Chapter 13

I prepared everything for Isaiah's special day—a picnic basket with tiramisu, chocolate crepes, tea and other utensils. Now, I need to go get dressed since I'm still in my nightgown with a silk robe on and wake up Isaiah. Actually I should wake up Isaiah first and then go get ready because I know it'll take some time to get him to wake up.

"OH MY LORD!! GRAYSON WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!!" I scarily screamed when I saw my personal knight standing outside by the door. My heart felt as if it had dropped to the pit of my stomach. I noticed that my scream had no impact on him but instead he looked tense.

"I'm sorry, My Lady. I didn't mean to scare you." He said with his head down.

"It's fine but what are you doing here?" I asked while calming myself down.

"I…I was here to guard you." He averted his eyes while I tried to make eye contact.

"And how did you even know that I was here? I came here secretly." I said as I started walking towards Isaiah's room.

"…Today is Prince Isaiahs birthday so…I figured that, My Lady, would be here." He said shyly.

"Mhm makes sense since I do this every year." I said.

As soon as I got to Isaiah's room, I immediately knocked on his door. First knock and no response. Second knock and no response. Third knock and no response. I abruptly open the door and see Isaiah sleeping peacefully on his stomach. I make my way to his bed and call his name repeatedly with my arms crossed.

"ISAIAH WAKE UP!!" I yelled after having spent so much time trying to wake him up calmly. Isaiah instantly gets up with a panicked look.

"What…What happened???" He asked with his eyes half closed.

"Get up, sleepyhead!!" I said annoyingly.

"I want to sleep!!!" He said as slumped back into bed but I immediately pulled him back up.

"Oh no no no! You are getting up and getting ready, birthday boy!" I said while trying my best to push him out of the bed. As he heard me say "birthday boy" he instantly woke up.

"Finally!" I heaved a sigh of relief and sat next to him. "Happy Birthday, my mischievous little brother!" I smiled and went in for a hug.

"Thank you!! You know you are always the first one to say happy birthday to me?" He said with a big smile.

"Yes I know and now you need to get ready so we can start your special day!" I got him from the bed and made my way out his room. "Ah, be dressed in your equestrian clothes!" I said as I closed his door.

"Ok!" I heard him say faintly when I closed his door.

I got ready quickly since I had my clothes already picked out last night and Lily helped out with the other things. After taking a bath, I got dressed and Lily put my hair up in a high ponytail with a midnight blue ribbon tied which matched perfectly with my clothes. She proceeded to put on a Sapphire brooch. I expressed my gratitude and went out to go to the kitchen so I could grab my picnic basket. Now I was making my way towards Isaiah's room with the picnic basket in my hand but to my surprise, he was already coming my way.

"Shall we go to the stables?" I asked as we walked towards each other.

"Yess! And did you make me tiramisu??" He excitedly asked.

"Yea I did! Oh do you want to go in the carriage or on Apollo?" I asked with a smile.

"Apollo!" He instantly responded back though I already knew the answer.

"Ok, then Lily will be going in the carriage and will look after the picnic basket."

"Why did you even ask if you had everything prepared already?" He curiously asked as he started to walk backwards so he could face me.

"Because it's necessary. And watch out! You might end up bumping into someone!" I pulled him to my side.

"My bad!" He giggled.

Once we arrived at the stables, I gave the picnic basket to Lily and walked out our horses. Both Dakota and Apollo were happy to see us and since I've been busy, I couldn't ride my horse with Isaiah as much.

"Lily, you should leave in the carriage now. Me and Isaiah will already be there before you guys." I informed Lily as she got in the carriage. I turned towards Grayson and Daniel. "Ah Grayson and Daniel, you both don't need to accompany us. I'll look after him and myself." I said nonchalantly.

"Ok…" Grayson said but Daniel remained silent.

"Daniel, don't worry! I won't let anything happen." I faintly smiled.

"Sis, they are going to act like that anyways since you are telling them not to do their job!" Isaiah said from the top of his horse.

"I know…Yo why are you already on your horse? I won't let you cheat!" I rushed to get on my horse. I glanced at Isaiah and he had already started riding his horse.

"It's my birthday so give me some slack!" He yelled as he sped more but I soon caught up.

