Chapter 30

At first she did not understood why does Vladimir told her to wear winter coat and keep warm, however, once they went through the portal, she immediately realized why. The moment they arrived at the other side of the portal, the temperature had dropped significantly. The cold sent shiver to her spine. "This—" she muttered.

"Although most part of the Sergeyev Duchy used magic to maintain the same weather throughout the year, there were still part of the land that did not," he said, "this mansion were located not far from the small town and had been the fortress that protected the people from any monsters invasion. You may stumbled upon rare animals that could not be seen in anywhere else but here."

He extended his hand as she placed her hand on his palm. Vladimir pulled her to walk through the hallway until they reached the exit.

The freezing fog clouded her view. It took a moment before she were able to see her surrounding. Everything was white. It was white and cold. There were piles of snow everywhere. Snow crystals floating in the air, and icicles hanging from branches of the tree. Every time she breathe out, familiar cloud of smoke coming out from her mouth.

"It is indeed beautiful. Exquisitely beautiful that I could not find a word to describe the beauty," she said, dazzled by the scenery.

"You have not yet seen the spectacular colorful lights that dance, up in the sky when the day turned night," he replied with a smug on his face.

"Was it magic?"

"No. It was not magic. It was a natural phenomena that happen only on this land throughout the whole world. That was also the reason why this land must not be touched by the magic that disturbed the natural weather, or else, it would lose it shines."

"How unfortunate it would only occur at night."

"There was another thing you need to know."

"What was that?"

"The night in this land were long. Longer than night in other place. Coincidentally, the time we arrived here is when the night would come."

Looking at the proud face of the man sent an itch into her heart. There was something attractive about his arrogant demeanor. "It make me wonder, how long does the night?"

"The cycle of day and night goes by two month daylight, and four month nighttime. Fascinating, would you agree?"

"It is, indeed." She turned her face toward Vladimir, "then, My Lord, how does the people lived their daily life? How were their sleep? Would it not affect their sleeping pattern?"

Vladimir sneered, "I brought you here for you to rest, not to think more than you should… However, if you still wished to fulfill your desire for knowledge, you may call the butler and he would tell you everything you wanted to know. He is part of the town, and were more familiar than I am. I am sure he could give you all the story you desire."

"I will do that later then…"

Vladimir put his hand on her shoulder, he said, "Get inside first. We shall have our rest and meals before the night came. When night arrived, I will bring you to one spot which I knew were the best for sightseeing."

One time he was domineering, another time he was caring. Aretha felt conflicted with her own feeling when she realized she started to feel attracted to this man. However, she assured herself that she must never let the feeling developed any further. She was scared, because she knew, he did not loved her. She knew that he only found her to be different and unique from the women he knew, hence brought his interest toward her. There was a line and boundaries that she vowed to never crossed.

Few hours after they had their meals, when the sky turned dark, and the night came, Vladimir went to Aretha's room. "Night had arrived. Shall we?" he said extending his hand toward her.

"It would be my honor," she replied as she hold his hand.

Vladimir led Aretha to the horse stable. "It would be quite a walk, thus, I thought it was better to ride a horse there."

Vladimir hopped onto the horse first before he pulled her up and let her sit in front of him. Although she felt uncomfortable with her position, she was secured when Vladimir embraced her from behind to make sure she would not fall. He pulled the rein on the horse.

They went out from the fortress and galloping through the forest until they reached a vast lake filled with cold water that did not froze despite being part of the snowy region. Once her eyes laid on the the view of the night sky, the gray iris of her eyes widen. The scenery upon her eyes dazzled her to the point of leaving her speechless without a single word.

There was colorful lights dancing and waving through the night sky. The shining emerald green, vibrant violet, radiant ruby, vigorous cobalt blue, dancing to their own melody, with the countless sparkly stars liven up the festivity up in the dark sky.

"How was it?" he whispered to her ear.

"It was… ethereal…" she said, her eyes stuck on the enchanting view.

He chuckled, "indeed, it is."

"My Lord, when you looked at this exquisite beauty, have you never thought, how beautiful the world would look like in its own natural beauty? Not the current beauty that were made up by the living beings."

"The magicians and the alchemists made it for the sake of living beings, so that the other could live in comfort and safety. Indeed, it was true that the world were beautiful in it own natural beauty but it could also be dangerous for us living beings, and do not guarantee comfort and safety."

"However, My Lord, what if, what had been for our comfort and safety slowly became the hidden weapon that would struck us in our security?"

"Then, they could just eliminate any possible harm that could come. You do not have to worry about anything in those little head of yours." He stroke her hair down to her cheek, and added, "as long as you stay by my side, I will ensure that no harm will be brought upon you, and if even little bit of harm came, I promise to eliminate its cause for you."

Aretha hold Vladimir's hand that was caressing her cheek, "that was a nice promise, I shall hold you accountable for it."

