Yasmine's lifeless body was hanged prominently on the castle walls for several days as a grim warning to others. Then, at my earnest request, her body was finally taken down, burned according to proper rites, and her ashes respectfully buried in a simple urn. I felt genuinely sick to my stomach throughout the ordeal. I hadn't known it would affect me so profoundly, so viscerally. The whole experience served as a stark reminder that I was leaving behind my law-abiding northern people—people who rarely committed crimes—to travel to some place that had constant conflicts, hardened criminals, and an equally brutal justice system. Poisonous blood feuds and countless other dangers were waiting for me in the South, I was certain.
My persistently gloomy mood didn't go unnoticed by the observant Arvid. That's why he gently suggested that I should take a leisurely walk around Gorei itself, outside the confining castle walls. I agreed readily. After all, some walking around in fresh air and experiencing new scenery would probably do me considerable good and lift my spirits.
So I dressed myself carefully in my favorite black dress, covered myself thoroughly in thick furs to face the biting cold, and ventured out with Katherine. We were accompanied by Gautham and four additional soldiers for protection. We walked slowly around the snow-piled houses of the town, occasionally stopping to admire the winter views—children playing, smoke rising from chimneys, the peaceful domestic scenes.
We hadn't traveled that far from the castle when we encountered them. I recognized them immediately because they possessed distinctively pale skin and had the characteristic northern features clearly visible in their faces. They were former Draganian people, now belonging officially to Selon after the territorial loss.
One or two of them carried dragon blood in their veins. I could actually smell it faintly through the cold wind—that distinctive scent.
"Queen of Draga," one bowed respectfully. The others quickly followed his lead.
Then they abruptly changed to speaking in ancient Rothiya, the old language.
"Our true queen, we have been waiting for you all this time," one of them said earnestly. "Why are you marrying the southern mixed-blood man? We don't understand."
"We are waiting patiently for the day when Draga would rightfully claim the Gorei plains again as its own territory—but it seems that was merely our wishful thinking," another added with obvious disappointment.
They were bluntly committing treason by speaking this way. If anyone among those accompanying soldiers could understand ancient Rothiya, these people would be arrested and executed. They'd be in tremendous trouble.
"That day you're hoping for would never come," I replied to them firmly in Rothiya, deliberately not letting my voice waver or betray uncertainty. "Has Selon actually mistreated you all in any way? I can't see evidence of that—they never even took your personal lands to begin with. You're clearly thriving here in these fertile lands—what more could you possibly want? You have peace and genuinely good leaders. Peace is the greatest gift there is in this world. Why would you try to destroy that peace with your own foolish hands? It's been sixty full years since Draga lost that war—you need to get over it and move forward."
They were visibly disappointed by my response, their faces falling. I felt a flash of anger. I had my entire life turned completely upside down just because I tried to achieve lasting peace for Draga. What had they personally sacrificed? Absolutely nothing.
I bid them a curt farewell and walked further away into a small grove where some hardy trees stood. The location overlooked a completely frozen lake, the ice thick and white. The wind blowing across the exposed lake was bitingly, painfully cold against my face. My heart was wavering uncertainly. I could feel the doubt in my very bones. I had lived such a peaceful, relatively spoiled life until now. Now everything was going to change dramatically. Could I actually face this harsh new reality? Would the love I felt for Arvid be enough to carry me through all the challenges ahead?
I desperately wanted to go home. Back to Draga, to the familiar place where I knew peace and safety waited for me. But I couldn't just leave. If I were to abandon this marriage and flee, then Arvid would declare war on us again, wouldn't he? Would he actually still love me if he decided to go through with such destruction? My heart physically hurt thinking about it.
I loved him deeply. But did he truly love me in return? Even though he had explicitly said he loved me, was he really genuinely in love with me? Or was I just a political prize?
"Do you want to run away?" Katherine asked me quietly in ancient Rothiya, her voice barely audible. Her gaze was deeply concerned as she studied my face.
I just shook my head firmly, indicating no. But my traitorous heart screamed "Yes!" internally.
"If you truly want to escape, I'll help you do it—" she offered again seriously. Was I such an open book? How was everyone able to read my emotions so easily?
"Don't worry about it," was the only answer I gave her, closing the topic.
---
After returning to the castle, I went immediately to find Arvid. He was training intensely with his sword at the back courtyard, systematically cutting down the straw training dummies one after another. His movements were impressively swift and agile, just as I had witnessed that brutal day in the forest.
When he finally noticed me standing there watching, he took a break from training. He approached me with a warm smile spreading across his face. But I felt genuinely terrible, because I was about to ask some extremely difficult questions that would hurt him.
"How was your walk around town?" he asked pleasantly, that smile never leaving his handsome face.
"It was refreshing and helpful," I answered him honestly. Then I deliberately let the heavy silence envelope us both, gathering courage.
"I have something important to ask you," I started carefully. "If I were to break off our agreement completely and annul our marriage and leave permanently for the north—what would you do?" I asked directly.
"Are you having second thoughts about us?" was all he asked after a long, tense silence, his voice carefully neutral.
"I don't know anymore," I admitted honestly. "I was raised in peace my entire life. I never personally knew real conflict or violence. I don't know how I'm going to survive in the brutal South. I just sometimes desperately want to go back home to what I know." The confession spilled out.
Arvid firmly held my shoulders and turned me bodily toward him, so I would face him directly. His ash-gray eyes glinted with a strange, intense glow I'd never seen before.
"Then you should try it," he said, his voice dropping dangerously low. Then he leaned close to my ear and whispered with chilling clarity:
"I'll arrange the imperial army again immediately, and this time, I will personally raid and pillage—from Ferne all the way to Draga's capital. I'll kill everyone who stands in my way. And when I finally get to you, I'll take you forcibly in front of your elders and council, so they'll all know and witness that their precious queen was thoroughly defiled by a southern mixed-blooded monster. Then I'll drag you back to Selon in chains and marry you again, whether you want it or not. Because you are mine—you've always been mine since that day in the cave. I don't think you want to experience that dark side of me. So please, I'm begging you. Come with me willingly, Rhia. Don't make me become an animal." His voice broke slightly.
"Please Rhia, don't leave me," he whispered desperately. "Don't make me become a monster." He hugged me tightly, almost crushing me. I felt him trembling violently, hanging onto one thin thread of sanity.
"I won't leave you," I managed to say through his suffocating embrace. "I promise."
"Kiss me, Rhia," he murmured urgently to my ear, placing desperate little kisses on my earlobe. His voice was filled with uncertainty and deep insecurities. I had made him feel this way with my questions. It was only natural that I should calm him down and reassure him.
I kissed him gently on the cheek as comfort. But almost immediately, my lips were captured and trapped by his own. His kisses were rough, demanding, and utterly domineering—like he was desperately trying to lay an invisible mark of possession on me.