"Very well... I think it's time for us to continue our journey," Maxim said to Emmelyn. "Castilse is still two weeks away."

"You are right," Emmelyn replied. Now, knowing that her mother-in-law could be revived she felt overjoyed and relieved.

Her steps became light and a smile curved up on her face. Emmelyn bowed her head slightly toward Raphael to show her gratitude and nodded at Margueritte and took her leave. "Thank you for the warm welcome and for helping us. I really appreciate it."

Margueritte nodded back. "I hope your journey to Myreen will be fruitful and the Leoraleis will open their heart to help you."

Emmelyn smiled and mouthed her thank you. She folded Raphael's scarf neatly and kept it inside her coat. This was such a valuable item that she would always have close to her heart.

Renwyck bid his goodbye too. He nodded at Raphael and Margueritte.

"It's good to see you again, dear Margueritte," said Renwyck with a smile. "It's been awfully long. I hope next time we can meet again."

Margueritte rolled her eyes and looked away, obviously displeased with the wizard. Their love-hate relationship made Maxim feel curious. He wanted to know what exactly happened between the two to arrive in this situation.

Margueritte seemed to like Renwyck enough but she still had her men attack the wizard when Renwyck and Lysander just reached her castle.

"Let's leave now," Maxim told his travel companions and made a sign for Emmelyn to follow him.

Kira had walked briskly ahead of them. She acted like she was leaving a house on fire. Lysander and Renwyck walked behind her, while Maxim and Emmelyn walked last.

When they left the castle, Maxim saw around fifty knights were standing in a vigilant position. Some of them looked injured after a battle and he realized they must be Margueritte's men who attacked Renwyck earlier.

He narrowed his eyes, looking at them fiercely, ready to draw his sword anytime if they attacked his group. However, those knights didn't do anything. They stood still like statues and only watched Maxim and his friends leave the castle.

SCREECH!

SCREECH!

Emmelyn immediately looked up and saw Aslain came flying above them. The huge dragon swirled around several times in the air before he finally landed gracefully on an open area nearby.

"Your Majesty, you can take Aslain to go down this mountain. You can send him to pick us up later. It's almost dark. We should hurry,' Renwyck advised.

Maxim nodded. "That's a good idea. Emmelyn, let's get on Aslain and get out of here."

Emmelyn was scared when she rode the dragon for the first time. However, once she landed safely on the top of the mountain, her fear was gone. She actually thought the experience was exhilarating and fun.

Now, she couldn't wait to have another ride with the dragon. So, she nodded excitedly and followed Maxim's steps. The man was happy to see the improvement in Emmelyn's countenance. When he first met her in Lakeshire, she looked so sad. She also became awfully quiet.

Gone was the cheerful and happy-go-lucky girl he met two years ago. Emmelyn's sadness made Maxim feel sad too. He really wanted to do whatever he could to bring the smile back to her face.

It seemed he finally succeeded.

This thought made Maxim feel the burden in his chest lighten. He smiled too and walked toward Aslain with light steps. Kira just saw the dragon and was enchanted. She turned to Lysander and asked him what it was.

The knight explained that Aslain was a dragon that belonged to Renwyck. "Aslain will take his majesty and Lady Emmelyn on his back so they can reach the mountain foot faster. Then, he will come back here to pick us up."

"Oh.. how amazing!" Kira's eyes lit up when she heard Lysander's words. She watched Emmelyn and Maxim get on the dragon's back with a longing expression. When Aslain jumped up and flapped his wings to fly, Kira let out a gasp. "Whoaa... that's amazing!"

She looked at the dragon and his two passengers without blinking until they became a small dot in the sky and finally disappeared.

After she could no longer see them, Kira's brows suddenly furrowed and she turned to Lysander. "Did you say 'His Majesty'?"

Lysander just realized that Kira didn't know yet that Maxim was actually King Loriel Ashborn, the monarch of Summeria. Emmelyn only knew this fact today when Renwyck came and unintentionally exposed Maxim's identity.

Kira had been separated from their group for several days and was not aware of this. Lysander pressed his lips and regretted his words.

He pretended not to hear her question and motioned her to walk with him and Renwyck to leave the castle ground. "Let's walk. Aslain will get us later. We shouldn't wait here."

"Why didn't you answer my question?" Kira pouted and refused to follow Lysander. "I will not go with you until you answer me."

"Fine. You can stay here," Lysander replied heartlessly. "You looked good as castle decoration."

He turned around and left Kira nonchalantly. The woman's eyes immediately bulged when she remembered how scary it was to be turned into an ice statue. Gosh... no, she was not stupid to stay here longer.

Kira scoffed and finally followed Lysander and Renwyck with long steps. She wanted to be as far away as possible from Raphael and the white witch.

***

Meanwhile, inside the castle, Raphael sat on the huge window sill and took out a silver flute from his pocket. He closed his eyes and smiled faintly, thinking about something that made him happy.

Then, he started playing the same music he was playing before Emmelyn and Maxim came to the castle. It was a really sad song that would make even the happiest person turn gloomy.

Margueritte stood near Raphael and watched the man curiously. "I don't understand why you help her. It's none of your business."

Raphael paused his music and opened his eyes. His golden irises looked amused by the question. He only shrugged and replied, "She said she will give me her most valuable possession if I revive her mother-in-law. I couldn't say no."

"Why didn't you give back the snake pendant, then? We know it's NOT her most valuable possession," said Margueritte again.

"Well... I will use it as collateral until her most valuable possession is sent to me," Raphael said. "Maybe... you can think of it as a dowry."

.

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You are all amazing! Thank you for the Golden Tickets in August! This is the second chapter. I will write 3 more.

Let's have a weekly goal for Golden Ranking in September. If we can stay in Top 3 Golden ranking until Sunday, I will publish 3 chapters per day for the whole next week. If we keep our #4 position, I will give 2 bonus chapters on Monday (a total of 4).