The Cursed Prince

Harlow was still sleeping when they arrived at the royal palace. Mars had prepared a nice chamber for his baby beside his chamber.

That's where Harlow would stay with her wet nurse at night. Mars could see her whenever he wanted and Harlow would feel that her father was always around her.

??

John looked emotional when he saw the king came home with the little princess. He had been worrying about Mars and Harlow for weeks. Now, it looked like the young king's mental state had gotten better.

The butler hoped that Mars would slowly recover his heartbreak and could move on with life, now that he had a daughter who needed him.

"John, I will have tea tomorrow with my friends. Please arrange everything," said Mars to John. The king explained briefly that he invited the Greenans, Gewen, and Ellena to come.

John was so happy to hear that. It had been an awfully long time since he prepared for any tea in this palace. Queen Elara used to have tea with her ladies in waiting, but after she passed away, the tradition stopped.

The palace became a gloomy place to be and everyone was feeling so sad and uptight. He was happy that Mars seemed to slowly recover and move on with his life.

The mourning period where he locked himself up and didn't want to see anyone seemed to help him cope with the tragedy that befell him. John thought that the worst was finally over.

When someone hit rock-bottom, the only way to move was up. So, maybe this was finally the time.

"I will prepare everything, Your Majesty," said John.

"Thank you."

Mars went to Harlow's new chamber and put her on her crib. She was still sleeping peacefully. The king looked at his baby with a mixed feeling. He loved Harlow to death. However, sometimes he wished his daughter would take after Emmelyn, not him.

After months, now everybody could see how much the little princess looked like her father. They shared the same hair and eye colors. Seeing Harlow felt like seeing his spitting image.

Mars missed his wife deeply and he wished to see her through their daughter. However, Harlow only looked like him. He regretted not having Emmelyn's paintings made while she was still alive. Now, he could only remember her from his memory.

Ahh... his mother did say she wanted to make many paintings of Emmelyn and Mars to fill the palace wall. Unfortunately, she passed away before she could make that happen.

She was killed by Ellena and Thessalis.

Ugh... Mars clenched his fists when he remembered the two wicked women. He had killed Thessalis, but even her death didn't give him any satisfaction. It was too easy.

He sighed and his mind wandered to Ellena. Now, he was convinced that it was Ellena who killed his mother in the effort to frame Emmelyn. And she did it by working together with Roshan, Mars' own butler who had worked for him for so many years.

How much money did Roshan get from Ellena to betray his mistress like that? Roshan, too, had died and he had quite an easy death. Mars imagine, from the clean cut on his neck, Roshan was killed in one powerful blow.

Did Emmelyn kill Roshan? It looked like it. Who else would write the word 'TRAITOR' on the butler's body if not her?

Gosh.. thinking about it sent another wave of sadness to his heart. Mars was with Roshan mere hours before the butler was killed. It means Emmelyn was not far from him by then.

Did she see him? Was she looking for an opportunity to meet him?

Sigh.

There was no use crying over spilled milk, he thought. Now, he should just focus on how he could punish Ellena and her family. That's the least he could do to grant Emmelyn's last wishes.

***

"That's Mount Tempest," said Maxim, pointing his finger at the black mountain before them. "If we keep going, we will arrive at the top in three days."

Emmelyn nodded. "Yeah. We can go up. But what about Lysander? He must want to go to Castilse as soon as possible."

"You can ask him if he wanted to join us or continued his journey alone," Maxim said. He turned to Lysander and asked him to come closer. "Lysander, Emmelyn wants to know if you plan to go straight to Castilse or if you want to join us to Mount Tempest."

Lysander immediately understood that the king wanted him to join them to Mount Tempest from the look on his face. The knight replied, "I have nothing to do in the capital and would love to join you on the adventure... if you would have me."

"Ahh... okay," Emmelyn nodded. She was happy to hear Lysander's words. She thought it was better to have more people join in case the white witch was not Margueritte that she was looking for and was actually an evil person. "In that case, we go together."

Kira looked happy too. Her face beamed in excitement at the mention of adventure. The mountain peak was covered in snow and this made her happy since she had never seen snow before.

"What is that white thingy on the mountain?" she asked Emmelyn with interest.

"I think it's snow," said Emmelyn. "It's funny to see snow in summer like this, but I guess Mount Tempest is a special place."

"Why funny?" Kira asked.

"Well, in my place, we have four seasons and snow only came in winter. But now it's summer and Mount Tempest has snow on the peak. So, I guess, it's eternal snow."

"You are right," Maxim replied. "Mount Tempest indeed has snow all year round. It's quite unique. You can already feel the chill from this distance."

"We should buy more coats so we won't get cold," Emmelyn suggested.

"We should. There is a town around half a day from here. We can rest there for a bit, buy some more supplies, and then go up to Mount Tempest," said Maxim.

"That's a good idea," Emmelyn nodded in excitement. She felt happy that she had capable travel companions. They made her journey feel easy and comfortable.

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