“Don’t worry. You’re still my one and only sister.”

Early the next morning, King Taras came to see Dana Rowen. Dana lay in bed, forced to look at her brother. The king gently stroked her head as she stared at him with puffy eyes. Sitting beside her, he appeared genuinely caring.

“You’re the only princess of this kingdom. No one can deny that.”

Dana regarded King Taras with a strange feeling. Her brother had never treated her so kindly before. He had never called her his only sister or acknowledged her unique existence, not even when she desperately needed to hear those words.

Instead, he had told her to learn from the queen and know her place. The queen, aware that the king had little affection for his sister, was cold toward Dana. Dana found her much older brother and his wife intimidating, and she was always frightened in their presence.

The king hoped that once his sister came of age, she would quietly marry and leave. To him, the current Dana was undoubtedly the sister he wanted.

What he desired was a sister who was incompetent and posed no threat to him—a princess who could do nothing.

“If anyone insults you over this, I won’t forgive them in the name of the King of Rowen. What’s the big deal about a divine beast? There’s no problem without one. Don’t worry.”

Dana remained silent. Rowen, the kingdom of the divine beast legion. The mysterious power of the divine beasts was what allowed this small kingdom to stand alongside the great powers. Knowing its value, the Queen of Heinz had engaged her to her son, even though Dana neither used nor revealed the divine beast.

“I want to rest.”

Dana spoke in a hoarse voice from crying so much. She seemed quite pitiful in the king’s eyes. He quickly nodded and replied, “Alright. You’ll feel better after a good sleep.”

Forget everything. With those words, the king rose from his seat.

As she watched him leave, receiving bows from the maids, Dana pondered. How could she forget? She had heard that he was beheaded and that his head was displayed in front of the palace. With one eye swollen shut from a blow to the head, she had heard those words from someone unknown. Leaving behind the disgraceful news of her brother’s death, she had walked barefoot on a stony path, her hands bound, being dragged to Heinz.

‘It’s all gone now.’

Dana thought this as she rubbed her swollen eyes and closed them. Suddenly, she noticed the aquamarine bracelet on her wrist. She lowered her hand and, out of habit, touched the bracelet’s gemstones, feeling the small beads under her fingers.

When the maids closed the curtains they had briefly opened, the room was enveloped in darkness.

Dana wanted to rest for a while. Her mind was that of a 21-year-old princess who had been dragged away and imprisoned after losing a war, while her body was that of a 17-year-old princess who had spent the entire day crying and tense. She needed rest. A long, long rest.