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“Your Majesty, I’m here to answer your call,” Osman politely greeted with a bow. Indeed, he had called for Osman to report to him in the Cordon Castle today.

“Osman, what is happening?” Darius inquired with a dim expression, deep lines spreading across his forehead. “I had thought Xen would have it easy in the Basilisk’s Territory.”

“I apologize, Sire. I also don’t know what’s going on at the moment,” Osman quickly apologized. “I just saw what happened last night, and was surprised that the Basilisk had made such an offer. To be honest, my time in her territory was the shortest, with her having let me go too easily,” he explained. “As I mentioned, I didn’t even meet her, having only heard her voice speak to me back then.”

Darius helplessly sat on his chair, his heart sinking at what his admiral just said. He tried to feel Xen through the bond, but try as he might, there was only nothing. From what he could tell, Xen was still calm inside, most probably because she was still sleeping peacefully without a nightmare in sight.

“The Princess is a strong-willed person, Sire,” Osman encouraged. “I’m sure she’ll figure something out.”

“I hope so, Osman,” Darius let out with a sigh. “This is harder than I thought. I mean, I’ve conditioned myself well enough for this by being by her side during training, but I still can’t help but feel frustrated and worried just watching her do the actual trials…”

“And still, you have to endure, Your Majesty, because this is what Princess Xenia wants,” Osman reminded him. “She wants to earn the trust and respect of your people, and she’s willing to go through all of this for that specific goal.”

“Did she tell you to always remind me of that?” Darius asked.

Osman scratched his head at his question, practically giving away his answer. Then again, knowing Xen, she had probably talked to everyone near to him to keep reminding him not to interfere.

“I guess I should ready myself to hear these kinds of words from all angles…” he puffed out with another sigh.

“You said it yourself. She’s confident,” Osman chuckled. “The Basilisk was aware that she was special. She had clearly mentioned how the Princess wasn’t wholly human, Sire…”

Darius’s met Osman’s curious gaze. In his worry, he had almost forgotten about it. Surely, during the coming court meetings, his Council would definitely open up the floor with this issue. Still, it wasn’t his right to disclose this kind of information. Except for Xen or any of her family members, this detail about her would hopefully remain unknown.

“As much as I want to, I’m in no position to disclose further details about it, Osman,” Darius firmly. “It’s up to Xen and her family.”

“I understand, Sire,” Osman commented.

After this exchange, Darius talked more to Osman about further securing their hold over their seas. Darius was alarmed with Calypso’s report about Nasser’s right-hand man lurking within Helion’s territory, and he wanted to make sure that they didn’t have any sort of weakness on all fronts. He had a hunch that Nasser was colluding with the enemy, and it would certainly be bad news for their Kingdom if he was right.

*****

Meanwhile, Freya, who had just gotten the report about what happened last night to Princess Xenia, quickly went and looked for her brother. She was walking through the hallway when she saw Jayra about to pass her way.

“Hey, have you heard about what happened to your sister-in-law last night?” Freya inquired.

“I did while I was on our way here,” Jayra nodded. “Although, now that I think of it…”

Jayra hung on her words, and Freya was feeling curious and anxious at the same time as she waited for her to continue. Feeling impatient, the latter pulled the former down onto the nearby bench in the hallway, hoping that she wouldn’t take long to get her answer.

There was a deep frown on Jayra’s face as she thought about whatever it was she was thinking.

“What is it?” Freya murmured, closely staring at her newfound friend.

“I remember in the books… Those who did the trials were inexplicably missing parts of their bodies…” Jayra trailed off.

Freya’s face widened. Indeed, from what she could recall, the guardians of the Element Forest were at least generous enough to return the bodies of any humans who died in the forest. That way, they could at least give them a proper burial rite. But apparently, those bodies had missing parts to them that the Historian simply assumed to have happened due to the hardships of the trial inside the forest.

“That Basilisk said that she doesn’t usually let our eye inside to witness some of the trials, especially whenever she made her bargain,” Jayra murmured.

“That means those humans from before struck a bargain with her to live and pass through her territory,” Freya postulated. “So them giving away a part of their body to the Basilisk was a part of the test then…”

“Indeed,” Jayra nodded as she added. “Although, not all humans that did the trials have missing body parts, which could also mean that the Basilisk properly only strikes a deal if she finds something in the human that attracts her. And right now, she’s utterly fascinated by Princess Xenia’s eyes…”

“Hmm… Do you think my sister-in-law will agree to give her eyes then?” Freya worriedly asked. Her brother must be so heartbroken just hearing about this at this point.

“There’s no way the Princess will do that without even trying to pass the traps the Basilisk prepared for her,” Jayra hypothesized. “If anything, it would be the last option for her to take…”

“So you’re saying that she’ll willingly surrender her eyes if worst comes to worst?!” Freya exclaimed out loud. She didn’t like the idea that her sister-in-law would have to go through all of this hardship just to be acknowledged by their people.

“This is too unfair!” Freya couldn’t help but cry out, her emotions surging through her as her eyes welled up. She and her family respected humans as equals, but their kingdom as a whole was a lot different from their views. They didn’t hold any power over every Cordonian mind over the matters pertaining to humans.

“Brother should change this twisted tradition…” Freya murmured.

“I’m sure he will after this trial… As the current ruler, he’s just not able to do it in the time being since the Princess’s arrival in his life was too unexpected,” Jayra explained, knowing enough about bending rules and laws of tradition for every kingdom she knew.

“After all, bending traditions like this would take a lot of time and approval. And at this rate, it would just be impossible to do such a thing since everyone would take it as a move done due to bias for a ruler’s mate… It’ll be unfair to the previous rulers as well, who had suffered the same fate with their human mates…”

Unfortunately, things were not as simple as that… There were procedures that they still needed to follow, or else it would be too hard for them to govern. There would be lawlessness and disorder if everyone simply did things as they pleased… their kingdom ending up as a chaotic should they show favoritism.