Wang Shiyao woke with a start, sitting up with a gasp while her fist grabbed on tightly to the sheets she was wrapped in, her heart going a thousand miles an hour.

"What's wrong?" Lu's groggy voice floated from behind her as she scrambled to dress herself, not bothering at all with her hair that had been let down from its previous fashion and was flowing freely down to the small of her back.

"Ina." she said, finally decent enough to scramble from the far side of the upper floor of the library where Lu had carried her to the previous night.

"What?"

The hollows of Shiyao's bare feet echoed thunderously off the solid wood floors as she ran across the balcony, throwing the curtain back to the small rest area where the pair had fallen asleep the previous night and sure enough, just as her gut had told her, they were gone.

Her hands flew to her head as she felt a lump rise in her throat, her anger manifesting in the destruction of a few nearby objects. Were they taken? Did those soldiers really dare to enter the place where Lu resided? How on earth had they managed such a feat without waking anyone? Without causing a single sound? Without Lu himself being aware?

Unless...

Unless they hadn't.

Shiyao's hands fell from her head, catching onto the edge of the table she stumbled back into as the realisation of what happened hit her; That asshole, Tang Zixuan... wasn't it a bit too convenient that he stepped in at the last minute? Wasn't it a bit too strange that he was somehow able to take on numerous soldiers single-handedly?

"Ah..." Lu trailed upon arriving in the guest area and finding it empty. He stepped back as Shiyao, his darling love, glared daggers at him. "So he-"

"So he what?!" she demanded, her finger flying out to point at him as she accused the panic-stricken immortal. "You knew about this!"

"I-I didn't know." he held his hands up, though kept his gaze down.

"And now you're lying to me, too?" she let out a laugh at the absolute shitshow her life was becoming. Was there not a single honest man out there? "Save your fucking 'we were lovers in another lifetime' bullshit for someone else-"

"But it's true!" Lu interjected desperately, his head flying up. "Everything I told you is the truth!"

"Did you or did you not have a vision about this?!"

"I did," he admitted, retreating behind the table as Shiyao picked up a cast-iron ornament from the bookshelf. "But all I knew was that there would be a betrayal, I didn't know who it was or how it was done."

"And this wasn't worth mentioning after we fucking ran in here? Ina is gone! That poor girl hasn't done a thing to anyone, she hasn't done anything except be a good friend to me, and you didn't consider for one second that they wouldn't touch me because I was by your side? Was it really that difficult to deduce, given the fortress this library is, that the only way a betrayal could happen was from the inside out?!"

"I was only concerned for your safety!" he shot back, "I only care about you!"

"Me, me, me, me!" Shiyao yelled, her voice raising with each repetition of the word. "You don't care about Ina, but I do! Are you that devoid of genuine connection that I'm the person who means the most to you? Someone you barely know? Are you really the person I was willing to die for? How pathetic!"

Shiyao's raised arm fell with Lu's expression that suddenly became sombre.

She placed the ornament on the table in front, lowering her gaze as she stepped back.

"I need to find her." she muttered, rushing from the room and leaving Lu to process her words.

She didn't know what she was saying.

This wasn't her...though Yu Liang seemed to be the same as he was in the immortal realm.

What had happened to his love?

Why was she so abrasive?

Strangely, for the first time, she really seemed like a member of the Moon River Clan.

'She was upset, she didn't really mean what she said.'

He hoped.

With nothing but a heating spell to keep her feet from freezing over, Shiyao ran as fast as she could through the frosty grounds, the deep navy blue of Lu's outer jacket that she'd taken from his bedroom contrasting starkly against the pristine white snow. Pale jade decorations hung from the lapels, accented with wide, thin and sharp curving pieces of brilliant silver metal. The main square would likely be where they would expect her to go and likely be where she would be confronted.

It was fine.

The Crown Prince could win this time.

The morning was still young and the palace was eerily quiet, save for the sound of crunching snow under her feet. Her throat burned in the frigid air as her breathing got heavier, though in her desperation she didn't care. She had no idea what kind of situation she'd end up in, but she wasn't focused on that - it wasn't more important than making sure Ina was safe.

