I watched their exchange for a while, noting how politely Killian kept saying no and how she kept insisting,

“Okay, if your talk of bedsheets and linens is over, can we talk about this dinner invita* I asked Killian, and Mary immediately ced a hand on her

mouth.

“Oh, apologies for taking your precious time, Lady Valencia. I will take my leave now.”

Saying so, she disappeared out of the room.

Killian looked at the scroll on the table and mumbled. “Ahh, so you got a royal invite to the court. I was wondering when that would happen.”

I frowned. “I dont want to meet any of the sleazy court members.”

Killian took the scroll from the table and read through it.

“I take it that you also didn’t go through the list I gave you yesterday.”

I shook my head. “No, but I read through the books littered on your table.”

“Good. Now you have some basic idea of witches and wizards.”

I nodded.

“It was fascinating to read about them. But I noticed something peculiar.” I said, sparking his interest.

“And what that might be?” He questioned.

“That there was not a single mention of Morwenna. I read through every page in these books. That name was nowhere to be found.”

Killian looked impressed.

“You read all these books in five hours? Impressive.”

I was used to reading and sorting through files and papers in the Bureau. Reading a handful of books was child’s ypared to that.

“Yes, it made me feel less homesick,” I blurted out and regretted saying itb. /bBecause I knew Killian would say ‘Told you‘

He didn’t say that, but his bodynguage and expression conveyed the same.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You wanted me to go to the library for the same thing. Fine, I will do that,”

However, Killian shook his head.

“No, I have an even better idea. iYou /ishow up at the feast today and try to make a good impression on the courtiers.”

I groaned.

I had dressed up and gone to the Seranthyne, which turned out to be an

epic disaster. I was in no mood to do that again.

“If I have to look pretty and parade myself one more time to strangers, I will kill myself.” I groaned.

Ever since the childhood ydates, I hated that bit.

Killian was taken aback by my spontaneous outburst and mumbled,

“Oh, I thought that was the only thing you would like about this ce. To get dressed in nice dresses and attend ba /broyal feastb./bb” /b

13:15 Sat, 23 bAug /bet o6

Chapter b62 /b

1 rolled my eyes at him and asked, “Where were you all night, by the way?”

b“/bbI /bwas working on something important and didn’t want to disturb you.”

Again with his secrets…

b“/bSo you are not going to tell me?”

“I will when it’s almost done. For now, if you need my opinion on what color of dress you should pick, red would be a good choice.”

There was ba /bknock on the door, and Killian went to answer it.

An old lookingdy wearing long red robes was standing outside. Killian bowed to her and then introduced us to each other.

“Lady Valencia, meet The Crone of Elorin, Margaret Thesible.”

The olddy had wrinkled skin, and tall, almost reaching Killian’s shoulders. She was also wearing ba /bturban of some sort that hid her hairb, /bbut based on a few grey strands escaping their bindings I guess all her hair was grey or white.

She had arge beak like nose and pallid eyes that already seemed like she was scrutinizing me.

She held out her hand towards Killian without ever so much a nce in his direction, and he took her hand in his to ce a kiss on iher /iknuckles.

I tried not bto /bgag at this old hag acting so smug and demanding a kiss from him under the guise of tradition.

“And who might this young, pale looking woman might be?”

She said as if Killian had not even introduced me right a second before.

“Her name is Valencia.”

“Ahh” She looked at me and raked me up and down.

“I trust you can get her ready for the blessings.”

Blessings? What blessings?

The Crone studied me for a while.

“It was a very short notice, but I will see what can be done, young prince.”

Killian bowed to her.

‘That is an honor, Crone. I didn’t expect you to have decided already. A wee decision nheless.”

He then looked at me.

“This is one of the several things I was working onst night. Getting the Crone’s blessing is one of the top priorities for us.”

I only blinked at him, unsure of what he wanted me to do about it.

Was I supposed to touch her feet or bow to her in reverence?

My look of confusion must be apparent on my face because she then said.

“You must have read all about the Red Templeb, /bblessed one, haven’t you?”