Ethos didn't know about the curse that befell his cousin, the crown prince. Only select family members were informed about this. Athos was one of them because Mars really trusted him.

Mars told Athos this big secret five years ago and Athos kept this from anyone else, even his own brothers. So, during this mission, Mars didn't tell Ethos the truth about the reason why he came to Wintermere.

Mars only told his younger cousin that he was doing a regular inspection throughout their empire and its colonies since he would soon take the throne.

He wanted to know the situation in the colonies and asked for feedback from the respective governors on how they could do things better at the central level.

The crown prince was so good with words that he could easily evade any suspicion on his true intention of traveling to Wintermere.

Ethos received them gladly and prepared a fancy banquet to welcome the crown prince's arrival. They talked about the politics and the current situation in Wintermere.

On the next day, Ethos brought the prince to go around the land and showed him beautiful places in Wintermere. All day, as he was 'enjoying' the view and the spectacles, Mars was reminded of his wife back home.

He knew Emmelyn would have loved to be here with him, to see her homeland once again. Ah.. if only she was not currently heavily pregnant with their baby, she could definitely join him.

Mars scolded himself for even thinking this way. He hoped Harlow would never know that, at one point, his father wished he was not yet conceived so Emmelyn could travel with him.

He couldn't have his cake and eat it too, right? He wanted this baby, so badly. So, he shouldn't complain that now the baby was on the way.

To think that he did it almost every day with Emmelyn to make sure that she would be pregnant... of course, she would get pregnant immediately.

"This is all great. We will continue our journey tomorrow to another colony," Mars said during the feast in the governor's palace after they spent all day exploring Wintermere. "My men and I will stop by a place called Shadowend. Do you know where it is?"

Ethos sipped his wine and nodded. "Yes, it's a region close to the Moonbear. It's a quiet town, nothing much is going on there. What do you want to do in Shadowend?"

"Just visiting an old friend. I found out from someone that an old acquaintance of mine now lives in Shadowend. So, I decided to pay them a visit while I'm around the area," Mars replied.

"Ah." Ethos nodded in understanding. "Does Your Highness needs me to go with you?"

"There is no need. This is just an informal visit to an old friend. This doesn't have anything to do with you," Mars replied.

"Understood. I will leave you to it then," Ethos said. "If you need anything or additional soldiers for protection, do let me know, Your Highness."

"There is no need for that. We have enough people," said Mars calmly. He glanced at Elmer and Bruinen who didn't say a word after they reached Wintermere. After they left the province capital, they would need to start executing their plans.

Mars would pretend to continue his journey to the next province, but actually, he would go under disguise and went to Shadowend.

***

The next day, the crown prince and his people left very early in the morning. Only Ethos and some of the soldiers who guard the city gates knew that the crown prince and his men had already left the palace.

They all thought Mars was going to Ashfall, the next province on his list after Wintermere. The truth was after they arrived in a forest not far from the city gate, those men quickly changed into merchants' outfits and used two wagons filled with salt.

They pretended to be salt merchants who were traveling to sell salt to nearby towns.

Mars, Elmer, and Bruinen, together with two knights were traveling together as merchants, while Gewen went undercover as a young master from the capital who was traveling and sightseeing in Moonbear town. He brought so many servants and bodyguards.

They would all stay in Moonbear while asking for Mrs. Morelli's whereabouts in passing. Ellena mentioned that the witch lived on the top of a hill, in an old mansion and the way to her mansion was protected by the gatekeeper who controlled several dangerous animals.

Mars must be able to get to the mansion when Mrs. Morelli least expected it, so he could save Ellena's heart before the witch destroyed it. He owed Ellena that much.

***

Emmelyn felt her head hurt so badly when she opened her eyes. She needed a few moments to remember what happened. How did she end up here?

[Where is this place?]

Emmelyn batted her eyes to adjust her vision to her surroundings and looked around. She was in a dark room, and it was noisy. She felt her body was shaking from the movement of the wooden floor under her.

Wait.. how could the floor move?

She dragged herself to the wooden wall and saw a small window. She pressed the window open and tried to see where she was.

Ahh.. apparently, she was in a moving carriage. She could see the road and trees from outside the window. She winced her forehead, trying to remember everything that happened earlier.

She received a letter for ransom. Those people claimed that they had Killian's son with them. They wanted Emmelyn to pay 1000 coins for the boy.

Emmelyn brought 500 coins and went undercover as a man to investigate the enemies. And she found them. They went out and entered a warehouse... and then...

She bit her lip and winced in pain. Some asshole giant grabbed her and slapped her so hard that she lost consciousness. She wondered if the giant and the bald guy were involved with Ellena and her two thugs.

Yeah, Emmelyn was very certain that Ellena was behind the scheme. She heard those two burly men talked about their lady. Emmelyn didn't know anyone in the capital that people would call as a lady, but Ellena.

And only Ellena had the motive.

Dammit! She really thought that wench had given up on chasing her husband after her failed suicide and went to the countryside to start a new life.

Apparently, Emmelyn was wrong.

Emmelyn moved without a sound and tried to check the carriage door. It seemed like those people who were taking her thought she was still unconscious. She must not make any sound that would make them aware that she already woke up.

She must get away from this carriage and find help. As she felt her clothes, Ememlyn realized that the thugs must have taken her golds. They also must know who she really was.

Emmelyn tried to calm herself down and started to work on the carriage door. She was disappointed to know that was locked from the outside.

She turned to the window and realized that she might be able to get out from the window if she took off her oversized coat.

Gosh... When she peeked through the opening, Emmelyn's heart palpitated. The window was quite high from the ground. If she insisted on jumping out from it, she might get injured, or worse, she would hurt Harlow in her womb.

What to do?

She couldn't possibly endanger her own child. That was out of the question.

Emmelyn realized, being a mother totally changed her way of life and doing things. Now, she didn't live just for herself, but also for her baby. If she was not pregnant, she would easily jump out, get some bruises, and then brush it off like it was nothing.

But now, she couldn't do it.

"Fuck..." She muttered under her breath. Emmelyn finally decided not to take such a huge risk by jumping out of the moving carriage. She would instead get ready to attack the thugs as soon as the carriage stopped and they opened the door to let her out.

She would ambush them when they least expected it. She tried to look for her knife, but couldn't find it anywhere. She finally realized that the giant still got the knife stuck in his arm.

She had to find other weapons. But what?

She didn't bring anything with her except that one knife and the potion that Mrs. Adler gave her as she kept it inside a liner in her dress.

That was a powerful sleeping potion that would make the person who took it sleep for three days and people would think they were dead. Surely she couldn't use it as a weapon.

She must think of other things. Emmelyn looked around her and saw a block of wood under the carriage seat. That might come in handy to protect herself from the thug, she thought.

So, Emmelyn reached out to it and took it with both hands. She was ready.

As soon as they opened the carriage door, she would beat them up with a surprise attack and run as fastest she could.

With that determination, Emmelyn sat quietly, facing the carriage door with the wooden block in her hands. She was feeling nauseous from the carriage movement, but she steeled her heart and tried to be tough.

After half an hour, the carriage movement finally stopped.

Emmelyn knew they must have arrived at the destination. She was wondering where they took her. Would she meet with Ellena? If yes, she wouldn't hesitate to beat up that wench and teach her a lesson for trying to plot such an evil scheme.

.

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>>>>

From the author:

It's the second day after the fall and my body felt all sore.. huhuhu, so I cannot write much. I hope I will get better this weekend and can go back to publishing 2 chapters per day.