As the main courtyard approached, she went even faster until she landed square in the middle, her shoulders heaving as she looked all around, but couldn't spot a single soul. A tickle rose in her throat as she caught her breath, leaning over slightly and trying to breathe through her nose to stop the fiery burn.

"They sent me to get you."

Shiyao spun on her heel, blinking as she tried to make out who the figure was standing outside the study hall, just under the terrace roof. She moved closer, frowning as the man was wringing his hands together, glancing around as though he was waiting for the worst. Lu's coat trailed over the snow behind her, the sleeves and body far too big, drowning her under the expensive fabric as she slowly walked closer, unaware of who the man was, of the archers stationed on the rooves above, of their arrows trained on both of them.

But as she got closer, there were certain features she began to recognise.

Short, black wavy hair,

Wide, sharp eyes...

Strong brows and cheekbones that could cut glass...

It was her teacher, Yu Liang, and-

Wait

Yu Liang's voice was honeyed and melodic

but this was not that voice.

Shiyao's very breath caught in her throat as the crushing realisation of who stood before her stopped her in her tracks, her hand flying to her throat as she was so shocked that she could barely breathe. Tears formed in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks as she fell to her knees, beginning to doubt her own reality because she didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe her sight, she didn't want to believe that there was nothing that the Crown Prince wasn't willing to do to get his own way.

"You need to get up." he continued, voice wavering slightly as he watched her break down. "Do you hear me, Ara?"

He wasn't allowed to help, no matter how much he wanted to. No matter how anguished she looked hearing her name spoken again for the first time in forever.

"Your Highness! How...?" she cried, her voice weak in disbelief. "How are you even here? I thought you'd escaped with the others?"

Prince Min managed a tight smile as he shook his head, his fingers curling into fists as he was powerless to do anything. As he had been powerless to resist going to Ara's wedding to the Crown Prince - not when the Demons who slaughtered the security outside and inside his gated home in Western Pernesia shoved an official invitation in front of his face, swords to his neck asking him if he would like to RSVP.

He wasn't sure why Ara's marriage was of any concern to him, nor why they were so insistent on his presence. He wouldn't otherwise have gone, not after she chose to go with the very people who murdered his brother and decimated their entire country.

So what if she was actually a Demon?

Was that lie big enough to destroy any and all loyalty she had? If not to the Royal family, then at the very least to the Ranharan people?

And yet

He couldn't deny that he wanted to see her again, that he was curious about how it came to be that she was marrying that psychopathic piece of shit, and so he didn't resist the messenger.

It wasn't until he arrived in Revenet the night before when he tried to make small talk with the staff and none of them were aware of the Crown Prince having a wedding any time soon, though they were certain that Princess Kala of Lassan would be the one marrying him if he was.

The slaughter of his security personnel would have been enough to tell him that something was off, but for the wedding itself to not exist, well that was more of a mystery. At least, it had been until that blonde haired bastard summoned him and explained, he felt, in not enough detail that he needed him for a favour.

Ara, or Shiyao as he had called her, loved him and wanted to be his wife and while he couldn't make her Queen Consort, she could still be Consort, but that wasn't good enough and she threw a fit and made ridiculous demands, but deep down he knew she still wanted whatever power she could get and he thought that he'd better find a few good friends of hers to help him convince her that marrying him was the right choice.

He was brought to be a hostage.

And she understood that the moment she realised who he was.

That cat-faced fucker was really going to some extreme lengths to get what he wanted.

"Get up, Ara." he repeated. "Do you hear me? You need to get up."

He watched as the hand that was twisted tightly into the fabric of her robes pulled down violently, breath finally leaving her as she seemed to come to her senses. Slowly, she got to her feet, running a hand through her long hair and sighing, her face dry but somewhat puffy. For a short moment it looked like she was rolling something around in her hand, but she pocketed whatever it was and took a deep breath, starting forwards towards the prince, the arrows trained on them lowering as she went with him.

