The Visit.

The room was warm when Raziah's long and curved lashes fell open, the sleep dissipating from her eyes as her vision grew less blurry till everything was clear. She was lying on the bed alone, and there was no one in the room with her.

She pushed her upper body forward to sit up. Her tied hair which had loosened up was all over her face, wavy and utterly angelic on her. Her cold eyes weren't even hindering any fragment of her beauty from being displayed. It was already morning when she woke up, informing her that she had slept for the whole of yesterday, and last night. Looking down at her injured palm, she saw that it had been well taken care of, and a clean white thin sheet had been wrapped around it.

Without wasting any more time, she walked up to the cupboard and pulled out a change of clothes before heading to the bathroom. Unknowingly to Raziah, a familiar piece of paper had dropped as she took the clothing out before she walked into the bathroom and locked the door.

She trimmed her long hair back to its previous height, washed up, took her bath, and wore her new set of clothes before walking out. She took out her comb and sat in front of the mirror with a towel to do her wet hair. Raziah looked totally calm as if she had already warned her brain not to bring back the memory of what happened yesterday with Maria and Fabia.

Once she was done, she picked up a book to read and her curious eyes flew to the door, wondering where her husband had gone this early in the morning. She had halfway through the pages when a soft knock came from the door, and before she could even drop the book to answer it, the door knob was turned and a familiar face walked into the room.

"Your highness," Raziah dropped the book by her side, seeing as the princess was the first person she was seeing today.

Gwenore was dressed differently today. Unlike yesterday when she was dressed in suit-like royal clothing as she got ready to shoot arrows, today she was wearing a gorgeous dress with her long hair let down completely. The silhouette was so long that it dragged along behind her.

"You're finally awake." Gwenore stated, stepping into the room completely.

"I am." Raziah responded, still seated.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better," Raziah didn't want to talk too much. She'd really enjoy her day if no one bothered her with petty talks and keep making her open her mouth. Since when she got married, she had spoken more than three months' worth of how much she speaks back at Naria, and it was beginning to irk her.

Gwenore helped herself and sat on the bed. Raziah's thick scent was everywhere in the room, but there was someone else's too which Gwenore wasn't very pleased with but managed to keep her cool. She had personally come here and had been checking on Raziah because she had been a little suspicious since yesterday about what happened.

And last night after the cloaked men had been thoroughly punished and interrogated, they had spilled the whole truth.

"Are you strong enough? I came to talk about what happened at the event,"

"I'm listening," The strange princess dropped the book beside her, giving her attention to the other Princess.

"If you haven't heard, well yesterday something went down at the sporting event while it was about to end. At the whole scene, we found five things. Two men who happened to be responsible for trying to kill me, an arrow, and a kitchen knife, and the last was blood that was confirmed to be a mixture of two,"

Raziah didn't show a glint of fear or nervousness.

"It was confirmed that a part of the blood happened to be yours, but the other...was a maid's that you seem close with. Again, the kitchen knife was said to be from Erandell, handled by the king's chef himself, yet the only people here from that kingdom are you, his Majesty, and his guard. The other warriors from Erandell arrived at noon yesterday, so they aren't among the suspects. What do you have to say about all of this?"

Raziah wasn't stupid. They should have known everything by now if the culprits had already been interrogated. Hiding the fact that she threw the knife when one of the cloaked men had probably seen her was impossible, plus Maria had been shot too, yet she was healed miraculously - which would have come as a shocker to all of them. By now, Maria must have already been questioned too, and the problem here was that Raziah has no idea what to say when she doesn't know the excuse Maria gave, to enable both stories tangible and believable.

"I don't know what it is, but I hardly remember anything that happened since I woke up, your highness. Apologies for the inconvenience, but if you can give me some time to sort everything out, I'll personally come to you and give my side of the story," Another smooth lie fell sharply from her lips as they held gazes.

Gwenore was the first to look away, already getting chills just by staring Into those cold eyes. Her eyes shifted to the wrapped palm of Raziah, then back to her face. In this kingdom, they had only five antidotes of that particular poison kept in a secret chamber, and not even the doctor yesterday knew or had a bottle of it. It was so precious that their kingdom only managed to acquire so little of it, yet his Majesty of Erandell had used one on his...guest.

Apart from that, there was the hug she ran into them sharing. His Majesty had been holding her so close, and he had this look in his eyes that could melt any person's heart, but that scene only made Gwenore sting and burn on the inside. She loathed it.

"You're right," Gwenore stood up, nodding, "I shouldn't have questioned you so early when you're obviously still recovering."

Raziah didn't bother herself to stand up, her butt was enjoying the soft couch, "Thank you for understanding," she replied.

"Once you remember, get to me first. My father isn't happy about the matter, and he wants to know everything before taking any steps. I don't know whether you were a target of what happened too since you were shot, so I'll advise you to stay indoors till it's solved. His Majesty of Erandell is with my father now, and honestly, everyone thinks this matter is a little more complicated than we all think it is, do you get what I'm saying?"

Raziah only nodded.

Whipping around, Gwenore walked towards the door elegantly, the aura of royalty pouring from her shoulders as her beautiful hair danced behind her. She had just opened the door with one leg outside when she asked without turning around, her fist tightening around the knob, "You're...more than just his guest, aren't you?" She almost cursed inwardly when she heard the bitter tone she had unintentionally let out with the question, a little hiss at the end.

Raziah who was already reaching out for the book paused midway. Of course, she wasn't! She was no whore! She's never even slept with any man before, and the words were right there on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she responded calmly, "I apologize dearly."

Looking up at the princess, Raziah's brow lifted in a little shock and question when she saw the pure strength the princess was applying to the knob, as if she was planning to pull it out completely. Huh? Was that even possible?

Then, Gwenore took in a deep breath, "I see," Right before she left, closing the door softly behind her.

Finding Maria was the next thing on Raziah's mind, and seeing that she was just an ordinary maid, she truly hoped they weren't holding her hostage. There wasn't a second to waste any more as she tossed the book aside, and was out of her chambers the next minute.

If she could bump into her husband now, finding Maria would be much easier. The unease flooding down her back told her someone was watching her from somewhere, and this gaze was nowhere near the one she felt back at Erandell, but that didn't stop her from whisking around to see who was there.

And as usual, she was alone... But she wasn't.

She was already a little far away from her chambers, and the knife wasn't with her anymore. Taking those facts into account, it still didn't stop her from striding back to where came from, scanning through her surrounding.

"It's useless!" She deadpanned, stopping in her tracks, "I know you are there."

Then, light footsteps approached her direction before someone a little familiar came into view. Right, she shouldn't be so frightened anymore and on her feet since everything around here seem shady and mysterious.