I Will Protect You This Time

Episode 04

(A Place That Can Only Be Seen In The Dark)

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I woke up from sleep at the sound of someone knocking on my door. I rubbed my eyes and looked outside. It was still dark. Looking at the fireplace, I probably slept for an hour or two.

Knock* Knock*

I got up from my bed and wrapped a shawl around my shoulders, as I was wearing a nightgown.

Sigh~ I wonder who is knocking so many times.

Knock* Knock*

"Come in."

And two girls showed up. They were Anne and Rubena. Rubena was wearing a beautiful lemon yellow gown filled with diamonds and beautiful laces. Her pink hair was braided beautifully.

"What took you so long? Do you have any idea how long the princess had to wait?"

Anne grumbled.

"It's okay Anne. I can wait."

Rubena said to Anne with a pitiful voice.

"I apologize for that. Anne, go bring some refreshments."

"It's okay, sister. That won't be necessary as I won't be taking too much of your time."

"I see. But you did come all the way here, drink some tea at least."

"I said, I don't need anything. Anyways, is it true that your engagement with Roberto is annulled?"

I flinched when I heard Grand Duke Roberto's name. Then I looked at Anne and said,

"Anne, leave us alone.".

"It's okay, she can stay."

I see why she's here. She wanted to make sure that I am not resisting His Majesty's order. And Anne didn't move an inch as Rubena said.

"So sister, is it true?"

"Yes."

"Are you really going to get married to a monster?"

"You shouldn't say that. He will be the next Emperor of the Fellmirr Empire."

"Whatever he is not here."

"Sigh~ Yes."

"It's okay sister. You don't have to do it for me. Do you want me to talk to father for you?"

"It's okay. It is for the sake of our empire."

"Well, if you say so. I heard you will be departing from here the day after tomorrow?"

"That seems to be the case."

"Sob* Oh, my poor sister. My heart aches for you."

"..."

"Princess Rubena is such an angel worrying about her sister like that."

Anne said with full of admiration in her eyes.

"It's okay. Don't cry Rubena."

"Don't you worry, sister. I will take good care of Roberto."

Ah. I see now. It was true that she loved Grand Duke Roberto too. I guess I was just a third wheel between them.

"Anyways you should rest now. As you will have a busy day tomorrow. I will be taking my leave then."

Rubena got out of my room. Her two knights that were standing outside my door escorted her back. After that Anne got out of the room too. And the atmosphere was peaceful again.

"Sigh~ I guess I am going."

I have a lot to do tomorrow. Hmm.

"I should go 'there' tonight. I have to wait for the night to get deep."

I took a book about the Fellmirr empire from the bookshelf that was beside my table and the lantern, then went to the window seat to read.

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Fellmirr Empire was founded by Elizar Fellmirr, the then alpha of Werewolves, hundreds of years ago.

At that time, Wizards who used dark magic were very popular. Thalrenor Gladshore was the most famous one of them all. He was known as the Master of all dark Wizards. He was a very handsome man with black hair and glowing purple eyes. It is said that he seduced many young women with his devilish smile and later sacrificed them for power.

Dark magic is not the power of one's own. It uses other living creatures' life forces or different organs to generate magical power. Through dark magic, the Wizards could produce different kinds of forbidden potions and other forbidden spells or skills, which could harm living beings greatly.

The emperor of that time couldn't stop them as almost every Aristocrat supported them. There was a reason behind that though. The aristocrats were regular customers for the dark Wizards. Anti-ageing potion, love potion, manipulation magic and for many other secret reasons Aristocrats had used Dark Wizards. In return, they paid them a handsome amount of gold and supported them in their research which was nothing less than torture.

At first, they used organs from monsters or goblins, but as time passed by they became greedy. They started to use different mythical beasts or beastmen. As they had more powerful effects and their organs could be used to make an elite class potion. They crossed the limit when they started to sacrifice beastmen including werewolves, different other shapeshifters and normal people to summon dark creatures.

So the alpha of the Werewolves, Elizar Fellmirr, alongside other beastmen fought against them. After a long battle, the beastmen won the war. They eradicated almost every one of the dark Wizards. But somehow Thalrenor and some of his followers hid somewhere. No traces of them were found to this day. And from then on, dark magic became a forbidden art of magic.