* * *

Attendants were stationed along the way, no doubt ordered to report if any funny business went on between the courtyard and wherever it was they were supposed to go. It was only as Ara looked down at her feet did she come to a halt.

No, this wouldn't do.

Shiyao turned right instead of left, a clatter of attendants running after her as she turned towards her own residence and she explained that the future king deserved more respect than bare feet, loose hair and shabbily worn robes. It was an excuse that was met with keen understanding and rather than try to stop her, they started falling over themselves to be of help.

Once inside her old bedroom, Prince Min kept outside with the servants for safekeeping, Ara sifted through her trunk of old clothes from Ranhara. They were the one thing she wanted to take with her from her previous life, she wasn't quite sure why she felt such attachment to them, but perhaps on a subconscious level she was keeping them just in case the occasion arose.

Her hand landed on a familiar leather texture that immediately brought a smile to her. She pulled it out, holding it up to admire the black robe that buttoned at the back, hidden away by a cape that attached over the shoulders. The shape wasn't grand or flowy but it commanded attention all the same. If she was going to confront the Crown Prince she needed to feel powerful, even if she didn't feel it.

And so she stepped into the black robe, managing to button it up herself. The sleeves hugged her skin, the forearms lined with the scales of an Arapaima that gracefully graduated into black leather from the elbow up. The shoulders were stiffened and squared, the leather fabric swooped up into a high standing collar. The neckline was a simple V, showing a small amount of skin on her upper chest. The matching cape was close by and was easy to attach, the two silver clips slotting into small loops on either side of the collar and fastening securely.

It was heavier than she remembered.

Shiyao sat down at her dresser, taking her time doing her makeup in the heavier style she had so loved before, accentuating her eyes as much as possible and finishing it all off with a bold, full red lip. She tied her hair into her classic ponytail, returning to her closet to fish out the matching hair piece: a brilliant silver and diamond piece forming small feathers that traveled from the centre part of the hair, curving around the right side of her head and up, wrapping around the base of her ponytail.

Wait

Feathers

Ara rushed back into the closet, pulling down a large pink storage box, ripping the lid off and pulling her black feather shawl out, slipping it on and checking herself in the mirror. There were far fewer elements to a Ranharan outfit. It might not have been as pretty as a set of Revenet robes, but it made her feel ten times more powerful than any fancy silk ensemble she'd been gifted.

Min jumped to his feet as Shiyao finally emerged, smiling as she appeared exactly as she'd always been in his memory. She meant business, and seeing the stark change in her - from tearful and hopeless to nearly busting down doors in her leather boots - he felt somewhat at ease for the first time since his arrival.

Because Ara always knew exactly what to do, one look at her as she powered towards the Court Room would let anyone know that she was not someone to be trifled with. Min followed behind her with the attendants in tow, almost having to jog to keep up with her as they passed through the gate and made their way up the long and intimidating path to the Court Room where a man in green robes stood outside waiting for them.

"Shiyao, I'm sorry for-"

"Don't." she held up a hand. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have said those things."

"I promise I didn't know about him." Lu nodded to Min and was taken aback by her laughter, though it died quickly.

"I suppose I shouldn't make him wait any longer."

"I suppose."

"You can't intervene, do you understand?"

"I understand."

"Go back to the library." she suggested, placing her hands on the large doors of the Court Room.

"Do you trust me?" Lu asked suddenly. "About everything I told you... do you trust me?"

"Yes." she replied with a curt nod. "So please go."

Her hands remained on the doors while he left, closing her eyes.

It'll be okay

It'll be okay

It'll be okay

It'll be okay

It'll be okay

It'll be okay

It'll be okay

It'll be okay

With a confident burst of energy she pushed the doors open, her head held high as she approached the Crown Prince who was pacing around on the upper platform, stopping in his tracks as Shiyao finally appeared before him. A wicked smirk appeared on his lips, his eyes shining in glee as he sauntered towards her while she knelt down, not seeing how Min was snatched away and thrown with Ina and Yixing.

"Your loyal subject kneels before you."

