The Unwanted Princess

.....

"Before we leave this conversation behind us....do you know what it means to be a dark god's servant?" Eos asked

"Tend to your needs?" Xia didn't think there was much to explain about being a servant, it seemed self-explanatory to her

"Being a dark gods servant is nothing to be compared to being a humans servant, the conditions for severing the contract results in you losing your youth and beauty, damned to live for eternity, roaming the underworld as a wretched old woman....constantly doing my underworldly biddings.." Eos smiled

"....." Xia started sweating

"If you manage to fail to do your job as my servant, you will be punished.." Eos coldly said

"W-What would be the punishment..?" Xia asked

"Either you would be thrown in a pool of boiling black magma or be dropped onto spikes continuously for a few days....or months, being a dark gods servant will grant you immortality, so you won't die from things like that, but that doesn't mean it won't hurt." Eos looked up with a grin and tapped her chin acting as if she was in deep thought

Xia's sweating heavily progressed.

"So to prevent living a hellish eternity like that, you will keep that mouth of yours in check from now on when speaking to me, and if you don't like the idea of being my servant, I can just simply take your life instead.." Eos closed her hand into a fist

"Ah!" Xia touched her chest

Tears ran down her eyes as a sudden excruciating pain washed over her, it seemed as if the pain was spreading throughout her body. She collapsed on the floor, overtaken by the pain.

"I-Im s-sorry! P-Please!" Xia cried

"Good." Eos opened her hand

Xia's pained expression eased up just as the pain did. Xia weakly sat up and wiped her teary eyes.

"Now...it's about time we found those children..." Eos smirked

"I thought you said you couldn't track them...." Xia tried to stand up but her legs felt weak

"I can't...but that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to track someone...." Eos said

"B-Before we try to find them...can we pay Inanna's little friend a visit first? It's only fair that way since Inanna and Luther think they can get off easy by cheating me..." Xia weakly smiled

"Very well..." Eos nodded

.

.

"Ivery.."

"Hm?" Ivery opened her eyes, awoken by the feeling of being tapped

"You've been sleeping for a while now.." Danya said

"Really..?" Ivery sat up and wondered what time it was

"Where's Lutris...?" Ivery looked around and didn't see Luther anywhere

"He left out without saying where he was going...I didn't really have the guts to ask.." Danya shrugged

"Oh.." Ivery wondered where he went off to

"I've been thinking about it for a while now...but can I ask you something?" Danya looked seriously at Ivery

"What is it?" Ivery waited for her to ask the question

"It's clear as day that he's very handsome, but I know that's not the only reason you're with Lutris, so why are you with him? Doesn't he scare you sometimes?" Danya asked

"Why am I with him?" Ivery thought the question was odd

"Well...I'm with him because he means the world to me, at first our relationship started off a little weird and very unromantic, but as I spent more time with him...I could see how much he cared about me and how much I cared about him, and he was the first person in a while to show me that there's nothing wrong with me and I can still be cared for and loved..." Ivery smiled

"You thought there was something wrong with you?" Danya asked

"Yes...when I was younger...the people that were supposed to take care of me never treated me right...so at some point, I started believing that there was something wrong with me."

"For them all to mistreat me and just hate me for being with them, there had to be a problem..right?" Ivery said

"Maybe.." Danya didn't know the right words to use to answer her

"But there was no reason that I could think of because I actually never gave them a reason to mistreat me and hate me...and I realized because of Lutris that there wasn't anything wrong with me, it was those people who were the problem.." Ivery sadly smiled

"Over the years Lutris has always been by my side, he's saved me more times than I can count, he's never mistreated me, and shows me every day that he cares, and yes, he can be scary at times, but that won't and hasn't stopped me from loving him the same way he loves me.." Ivery told Danya

"So does that mean that you fully trust him?" Danya asked

"....."

"I want to...and it's painful for me to say that a very small part of me can't fully trust anybody....even him.." Ivery looked down

"Why?" Danya inquired

"I thought I was over it but my past experiences are still hanging over me....it's hard to fully trust another person when I couldn't even trust the people that were supposed to be family...." Ivery answered

"I even had a recent incident that almost killed me, it's not like I trusted her but I wasn't thinking that she was plotting something, but to my defense, I didn't think that she did anything to the food since the other children were eating with no problems.."

"But I should've been a little suspicious of her intentions since I did slap her afterall...because there was no way she would've nicely made me a clean plate of food after I injured her like that..." Ivery sighed

She wished she could reverse time and redo that incident, she wished she had this type of thinking when the situation happened, it just hadn't crossed her mind...although it should've.