After defeating the dark Wizards, Elizar Fellmirr and his fellow other beastmen founded the Fellmirr Empire. It's a place where all kinds of shapeshifters, beastmen, werewolves and many other living creatures live in harmony. But that place is restricted for some human Wizards. And rarely do some people and Wizards get permission to enter their empire.

Haaa~

I sighed deeply and closed the book.

It seems like without any special occasion, they normally didn't interact much with other empires.

And one of those special occasions is The Annual meeting of the Empires and Kingdoms of Waldor. Every year, the rulers of each reign gather together as a sign of peace. Although some take advantage of this and invade their rival country. But the last time that happened was a century ago. Consistently a month ago, this year's meeting was held.

And that's when the other rulers suggested developing a good relationship with the Fellmirr Empire through political marriage. Although they suggested the same thing many other times, the emperor of Fellmirr never agreed to that. So it was a shock when he agreed this year, although it was with the condition of marrying a princess from the Loire Empire. As I was already engaged, Rubena was chosen as the bride.

I overheard all that from the maids on my way to the library a few weeks ago. The palace was in chaos for a few days.

"Sigh~ How did it come to this?"

I put my head on the side of the window frame. It's midnight. The sky is filled with thousands of stars. The moon is high up in the sky. Soft moonlight is coming out of my window. I closed my eyes. The touch of the cold breeze on my skin feels warm. I stayed like that for a while.

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"It's time."

I got up from the window seat and wrapped a shawl around my shoulders. Then I took the half-lit lantern and stepped out of my room.

I started walking in the empty hallway. Unlike before, it's silent and peaceful now. A gentle breeze is coming alongside the moonlight creating a mysterious beauty. In the distance, only lit up lanterns can be seen. It's the time when everyone's sleeping.

After walking down the hallway, I turned off my lantern so that I wouldn't be noticed by the patrol knights. After a moment, I managed to get outside the palace without anyone noticing. My destination is the Greenhouse.

It is in the desolate part of the palace grounds. It was grandmother, the previous Empress's favourite place. After her death, my grandfather was the only person who came here. He brought me here often.

This dome-shaped greenhouse is filled with magical trees. Glowing flowers plants, flower plants that pours glowing glitters, the giant crystal tree, vines filled with blue roses that reach the top of the glass ceiling and many more. It has a pond filled with luminous purple lotus flowers.

But sadly this beautiful place is abandoned now. So there are rarely any knights guarding the way to the greenhouse which is of course, good for me.

I reached the greenhouse without any trouble. Because of the huge luminous blue cherry blossom trees, everything is visible there. So I don't have to light any lanterns.

"So beautiful! Haa~ But I won't be able to see it anymore."

One might wonder why such a beautiful place is abandoned.

Emperor Mathias hated his father, the previous emperor. He was the only son of Emperor Johannes. And he was born with pale-yellow hair, whereas all the Royal Family members had gorgeous blonde hair. So he had an inferiority complex from the beginning.

Emperor Johannes made him do different things he didn't want to do and didn't let him do what he wanted to. And Mathias obeyed Johannes's words because he was scared of him.

Johannes was the strongest and most renowned Wizard of his time. The beautiful wizard with Golden Hair and Burning yellow eyes and always with a kind smile, Johannes Von Allen Loire. He was everyone's beloved Emperor. Johannes was one of the people who were able to go to the Fellmirr Empire. He was respected and loved by everyone including the arrogant aristocrats of that time.

Whereas Emperor Mathias wasn't allowed to go to the Fellmirr Empire. So he detested Fellmirr.

The people disliked Mathias because of his greediness. Even though he acted kind in front, he actually detests commoners. To him, commoners are just annoying bugs and a way to earn more tax revenue.

This greenhouse was the dearest place to Johannes. So Mathias wanted to destroy that place. But he couldn't. As it was Johannes, the strongest Emperor of Loire's last wish to let the Greenhouse stay as it was. And the Aristocrats didn't allow him to destroy it either. So he left it as it was and severely punished anyone who went there.

But there is also another reason why people were interested in the Greenhouse. As this place was the dearest to Johannes, he didn't allow anyone to enter here. Sadly, he knew that Mathias would do something terrible to this place after his death. So he cast a magic spell here.

Only a heart with goodwill will be able to see the inside of this beautiful place.

On the other hand, those who have even a little bit of evil in their heart will only see dried up dead trees and mud. But no one came here in fear of Mathias's punishment.

And Isabella could only come here at midnight when everyone's asleep.

Sadly this is a place that can only be seen in the dark.