"Good girl," he chuckled, "I knew you'd come. Especially once I found that guy over there. So, it goes like this; You'll agree to my terms and in exchange your bestie, your guard and your old flame won't come to any harm."

"Let's hear it then, Your Highness."

"As per my previous offer, you're going to be Consort, you'll also advise me on all major policy decisions and will not be afforded any credit. You'll be the first to give me a son and you'll wait on me personally."

"Fine." she replied.

The Crown Prince frowned at her immediate compliance.

"You'll also be restricted to only your residence and no visitors are allowed."

"Of course."

"Are you just going to agree to everything?" he yelled suddenly.

"I am, Your Highness." she replied. "What Your Highness wants, Your Highness gets, and who am I to refuse?"

"You had no trouble refusing me two days ago!"

"Two days ago you were not holding my people hostage to force my hand into doing your bidding, Your Highness." she explained, tone as polite and proper as ever.

"THIS ISN'T YOU!" he bellowed, trashing a table of nearby objects, scrambling to grab a broken piece of ceramic before rushing towards her with it, his fury only building even more as she didn't so much as flinch when he pressed it against her skin. "You - My Shiyao isn't this pathetically compliant!"

The three hostages watched nervously from where they were held, surrounded by heavily armed guards and wondering if the man had truly gone insane.

"I will give what you desire, Your Highness. Forgive me for not living up to your expectations. I'll do better next time."

"NO!" he snapped, stepping away, her calm demeanour giving him that unease, that feeling he hated more than anything; The feeling that she knew far more than she was telling him, that there was something happening behind the scenes that he didn't know about, that she was the one who was actually in control.

"I will be sure to fulfil whatever conditions Your Highness decides upon."

Jing Han grabbed her wrist, dragging her towards the front of the room to a table full of papers, using so much force she almost fell when he let go of her and Yixing had to stop himself from trying something stupid.

"Your Highness!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Jing Han yelled in Ina's direction and he grabbed a fountain pen, scribbling down all the conditions he just mentioned, adding one more: "Yun Jing Han is permitted to do whatever he wants to Wang Shiyao whenever he wants."

With an agitated scrawl, he signed the document, grabbing the ink and sticking his thumb into it, pressing down on the paper and not caring that it smeared while he shoved it over in Ara's direction.

"Your Highness is a compassionate and benevolent man." Shiyao began, "Surely it would not be too much to add in the immediate release of my people and a guarantee that they won't be touched upon signing this document?"

"Very well." he muttered, adding the final condition and tossing the pen her way.

He watched for any signs of distress as she signed her life away, neatly and calmly adding her thumb print to the document that he promptly snatched out of her hands.

"Release them." he said casually, reading down the contract and the guards stepped away.

Yixing and Ina rushed towards Ara, checking her over and making sure she was okay.

"It appears," Jing Han began, handing the document over to his advisor, "That I have been rude to our esteemed guest."

"That's quite all righ-"

"No, no - this must be the first time a Witch has ever been to Revenet." Jing Han continued, his entire demeanour changed completely, putting everyone on edge except Shiyao, who he pulled close to himself. "We'll have a feast tonight to celebrate our marriage!"

* * *

Fireworks lit up the sky as the Palace dance troupe performed in the courtyard, a grand table at the head of the square seating Ara, Ina, Jing Han and Zixuan.

"Don't look at him." Ara muttered lowly to Ina, who was shaking like a leaf beside her. She silently poured alcohol into a fresh cup and refilled her own, leaning over to Jing Han with a smile: "Your Highness, let's drink to our health!"

Her smile that seemed so pure and genuine did nothing to shake that deep uneasiness inside his heart.

"To our health!" he repeated, returning a smile as they clinked their cups together.

Min, who sat at the table perpendicular to theirs, was offered a full view of the exchange. He sipped on his own water from a hip flask he'd had on his person when he was taken, noting that the guy opposite him - who he felt like he'd seen before somewhere - was gripping his cup so hard his knuckles were turning white, though his expression remained genial.