Ever since that happened she's felt stupid for falling easily into the scheme of that maid...but she swore she'd never let it happen again, she felt like she had to be wary of everyone and everything..

At this rate, she'll be easily falling into the hands of greedy and deceitful royals and nobles once she becomes the Empress of two countries...if she could get poisoned by a maid, then she could be easily poisoned by anyone who seeks to get rid of her...

Just because she has Goddess Hecate to fall back on if something bad like that happens, doesn't mean that she can just be careless with her life...she had to be strong on her own without having to rely on Hecate all the time when something goes awry...

Ivery hated the thought of being mentally weak, ....even after all of this time...she still has a long way to go..

"I'll have to change..." Ivery concluded, although she's said it before...she really meant it this time, it was time to accept that this world isn't meant for the weak,

She had to be just as cunning as the people around her if she wants to earn a high stance in a world as cruel as this...sometimes changing yourself isn't always a bad thing, sometimes it's for the better...

...

"?" Danya had no clue what she was talking about

"Oh, I know you're confused..sorry.." Ivery realized she was talking about a situation unknown to Danya

"It's fine...but I understand now..." Danya smiled

"But I think you can let your guard down fully with Lutris...I can tell that he values you more than his own life.." Danya told Ivery, remembering what he told her in the underground plantation

"...." Ivery felt like Danya was right

"I have a strong feeling that you won't be hurt for putting your trust in him, and you both give off this warm aura when you're together...it's like you're both soulmates or something." Danya lightly chuckled

"Soulmates..." Ivery lightly blushed

...

The room door opened.

Ivery and Danya's attention shifted to the person that walked through it.

"Speak of the devil..." Danya whispered

"You're finally up." Luther smiled once he saw Ivery

"Yeah.." She saw that he had bags in his hands

"Where did you go?" Ivery asked

"To get food to take with us on the trip." Luther put the bags down on the floor

"Don't you think it's a little too soon to get food since we might be here for a little longer?" Ivery questioned

"Oh right, about that-" Luther remembered the conversation he and Yannel had last night

"Hello." A familiar voice said, coming from behind Luther, also interrupting him

"Yannel.." Danya noticed Yannel standing outside of the open door

"Are you ready to go?" Yannel asked

"Go where?" Danya asked

"To Ridgefall?" Yannel thought they were preparing to go to Ridgefall

"How do you know about that...?" Danya wondered how Yannel found out

"Lutris told me.." Yannel said

"When...?" Ivery asked

"Last night." Yannel responded

"Oh, well we decided to stay here a little longer to give you some more time to sp-" Ivery spoke

"No." Yannel interrupted her

"No?" Ivery was confused

"Didn't you tell them?" Yannel looked up at Luther and asked

"I was about to...until you popped yourself in so suddenly." Luther shrugged

"You don't have to extend your stay here because of me, I had plenty of time to be with my family already, it was my decision to come with you..."

"I wouldn't have asked to be in your squad if I wanted to stay here and be with them right now, so since they're safe and I know they'll be here when I get back...I can leave with content in my heart, and now I can hope that I'll see them again soon thanks to you.." Yannel smiled

"Are you sure?" Ivery asked

"I'm sure." Yannel nodded

"Alright...we'll leave today then.." Ivery said

"Sounds good to me.." Yannel was ready, he was excited to be going to Ridgefall

"Let's get ready then." Danya went to go get her hanfu armor out of the closet

Ivery got out of bed and went to the closet as well.

...

"My lady you have a guest." A butler walked into the room

"I do?" She got up from her chair and put her book down

"Follow me." The butler said

"Okay?" She followed him out of the room

..

"She is waiting for you in here." The butler opened a door

She walked into the room and saw a girl with grayish hair sitting on the couch, with a teacup in her hand.

"Who are you?" She felt like she's seen this girl from somewhere before

"Beatrice Garciel? Right?" Xia smiled

"Yes...but who are you?" Beatrice asked

"I'm the embodiment of revenge..." Xia replied with a smirk

"What?" Beatrice didn't understand

"You don't need to understand, you just need to pay the price because of your so-called friends' selfish actions.." Xia snapped her fingers

The room suddenly went dark, which was strange...since it was still early in the afternoon. Even the window that let the sunlight in went dark, it appeared as if it was nighttime.

"What's happening?!" Beatrice was terrified

....

"Don't worry, it'll all be over soon....for you of course.." Xia laughed in the darkness

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