"I don't give slack to cheaters so play fair and square!" I yelled as I got next to him but then instantly sped up as I passed him.

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Isaiah yelled loudly which made me giggle even more.

We soon got to our destination—the Heavenly Land. I got off of Dakota and tied her by a tree and waited for Isaiah to come to do the same thing.

"Just…Just how are you so fast??!" Isaiah was breathless as he walked towards me.

"You need to build up your stamina again! Be at training with me every morning!" I said as I plopped down on the flower field.

Isaiah sat next to me. "No I can't! You'll definitely torture me!" He said with seriousness.

"I won't torture you." I laughed lightly.

"You torture the knights tho!" He replied back.

"No, I don't!" I frowned, turning my head towards him.

"Oh yes, you do! That's why everyone is so scared of you even though you are the sweetest person!" He lovingly smiled at me.

"Well I don't care if they know how I actually am. Ah Lily is here." I started to get up as soon as I heard the horses' noise.

"Huh? Where?" Isaiah asked confusingly and looked around continuously.

"She'll be here in a few seconds. The carriage is close by." I said while dusting my pants.

"You heard that? Damn! Your hearing is really good." He looked at me with amazed eyes. Like I said, Lily has arrived and brought out the picnic basket with her. She went ahead and started to set up our picnic.

"Ah My Lady, enjoy your picnic! I'll wait in the carriage." She bowed down.

"Just walk around, no need to sit in the carriage alone and thank you!" I said with a smile.

"Thank you, My Lady! Ah Happy birthday, My Lord!" Lily politely said and left to take a walk. Me and Isaiah made ourselves comfortable on the picnic cloth. I served the tiramisu to Isaiah which he excitedly took from my hand and put some for myself too. I then took a book out from the picnic basket.

"Don't tell me you are going to read?" Isaiah said with a hint of disappointment.

"So?" I opened my book and began reading it.

"You're supposed to spend time with me! And why do you always have your head in your books??" Isaiah said with anger.

"Ok Ok, my bad! Then what do you want to do?" I said while putting away my book.

"Ugh boring! Anyways let's go ride our horse and by then, hopefully father arrives too!" Isaiah got up and started pulling me by my arm.

"Okkk, I'm getting up!"

We both went on a horseback ride for a little longer and when we got back to our picnic spot, Father was already waiting for us.

"Ah You both are back!" Father got up from the ground and went up to us. "Happy Birthday, Isaiah!"

"Thank you, Father!" I watched both Father and Isaiah hug, all I could do was affectionately smile at the sight. We all went ahead and sat down on the picnic cloth. I served Father some tiramisu, to which I received continuous compliments on. I'm good at baking so it's expected for me to get compliments on whatever I bake but on the other hand, cooking, I'm definitely not the best at it. That doesn't matter though since I won't have to ever cook for myself. After eating, me and Father give Isaiah his gifts. I gave him a bracelet which had his name engraved on it and his birthstone which is a diamond since he's born in April. Whereas Father gave him a magic stone which was designed especially to control his mana efficiently. Since his mana is almost overflowing and with too much mana accumulated will make it harder for him to control it. I noticed that Isaiah was distracted by the magic stone so I turned towards Father.

"Can I tell Isaiah now?" I whispered.

"No, you can't! Irene, you know he'll want to join you as well and I can't let that happen! I'm already letting you go and that's enough for my poor heart." Father sternly whispered. I couldn't do anything except nod.

After a while, we all headed back to the Imperial Palace and went to eat dinner. Isaiah went ahead of us, to drop off his gifts in his room while me and Father left to go to the dining hall.

"Irene, everyone will be informed that you are going abroad but tell your brother, a few days before you leave…okay?" Father worriedly told me.

"Yes, I understand!" I nodded slightly.

