Chapter 11-The Failed Assassination

I woke up early before the sun came up. I wanted the prior walk in the forest near the castle. My mood changed when I saw Big Brother Rowan yawning across the hallway, wearing his training attire. I ignored Big Brother Rowan. I walked past and stared. “Where do you think you are going, Epiphany?” Big Brother Rowan questioned me the same as a prisoner. I coldly stare toward him. He has the guts to ask me such a question. He assumes I can escape this prison? “Along the hell. Do you want to join me, Big Brother Rowan?”

He glared while he disliked my tone. “Why are you cold, Epiphany?” Big Brother Rowan impatiently spoke. “Seeing I am not the Epiphany you knew anymore.” I left him standing alone in the hallway. When I stepped closer to the door, I heard his plea. “Epiphany, please, don’t leave us.”

I stopped walking when I heard those words. I lied. I remember him. Even his lies and the pain I felt before. I turned around, and I looked expressionless at Big Brother Rowan. “Never say those words again. I already heard the same words. Remember, I also plead, but you did not hesitate running away from me. Every day, I wonder when would you pick me up in that orphanage? I always asked myself. Am I a bad girl and deserve that kind of treatment? Am I too ugly to be thrown away? Too many questions were bothering me back then. Tell me you remember those words!” I speak out of frustration.

I walked away and never looked back. Hearing his nonsense words makes me sick. He no longer brings back the younger obedient Epiphany. I enter the forest and look around my surroundings. I studied each plant and took notes on their ability. I can’t go back to Glaustein because of a royal decree, and staying here is a living hell. I looked up, checking a specific tree and its medical use. I was shocked when I saw Typhon looking away from the east where the sun rises. Typhon looked at me and jumped down.

“It’s surprising to see here, Your Royal Highness. What are you doing here?” Typhon asked in a confusing tone. I crossed my arms out of his reaction. Do I need to explain to him myself what I am doing inside the forest? I raised my eyebrows and let out a sigh.

“Just doing my ordinary routine as a witch. Never call me Royal Highness. It ticks me off.” I was irritated to speak. He chuckled and looked again at the sun as it rose. I saw his smile again, a beaming light that warms anyone’s heart. “Why do you hate being royalty?” Typhon speaks with his calming voice.

I raised my eyebrows and looked away from him. Do I need to tell the reason I hate the royalties? “They destroy my life, nothing else.” My anger is an inferno and no one can take it out. Typhon messed up my hair and threw a question. “Do you like sunrise?”

What kind of question is that? I looked into his eyes, and for the first time, I was mesmerized. “No, I hate sunrise. It always tells me I will waste another time on nonsense,” I spoke in a calm voice. No, I hate it because in my former life, my father liked the sunrise even though he couldn't go outside because of his skin condition. I died in my father’s hands in my past life and sunrise reminds me of him.

“That’s the sense of time. Time flies, doubting whether you presume you did a great job. I assume you’re fond of the sunset?” Typhon speaks out of his curiosity. This is not the Typhon I know. He is not a talkative person. I glared and threw a dart at him coming from the pouch I carried. I noticed it back in the palace. The person back in the palace questioned my cold treatment, even though the real Big Brother Rowan knew the reason. “Who the heck are you?” He dodges it faster and catches his breath. He raised up his hands and surrendered. “When did you know that I’m not Typhon?” he says out of his nosiness.

“When I saw that real you back in the palace. You’re not Typhon. Show up yourself, Prince Rowan.”

He revealed himself, and his smile was not the same. He scratches his scalp as I discover his disguise. “You still don’t accept me as your brother?”

Loneliness glimmers in his eyes, but hatred burns my heart for the rest of its life. “No, and I will never accept it.” I spoke in a bitter tone. I walked away when suddenly I saw Typhon standing in front. “Hatred will never bring happiness. But I’m not saying to forgive the royal family easily,” Typhon spoke in his normal voice.

Even though I want to let out some tears, my eyes are too tired of being dramatic. “I know, but this life of mine will never be the same! All of you will tell me to move on, but pain won’t go away! Just stay away from me!” I speak in an abrupt tone. My eyes widened when I saw the fencer vine woke up and sharpen his vines. The fencer vine attacked Big Brother Rowan, but before it landed on his body, I already pushed him away. His eyes widened when the fencer vines pierce through my body. Tears fell from Big Brother’s eyes.

“It’s painful to see that you had the guts to cry. It irritates me,” I uttered. Typhon breaks the vines using his void ability but it can’t pass through it. “Typhon. Calm down,” I speak in a shaking voice. I coughed up some blood, but I need to be removed from these vines. I mouthed the incantation effective against the fencer vines.

“Remotus!”

I shouted in pain and my body when the fencer vines removed his vines. My body was covered in blood and I fell to the ground. Typhon became furious. He covered the fencer vines in a void. I can hear the screams of the fencer vine before Typhon’s void exploded. Big brother Rowan was shaking when he ran beside me. He lifts me up from the ground and immediately runs into the palace. Big Brother Rowan shouts for help, and the entire palace is a mess.

“You don’t have to be absurd, Big Brother Rowan. I need to rest to enhance the regenerating spell I put before the fencer vines pierce my body,” I utter in a lower voice.

For the second time, I vomited blood again and when I saw my hands; I determined that I’ve been poisoned. “So, the spell I put is futile?” I utter. Typhon was shaking in his place and looked at me with his serious expression.

“You can’t die yet! Remember our promise, Epiphany!” Typhon spoke in a yelling manner.

My vision blurs and all I can hear are their distorted voices. I guess the grim reapers are lingering around me. I closed my eyes because of losing consciousness.

“Who says death can have you?”

I woke up, and I saw Alethea. She was fighting a grim reaper for my life. “Wake up, Serena! This is not the end for you! Remember all the reasons I gave you the power of truth!” Alethea speaks to let out her frustration. She snapped her finger and the grim reaper vanished. She raised her thumbs up and she almost choked me when she shook my projection body in her world.

“What the hell are you thinking? You almost kill yourself again!” Alethea speaks to me in a lecturing manner. I hit her nape while she was lecturing me. “Well, sorry for making you worried,” I spoke in sincerity. She crossed her arms and talked about what had happened earlier.

“Someone is trying to kill your brother. I know you notice that the fencer vines have poison,” Alethea talked in a serious voice. Alethea was right. I know it’s not new anymore for a royal family, but who might it be? There’s no doubt that he or she was a threat to our lives!