CHAPTER TEN

"I'll come pick you up in two weeks little birdie"

It was almost dawn when the both of them decided to part ways with a promise to meet in two weeks.

"Don't miss me too much"

He raised his hand and patted her head, a small smile resting on his lips.

"Just go"

She swatted his hands away and pushed him slightly.

"You are definitely going to miss me"

"It's just two weeks"

She rolled her eyes at him but a smile had already appeared on her face.

"See you soon, don't disappear on me though"

"Where exactly am I going to disappear to when I can't leave the barrier by myself"

His figure slowly faded but a playful smile still remained on his face.

"Bye birdie"

Those were his final words before his figure completely faded, the room falling into silence soon after.

Kharis sighed before pulling up a chair and sitting by the window. Even after trying to convince herself that it was still a guess for now, she couldn't help the uneasiness clawing at her heart. The possibility alone was more than enough reason to worry her as even a simple attempt required a massacre and more deaths would follow if the ceremony was actually successful. Though the chances of that happening was slim to none at all, the records of the church of light never labelled it as an impossibility.

She could only hope that Zarel had guessed wrong and whatever was responsible for the strange phenomenon was something else entirely. She had seen enough deaths in one lifetime. She didn't want to see innocent people slaughtered for the ambitions of another. Perhaps what disturbed her heart the most was that as things were right now, she was too weak to do anything about it. The power she had left was too mediocre to make a difference. She could barely handle basic spells and was only getting weaker as time passed. Until, she was completely healed, she didn't even have the power to protect herself much less save the lives of others.

She tried to be optimistic but she couldn't deny the obvious truth when it continued to display itself right in front of her.

Zarel was right, she had allowed Grisha to break her will, she had grown comfortable with her current situation. While exploring all the options she had left, she needed to find a way to remove the curse in her body and regain her power.

Kharis looked around the room that she had lived in for so many years. She had convinced herself that she had a reason to remain in the castle and play whatever role was required of her but the truth was that she didn't. There was no reason for her to remain in a cage when she had the opportunity to walk out of it and attain her freedom. The only thing that kept her here was lingering attachment to the man who betrayed her. She had never known what it was like to stand on her own, that was why she had resigned herself to becoming a puppet of Grisha Andrius even after being betrayed. She had always desired freedom but she had built the biggest wall barring her from attaining it with her very own hands by not realising how unwilling she was to let go of the things that bound her to Grisha. To be free, she had to be willing to take a step forward.

With renewed conviction, she looked at the forest that she had always stared at in hopes of distracting herself. She reaffirmed the fact that her decision to leave was the right one. Her heart was still as uneasy as it was before but now she knew the path to take.

If Grisha had really let his greed blind him to the consequences, she needed the power to at least try to stop him, no matter how little her chances turned out to be.

When she decided to return to this place all those years ago even though she was already beyond the confines of the barrier, Zarel had tried to stop her but he ultimately let her do as she pleased. He knew that she had to walk away from her past by her own choice and not his. He couldn't force her but he could direct her and that was what he did by suggesting to go to the library in the first place.

"Aria should be there since it's still quite early"

The room around her felt more suffocating than usual so she thought it would do her some good to leave the room and get some fresh air. Initially, she only planned on taking a walk but she decided to visit the training grounds instead after realising that the suffocating feeling existed everywhere in the castle. It wasn't hard to know what was responsible for her discomfort, the presence of the barrier had always irked her, however it seemed much worse today.

As she made her way towards the training grounds, she looked up at the thin barrier with scorn in her eyes. The dark magic interwoven with normal magic energy was something she had seen many times before. She had already guessed that it was probably the work of the sorceress.

The barrier restricted the use of both magic and magic items, communication trinkets obviously fell under its restrictions. That was why she couldn't communicate with Zarel through any other means that didn't involve a physical meeting. Though there were ways to bypass the restrictions, it required quite a bit of magic power but it wasn't impossible. Zarel could easily bypass it with no issues since dragons were blessed with a large amount of magic power that was more than sufficient to carry out such a task. However, it was different when it came to items. Unless they were marked by one of the keys used to control the barrier, all magic items had their functions locked which rendered them useless. Magic could be used with some difficulty by taking advantage of the loopholes in the barrier but there were no such loopholes when it came to magic items.

