Politics and Power

He leaned closer. His eyes never left hers. "Since we were kids, you were always different. Smart—too smart. Powerful and most importantly, you knew things before they happened."

She maintained her silence. The reason why she was scared to tell him about her ability was actually that she was scared that he would blame her because of their parents' death. If she could see the future, why had she not stopped their deaths? She should have seen it, right?

"You know…" he leaned back, the corners of his lips turned down. "You should rest. Let's talk when you are ready." He smiled at her. "Don't worry… I am not that stupid. The fact that I am not saying anything doesn't mean that I don't know. Cassandra, I would trust you with my life."

She sat there as still as a statue and watched him finish his sandwich. To her relief, he said nothing about the matter again. Instead, he talked about random things about the gates. Soon, the conversation turned a bit lighter. A smile appeared on her face.

"So, you knew that people were after him? And yet you chose to travel using the forest? How stupid can you be?" she said.

He shrugged in response. "The Prince was guarding the western gates while I was guarding the eastern part of the gates. We have a few… disagreements. We don't necessarily hate each other but we weren't friends either."

"So you hate him."

"I just said—"

"I don't believe you." This man was pretty simple. He either liked someone or hated them. There was just nothing in between. He had been like that since they were children.

"Alright… the man was just too brutal for my elegant taste."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Explain?"

"Oh? Are you interested to know more about your future husband?"

"Stop it." Cassandra was planning to do everything in her power to stop the marriage. She would talk to the king if it was necessary.

He chuckled and drained her glass of juice. "He liked to torture demons with his water spells. In terms of ability, his water spells couldn't defeat my fire element. However, his ability to use swords and daggers is better than mine. I don't know what happened. I knew there had been some sort of accident and he could no longer use his elements. Then I received orders to escort him."

"Why did you take him to the forest?"

"I heard about the rumors of demons hunting him. Must be because he loved to torture them." He sighed. "That man is dangerous. But if you want me to kill him— "

"No." She interrupted him. "Let's not resort to extreme methods." She gave him a gentle smile. She recalled how this man had always had her back since they were kids. If she decided to kill someone, Carmichael would be the first one to plan the whole murder scene for her, and then volunteer to bury the body.

He clenched his jaw. His handsome features turned serious. "The Empire is trying to screw the four great families." He stated. "This marriage is another political move. It's like playing chess. And that damn king wants to use you as a pawn."

She only smiled. The mention of the king reminded her of another vision that she had seen. It was a vision of Prince Hunter killing his own father. "Why is this happening?"

"The Empire had been training soldiers, knights, and conjurers alike. The four great clans have always had this unseen rivalry, and the empire took advantage of that. After you left, they started posting soldiers at the gates who were loyal only to the empire. Some people found it difficult to order them around because of their numbers."

Politics and power.

Cassandra had always thought they were boring. But coming from her own brother's mouth, they actually sounded interesting. "You are also a general, no?"

"I am. Without my abilities, those people would never let me order them around."

She nodded. "Must be stressful, huh? Is that why you look decades older than your age?"

He opened his mouth to argue, however they were interrupted by another servant informing them that their grandfather and uncle wanted to see them. The two met each other's eyes before they snorted at the same time.

"Tell them, Cassandra needs to sleep. Don't disturb a woman who hasn't gotten her dose of coffee for the day."

"Tell them we're coming," Cassandra said. She gave her brother a smile of assurance. "I won't kill anyone."

The servant nodded and quickly left them.

"This is about the wedding. That Penry would not want you to marry the Prince."

"I know," she sighed. "If I had known that I would get embroiled in so much trouble because of going to that forest, I would have just stayed in the training camp that day." Sadly, regrets always come in the end. She thought of the Prince and that tender gaze that he had given her before she fainted.

Hey, at least, he hadn't killed her when she had fainted. That should be a good sign, right?

The relationship between the royals and the four great families was already bad. Why would the king want her to marry into the royal family? Was he trying to use her against the La Roche Family?

Sadly, even her ability to see the future could not answer her questions.

"Let's go?"

She nodded at Carmichael's words. Then the two left the room and entered their grandfather's room.

"Ah! Here she is…" Penry's condescending voice instantly annoyed her. "Who would have thought that she was declining my offer to marry her off to some widower because she had wanted to marry the crippled prince all along? I never—"

BANG!

Before Penry could finish his words, a ball of dark flames suddenly made its way to him. Luckily, he was able to spot it and avoided the attack. "You—what did you do that for?"

"Oops! My hand slipped." The smile on Cassandra's face was gentle. It was the exact opposite of the sinister glint that flashed in her eyes. "Maybe it's because I didn't have my coffee?"