The incident with Luther in his library bothered me so much that night, that it took me a couple of hours to finally fall asleep. That night I had a rather disturbing dream - I was standing in the middle of a huge white room, completely naked, with a lotus flower crown on my head. My body was not mine, I was a bit taller, skinnier, my hair was longer, and I could feel it touching my back, going down past my shoulder blades. I looked around the room, but could not see anything except for the white light surrounding me from each side. I felt weird - I could see everything as if I was the one looking, but I could also see myself as if I was watching myself on the TV screen.

I heard a woman's voice calling out my name, but she was not calling Baek Yoo Na. When I turned around to the sound of her voice, I opened my eyes and woke up.

Our training began the next day. We followed the plan I created and although it was a bit confusing to follow my instructions from the very beginning, the knights got used to the new exercises quite fast and after a week, it looked like they were able to recite each workout routine even in their sleep. They all were excited - the drastic change in their activities boosted their motivation, and the change in their nutrition increased their overall motivation. I was pleased.

My relationship with Raphael improved a lot as well. He was happy to see his knights in high spirits and he himself enjoyed trying out new exercises with me. I felt like I finally got myself a gym buddy I never had.

The only person who was struggling the most was still prince Dorian. Despite his great swordsmanship skills, his overall strength was not the best, and I had to change his workouts almost every day to adjust them to his overall endurance. He seemed to be well aware that he was way behind everyone else, especially considering the fact that he was training together with Raphael, but he still tried his best and never complained about anything. It was obvious that he was determined to improve no matter what and I was happy to see such resolve in a person.

No matter how excited I was during the last 7 days, I couldn't help but feel exhausted by the end of each day. More so, at some point, the tiredness stopped disappearing completely even after a good night's sleep. That morning I was particularly tired as well, I felt like I would pass out the moment I find a chance to lie down.

I was holding Dorian's knees while he was doing sit-ups when all of a sudden, I realized that I was dozing off. My half-asleep mode was interrupted by an unexpected blow to my head.

"Ugh!"

I sprang back and put my hand to my forehead, the prince was rubbing his forehead as well.

- Did you just head-butted me, prince Dorian?!

Dorian waved his hand in denial.

- N-no! I was just lifting my body when my head suddenly hit yours! You were leaning forward too much, were you sleeping?

"Did I really just doze off? What is going on with me?"

- Ah... I'm just a bit tired, I guess I did not expect to be working so hard right from the beginning.

He looked at me with his dark blue eyes and wiped his face with a towel.

- Please wait here, I'll bring something cold to put on your forehead.

He returned with two glass bottles filled with water in each hand. Dorian noticed that I was dozing off again and pressed a bottle to my forehead, a sudden cold sensation awoke me at once.

- Here, hold it.

I tried to take a hold of the bottle and my hand ended up covering his. He flinched a bit but did not hurry to pull his hand away. I looked up to see his face and to my great surprise, it was not flushed, not even a hint of embarrassment in sight. The prince then took his hand away and sat down next to me.

- Miss Yoona, if you are that tired, you can just rest more in your room. The knights can already do well without your supervision and I can start my lessons at a later hour.

I was not satisfied with his concern. It was nice to have someone worry about my well-being but it's only been a week and I could not possibly give up like this.

"They all are motivated by me, I cannot disappoint them. We have a long way to go, Baek Yoo Na, you wanted this, don't give up!"

I shook my head and smiled faintly.

- It's alright, I'll just have to review my sleeping schedule, that's all.

Dorian sighed and put his bottle up to his forehead. There we were - just the two of us sitting at the far end of the training grounds, glass bottles stuck to our foreheads, the prince and his trainer.

- By the way, I've been meaning to ask this for a while... Why do people call you "Your Majesty"? You're not an Emperor.

- Well, here in Arcadia, every member of the Imperial family is equal regardless of their title, which means that as long as you're related to the Emperor by blood or marriage, you hold the same amount of power and respect. It is meant to prevent succession rivalry and improve overall relationships inside the family. Well... I did say we hold the same amount of power, but a lot of major decisions still have to go through proper procedures and get approved either by the Emperor or the Empress in his stead. The way people address us is not really important here, we use them to merely support the tradition.

- Hmm... I see. Come to think of it, I haven't seen the Emperor even once. Will I be able to?

The prince wiped his face with a towel again and looked aimlessly in front of him for a while. I couldn't tell whether he was contemplating his response or simply did not know what to say.

- My father has been bedridden for 6 months now. The doctors say it is some kind of an unknown disease that they have no cure for.

I was once again reminded of my cancer. The disease that we have no cure for.

"Could it be that the Emperor has cancer too? But then again, I am not sure how advanced they are in medicine here, maybe there are still a lot of diseases they don't have a cure for."

Dorian kept talking.

- He is still able to perform some of the Emperor's duties, but he cannot walk anymore and is always sick with something, so most of the work is done by the Empress.

Looking back at how hostile he was towards the Empress, I knew he was not happy about that.