It wasn't hard for her to find the training grounds, she had been there just once but there wasn't much around the castle to begin with.

Unsurprisingly, the training grounds were deserted save for a particular knight currently engrossed in her morning training. Since there was only one knight in the castle, most of the large space meant for knight training ended up being a waste with only one person using them.

"My lady?"

Aria wiped some sweat of her face with her sleeve before directing a gaze filled with many questions towards the white-haired woman standing not far from her.

"I needed a bit of fresh air so I decided to watch you train"

The questioning gaze still remained, she wanted to voice her questions but Kharis interrupted her thoughts.

"I'll just sit over there"

"Pretend like I'm not here and continue with your training"

Aria felt that classifying her lady's behaviour as strange would be an understatement, it was completely different from the norm to the point of being weird. Kharis had never showed any interest in observing the training methods of knights. As she began swinging her sword again, Aria struggled to push any distractions aside and continue with her training while also trying not to think too deeply about the cause of such a drastic change in routine.

Meanwhile, Kharis sat down on one of the many benches littered around the training grounds. She grew more and more intrigued, she found herself captivated by the training methods displayed in front of her. She had only ever watched how knights trained themselves during the war but this was the first time she was actually paying close attention to the methods used. Mages usually didn't opt for physical training and focused on controlling magic power instead. Unlike most mages, she had actually indulged in basic physical training during the period when she was still trying to efficiently control her magic power. She didn't do so for long though as she was made to focus on magic but she still found it intriguing to watch regardless.

"My lady we should head inside"

"You are done already"

"Yes"

It took another half an hour for Aria to conclude her training regimen. The sun hung proudly in the sky, reclaiming its rightful place and announcing the start of a new day with its appearance by the time she was done.

The two of them left the training grounds and began the short walk back to the castle.

"I wanted to ask you something"

Kharis spoke while they were still walking back. The two of the stood side by side, making Aria's taller figure even more apparent.

"What is it my lady"

"That day should be arriving soon right?"

"Oh yes, it is exactly two weeks from now"

Kharis nodded her head.

The actual reason for choosing the two-week timeframe was because of one particular day. On that day, Aria was given permission to leave the barrier which meant she wouldn't be in the castle.

Kharis didn't really know much about the other people working in the mansion since she hardly interacted with them but she was certain that they never left the barrier. She had also sensed traces of spells on them which brought her to the conclusion that their memories of the castle were probably manipulated and would never make it past the barrier. She believed it would be much easier for Alistair to intervene if Aria wasn't physically present during her disappearance.

Kharis didn't know the reason for permitting only one knight to leave the castle, however she was very sure that it had something to do with reporting her activities. She wouldn't really blame the knight if that was the case, Aria was still bound by the Emperor and unable to disobey his orders. Even if Alistair failed to protect her, there was still the option of the teleportation talisman.

"It is so close already"

Kharis said, feigning surprise in her voice to hide her real thoughts.

"My substitute for that day has already been chosen"

"From the imperial knight order I presume?"

Grisha only sent the knights he trusted the most when it came to matters concerning Kharis. Aria's case was rather special since she had ties to Polemos but Kharis had no doubt in her mind that the Emperor only chose Aria to fill such a role because he wanted to keep her within his grasp. Grisha wanted to take advantage of the fact that Alistair cares for his sister and use her as a leash to control him.

"I heard they are sending a top knight among the Emperor's guardians this time"

The Emperor's guardians were an order of knights directly under the Emperor's control, they were considered as a part of the imperial knight order but they were very different from the normal imperial order. These knights were given the best resources and trained with the best methods the continent had to offer in exchange for their freedom. Kharis was familiar with them because Grisha only ever sent a member of this particular order as a substitute for her original guardian knight. The knight that took on the role of a guardian knight before being replaced by Aria was also a member of the same knight order.

"I thought top knights are always busy with missions"

Kharis asked as they were slowly approaching the castle entrance.

"I thought so too, I was actually surprised when I heard it since the Emperor's guardians have always been quite a secretive bunch"

"I wonder what is so special about a top knight of the order"

"The rumours say that they train using very special methods and can't be compared to to normal members of the order"

"We can't really know for sure"

Kharis merely shrugged.

The conversation ended soon after as they had finally reached the castle.