Jayden looked up instantly to see Elizah’s uncovered eye staring at him, and she was clearly bewildered.

“Where are we?” Elizah asked with her voice clearly strained, and she winced in pain as she tried to move.

“We’re at Jade’s cottage. Don’t move. You’ve been wounded terribly,” Jayden said softly, and there was a clear feeling of relief in his voice.

He made his way to the left side of Elizah’s head and smiled at her, and Elizah was still very confused.

“Wha--t--happened?” she asked, and she flinched as Jayden touched her neck.

“Words wouldn’t be enough to describe it,” Jayden said and gently brushed away strands of Elizah’s hair from her face.

“I’m glad to see you alive,” Elizah said and slowly brushed Jayden’s hands with hers.

“I am, too,” he said, and Elizah flinched slightly as she tried to remove the bandages covering the right half of her face.

“Wait. I’ll do it,” Jayden’s voice was shaking with his nervousness. Still, he was careful as he gently removed the bandages covering the right half of Elizah’s face.

There seemed to be so many layers, as if Elizah had been mummified in bandages.

But once Jayden saw the bandages come off and reveal the skin beneath, he was so shocked. It would ruin Elizah if she saw herself.

“Can you hand me a mirror?” Elizah asked, and Jayden slowly walked up to the side table and picked up the small mirror in his palm.

He was hiding the tears from falling down his cheeks. It was his fault that Elizah was like this, and now she would never heal.

He handed the mirror to Elizah, and she looked at her reflection and only gasped slightly.

The entire right half of her face was covered with a long scar stretching unevenly from her cheekbone all the way to her jaw. Her right eye wasn’t saved from the scar, and her neck was circled with crisscrossing scar markings.

Elizah frantically tried to put her left hand on the scars and heal them instantly, but instead, she fell back and flinched.

She was crying. It was rare to see Elizah so broken, and it hurt Jayden to remember that his own mother was the cause of this.

“You don’t deserve me,” Elizah said and cried into her palm.

“Whatever do you mean?” Jayden asked and slowly took her palm away from her face.

“I’m a disfigured and scarred woman who is completely ugly. No one wants such a person around them. Especially a prince. I’m even half handicapped,” Elizah said, and she gestured to her face and right arm.

“Wait. You can’t feel your right arm at all?” Jayden asked, completely taken aback by her last statement.

Elizah shook her head in dismay.

“To my senses, I have no right arm. Just a weight attached to my shoulder,” Elizah said, and her face was hidden away from Jayden’s gaze.

“I can’t even do anything anymore,” Elizah said and hid her face in her arm.

Jayden was careful as he gently placed his hand on Elizah’s shoulder.

“Look at me Liz,” Jayden said softly and propped her up on the bed.

Elizah’s gaze was shaky and full of fear. And she had unshed tears in her gaze.

“Elizah,” Jayden said gently and touched her cheek.

“Beauty is never what shows a person. It is what’s down here,” Jayden gently folded her hand and made it touch her beating heart.

“If I wanted beauty, I would have married the many princesses my mother put before me. But there is something else I want. Something that I found in you. The heart to care for others. The heart to let anyone live, even if they are hopeless or a devil. You care for everyone and give us all hope. You are the new queen of this island after all,” Jayden said gently, and he was smiling at her.

“Now, I want to give you that hope. The hope to stand up and be my queen,” he said, and Elizah was crying as a small smile came to her lips.

“I will. I always will. I swear to always be by your side,” Elizah said, and she smiled even wider than before, and Jayden embraced her while trying his best to maintain a strong face.

“But you just said queen. Does that mean…” Elizah asked carefully, hoping not to upset Jayden in any way.

Jayden only sighed before he said softly, “Yes. My father is dead.”

“Oh,” Elizah only let out the small word because she knew there was nothing more that she could say. Everything that she wanted to say to comfort him still seemed wrong since he wasn’t an ideal person that Jayden would have looked up to.

“I knew when we heard the verdict that my mother gave us. She told me that you were supposed to be dead as well, but by a miracle, you’ve survived,” Jayden said, and his gaze turned far away.

He was staring out the window into the depths of the forest.

What would I have done if I lost her as well? He wondered to himself. It wasn’t a good thought, but he had to ponder over it, considering that Noxaura said that he had taken everything from her. Would he end up like her?

The thought of that itself made a shiver run down Jayden’s spine. It was indeed a thought that wasn’t worth wasting time on.

He left the thought for the time when there was a knock at the door.

“I thought I heard Jayden talking to someone, and I assumed that it was to himself,” Jade said as she smiled and gently helped Elizah sit up.

“Thank you for saving us,” Elizah said with a smile, and Jade handed her a glass of water.

“It’s the least I could do to serve my new queen and king,” Jade said with a mock bow and both Jayden and Elizah.

“I really need to make people reduce the use of respect that they give to the royal family,” Jayden said, and Elizah couldn’t help but agree.

“Once Elizah is a little better, I need to speak to you. There’s a lot that has happened, and it’s only right that I discuss everything with the two of you. Let Elizah rest, her wounds need it. You take rest as well, prince,” Jade said, and she stood up to leave the room as Elizah laid back on the cot. Jayden followed Jade after sharing a small smile with Elizah.