At the same time...
Inside the imperial palace surrounded by the colossal wall, on the balcony of the princess's private chamber... opposite which stood a tall tree whose branches had reached the height of that balcony, even surpassing it.
There was a girl in white silk nightwear, looking towards the crimson moon in the night sky, appearing extremely sad. Her blue eyes... no longer resembled heavenly crystal... instead, they seemed like shattered glass.
Her eyes had reddened from continuous crying, and no aura of nobility remained. All that was left was a sad girl gazing at the moon while the cold wind played with her black hair, streaked with blue strands, across her beautiful forehead.
Whooosh!
A colder wind blew, violently tossing her disheveled hair, and gently rustling the branches and leaves of that tree.
Sanulina lowered her eyes from the sky and looked ahead with eyes that held no life, as if they had died long ago. She saw the tree whose branches moved with the wind... and behind it, about twenty meters away, was a giant chasm in the ground.
"Why was I created?" she uttered this question into the dark night under the crimson moon, her voice devoid of any meaning of life, as if belonging to someone who had lost everything. She continued, saying: "Was I created to inherit the throne? No... I wasn't created to inherit the throne because His Highness the Prince is the legitimate heir to that title. So, why was I created? Is it to offer my body to someone who killed many soldiers of my kingdom?" Saying this, she buried her head in her hands, which were resting on the balcony's ledge... hiding her head in deep sorrow.
Then she began to sob, whimpering with intense sadness and trembling in place. She was heartbroken because of today's assembly, for which she had been summoned, and which shattered her from within. She was being looked upon by her father as if she were a commodity.
Knock .. Knock!
Suddenly, she heard a knocking sound from outside the princess's chamber door, but she didn't even lift her head to look towards the door, ignoring the knocks and continuing to cry bitterly.
"Your Highness! Please open the door, you cannot stay without any food. Please eat, open the door! I've brought some food for you!" Susan called out to the princess from behind the door with a worried voice, but the princess did not respond.
Knock .. Knock!
Susan knocked on the door again and pleaded, but the princess did not move from her spot and said nothing. Soon, silence returned to the place as Susan left, saddened by the princess's state.
The princess's room had its lights off, and nothing but darkness covered all the opulent furniture inside.
After a few minutes, the princess lifted her head, looked towards the door, then turned her gaze back to the sky, the crimson moon reflected in her dead eyes. Her eyes had become redder than before.
.....
In Prince Eduardo's innovation room, there were many papers on a large desk. Behind that desk was a gigantic board with some papers pinned to it, symbolizing the prince's future inventions, each paper held by a pin on that massive board.
The chandelier on the ceiling was very luxurious, illuminating every corner of that huge room, in every corner of which was some invention.
The room was quiet and very warm, with an atmosphere of intellectual brilliance one could feel upon entering.
Suddenly, that quiet disappeared when someone opened the door to that room and entered, followed hurriedly by a middle-aged man.
"Your Highness, Prince, please calm down!" the advisor behind Prince Eduardo spoke, trying to soothe the prince.
"Calm down? Do I seem angry to you?" Prince Eduardo turned around, a clear smile on his face directed at his advisor.
"No, no... I don't mean that, Your Highness!" the advisor replied quickly.
"Then what do you mean?" asked Prince Eduardo, advancing towards the advisor.
"I... I mean, getting worked up with anger won't help, because this isn't your fault!" the advisor replied, stepping back with every step Prince Eduardo took towards him.
"I understand now!" Prince Eduardo spoke, stopping his advance, and continued, saying: "Cain! Who do you think I am?"
"You are the first prince of the great kingdom of Lusiana, and you are also the brightest and most influential person in all its lands!" Cain bowed nobly before Prince Eduardo.
"Good!" said the prince while a cold light gleamed in his eyes. "Now get out!"
"But... Your Highness Pri—"
"I said get out!" Cain's words were cut off by Prince Eduardo.
"As you command!" Cain bowed once more and left, closing the door behind him.
There were no guards in front of that room's exit, so Cain felt the prince had given them orders to be busy and not guard him. Cain believed the prince wanted to invent some things and didn't want disturbance, so he had sent all his guards on different tasks.
