-HER-

The next morning, there was an unlikely guest at the wing to meet Fiona. I was surprised to see him so early in the morning, but nonetheless, I had been anticipating him. I knew that my brother wouldn't be sleeping peacefully knowing I was under the same roof as him. He had to do something about me.

"Your Majesty," Fiona was fairly surprised to see the Emperor so early in the morning when she had hardly woken up. "It's such an honour that you paid a visit to me, but you could have summoned me to the court instead," She smiled apologetically, completely caught off guard.

"This job required me to see you privately," He told Fiona, glancing at me briefly. I kept my face blank. "Tell me, how do you like this place? Is everything to your liking?" He inquired, stalking deeper into the wing. Fiona walked beside him while I followed them quietly.

"Your Majesty, this is a magnificent place. I have never seen something like this before," Fiona answered, sounding flattered. "There's nothing that I'd lack here,"

"I'm glad to hear that," My brother said indifferently, stopping by the pool and staring at the clear water. "Though I think you still lack something," He stated.

"Your Majesty, what is it?" Fiona asked, astonished. I gazed at my brother's reflection in the water. I could see his pensive eyes in it and the wheels spinning behind them. I could see where he was going on from there.

"I think your ladies in waiting aren't enough. I'm going to assign you some Royal Servants," He declared. Fiona gasped, unable to believe her ears.

"You Majesty, that's very kind of you,"

"It's not about kindness," My brother spoke, locking his eyes with me in the water's reflection, "You're going to be my beloved sister. It's best I start treating you like so,"

"It's an honour for me to be chosen for this, your Majesty,"

"Hmm, but don't let that honour distort your reality. You're here to act like my sister," My brother stated, glancing at me the last time and turning around to go back the way he came, "Not to take her place," With that, he left my wing but not without leaving Fiona feeling disgruntled.

His words seemed to have left quite a negative impact on her because she was taking out her frustration on us throughout the morning. She yelled at Nuncia while she was taking her body measures. She also gave me a piece of her mind when I tried to teach her some Voynish runes.

I would have punched her in the face in the old times, but this time, I had to keep patience while working with her. My patience was already running low with her, and it didn't help that I had to teach her Voynish. She didn't have the sight to grasp what I was explaining to her. Instead, I settled with just making her memorise the runes without focusing too much on their meanings. She wouldn't need to use them anyway... right?

After putting up with her throughout the morning, I got a break in the afternoon when Fiona decided to spend some time with Arke, who'd caught her attention while she was practising swinging her sword in the western courtyard. I spent the rest of my afternoon in my old study, looking at my old stuff.

Everything seemed to be going fine until there was another visitor. I had assumed that it was the Royal Servants, but when I opened the door, I didn't see any Royal Servants.

Instead, I froze when I saw the person standing there. I could see my surprise reflected back in his eyes as well. Both of us stood there, wide-eyed. Even though the rest of the people in the palace might not recognise me, I was sure he'd recognise me. He was one of the last persons I saw after being freed from captivity and before leaving for the Shrine.

"Theresa," He breathed, his whole body tensing and his eyes grew wider as if he'd seen a ghost.

"She's inside. What do you want?" I asked, draining all the emotions from my face and looking at him blankly. However, he wasn't so fast to gather himself.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded instead.

"I'm Princess Theresa's lady in waiting. If you wish to see her, then you have to give prior message," I told him curtly and was about to shut the door on his face, but he held it open.

"The Emperor has sent me here to meet the Princess," He shot back, tacking me with his eyes. I could see the abhorrence in his eyes from those years when I was trapped in that nightmare. "Though I didn't expect you to be here,"

"Neither did I, Krifaris,"

"Doesn't the Emperor know you're here? What has been keeping him from throwing you out?" He wondered out loud, forcing the door open and stepping inside. I stepped away, maintaining the distance between us. I didn't trust even his shadow.

"He knows well that I'm here," I told him, "and to your misfortune, I'm going to stay here for a while,"

"I will get you thrown out in three days," He threatened.

"I wonder why an Arch Mage feels so endangered by a simple lady in waiting for a Princess," I laughed, "Is he suppressing something?"

"You shouldn't be so jolly. I've been cultivating my powers exponentially after you left. I can trap you in that nightmare longer than before," He mentioned darkly.

"Did you think I was kicking rocks all this time?" I responded, "Last time I checked, a priestess is immune to tricks of fraudsters like you," I reminded him, and he didn't look pleased about it.

"I'm an Arch Mage, Theresa. My powers are not as useless as you think," He gritted.

"Theora!" A voice interrupted us. Fiona was here in time. "Where have you been all this time? I've been looking for you!" She wined.

"You have a visitor, Princess Theresa," I told her, nodding at Krifaris. As soon as Fiona noticed him, she composed herself. "This is Krifaris, the Arch Mage of the Palace,"

"The Arch Mage?" Fiona gasped.

"Your Highness," Krifaris spoke up, "Please allow me to introduce myself properly," He curtsied before speaking, "My name is Krifaris Gaillot. I'm the Arch-Mage of this Palace, belonging to the lineage of Saullons who have always produced the finest Mages for this Palace. Walking in the path of my ancestors, I've pledged my loyalty to the Emperor. On his command, I'm here to serve you as well,"

Fiona listened to him with awe while I tried hard not to roll my eyes.

"I'm pleased to meet you," Fiona said, slightly clueless. She must have been interacting with a Mage for the first time in her life.

"The pleasure is mine, Princess Theresa," Krifaris spoke darkly, putting more stress on my name. "I'm looking forward to work on you. In fact, I'm here to take you to the Mage Tower, where we could begin already as per the Emperor's Order,"

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