"So the Empress is the one who is sending Dorian to die on the battlefield. So... Luther is the son of the Empress and is the Crown Prince... which means she was the one who appointed her son to be a successor seeing how the Emperor is in such a bad condition. If every member of the family has the same amount of power, could it be that she is trying to eliminate everyone who is not related to her to gain complete control over the Empire?"

The prince noticed how deep in thought I was and tapped me on the shoulder.

- Miss Yoona, you were not listening. What is happening to your sleep anyway? Is something keeping you up?

- Ah, well, I borrowed a book from the library and am trying to read it before bed to gain a better perspective on the religion here. You know... since I somehow got involved with your goddess and all that.

"I probably should not tell him that I am also trying to finish it quickly so I can have an excuse to see Luther again and apologize."

Dorian raised his eyebrows and looked at me surprised.

- Which book is that?

I grabbed the linen bag I received from the maids and pulled out that huge book with the red velvet cover. I handed it over to the prince, he examined it briefly and returned the book to me.

- So you have visited Luther's library?

- How do you know?!

- The book has his signature on the last page, he signs all of his books like this.

He opened the book on the last page and pointed at a beautiful signature that read "Luther Dio" in calligraphic letters.

- Wait, so he signed ALL of his books?! Insane... Well, he did look a bit weird, that's for sure.

Dorian flinched and turned his whole body to face me.

- You MET him?

"Why is he so shocked? Was it wrong for me to meet him?"

- Why? Was I not supposed to?

- Well, it's not that, it's just that he rarely talks to strangers, especially in his library.

- We did not really talk much... and it did not really end well.

The prince scratched his head and let out a loud sigh.

- What did you do?

- Why do you assume it was me who did something?!

He looked at me from underneath his eyebrows and smiled sarcastically.

- Well... Let's say I accidentally saw his WHOLE face.

- Oh...

- He got really annoyed and told me to leave and keep my mouth shut. It's like he turned into a completely different person in an instant! To think somebody would get so upset about some scar on their face.

"Although now that I'm thinking about it, Raphael was also kinda sensitive about his scars..."

- Miss Yoona, you are really ignorant about the life of the royal folk, are you not?

I faked a smile and turned my face away. Maybe I did not really know how people live in this world, but it didn't mean this information was crucial to me. Dorian faked a smile back at me and continued.

- No one is supposed to know about his scar. His mother tried really hard to make sure no one found out he had it. She literally abused him to the point he closed himself up in his palace and grew his hair just to be able to cover his face.

- But why can't anyone know? I don't understand.

Dorian straightened his posture and looked in the direction of Luther's palace. He then replied as if talking to himself.

- It's because the Empress was the one who caused it.

I thought I heard him wrong so I asked again, my voice unexpectedly loud.

- The Empress did it?!

The second prince pressed his hand onto my mouth to cover it and looked at me all shocked and bewildered.

- Shhh, why are you yelling all of a sudden? Can't you read the atmosphere here?

I mumbled "I'm sorry", watering his hand with my saliva. Dorian's face turned red, he pulled his hand away in an instant and wiped it with his towel.

- I'm sorry, I was just surprised.

I then leaned closer to him and whispered,

- So, what happened?

- I see you quite a gossip girl, miss Yoona.

- Well, you are also a blabbermouth, prince Dorian! First Raphael's story, now all that mystery around the Crown Prince's scar, don't you agree?

Dorian laughed quietly and sighed.

- For some reason, I feel like I can tell you anything, miss Yoona. I wonder why is that?

- Maybe because I have a trustworthy face?

I framed my face with my hands and tried to imitate the cute smile the idols do for the fan service. The prince laughed once again.

- Indeed, something about your face is quite unique. Alright, I'll tell you, but please keep it a secret, understand?

I nodded my head in agreement.

- I think I was around 11 years old at that time, Luther was already 13. We were playing with my father's dogs in the garden when all of a sudden, Luther yelled out my name and jumped on me, pushing me to the ground. When I came back to my senses, I saw him next to me, half of his face covered in blood. Turned out there was an archer in the garden who tried to assassinate me, Luther tried to protect me and the arrow cut his face across his left cheek. The cut left quite a scar which he is now trying to hide so badly.

- But how was the Empress involved?

- What do you think? She was the one who hired that assassin. She would have probably attempted my assassination again if it was not for Luther's injury, I think she got scared that Luther realized her plans and would just stick around me all the time to protect me. I have no idea what she said to Luther to make him shut his mouth and lock himself up in his palace like that, but ever since that incident, my relationship with him started to deteriorate and now we barely see each other, let alone talk.

- God, I can't believe this. Is his mother that hungry for power?

- Who knows... But that's why I'm trying so hard now, miss Yoona. If I'm able to resolve this issue with the barbarians, I'll gain more support both from the commoners and the nobles, who can then press the Empress to make me the next Emperor instead of Luther, who doesn't even want the throne.

Dorian laid down on the ground and closed his eyes. I looked at his handsome face and couldn't help but feel sad.

"If he lived in my world, I bet he would have had an easy life with his kind of looks. It almost feels unfair that someone so beautiful and kind can be burdened with so much heavy stuff."

I reached my hand to stroke his messy black hair but pulled it back just in time.

"Don't worry, prince Dorian, I'll do my best to help you succeed."