Outan

"Do you wish for revenge?"

"What are you doing here, Princess Rebecca?"

"I am proposing a deal."

"What do you want?"

"Nothing much, we have a common enemy, so we can help each other."

"No. Get out."

"Are you sure? After all, that woman humiliated you so much, I can't believe you can go out showing your face as if nothing had happened."

"Get out! I am not dealing with addicts."

The woman rebuking Rebecca was Princess Airia. After she came back to her country, the King of Outan was so mad that he expelled her from the palace and made her live in the countryside for the rest of her days. The only people that were allowed to follow her were three of her mother's knights. The ones that always accompanied her.

However, Princess Rebecca arrived at her deserted villa that morning. She even proposed a deal against the woman who dared to mock her and caused her misfortunes.

"Addict? What are you talking about?"

Airia smiled covering a mocking sound with her hand. "I can see it clearly Princess. Don't need to hide it. The red and tired eyes, the dried mouth, the anxiousness in the hands and feet. The lost gaze."

"You know very well about this condition."

"I don't know what kind of potion you had been drinking to make you like that, but don't take me for a complete fool. I won't negotiate with you."

Airia knew those symptoms very well, as her mother died because of them. Someone induced a drug to her mother's tea every day of her life until she died, and she showed the exact face of Rebecca. Her father, that hateful man never cared about her mother and after one month, he married her stepmother, now the Queen and mother of the Crown Prince.

That woman tried to sell Airia to other Kingdoms as a bride since long ago, but Airia created problems in each and every one of the countries to get expelled and to never get inside them again. With time she just became accustomed to that kind of behavior. Only her knights were loyal to her now.

It was common knowledge that the Queen despised her. The social activities of the high nobility on Outan were hosted by the Queen and she never made the intention to invite or educate the little Princess. Her father, the King was not interested in those little details as he was more preoccupied with expanding his wealth.

He had never cared about his daughter and late wife anyway, they were just business transactions. But when the little spoiled Princess made a ruckus in every single country ruining his business and making him lose wealth, he decided to exile her forever from the palace.

"Princess Airia, or should I say Miss Airia Lorem now? Aren't you angry at that woman for what she did to you? To lose your reputation and be expelled to this remote place?"

"Sigh… Princess Rebecca, you are so far away from your little country. Why not go away and take hostage other people, more useful people and let my knights and me go?"

Airia was sitting on a chair inside her little villa but her hands and feet were being held by a cold and dense black shadow. She could not move an inch and her hands were starting to feel numb because of the cold.

Then some painful cries reached her ears, they came from a few meters away from her, where her loyal knights were lying on the floor. They had engaged in a fiery battle a few minutes before but didn't have the strength to fight those shadows.

"Little Princess what I am proposing is not a big deal. But you can gain power enough to smash your enemies to the ground. Don't you want that?"

Rebecca took a sip from the cup filled with warm tea and looked at Airia with an arching brow. Rose's eyes were looking tired as the sunrise was starting to hit the windows and the power of the shadows was diminishing.

"I already told you I am not interested. Let go of my knights now."

"What a pity. I could even help you take down the ones on the throne right now. They were after all your mother's…"

She took another sip of her tea and rose from the chair.

"What about my mother?"

"Oh, didn't you know?

"Tell me." Airia's eyes narrowed and her heartbeat increased.

"Little Princess. The ones in the palace of Outan were the murderers of your mother. That drug is a specialty from Yin Island and can you guess who is from there? Don't you recall?"

Yin Island was the birthplace of her stepmother. Airia suspected her long ago but never had proof nor ways to investigate anything. She only knew about her mother's condition from Nanny Kim, the loyal maid from her mother's family. She told Airia that her mother had been fed for a long time some kind of drug that killed her, but that was not all. That drug made her submissive and in the end, they used her to betray her country and condemn her as a traitor sending her to her execution right away. The King took the current Queen as his wife without any trouble after that.

"Do you have any proof?"

"Of course. The people living on that island are witches. An ancient clan of witches, very conservative and with enormous greed. They had tried many times to infiltrate many little Kingdoms and were successful in most of them. But their people are bound to be loyal to their island and their Master forever, and to ensure that they hid a mark in their body, a blackbird. Have you seen it, Princess?"

"… Yes"

Airia indeed had seen the mark. Once by mistake, she spilled a cup of tea on her stepmother's sleeve. That's when she saw the blackbird mark on her wrist for a second before it disappeared as if it'd never been there. That gained her a harsh slap in the cheek and some nights locked in the dungeon.

"Then, do you agree?"

"No… not now. I had to make sure. Give me some time." Airia was lost in thought, but then looked at Rebecca with honest eyes. She had to make sure that what she was told was true and not some kind of trick. After all, she had nothing to lose and she knew Rebecca was aware as she came to negotiate with an exiled.

"Very good princess, but don't leave me hanging for long or the offer will fly away. "

"I know, how will I contact you?"

"Tell the shadows."

Airia looked around to the dark silhouettes on the floor and around her arms and feet. She was terrified at first, but nothing could scare her anymore thanks to her stepmother that made sure of that.

However, something Princess Rebecca didn't know was that Airia already knew that her stepmother was a witch, a powerful one that enjoyed tormenting her creating illusions and nightmares for her every single day and night. Her mind was going crazy and her behavior more erratic. If not for her knights and her mother's family she would have lost her mind completely.

She looked up to see Rebecca, but she was already gone. Her knights slowly stood up and the injuries they had before started to fade away as if they had never been there.

"Princess, we should tell Madam."

"Don't talk."

She signaled at the shadows nearby. Then a knight took out his sword, the handle was engraved with a peculiar carving, a sun with a cross inside, then the knight whispered a word and with a rapid movement pierced the floor, the whole room lit up with a warm light.