"All this happened and you didn't deem this necessary enough to tell me?" Asterin glared at me as I looked sideways avoiding eye contact with her.

"I was busy..." I trailed away knowing it wasn't a good enough excuse. It's been two entire weeks since I have created chaos by healing his highness, and three days since I have last seen him in his study that I technically trespassed into. I have been keeping count of the days I have been suffering.

As Nyxia was approaching, yesterday me and the entire Esmeray family arrived at the Capitol. The estate is now under the care of the butler until the end of November. I believe by then the entirety of the estate will be covered in snow by then. The weather in the capital is a bit warmer. Partly because the capitol is near the sea and partly because of the weather control barrier done by the mages.

Asterin and the Adarlan family arrived a few days earlier than we did, so on a fine saturday morning both me and Asterin decided to meet up at the cafes around the capitol's shopping centre.

And I was too stressed and unable to keep the chaos happening to be under lock and key and had to tell her. Asterin wasn't happy, I kept so much away from her as secrets, but I hope she will forgive me after I buy her another cheese cake.

"So when do you plan to meet up with Lucian?" Asterin asked as I sipped my fruit juice.

"It's better to be done with it as quickly as possible so I will write him a letter today to be done with the godforsaken trip tomorrow." I muttered under my breath as Asterin laughed.

"You don't seem happy about it?" She asked.

"With the number of people he un-alived, I don't feel that motivated." I sighed.

"He wouldn't do it to you" Asterin assured me as we paid and walked out of the cafe. Who's gonna tell her that he threatened execution the last time I saw him?

"He spent half of his life in the military and wars, I hope you understand where that personality of his comes from but recently he has been much more free and jokes as well..." Asterin tells me more about Lucian as I nodded along with her.

"Regardless of how nice he might be, the fact my grandpa thinks that he is courting me is ridiculous." I threw my hands in the air as Asterin burst out laughing.

"You two would make a lovely pair." Asterin laughed as she whipped the tears that slipped from the corner of her eyes as I rolled my eyes at her.

"Very funny." I huffed. The last thing I need is marrying the man who might potentially kill me.

Asterin tried to convince me once more as we looked around various dress shops as if she didn't have the entire festival collection bought and gifted to her by Derek, and as if I didn't have the gifts from opulence people of the entire collection.

Once we were done, I watched Asterin get on her carriage with her knight. I waved her off before I got into mine. As the carriage started to move, I leaned against the window and watched the buildings. The capitol looked very different from what I expected from the book. There were buildings on either side of the road, each placed side by side of the other. Even if some buildings were residential, they all had shops on the ground floor by the roadside. All the buildings were built differently. Some were six flats, some were three flats and some were two flats. There were also some buildings in Romanesque, Greystone and second empire style.

But one thing they all had in common was that they had a red tiled roof, making the capitol look somewhat like Venice, minus the water of course. It was a really pretty place to look at.

I believe I saw a few Tudor style houses, away from the residential area and nearby the vast farmlands. The author must have been very enthusiastic about architecture. I watched the buildings until the carriage stopped in front of our mansion in the capitol.

The mansion was designed like a Greek revival or the houses shown in regency movies and TV shows like Bridgerton. It was very different from the manor in the estate. The mansion was directly alined with the road with some space in between them for the small stone pathway and stairs to the front double door. The entirety of this neighbourhood had mansions in similar designs and different in colour.

Everyone of title lived in such neighbourhoods, a bit away from the residential area and the capitol centre but closer to the Royal palace. I believe it was their way to establish hierarchy. My escort knight helped me down the carriage as I walked inside. The mansion was in white in colour with navy blue tiles on the roof. I pushed the doors open and was greeted by the wide central area before the staircase, which is often used as a dancing space for indoor balls. There was a large living or sitting area on the right side for guests and family to gather around and a dining area on the left side. Behind the staircase was the kitchen and other quarters, while upstairs held all the private quarters. Behind the mansion there was a wide area for backyard outdoor balls. 

I walked in and watched all the people buzz around, all the servants and maids were busy preparing for the opening ball and my coming of age birthday. I am still not used to the maids and servants of the capitol, they are all new faces for me. I watched them for a bit before I walked to the staircase to go upstairs. I only stepped on the first stair before someone called for me.

"Milady," one of the maids rushed towards me as I stared in confusion.

"You have a visitor, milady." she said as I just gawked at her. Who in the right mind would want to visit me? Wait- no, please don't be the crown prince!

I nodded at her after she told me they were waiting for me in the living room. I would hear hushed voices coming from the living room as I got close to the door. It wasn't just one person, rather there were two people. I pushed the door open to find Sir Perseus and his sister Lethia Dusan.

A smile immediately made its way to my face as I saw Lethia.