The courtesan beside Min, who was clearly attempting to get him drunk and not succeeding, was trying her best to make small talk with him, seeming embarrassed every time he shook off her hand. Min wasn't exactly husband of the year, not with the rate at which he went through women other than his wife, but one look at her and he knew she was still a teenager.

"You can retire." he told her, pushing away the cup she had poured for him.

"I-I can't." she admitted.

"Why not?"

"It would cause His Highness to lose face."

"Then just eat until you're full, but stop touching me." he said curtly.

"I'm sorry! Did I do something wrong? God, I can't do anything right." she hit her fist against her head in frustration before taking a drink.

"No, you didn't." Min said after a moment of watching the kid berate and blame herself, no doubt having been conditioned to do so. It was so easy to control someone who had no self esteem, after all. "It's everyone else who is wrong."

He looked back to the top table where Ara was gushing about the food and placed a marinated crab onto Jing Han's rice bowl. Of the people at that table, she was the only who was so jovial. The girl beside her seemed like she wanted to run at any given moment and the guy on the opposite side had barely looked up from his place setting that had remained undisturbed the entire night. The royal shit stain himself looked incredibly stiff, leaning away from Ara when she tried to wipe a stain on his chin and almost jumping out of his skin when she got too close.

Min smiled to himself as he watched her.

That blonde bastard was bent out of shape about her rejecting his proposal, it seemed, and his revenge was to force her hand.

But you couldn't force the hand of someone who was willing to comply, and it looked like it was either driving him mad or scaring the shit out of him. Maybe both.

She'd given him exactly what he wanted, but not how he wanted it. He wanted to assert his dominance and power, and she had taken it away just like that.

* * *

Perhaps she had bitten off more than she could chew.

Ara held a small glass bottle in her hand, rolling it around in her palm as she stared at the specimen in front of her, bound tightly in ropes, gagged and completely unconscious in the snowy courtyard of Kingfisher Residence.

"Y-Your Highness." Jae began, never having seen her like this before, idly running a hand through her ponytail as she sat in her old robes looking more regal than ever: "Should I get Ina?"

"Did she tell you what he did to her?"

"No, she didn't."

"It's not my place to tell." she got up and folded her arms, walking in a slow circle around his body, the staff of the house standing by in terrified silence. "But it is my place to protect my people... and myself."

Demons may have had the upper hand when it came to casting spells, but the one thing the Witches had that they didn't were potions.

Powerful potions at that.

Ara had never needed them before, she'd all but forgotten about them because they were so rare in Ranhara. Western Pernesia was a different story, however, where they were in widespread use and common amongst the general population. The only thing that Min had been able to do for her before he left was slip her the recipes of some potions he had come across in his time there that he thought might be useful.

And he thought right.

Demon magic could manipulate the environment and enter the deepest cervices of the mind, but it didn't have any biological effect on the body in the way that potions did.

She was impressed that it had worked at all, almost too well - for she was getting impatient.

Perhaps she had plied him with too much at once, she had no idea how strong the dosage of Atropa she had concocted was - all she knew was that it would knock him out. Well... Ara stopped in her tracks.

"Yixing, His Highness wants to have dinner with me tonight." she began. "I'd like to present him with something special."

"I understand, Your Highness." her guard gave a slight bow in acknowledgment.

"You're all dismissed." she barked, a simple wave of her hand enough in and of itself to send them all back to their duties, waiting until every last one was gone. "I was thinking of a nice gift I can hand over to His Highness."

"Anything can be arranged." he assured her. "Perhaps it would help to think about what you want to express towards the Crown Prince, Your Highness."

"That is a good question." she nodded, taking a seat again as she began to genuinely ponder the answer. "Honestly, what would I do without you?"

* * *

Yun Jing Han's foot tapped incessantly against the floor as he waited for his wife to arrive. She was late for the fifth time that week. On the first day it was because she needed to re-do her hair. On the second it was because she got distracted by the blooming flowers. On the third it was because she had purchased new shoes. On the fourth it was because Queen Yun had been having tea with her. He didn't really care what her excuse was this time.

But he was beginning to regret agreeing to let her people go upon her signing of the contract.

