Two years later . . .

"Cathryn! Stop running in the hallway!"

Cathryn laughed and kept running, her black hair swaying behind her.

Her mother made a disapproving sound while shaking her head. Lady Agatha Quinn was like most mothers in Aderlan. She valued etiquette, appearance, and most of all, the perfect marriage partner for her daughter.

Prince Yohann was a surprise. It wasn't a terrible match but it made her nervous. Well, he's a prince for a start. That was well and good if he did end up marrying Cathryn but he's a prince and he surely had several better marriage prospects. He may be in love with Cathryn but would he marry her?

Lady Agatha did not forbid Cathryn to keep on seeing the prince but there was one condition, no one must know. Not until they were married. This is to keep Cathryn's reputation as pure as snow in case the prince would not marry her. Cathryn's chances of marrying would be ruined if the ton knew that she was seeing the prince and then abandoned afterwards. No one would want to marry a lady who had already been kissed.

Prince Yohann was nice. Gentle, even, for a prince. He did not have the arrogance that most royalties have. In fact, he was really humble and treated Lady Agatha with respect.

Lady Agatha was unsure if she was doing the right thing. All she wanted was for her daughter to have the best match. A love match would be even better.

Her husband was not much help in these matters. Like most husbands in Aderlan, Lord Blake was not interested in romance. He was engrossed in business and bringing in money to the family. Household matters, his daughter's upbringing, and his daughters future all fell into the hands of his wife. He didn't even know that Cathryn was dating a prince of another kingdom and even if he did, he would most likely just ask Lady Agatha if that was a good thing and make the appropriate sound of approval or disapproval depending on what his wife would tell him.

Lady Agatha sighed. Husbands thought that being the lady of the house was easy work but they didn't know that dealing with the matters of the heart was a difficult task.

She hoped that the prince would just propose to her daughter already and marry her so she could stop worrying already.

What the hell was he waiting for anyway?

*

*

*

"Yohann!" Cathryn embraced Yohann tightly and Yohann put his arms around her too.

Ah. She had missed him dearly. Yohann had been away for two months. He was busy in managing the business alliance between Terrasien and Aderlan.

"My dear Cathryn, how have you been?" Yohann asked.

"Well, now that you ask, I've been quite unwell lately. I'm not sure if it's food poisoning or just a flu. But don't worry, I don't think you'll get sick from me. All the other people in the household have been fine. So, don't worry of catching it," Cathryn said.

Yohann's eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm not worried of catching it. I'm more worried for you. Have you seen a doctor?" Yohann asked.

"Um . . . not yet. I don't think it's that terrible for me to go to a doctor. I'm fine. Don't worry," Cathryn said.

"But I don't want it to get worse. Please. Let's see a doctor," Yohann said.

Cathryn looked sad. "But I've been wanting to go out with you for so long. I don't want our reunion to be with a doctor."

Yohann took her hand and kissed the back of it.

"Please, my dear? For me? Let's have you checked up by a doctor and if he says that you're well already then that's great news," Yohann said.

Cathryn was going to protest again but she couldn't resist his handsome face.

"Tch. You win. But only after our luncheon. I've made sandwiches for our picnic and I want us to have a great time first," Cathryn said.

Yohann smiled and kissed Cathryn on the lips.

Cathryn blushed. They have been a couple for two years already but everything that Yohann did to her still made her heart flutter.

"I have something to show you," Yohann said.

They went to the mansion where Yohann was staying whenever he was in Aderlan. A little girl was playing a ball in the front yard but then she saw Yohann and dropped her ball to run to Yohann happily.

"Sheila! I didn't know Hugo was going to bring you!" Yohann said lifting the little girl in his arms.

The little girl giggled.

"Papa said you're going to be surwised," Sheila said.

Cathryn smiled. The little girl had light brown hair too just like Yohann. It was a family trait of the Terrasien royals. Sheila was the daughter of Yohann's cousin, Hugo, who was working as his assistant.

"Where's Claude?" Yohann asked.

Claude was Sheila's older brother who was training as a knight.

"He's with Papa. They went to the pawace," Sheila said.

"I see. Thank you for taking care of the mansion while we were gone," Yohann said and gently put her down.

The little girl grinned revealing a gap in her teeth. Then she dashed off to get her ball and play again.

"You're great with kids," Cathryn said.

"I'm practicing," Yohann said grinning at her.

Cathryn rolled her eyes at him but she was smiling.

*

*

*

Yohann led Cathryn to his bedroom and closed the door behind them.

"I've missed you so much. I wanted to bring you with me whenever I went back to my kingdom. It was hell without you," Yohann said.

"Then perhaps you should bring me next time then," Cathryn said.

"You are right. My dear, I've kept you waiting," Yohann said and got down on one knee.

Cathryn's eyes widened.

Yohann took a small black leather box from his coat pocket.

"Cathryn, my dear, my heart, my love, it took me two years to get my father's approval but I now have it and I'm not going to waste anymore time," Yohann began.

Cathryn could feel a hitch in her throat and she could feel the tears were going to come out of her eyes.

Yohann opened the box, revealing a stunning gold ring with an emerald stone set in the center. Surrounding the emerald were small flowers crafted with gold.