"Lady Lethia!" I smiled as she got up and reached out for my hug and returned it. "It's so good to see you well and healthy."

Once I let her go I turned to Sir Perseus with a smile.

"I hope you aren't overworking again, Sir Perseus." I chuckled to which he smiled.

"Fortunately not, I am on my vacation for Nyxia but Lethia wanted to stop by." he smiled as he headed his head towards Lethia.

"Wise decision Lady Lethia," I said as I sat down on one of the sofas facing them as a maid stopped by and refilled their cups with tea. "I hope the Count and Countess Dusan are doing well."

"They are, thank you for asking." Lethia answered. "The teleportation from one city centre to another has made travelling easier."

I smiled as she expressed her gratitude towards the teleportation system, promising her that I would pass the words on to the Marquess and the other mages related to its creation. Lethia was telling me more about her capitol experience when suddenly the doors of the living room opened. Kaven walked in with a bunch of papers in his hands.

"Eva-" He stopped mid way when he realised I had company. I believe whoever was telling him I was in the living room didn't get to finish their sentence to tell him I had company before he walked off.

"Sir Perseus," Lucian nodded at him as acknowledgment before his eyes settled on the person beside Sir Perseus, Lethia Dusan.

"Young master-" Sir Perseus bowed back quickly before he stood up straight and turned to Lethia. "This is my sister Lethia Dusan."

Sir Perseus then turned to Lethia, "This is young master Kaven."

Lethia stood up and smoothly curtsy as Sir Perseus introduced them to each other.

"I greet the Young Duke of Esmeray," She said as Kaven returned her bow. Momentarily it seemed like Kaven was in some sort of trance as he stared at Lethia but it ended as quickly as it started before he turned to me.

"What brings you here, brother?" I asked as I turned to him.

"I apologise, I wasn't aware you have company." Kaven gave an apologetic smile to Sir Perseus and Lethia. "Stop by once you're free, I would like your opinion on something."

"Okay," I replied before he walked out of the room.

"Was that important?" Lethia asked, to which I shook my head.

"Probably has something to do with the upcoming ball decorations." I replied with a smile. "The invitations will be sent out tomorrow, I hope to see you there."

"It's the first ball, we won't miss it out." Sir Perseus answered.

I wanted Lethia and Sir Perseus to stay a bit longer but Sir Perseus emphasised on the fact that we are 'busy' and they must stop bothering. I was ignored when I said there was no bother but anyways. Sir Perseus and Lethia left soon after. Once I saw them off, I walked upstairs to find Kaven in his study looking through gods knows what.

"Brother?" I called as I walked into his study. He looked up from the papers and nodded at me.

"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to add anyone specifically to the invitation list." He said as I sat across from him as he sat behind his desk.

"Not really, the people I need to invite are already on the list." I said as he nodded and scribbled something on the paper.

"I didn't know you were friends with Count Dusan's daughter." He said to which I smiled.

"Yeah, I ran into her on one of my trips and got along very well." I replied.

"That's nice." He hummed.

I was about to ask something about his curiosity but he suddenly got up and grabbed a log book and handed it to me.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's a log book, you used to put one entry every time you visited the capitol." He handed it to me. "It's only fair that you put another entry this time."

"Oh," was all I said. 

After a minute of awkward silence, I decided to get up and give my goodbye to Kaven before I walked out and walked to my own suite bedroom. It's pretty similar to my bedroom chambers in the estate.

I placed the log book on my study and stared at the letter papers I previously asked Emily to prepare. Those papers seem to stare back at me like a bad omen. With a sigh, I flopped down on the chair and grabbed the quill. What am I supposed to write?

'Hey, I can't stand you so let's get this mall trip done as quickly as possible, xoxo?'

I can see my head flying away with that letter. Agh!

I need to be polite. Very demure, very mindful. Like a lady who definitely doesn't hate his highness the Crown Prince for the stunt he pulled.

And after a lot of wasted ink and crumpled up letter paper I was capable of writing a letter that didn't give away my murderous aura. I picked the nicest envelope and decorated it with blue ribbon and dried flowers and carefully put the Esmeray symbol wax seal. I grinned at my finished work, feeling very proud of the pretty little outcome.

I called a nearby maid and asked her to send someone to post.

When I felt like I could rest for a bit, my attention was dragged away by the log book on the desk. Evanora wasn't the type of person to keep logs or diaries, which made this log book almost alienated. I flipped to the very first entry. The handwriting was neat but still odd at certain angles, if my guess was correct it was probably written around the age of 8 -10. But as my eyes focused on the words, my eyes almost popped out of the sockets.

The fire wasn't burning enough, the house should have fallen apart.
-E.K.E

What do you mean 'the fire wasn't burning enough'!