Her guard had been disarmed upon his release, given that she was effectively living under house arrest there was no need for him to have any deadly weapons on him, nor for him to escort her anywhere - not when she wasn't permitted outside of set locations he ordered her to appear at.

"Your loving wife bows before you!"

Jing Han's eyes snapped up, and while his foot may have calmed down, his temper was on the rise.

He had invited tables of nobles to dine with them that night, it was important in order to try and solidify their loyalty towards him and to try and seek out anyone who might be a potential threat to his taking the throne. His challenge, as detailed by his wife, had gone perfectly.

Forcing her to marry him was probably the best political move he could have made thus far, and it wasn't as though he didn't have any feelings for her - he absolutely did - it was just that usefulness trumped everything and Princess Kala was never going to be knocked off the top spot for that.

"My deepest apologies for being late, everyone." she added, righting herself as Jing Han called for her to join him. "I was busy preparing a gift for His Highness and got a bit carried away!"

The nobles nodded in understanding, some more understanding than others, some listening more closely than others.

"Your Highness!" she smiled, practically bursting with sunshine as she took her position beside him, automatically reaching for the teapot to pour him a cup.

"What..." he began, the question he wanted to ask vanishing from his mind as he noticed the bright red spots on her light lavender robes, realising that they were present on her hands and... face.

"Go on, Your Highness." she encouraged him, noting how his hand stiffened considerably as she picked up her own cup to toast.

She blinked so innocently as she waited for him to speak, to the point where it looked like she didn't even know that she had blood splatter over her cheeks and eyes.

"You-You have... something on your face." he muttered lowly.

"Ah! I was busy earlier and I didn't have time to wash up properly. I hope you can forgive me."

He felt like he was sitting on a knife edge.

Nothing about this was normal, but she was so nonchalant and he didn't want to make a scene.

"Try to be presentable next time." he managed to say, averting his gaze and drinking with her.

"I'll present my gift to you after we finish dinner. I wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of the nobles when you're the only one I prepared for, Your Highness."

"No, that's all right." he said. "You already told them why you were late, so I'm sure they're curious about what took so long."

"Oh, Your Highness!" she giggled, leaning her head against his upper arm for a second, noting how rigid he went. "Don't be so stiff."

"Don't be so inappropriate. These stuffed shirts are people whose opinions matter."

"When did Your Highness get so dry?" she pouted and sighed in protest, smiling as it prompted Jing Han to place more meat on her rice bowl, adding another piece after he ignored her leaning in to try and kiss his cheek.

"Give me the gift. I want it now." he muttered, no longer making eye contact, but watching her as she huffed and got up, heading back down the length of the dining room.

"Your Highness," Minister Kang, head of the Trade Department and someone he wanted to be sure was on his side, began, "Is everything all right?"

"Absolutely." he nodded, quirking an eyebrow as his wife came back down with a large lacquer box in her hands. "I'm sure you're all curious about what kept my dear wife this evening, as am I."

"Let's not worry too much about what occupies the women folk." Lord Yi, a nobleman who owned vast amounts of land outside of the palace added.

"Your Highness!" she smiled so brightly she put the sun itself to shame. "Please."

Jing Han slid the box over towards himself and his wife stepped back and watched patiently - his guests curiously - as he took the lid off the large lunch box and leapt backwards with a shriek, alarming the nobles who shot up out of their seats. The table he was dining at almost tipped over completely, plates, cups and bowls flying off as he scrambled to push it away and in the process the box was thrown off and Tang Zixuan's head rolled onto the marble floor, bouncing against Ara's foot as she stood in the centre of the hall.

Ara simply blinked as all hell broke loose around her - the nobles shouting for help, the palace courtesans screaming, guards running in and helping Jing Han to his feet while a few more surrounded her.

"YOU'RE CRAZY! YOU'RE FUCKING INSANE!" Jing Han screamed, red in the face as the guards steadied him.

She supposed, in the end, all she wanted to tell the Crown Prince that his best friend was a shitty person.

