Sometime before the sunset, I stepped foot in my brother's capital. As soon as the citadel came into view, I felt dread rising inside me like the upwelling seawater. The fear and anxiousness awarded by uncertainty were starting to make my steps falter.

My heart was palpitating in my chest as my mind conjured up all the scenarios that could take place, and most of them weren't pleasing. Here I was again, and this time I had to find a way to talk to my brother anyhow; otherwise, Vittoria would have my head on a golden platter. I prepared myself mentally as I headed towards the citadel. I could feel my heart drumming in my chest as I climbed the fortification steps.

I lied to the guards about being a messenger before I was finally let in there. The way I was feeling wasn't the way one felt when returning home. Home. I looked around the place. It used to be my home, but it didn't feel like it anymore. Instead, it felt like something else, a distant place that shouldn't exist. It felt like the last place I should be at.

I kept walking through the citadel towards the palace without looking at anyone. Though I got a few stares here and there, I fixed my eyes at the palace and kept walking towards it without a single halt. The sun was already setting, drenching this realm into semi-darkness. There was no chance of anyone recognising me. After all, I have been dead to the world for quite some time now. I am sure that they would have forgotten my face by now, and even if my face managed to remain in someone's memory, they'd think I was a ghost.

A ghost. The idea of being a ghost still sounded more honourable than being reduced to what I was today. It was too humiliating for me, for my mother. She'd wanted me to take after her, but here I was today, reduced to nothing more than a mere pawn in my brother's life.

'I will never forget.'

I chose to shed my fears and face what was before me. I entered the palace and headed straight to my brother's wing. Being familiar with the place helped but at the same time, walking through those same hallways brought back a whole lot of memories which sometimes made me doubt if they were indeed mine. The memories of my time living here were so distant that it felt like I had never been here, as if it was just part of some dream. But as soon as I remembered the scars of that cursed man I treated last night, an electric jolt ran up my spine, shaking me up.

No, it wasn't a dream. It had happened, and I had promised myself that I'll never forget it.

I tried my best to push those awful remembrances down and focus on the present. I was hoping that I'd get to talk to my brother alone and get a chance to put some sense through his thick skull. I started to get my hopes high the closer I got to my brother's wing, but it was shattered when I took the last turn towards his wing and found a familiar Nobel standing outside it. The Nobel I loathed the most.

"Herren," I muttered. He instantly sensed my presence and turned to face me. His eyes slightly widened as soon as he saw me. It was as if he had seen a ghost, but soon enough, he schooled his features and demanded, "What are you doing here again?"

"I'm here to talk to my brother," I declared with a strong, unwavering voice, tipping my chin high to meet his sly gaze with all the pride left in me.

"I'm afraid you cannot. He is busy right now," Herren told me dismissingly.

"I'm afraid you cannot stop me," I told him and headed towards the door, but he was quick to put himself between me and the door to my brother. I stopped and glared at him.

"I told you he is busy," He gritted.

"I don't care. He's my brother. I have travelled far to meet him, and I am not leaving without talking to him and you..." I hissed, fisting his shirt's collar, "... will step away if you wish to see tomorrow's sun," I threatened him after jerking him down to my level and looking him dead in the eyes. All of a sudden, I was breathing fire. The rage that I had been suppressing down for years was threatening to come out.

Last time, I couldn't say anything to Herren because my brother was there, but now that I had found him alone, I was tempted to try out some of the pain-inducing curses I'd learned in the shrine. One of my deepest desires was to see him die a slow, painful death.

'I will never forget.'

Herren didn't say anything. He watched me with a sinister calm filled in his features. His eyes were clouded with certain darkness I was familiar with. Meanwhile, my darkest, most painful memories started to flash in front of my eyes.

'I will never forget.'

Ugh! Why was this happening now? I thought I had gotten over this. NOT NOW! Something must have shown on my face because the tip of Herren's lips curled slyly while his knowing eyes pinned me down with a suffocating weight.

"In case you have forgotten, Theresa, your brother, is the Emperor. He has more important things to do than talk to you,"

"Herren," I gritted, tensing my hold on his shirt to the point that it was about to tear. "Let me see my brother,"

"I said it once, and I am not going to repeat it. You should go now," He told me with the same calm.

"I'm not going away unless I get to talk to my brother,"

"Then I'd have to throw you out," He declared.

"Do you have it in you to throw out the Emperor's sister?" I dared.

He gave out a short dry laugh and commented, "Emperor's sister? She died five years ago. I'm sure you're aware of the Capitol punishment given to people who pretend to be dead Royals," He said mockingly, fuelling my scalding anger.

"I know it was your doing all along," I pushed him back, seething. He staggered back a bit, but his features remained unnaturally calm. It tempted me to punch him in the face, but that wouldn't have been without any consequence. I needed to keep my calm. I couldn't leave without seeing my brother this time. Vittoria would unite me with my ancestors otherwise. "It was your ideas— sending me to the shrine. Or else, I would have sat on the throne instead of my incompetent brother. I'm the true heiress of the throne. My brother isn't. He's a mere puppet,"

'I WILL NEVER FORGET!'

At this, he threw his head back and indeed laughed.

"I didn't have anything to do with the shrine. They conduct their affairs in secrecy," He spoke with a wicked smile, his voice sounding like the hiss of a snake, "But the rest was my design, yes,"

As I looked at that old man smiling, I wanted to cause him the most painful death. I wanted to do so many veil things to him that his soul would carry the pain to its next body and make it suffer as well.

"Are you crying?" He asked in a mocking tone as an angry tear betrayed me and ran down my cheek. I was clenching my fists so hard; I could feel blood dripping on the marble floor. I was shaking with rage as he laughed again.

"You robbed me of my family, of my...," I gritted, but my voice was wavering due to rage. The tears had started to come one after the other, joining the parade of betrayal. He waved his hand.

"Oh, come on, you were in captivity for four years only. People spend their whole lives in it and never get to see the sun. You should thank your fates that you get to stand here and be an ungrateful brat to the man who showed you kindness and let you live. If there were someone else in my place, then the Virgin Princess' grave wouldn't be empty today," He told me with that same wicked smile.

'I will never forget.'

"You'll pay a high price for this, Herren," I promised him with my shaking voice and tears streaming down my face.

'I will never forget.'

"That, we shall see, but you shouldn't blame me for everything. I am just a Nobleman, put here to do god's work. It's all by god's design. You should blame him equally, if not more, and if you wish to find out the truth, go back to the shrine and do some digging. The High Priestess lies masterfully, especially this young one, but the dead ones don't," He spoke with severe grimness.

"I'm not leaving without seeing my brother," I demanded again, but by this time, he had called the guards who spared no time dragging me out of there and throwing me out on the streets.

I will never forget.

_