Emmelyn turned around and followed Horatio to the ground floor and then walked through the long white corridor around the beautiful garden in the middle of the palace compound.

They entered a beautiful building that was dominated by glass as decoration. The color was blue and it had many huge windows with mosaic glass.

They reflected the sunlight into the rooms inside the building and gave magical feelings to it. Emmelyn was wondering if Maxim's mother was a witch.

"Welcome," Maxim came out to greet Emmelyn. He smiled broadly when he reached out his hand to get hers. "I will introduce you to my mother."

Suddenly, Emmelyn felt her heart flutter. She knew Maxim harbored romantic feelings for her, even though, for now, he put whatever intentions he had for her on hold because he wanted to help her solve her problems first before they could pursue any relationship other than friendship.

So, bringing her to see his mother, though it seemed quite innocent, would also carry a certain meaning behind it.

Suddenly Emmelyn felt pressured. What if Maxim expected more from this meeting? Or.. what if his mother suspected Emmelyn was trying to marry her son?

Uff.. things would become awkward if that happened.

"Th-thank you...." Emmelyn muttered almost inaudibly.

Maxim turned to her and furrowed his brows. "What happened to you? Are you sick?"

"Nothing. Let's just go in," Emmelyn forced a smile, adding inwardly, 'And get this over with.'

They walked through the huge living room with a beautiful design and met several maids who all bowed down so deeply to show their respects to the king.

"Queen mother has been waiting for you, Your Majesty," said the oldest maid who met them at the doorway to the queen's dining room. She curtseyed and opened the door for Maxim and Emmelyn,

The dining room in the queen's residence was much bigger than her son's. It had a long table for thirty people and they couldn't see what person sitting on the chair at one end of the table.

Since the room was huge and the table quite long, Emmelyn couldn't really see the queen mother at the end of the table. She also was not sure where she should sit since there were so many chairs.

Fortunately, Maxim grabbed her hand and took her to walk closer to his mother. He motioned Emmelyn to sit on the chair to his mother's right as he opened the chair for her personally.

The middle-aged woman sitting on the end of the table furrowed her brows seeing Maxim treated the young woman who came together with him with so much care. However, she didn't say anything, only waited for Maxim to introduce them.

"Mother, this is Emmelyn," he said to his mother, then turned to Emmelyn. "Emmelyn, this is my mother."

Emmelyn curtseyed and smiled at the woman. She was wondering if Maxim took after his father because he didn't look like his mother at all.

This middle-aged woman had red hair and darker skin. She also didn't look gentle or meek like many noblewomen. Her eyes looked impatient and there was no smile on her lips.

Suddenly, Emmelyn felt worried if the Queen Mother didn't like her. This woman looked intimidating.

"Please be seated," Queen Mother said flatly and motioned Emmelyn to sit down on the chair that her son just opened. Then she turned to Maxim and told him to sit down also, on her other side.

Emmelyn and Maxim did as they were told. The queen snapped her fingers and soon servants came one by one with trays of dishes after dishes.

Soon, the dining table was filled with so much food that Emmelyn strongly believed they wouldn't be able to finish even if they kept eating for seven days and seven nights nonstop. Who ate this much? she thought.

"Please enjoy your food," the queen said to Emmelyn and started eating her food with impeccable elegance. Emmelyn wanted to talk to the queen about Myreen and the Leoraleis, but it seemed, the queen was not one to eat and talk at the same time.

So, Emmelyn could only follow the queen's way. She took her food and ate slowly. She was grateful that she still remembered the proper etiquette for when she was visiting other royalties and got invited to a meal.

She ate slowly and without a sound. The scene was very different from breakfast earlier at Maxim's residence which was much more casual and relaxed.

Maxim took the initiative to pour wine for all of them. They ate their meals with wine and soon, because of the wine, Emmelyn's worry and anxiety slowly dissipated. She trusted Maxim. If the man said he would get his mother to help Emmelyn, then she knew he would keep his word.

Finally, after they finished their meal, Maxim could bring up the subject. He poured wine again into his mother's cup and talked about Emmelyn.

"Mother dear... Emmelyn comes here because she is looking for Myreen," he started. "What do you know exactly about it?"

"Myreen?" the queen mother looked at Maxim with interest. "Why do you suddenly want to know?"

Maxim quickly shook his head. "It's not for me, but Emmelyn. She believes she was cursed by the Leoraleis...."

"The Leoraleis?" His mother furrowed her brows when she heard his words. There was a look of disbelief on her face. "What do they have to do with Emmelyn? I know them. They would never hurt a fly."

Maxim cleared his throat, then he explained. "She is cursed with bad luck. At least, all the witches and seers who met her said the same thing. One seer confirmed that the dark aura that surrounded her is part of the curse and it's known as the Leoraleis curse."

Maxim's mother looked at Emmelyn carefully and she asked, "What did you do to offend the Leoraleis?"

Emmelyn shook her head dejectedly, and replied, "I am sorry, I don't think I have ever offended anyone in my life. I really don't know why the Leoraleis wanted to punish me."

This was still the greatest mystery to Emmelyn.

What did she do to deserve this? She thought she could find the answer from the queen today, but maybe it wouldn't be so simple.

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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).