"You're the most beautiful wallflower I've ever met. You're the emerald of my life, shining through the darkness and I can't live my life without you. Lady Cathryn Quinn, will you marry me?" Yohann asked awaiting her answer eagerly.

Cathryn was now crying. The emotions were getting the best of her. She had been waiting for his proposal for so long. She knew that her chances were slim as Yohann was a prince and she was simply a minor noble woman in Aderlan.

"Yes . . . Yes, I'll marry you!" Cathryn squealed and hugged Yohann.

Yohann smiled in relief. He was nervous. He didn't know how he would live his life if Cathryn had rejected him. She was his light. He was the third son and no one really paid any attention to him or thought that he was important. His summoning skill wasn't that great either which made his insecurities even bigger.

Cathryn thought that he was perfect as himself already and it made him believe in himself more.

He had wanted to propose to her in less than a year of meeting her but being a prince, he had to go the formalities. He had to get his father's approval, bring in more achievements as leverage, and persuade his father repeatedly until he gave in. It was all worth it.

He embraced her tightly.

"I love you. Thank you for accepting me," Yohann said.

"No, thank you for choosing me. I love you, my sweet wallflower prince," Cathryn said.

They kissed. Slow and gently. Savoring the moment like they wanted time to stop.

"My princess," Yohann murmured against her neck.

"My wife," Yohan whispered to her ear.

Cathryn smiled.

She loved the sound of that.

His wife.

He slipped the ring on the fourth finger of her left hand.

Her ring finger.

She grinned at him. He smiled at her fondly and kissed her again. He took off her dress slowly. She took off his coat and began unbuttoning his shirt.

They had already slept together before but now, it felt different. They were going to get married. Husband and wife. They were going to be together now always.

THUD THUD THUD!

The couple looked at the door. Someone was knocking loudly. Yohann frowned.

"We're preoccupied at the moment. Come back later," Yohann said loudly.

"Your Highness! It's important! Please! You need to hear this!"

It was the voice of Hugo, Yohann's assistant.

Yohann sighed.

Cathryn squeezed his shoulder.

"Go on. It must be something really important," Cathryn said.

"But I don't want to leave you," Yohann said looking like a sad puppy.

Cathryn chuckled and patted his head.

"Go. When we're married we can be together always. You might even get sick of me," Cathryn said jokingly.

"No, I'll never get sick of you. Alright. I'll be quick. Wait for me, my love," Yohann said and kissed her lips.

He got dressed and went out of the room.

Cathryn didn't know that it would be their last kiss.

*

*

*

"What's the matter?" Yohann asked.

His assistant looked very troubled. Anguished, even.

"Your Highness, your brothers . . . they . . ."

"What is it? Did something happen to them?"

"They were . . ."

"Tell me."

"They were murdered by Aderlan's king."

*********

NEW AUTHOR'S MESSAGE:

Hi, everyone! I'm really sorry for the lack of updates. My godfather (my mom's younger brother) just passed away from COVID. My family and I are still in the process of grieving. I'm having a hard time focusing on the things I used to do easily. Also, my city is under lockdown again. I'm in a bad place again mentally. Please bear with me. I'll try to update my two webnovels from time to time when I am doing okay.

Thank you for sticking with me for this long.

P. S. Thank you, Mboucher, for buying me a coffee at my ko-fi page. I appreciate it so much.

*You can also buy me a coffee and send me private message at https://ko-fi.com/tanya_winters

Thank you!

Your author,

Tanya

******

OLD AUTHOR'S MESSAGE: (This was my hiatus message that I placed in the advanced chapter I released before. This is NOT a new hiatus message. Webnovel is preventing me from deleting it so just please disregard. Thanks.)

Please disregard as you have read this already before. Webnovel is not allowing me to delete it.

*******

To my dearest readers,

With a heavy heart, I have decided to go on hiatus again. I've contemplated this for days and going on hiatus will mean losing some of my readers who can't wait and also not getting paid by Webnovel (MGS). I've reached a state of burnt out right now. Don't worry. I don't have writer's block. I still have lots of nefarious scenes and steamier scenes for our favorite characters planned out in the future but right now, I'm really, really exhausted.

I'm juggling my day job, weekend classes, and publishing a chapter everyday. I know that there are several writers who can write and publish everyday and I have great respect for them. Unfortunately, it has taken a toll on me already. I'm sleep-deprived, tired, and I'm worried that if I keep on going at this rate, the quality might drop and I might just end up hating this webnovel.

I started writing this webnovel not for money. I wrote this because I wished to share this story with everyone, fangirl with you readers, and read your comments which always make me smile and even laugh.

I'm going back to that. I'm not going to write for money and push myself to exhaustion. I'm going to take a rest for now and when I come back, you'll have more chapters to marathon again.

I'll try to come back within Fall 2021. Might not be at September but somewhere within Sept - Dec. Hopefully, I'll be well rested by then and have loads of new chapters for you to read.

If Season Three gets delayed, I'll make another announcement.

Thank you so much for reading this and for sticking with me for this long. I hope you can wait for Season Three.

This author will now be taking a rest.

Much love.

Your author,

Tanya