The sound of birds and insects filled my ears when we entered the dark forest of West Evergreen, one of the few forests in the west that is situated beyond a river, and is not commonly visited by people for two reasons: first, because it's said to be cursed, second, because it is where the dangerous cave of the magical healer is known to be situated.'Now I'm not sure if this decision is right, Raja. This forest literally screams the word: DEATH.''I guess you are right. This forest is indeed scary. But you are already here, are you not? It is too late to back out now.''Don't you have any contingency plan? You know, like some sort of escape plan or something?''My apologies, but I have none, my lady.'I groaned a bit."Are you all right?"I cleared my throat. I forgot that Demitri is very close to me and would notice my every move or reaction."No—I mean yes, I'm all right. I just got irritated with the buzzing bees."

'How?' I asked Raja.'Blue dragons have only one weakness. Fire.'What? You should have told me earlier!'Even if you have the ability to manipulate fire, I don't think you can make an arrow out of fire. One should hit the eyes of the blue dragon with a fire arrow. It won't kill him but it can blind him for moments, then the princes can do something to paralyze him afterwards.'Fire arrow. I had never did that nor I tried. I also don't think I can do that, but...I looked at the Demitri... Prince David... Prince Martin... Prince Evan. They are all struggling to defeat the magical dragon in order to save the queen. Will I just stand aside and do nothing while th

"Are you feeling sick, Your Highness?" one of my court ladies asked when I didn't leave my bed yet. "No. Just a minute." Truth is, I feel like my body is so heavy that's why I don't want to get up. Probably because of the journey. Or maybe due to the stress I've went through last night thinking of how I would say to Demitri and his family that I will leave. At the end, I couldn't think of a strong alibi."How is the Her Majesty? Did you hear any news?" I asked while I'm in front of the huge mirror and the court ladies are assisting me in wearing all the necessary layers of clothes which is a burden to every living lady."We heard that she is already awake and is now doing well, Your Highness."I sighed in relief. My soul can now finally have its peace knowing that the queen is safe from the dangerous poison. To know that is enough for me even though no one will know what sacrifice I have to make. At least I know that I did what is right and could be

"No… no. This won't work, Demitri. If you dragged me out of there when I'm supposed to be imprisoned, it would only make me more guilty in their eyes," I said."And what do you want me to do, Ophelia? Let you be imprisoned in that dark and filthy cell? I won't let that happen!" His jaw clenched, eyes almost bloodshot in both anger and frustration."But I want to face this head-on, Demitri. Running away will prove nothing. I want to face them and let them see that I'm not guilty at all so I don't have to hide.""Ophelia, you don't understand…""Understand what? The palace will soon be in chaos, and your Father will condemn you for running me away. I don't want that to happen. I don't want to stain your reputation and make you look bad. You think this, running away, will make everything better? No, Demitri. No. It will just make everything worse. What you should do is surrender me–""Surrender you? What the fuck is that?!'

The wind blew as the old lady chanted words I'm not familiar with while holding the magical mirror. All were silent, waiting for the truth to prevail.Demitri went beside me and glanced at Raja. Although it was obvious that he has questions in mind, he didn't say anything and just held my hand as we faced together the mirror of the past."Oh, magical mirror of the past, posession of the great Queen Lynea of the ancient witch empire, grant us our wish! Show us who were the culprits behind the poisoning of Solterra's Queen Romina!" the old lady said while eyes were closed.All were astounded when the next moment, the real event was shown. First in the sequence of events shown was Lady Lilian giving Monroe Levitsky two small black bottles with black lid, exactly the same as the one found in my bedroom. Next shown was Matt Monroe sneeking to my room and putting the bottle on my belongings. The townspeople and the king especially, looked very shocked of what they hav