"Aren't you happy, Your Highness?" she asked, hand on her heart and kept talking, mostly to herself in the chaos: "I thought you would be happy to have the head of the person who went behind your back to defame your wife and criticize the Royal Family. He let Lady Dana take the fall for his own actions and out of his guilt he became a full fledged lapdog. And then, well, I can't say for sure who, but someone sent him to rescue myself and my best friend and then had him betray her. Except he didn't just betray her and take her hostage, no, he had to have his way with her first. I suppose, what I was trying to express through my gift to Your Highness was that, as your wife, I didn't much like him, so I dealt with him as such. I wanted to prove to you that I'm someone who will always be on your side, Your Highness."

Ara ignored the swords that were dangerously close to her throat.

Ina was long gone, Min had smuggled her out after disguising her using a potion that changed her temporarily into someone else completely.

Yixing, too, should have escaped after she left for dinner - she had ordered him to do so - though whether or not he went through with it was another story. Her small smile remained as she watched all the colour drain out of the Crown Prince's face. Was it fear? Anger? Both? Maybe it was something else entirely.

"TAKE HER TO JAIL!" Jing Han bellowed, squeezing his eyes shut while wails escaped him as the image of his best friend's severed head was burned into his memory.

The chaos in the dining hall was so rampant that no one actually paid attention to Ara.

No one noted the small stream of blood on the floor beside her.

Or the patch of red that slowly soaked through her robes.

It wasn't until she was being led out of the dining hall that she began to sway.

Left and right, right and left, her head becoming light and dizzy, only then did Jing Han realise something was wrong:

"WAIT!" Jing Han's voice rang clearly through the hall as he rushed forward, though Ara never stopped walking.

There were no weapons inside Kingfisher residence, but there were useful tools.

Lu's jade pendant that she ripped from his robe almost a week ago, for example, worked just as well as anything else.

She wasn't a doctor, but she knew enough.

Enough to make sure that the Crown Prince was left with nothing.

"SHIYAO!" he bellowed, sprinting towards her and tripping over his own feet in his haste to get to his wife who crumpled into a pile on the ground outside, swords still pointed at her neck, "GET THOSE AWAY FROM HER!"

"Your Highness!" the head of the Royal Guard called out as he and his men ran across the courtyard towards him. "They're gone - both of them! We found empty potion bottles."

"I don't care about them!" he spat, stumbling back and pointing down at Ara, "Keep her alive!"

He couldn't lose her.

If he were to be King he needed her more than anyone else.

Panic surged through his system, his heartbeat going out of control as he found it harder to breathe all of a sudden, leaning on the guards who rushed to his aid. He didn't notice Lu's arrival, how silently he appeared beside the chaos, watching Ara intently as she lay on the ground. She had just enough energy to make him out, her vision was becoming as blurry as her head, her weak smile enough to bring tears to his eyes.

He couldn't tear his gaze away, it was morbidly enchanting, watching the life steadily drain out of her.

The jade pendant remained in his palm, her blood still staining his hands.

It wouldn't work if she did it herself.

And he knew that.

He knew she would wake up very soon back in the immortal realm.

And he should go.

But there was something so haunting about listening to the Crown Prince, his confusion and anger and grief and urgency all rolled into those horrible, soul piercing cries. Lu knew it wasn't real, but it was for the Crown Prince, and despite the selfishness that fuelled every decision he had made, despite the ridiculous demands he had made of her, even the immortal knew that he did hold her dearly in his heart.

It was very real for Jing Han.

She was gone forever.

Lu took one last look at the scene before him: Jing Han screaming at everyone around him while being held up by his guards, the palace doctor finally showing up but being unable to help, the nobles shouting about the ruckus and wondering what was going on, the soldiers finally retreating with their captain.

What a way to go.

As quietly as he'd arrived, Lu retreated back, taking one last look at his love - her hand outstretched, her eyes barely closed, the crimson red of her lipstick and the blood that finally stopped flowing from the sliced artery in her thigh soaking through the snow around her.

He watched until a white silk sheet was pulled up over her lifeless body, doing his best to ignore the Crown Prince's distress and finally turned away, his boots quietly crunching through the undisturbed snow.