Finding Stardust

Because Emma could already read the Akkadian written language, she began reading more books to expand her knowledge. Her lessons with Therius were carried out in Therius' study, specially prepared for him in The Dragonite.

There, he did much of his own work and sometimes had coordination meetings with General Moria. He was busier than before and could no longer train Emma regularly on telemancy nor pyromancy. That's why Emma spent more time practicing with Xion or reading in her own room.

Emma liked being in the majestic ship, but she didn't really like the situation that happened in Dragonite. She was forced to keep her ring and Haoran's ring in her room so that no one would suspect anything.

She was also forced to reduce her visits to the hospital after she had accidentally overheard several nurses gossiping about the relationship between her and the patient in that special ward.

With a heavy heart, Emma decided to only see Haoran three times a week to prevent people from suspecting her relationship with the patient. She swallowed all her sadness and anger and consoled herself by saying that she only needed to endure it for two months.

Later, once they arrived in Akkadia, she would be able to make sure Haoran was treated in a more private place and she would be able to visit him as often as she would like.

***

And just like that... two months passed so quickly.

"We're close," said Xion in a happy voice as they were having dinner together. He had been counting the days since they left Planet Daneria and lately he had become even more cheerful.

Emma had counted too, and she knew what Xion meant.

"One more week," said Emma happily.

She had heard so much about Akkadia and, over the past four months, she had also read various books and received information about her parent's home planet. She felt like she already knew the place and was familiar with Akkadia.

Now, she only needed to see it with her own eyes. She knew that Planet Akkadia had three moons. Emma had witnessed for herself how a planet like Daneria looked like with its two moons together every night.

It was oh so beautiful!

She wanted to know what a night in Akkadia was like when all the three moons could be seen together. When she asked Xion about it, the man furrowed his brows. He was trying to calculate something.

"My mother told me, you have a festival to celebrate the occasion. Is that right?" Emma asked again.

"Well.. people in the capital do. I never celebrated it. I think they call it the Three Moon Fire Festival."

"Oh.. sounds really nice," Emma's eyes lit. She had heard a lot about it from Arreya when she was little and was so excited to witness it with her own eyes.

"When was the last time you saw all three moons at once?" asked Emma.

"Last year, before we left for your planet. If I remember correctly, we should be able to see all three moons next week."

"After we land?" asked Emma excitedly.

It would be an impressive sight to behold. Her arrival to her home planet was greeted by the three Akkadian moons shining brightly in the night sky.

Therius could see Emma's change in attitude in the last days. She became more cheerful. The girl still didn't talk much like usual, but she looked more excited and overall happier. When Therius met Emma to teach her about court manners and Akkadia's history, Emma also paid more attention to him.

She might have the realization that they would soon be arriving in Akkadia. The clock was ticking, and she had to learn so many things in such a short amount of time. Emma knew she would have to play her role properly. She must not fail and endanger her life and Haoran's life.

She was mindful that for the next five years, they would live in the enemy's nest. She must not make any mistakes.

"What is the first thing you will do after we arrive in Akkadia?" Therius asked Emma when he, Xion, and Emma had dinner together after doing some exercise in the training room.

"I want to see my father," said Emma firmly.

She knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted to hug her parents, whom she had not seen for almost fifteen years. Since her father was detained in Akkadia, then, of course, Emma would meet him first. After that, she would go meet her mother and little brother.

She couldn't wait!

"I'll take you to see your father as soon as we get to Akkadia," said Therius with a smile. "They limit the access to see political prisoners of your father's caliber. You can only go without making appointment months in advance if you came with me."

Emma stared at Therius for a long moment and finally nodded. "Thank you."

It sure helps to be the crown prince's fiancee, she thought to herself.

"When we see your father, I will also ask him for his blessing. Otherwise, he will be suspicious. And as a result, other people will also be suspicious," Therius added.

"Why can't I tell my father the truth?" asked Emma in protest. "That I am already married to Haoran, and between us, there is only an agreement. You and I agreed to a pretend engagement for five years, but we are not really going to get married. I want to send Haoran to be treated in Thaesi so I won't have to worry about him while I am in Akkadia."

