26 [Bonus chapter]

The rest of the dinner was silent with occasional teasing of Ana and Rowan smiles. Garrison did not speak a word as he kept staring at both of them occasionally and minded his dinner for the rest of the time as if he did not care about their presence anymore.

When he finished the dinner and wiped his mouth from the napkin elegantly, his attendant, who was waiting for a long time, came forward and whispered a few words in his ears.

His eyes narrowed but when he noticed Rowan and Ana staring at him, he smiled back.

"Please excuse me, I have some matters to deal with." with that he left the dining room.

The smile on the face of Ana was worth watching that Rowan could not help but sigh,

"Anastasia.. Do you not like my father?" he could not help but ask. The woman had been nothing but kind to him but whenever she looked at his father, it felt like she wanted to kill the man.

Her eyes fill with hatred and she drips poison from her mouth. He wondered why she was so kind to him then and why in the world was she marrying his father?

"That is not the case." though she said that, she knew that her words sounded hollow, "it is just that, he is too cold to you. And he is always so stern that I want him to be kinder to you. A kid should not be treated like you.'' She tried to find the plausible answer as she realized she was too obvious in showing her hatred for the man whom she was going to marry.

"That is not true. My father has been kind to me all the time. The palace requires us to be prepared for any emergency since you know that we have the blood of Nyfire in us." she shook her head at the naivety of the child.

His father was nothing but a psychopath who only knew how to shun others and kill people. He had nothing like compassion. But he knew how to hide his true thoughts under the act of caring about the legend. She had lived a whole life in the palace and knew that Rowan was not going to inherit the bloodline and Garrison had already passed the age.

"You know that it has been three generations since no one had inherited the powers. Was that not the reason why your father had started doing business and gave up on swordsmanship after his accident?" she asked softly, not wanting to hurt the sentiments of the child.

She shook her head when she saw a frown forming on his face and smiled, "but i would be thrilled if you enlighten the bloodline again. But for that, you need to take care of yourself and protect yourself from harm. Right?" she asked again in a soft voice but the boy was not convinced.

"You do not need to mince your words, I realized that you did not believe in the legend. Not many do! But I will show you one day. But if that is not the reason, then why do you want to marry father?'' That made him curious.

Most of the women who wanted to marry his father were mostly because of the legend of Nyfire. It was said that the empire was made by the dragons who had the power of transformation. But slowly they developed the greed of humans, so the god cursed them to stay as a human.

But the last dragon who was selfless had been married to their family and they still have the blood of Nyfire in them. If they would be kind and selfless and fight for the safety of others, they could enlighten those bloodlines and then bring the glory of the empire back.

That is the only reason that the emperor had given their daughters to the family of the duke all these generations. But due to the sudden death of the last princess, she was chosen as the wife of the duke.

"I want to marry your father so that I can take care of you."

"......." her honest reply startled her as he stared at her with confusion as she shook her head.

"It is too late now. We both should rest." she dabbed her face with the napkin and then stood up. Rowan knew there was more to it. But he also knew that he was not going to get any more reply from the woman.

As long as she did not mean any harm. He smiled and nodded as she left.

Ana felt bad but she also realized that she could not behave recklessly. If the kid had realized, Garrison had felt that she was being too desperate to marry him too even though it was clear that she hated him.

"My lady." the maid who had attended her first came forward and bowed her head, "your highness had said that it was too late to return. It would be better that you stay in the palace tonight. The knights will escort you in the morning."

Ana looked at the sky which had already turned dark and nodded her head.

"That would be appreciated. Thank you." as the maid took her to the guest room, Ana was surprised that the room was arranged as per her taste. She was sure that the guest room did not look like that in her past life.

The bedsheets and curtains match the look of her bedroom in her palace.

"Would you like to take a bath before sleeping, my lady?" asked the maid when Ana nodded her head again.

As the maid assisted in taking off her dress and bathing, she smiled.

"What is your name?" Ana knew that the young girl was Lily, one of the kind and loyal maid but she still asked since the maid never introduced herself.

"I am Lily, my lady."

"Hmm, Lily. did the room always look like this?"