It has been about 3 months of preparing and we have 2 more weeks left before our departure to the battlefield. The past few months have been chaotic with me training with my knights, organizing the army with Captain Gabriel and doing all the documentation for the war. Ah everyone has been informed that I'll be going abroad for further studies which is why Isaiah tries to spend more time with me but it just makes me feel more guilty. Unfortunately, I can't spend as much time with him since most of my time goes toward preparing for the war but still he'll sit in my office with me while I buried my head in those boring and dreadful documents. And today, that is exactly what is happening. At first, Isaiah was sitting on the couch reading a book but now he's laying on the couch, slowly dozing off. Whereas I am still looking over these documents. I look over at Isaiah and it seems like he has fallen asleep, I get up from my chair to stretch. I walk over to Isaiah with a blanket in my hand and carefully cover him with the blanket. Out of nowhere, I hear a slight knock on the door which makes me flinch. Before answering the door, I look back at Isaiah and see that he's still sleeping, I lightly tug him in even more. I open the door cautiously, coming face to face with Sir Grayson and get out but before closing the door behind me, I look at Isaiah again to make sure I didn't wake him up.

"What did you need to inform me about?" I whispered as I closed the door completely.

"My Lady, Duke Astley is here to meet you." He said with a soft voice after noticing how careful I'm being.

"Again?! Please tell him to leave and that I'll meet him on the day we depart." I said with irritation apparent in my voice as I ran my fingers through my hair, I looked to my side and caught sight of a man standing by the entrance of the Imperial palace garden. My office was in the Main Palace since and the Imperial palace garden was right next to it whereas my garden was further into the Palace. It was common to see nobles visiting the Palace, also going to the Imperial garden since it was known for its lively beauty. I didn't think much of who that man was but I guess Sir Grayson noticed me looking at him curiously.

"Ah that's Duke Astley, he said he'll be waiting there for you." I turned my head so quickly with my eyes wide open. I bet my big eyes seemed even bigger. And why is he here again?? He has been visiting the palace for the past month, trying to get in contact with me. I have an idea of what he's going to talk to me about but I don't care, I've already decided to go to war.

"What do you mean? That's Duke Astley??" I was thunderstruck. I knew that he had been coming to the palace, trying to get my presence but I would always reject and didn't think much of it.

"Yes, My Lady." Grayson replied back confused.

"Wait Wait…I've been seeing that man at the training grounds as well for the past month…" I said, almost speechless.

"Yes, he has been watching you at all your swordsmanship training! I remember he asked me about your next schedule for the day but I couldn't say anything since I didn't know either." He informed me with a thinking face. I look over at Duke Astley once again but he's already looking at me. I quickly look away and turn to Sir Grayson.

"I'm going back in and please tell Duke Astley that I'll talk to him on the day of departure! Also tell him to stop looking for me everyday and that I won't change my mind regardless of what he has to say." I open the door and head back in. I leaned my head back on the chair after I made myself comfortable and closed my eyes. I was lost in my thoughts and couldn't stop thinking about the fact that the Duke would personally come to see me train. Duke Astley looked even colder than he did when he was younger…there is something about him which I always end up sympathizing with, after all he did go through so much in life.

It's the night before the departure and right now I am heading towards Isaiah's room to tell him the actual truth. Though Father ended up telling me to not tell him anything, I can't keep it away from him because what if…just what if I did die during the war? How would Father tell him that? It only turns into a tangled mess of grief and hatred. I know Isaiah would hate me for not telling him the truth and if I was in his shoes, I'd want to know the truth no matter how much it hurts.

"Hey, Isaiah! It's me!" I softly said as I entered his room.

"Sis! I was about to come to your room!" He pretended to show that he was happy.

"Isaiah, come and sit here." I went ahead and sat on his couch, then patted the spot next to me. He reluctantly came and sat next to me, confused at why I was suddenly acting this way.

"I have something to tell you…" I started talking as I held his hands. "I know you'll be mad at me after what I tell you but just know that I can't leave if I don't tell you the truth and I'll feel very guilty…" I slowly explained to him.

"What is it, Sis?" He asked me with a scared look.

"...I'm actually not going abroad but instead I'm joining the war and we'll be departing tomorrow." I told him the truth. For some reason, my eyes are becoming watery.

"…Are…Are you serious?…Is it too late to change your mind?" He said with tears welling up and I lightly nodded. "Then…be safe and look after yourself…please! Promise me that you'll come back!" He cried and pointed this pinky to me. I couldn't help it but after looking at Isaiah's cute and innocent behavior, I started to cry as well and brought my pinky out to make our pinky promise.

"I'll come back! Isaiah no matter how many years the war takes, I'll come back for you!" I went in to hug him as we both continued to cry our eyes out.