"Do I look like someone who could not fulfill such promise?" he said as he scoffed.

"No, Lord Vladimir." She added in her thought, 'you just do not have my trust.'

***

Daphne took out few bottles containing beautiful colored liquid and placed it on the table between her and Minerva. "Sister told me to pass this to you."

Minerva eyes widen in excitement. "This must be beauty product that you and Lucy were working on right?" She glanced toward Lucy who were sitting next to Daphne.

Daphne nodded. "Yes, however the credit shall went to sister. She was the one who gave us the recipe."

"Oh? She did?"

Lucy nodded. "Right! Sister's grandmother used to be the best potion maker in our village. However, sister had no aptitude in alchemy, so she gave us the recipe instead and told us to do whatever we wanted."

"You two must have had your share of fun experimenting with various recipe…"

"Lucy did." Daphne turned her face toward the girl beside her, "her favorite would be any recipe with healing properties. She had a dream to become doctor."

"Oh really?" Minerva looked at the shy girl beside Daphne, "I believed you would become a great doctor. However, I must asked… Have you not thought about becoming a healer instead?"

"I would love to," Lucy said, "however, I must gain the healing ability to do so, and not only I have to wait for my manifestation period, I also do not know whether my ability would be healing ability or not."

"Then I pray that you shall gain healing ability when you went through your manifestation period." Minerva assuring the girl, hoping that the little girl would not lose faith before it happen.

Lucy giggled in amusement. "Lady Minerva, you said the same thing as sister did. I can see why sister look up to you."

"She did? I can see why." Her reply brought laughter into the room. She added, "Lucy… our family's doctor were an expertise in potion making. He was a man of great character and knowledgeable. Do you want to try and meet him first?"

"Could I?"

"Of course you could. You might not be able to meet any doctor in Vladimir's castle because his trusted healer were truly remarkable talent, however, that would not be the case in my land. Both healer and doctor were needed here, for their talent and their knowledge. My maid will lead you to his workroom. In the meantime, I would love to have a chat with Daphne."

Lucy trotted out of the room with an enthusiasm that could easily be seen on her face. Daphne snickered, feeling entertained by Lucy's jolliness. She looked at Minerva and asked if there was anything confidential that she need to hear or know without the others knowing it.

"You are indeed quick on the uptake. You and Peter that is…" Minerva replied as she leaned her back on the sofa. She added, "there was something that I wanted to ask you… Daphne, did you know what were His Majesty nickname among the commoners was?"

"Alaric the second, for he was a benevolent, wise, and peaceful ruler, much like the first legendary ruler that reign our empire. That was what I heard from the few maids and servants at the castle."

"That's right… However, do you know what was His Majesty nickname among the nobles?"

"No." She shook her head.

"How about from the place you used to stay?"

"They would called him cunning and wise ruler. However, sister always told me not to blindly believed in a one sided judgment. Give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Then what was your thought on his ruling?"

"My thought?"

"Yes, your thought."

"That would be hard for me to answer."

"Why?"

"Because I am nothing but an ignorant girl, oblivious to the structure of the politics within the empire. I could not gave my political conviction without having solid foundation on that matter. It would be foolish of me to state my belief that were created from my imagination."

"It was a no wonder why would Ella purposely mentioned your fascination on the matter. So it was for this…"

Daphne tilted her head, confused. "Pardon me?"

"Daphne… Would you like to stay with me?"

"What?" Her eyes widen.

"I am sure you knew that your sister would asked for me when it came to matter regarding you all. She briefly mentioned about your interest… I knew you would be reluctant to leave her, however, if you were sponsored by me, you would be able to go to the academy without any worry. Of course, I knew it would not be easy to make the decision. You can take your time thinking about it. Your sister sent me letter, stating that she would come here to pick you up."

"Then, is it fine if I gave it some thought first?"

"Of course, you could discuss it with Ella when she arrived. Oh dear! Look at the time, shall we go to the dining hall together? They must be waiting for us."

Daphne nodded and follow the noble lady to the dining hall where the Marquis, Marchioness and the other children were chatting happily while waiting for the two of them.

____________________

*Little Theater*

CatTheReader : "Was the colorful lights aurora borealis?"

C.Udon : "It was based on that…"

CatTheReader : "I never knew that was the cycle of day and night in the country with northern light…"

C.Udon : "No! No, no, no… It was based on that, but was not exactly that… First of all, the setting of this fantasy was in another world that was not our Mother Earth…. Understand?"

CatTheReader : "Oh~ Then what world was this?"

C.Udon : "This is fantasy setting… This is the world that I created for the sake of this story… What to do.. My knowledge on this world was limited… I can only created something out of my imagination… To make sense…"

CatTheReader : "Oh~Then… was that lights aurora borealis?"

C.Udon : (￣_￣|||)