"Damn it!" Prince Eduardo spoke nervously, standing in the middle of the room. He had never felt such anger in his entire life. This anger was not something usual for him; he was someone who feigned coolness on his face and had sacrificed everything for his kingdom: his effort, his money, his time—all used to develop the economy and infrastructure of his kingdom because it was in a very bad state. No capabilities for sea or land transport, no economy, only poverty widespread everywhere, and no good weapons, only rusty spears and swords.
He had developed weapons like pistols, rifles, and also artillery for the kingdom's ships, which he invented alone. No one stood by his side except his niece who encouraged him.
Everything was going smoothly and naturally, but the betrayal of the Gustav family was a fatal blow to the prince's plans because they had collaborated with the enemy kingdom, stolen his research, and developed it in that kingdom. Despite all that happened to him, he did not grieve much because he possessed things stronger than those stolen from him.
But for some reason, the enemy managed to discover a weakness in the prince's new weapons, and unexpectedly, the war turned against the kingdom of Lusiana into a dangerous curve.
Prince Eduardo realized there was a traitor, but he didn't know who it was, so he remained cautious at all times and acted normally. To avoid pressure from the war at the borders, he sent many letters to the Gustav family to arrange a temporary truce with that kingdom, but the Gustav family only accepted the last truce letter he sent, and they had humiliating conditions.
"Curse all of this!" Prince Eduardo shouted while advancing towards the large desk and angrily sweeping all the papers off it. Then he lifted that desk and threw it into a corner of the room.
Baaaaam!
The sound of the desk shattering echoed on the floor, and small wood splinters flew everywhere. But just as they were about to hit the room's furniture or walls, the prince attracted all those splinters towards him, making them fly away into the air.
"What do we have here? The beloved prince is angry!" suddenly, a voice rang out from outside one of the large windows in the room. The curtain did not cover that window, so Prince Eduardo could see who owned that voice.
"What do you want, Fiona?" asked Prince Eduardo, his red eyes gleaming with deadly coldness.
"Nothing in particular!" the woman replied, passing from under the reflection of the crimson moon into the room, through the window glass.
As soon as she entered the room, the atmosphere changed from warm to a biting cold in a matter of seconds, and a cold sensation could be felt inside.
"So, what are you doing here?" Prince Eduardo spoke, looking at the woman standing a few steps away. She was dressed completely in a black suit with a mask, but this did not prevent him from seeing the graceful and slender curve of her beautiful body. Her long hair flowed down to her hips with fluidity.
"As I told you, nothing in particular!" Fiona said while licking her lips in a strange way.
"Then I'll ask you to leave!" Prince Eduardo said while turning his back and heading towards the gigantic board, but he suddenly felt a coldness creeping around his waist. Fiona was holding him from behind in a strange manner.
"I don't want to leave! I want to talk to my fiancé for a while!" Fiona said, embracing the prince from behind.
"Get your hands off me!" Prince Eduardo said while shattering all the ice around his waist.
"Alright, alright, no need for all this seriousness!" Fiona replied, removing her slender hands from the prince's waist.
"Who told you I'm your fiancé? Fiona, have some shame, and stop doing these indecent things!" Prince Eduardo said coldly, gesturing towards one of the small wood splinters, which shot towards a paper on the gigantic board.
Whooosh!
It shot out quickly, creating a light gust of air, and struck that paper with precision.
"Hmmmm… but you really are my fiancé! You haven't forgotten your agreement with my father, right? And what do you mean by these indecent things? If I don't do these things with you, then with whom should I do them?" Fiona said innocently, creating an ice chair and sitting on it.
"Of course I haven't forgotten! But, even if I agreed to the engagement between you and me, there are limits to that, right? And also, this engagement hasn't been announced yet!" Prince Eduardo replied, continuing: "I will announce it at the upcoming ceremony. If your purpose was to tell me that, you are late. Also, I think it's inappropriate for a girl to come to a man's room at this hour!"
"Fine, you're right, that was my purpose, but it was only secondary!" Fiona said while twirling her hair around her finger in circles. "It wasn't the main reason for my coming here! But if you're eager to do it, I won't accept!"
"Eager? Hahahaha, do I seem like a lustful man who desires women?" Prince Eduardo laughed while turning to look at her. A dangerous light gleamed in his red eyes as he said: "Stop saying such silly things and get to the point, Fiona Julian Faust!"
"Yes, that's the dear one I know!" Fiona tilted her head.
'You're wrong, no one knows me!' Prince Eduardo thought to himself while a terrifying smile spread across his face.
.....
End of Chapter~ To be continued.