"We can't do that," said Therius. "That's not what we have agreed on. You have agreed and signed the contract. One of the points is that no outsider apart from you, me, Xion, and Atila can know the contents of our agreement. Otherwise, our agreement is void, and the party who violates it will be penalized. If you tell your father, it means you're breaking the deal, and I will not keep my promise to help you and let you go after five years. If that happened, you would still be forced to marry me."

Emma bit her lip when she heard Therius' words. She was displeased but realized that Therius was right again.

"All right. At least let Haoran come with my father back to Thaesi. I will tell my parents that Haoran is my best friend, and he had helped me a lot while I was on Earth," said Emma pleadingly. "I will be stressed if I have to keep thinking about Haoran while he's still in Akkadia."

"I'm sorry, you can't do that. Haoran has to stay in Akkadia," Therius said curtly. "As I said, you can choose the hospital where he would be treated. You can even ask Doctor Salas to be his personal doctor and take care of him, but Haoran cannot leave Akkadia."

For Therius, Haoran was collateral. He was precious. If he let Haoran go to Thaesi, he could not trust that Emma would keep her promise and would not run away from Akkadia and left him to dry. Emma had shown herself to be someone who didn't care about what other people think of her. She could cheat without batting an eye.

"You..!" Emma was really upset when she heard Therius' firm rejection. At first, she thought Therius' attitude had changed after they became friends. The man seemed to treat her with kindness. He always granted whatever Emma asked from him. However, it seemed that when it came to Haoran, Therius was as stubborn as a rock. 

"You promised," Therius said firmly. He looked at the girl intently. "General Stardust is known to be a man of integrity. He always keeps his words. How could you smear your father's reputation by being a disloyal and untrustworthy woman?"

Emma fell silent at Therius' words. She looked away with a puff.

.

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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

I have a super important announcement to make. 

Webnovel is throwing an event called "Win Win Event", where readers and authors work together to get features rewards for their books. Readers can support the books they like by purchasing the book's privilege.

1 coin = $ 0.02, so it's cheaper than a candy. :)

I am now begging you to support me by purchasing the privilege for this book "Finding Stardust". The lowest tier costs only 1 coin and you will make me soooooo happy!

If the book reached 500 privi buyers, you will get a Win Win Plus badge and 20% rebate on your coins purchase from the book if you spend more coins on it, up to 300 coins. I will get a Win Win badge to show off too.. lol.

Just kidding about the showing off... haha. But, seriously, this book will get features and promotions and there will be so many new readers see my book. It's priceless and I really want to get 500 or even 1000 support.

Now, I will do my part. Not only will I update the book EVERY DAY religiously, but if I failed to update for 30 days but we hit the number 500 or 1000, I will still give you something in return.

I will provide 10 giveaways for 10 lucky readers if we get to 1000 support and 5 giveaways if we get to 500. If we don't reach 500, then I cannot justify the giveaways. 

So... ask your partner, your sister, use your alternate accounts to buy the privi.. so we can get closer to our target.. hehe.

Once you buy the privi for "Finding Stardust" (1 coin tier is okay), send the screenshot to my email: [email protected] or DM me on Instagram at @missrealitybites with your username and I will include you for the giveaway by the end of Sept and let randompicker website choose the winners.

GIVEAWAYS for 5 or 10 people depending on how much support we could get would be one of these things: Winners can choose between $20 Amazon gift card or two paperback versions of my books from these titles:

- "Ludwina \u0026 Andrea: 'Till Death Do Us Part" (complete book, around 400 pages).

You will get cute merchandise in the form of books that will remind you of the stories you read here in Webnovel. Of course, I'll sign those books for you :).

The fourth book is my own book, not contracted, and you can read it on this site with the same title. It's a complete book and I plan to print it to sell locally, but I can make it a gift to you if you would like to have it.

Choose two books from those four and if you won, I will ship them to you free of charge, anywhere in the world. It will take a while, but you'll get the books. If you prefer the Amazon gift card, let me know when you win the giveaway.

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Thank you for reading my long-ass announcement. I love you!