Unconvincing conviction.

"Don't say it!" Raziah coldly snapped, sending a chilly gaze at the doctor. It looked as if the Golden freckles on her irises had darkened, taking a frigid edge that screamed...run!

Seeing the way Fabia's body shuddered and quickly backed away from Raziah as if she had just been burnt, Raziah quickly blinked her eyes severally, gathering her composure once again. She took in Several deep breaths, and in a minute or so...her eyes were back to normal. Then, she reached up and packed her hair, hiding the new length.

"I apologize for that," Raziah aired, dropping her hands while staring at Fabia as she started rubbing her wristband again, "I just don't want to talk about anything concerning who I am. Can you please pretend you never saw anything? If you can't, can you just not talk to me about it? Or anyone else? Ever?"

"I won't talk to anyone else about this..." Fabia stepped closer, a soft look in her grey eyes, "Except you,"

Before Raziah could react to her words, the older woman quickly added, "Do you know jennet? Jennet Lazarus?"

Of course. She was the best doctor in the kingdom, the closest woman to Raziah's mother, and the both of them were very good friends, "How do you know her?" The topic was very sensitive for the Princess, and her heart kept squeezing with every word.

"I'm Fabiana Lazarus. Jennet was my mother," Fabia confessed.

And Raziah grew stiff once again.

"I left with my father when I was very young, so I wasn't there when..." Fabia's tone trailed off. She sighed deeply, staring at the princess who had turned into a statue. After a few seconds of utter silence, the doctor added, "I just wanted you to know,"

"I'm a different person now. Everything has changed, that's all I have to say." Raziah's emitted stiffly.

"It wasn't a good idea to bring something like that. She's still recovering," Whispered Maria in a warning tone. She woke up about two minutes ago.

"I have to let her know one way or the other. I'm supposed to be her..."

Raziah stood up from where she squatted, taking off the cloak. If the two women wouldn't speak in private about her, then she would just leave the tree for them to have their sweet chats.

"But if she changed everything, why didn't she change her name?" Fabia curiously asked, making Raziah walk away even faster. She didn't want to hear even a needle drop from them, and she would be very glad if they would just drop the whole conversation.

The palace was in sight from where she was, so she headed for its gates. The guards recognized her and let her inside. Raziah's body was even colder now as she made her way straight for her chambers, only to meet her husband on the way.

Beside him was Princess Gwenore, along with Felix and three other people she's never met before. They were dressed as warriors too, but had the same uniform as Felix, informing her that they were from Erandell. Two women, and a man.

"Where have you been?!" His sharp and crusty low growl asked as Aragon walked up to her. His warm hands touched her shoulders as he analyzed the look in her eyes and instantly concluded that something was wrong.

"Your Majesty, I'm fine." She uttered impassively, "I apologize for causing you trouble, again,"

"Hazel, you look nowhere fine to me," He almost growled this time, a raw shrill igniting inside of him as his scanning eyes took in every inch of her.

It didn't take long before he zoomed in on her palm. Taking it in his, his eyes Inflamed harder as he saw her once beautiful smooth skin had turned dark purple "You were shot," he wasn't asking.

Looking down at her palm, Raziah's brain finally picked up the harsh pain that was spiking through her arm, "Oh!" She exclaimed softly, remembering how the arrow had grazed her right before it hit Maria. She had been so caught up in everything and the rush that it had skipped her mind, "I was..."

She stared back up at her husband, who was trying very hard to control himself. The culprits of the event had been caught and will very soon be interrogated, but a guard had reported having seen someone in a cloak carrying another person, running out of the place.

"Call your Best medicine man," He threw his head back at Gwenore, who had also stepped closer to take a better look at the injury.

"Yes, your Majesty."

"Fertiti, escort her. And make sure you're back with the antidote as soon as possible!"

His Majesty's voice was extremely hard, gritting out through his clenched teeth as if he was holding back something from escaping. Titi, one of his feminine warriors nodded sharply, and both women were already off.

"Does it not hurt?" Indah, the other female warrior piqued from behind, her eyes dancing with shock and confusion. The male warrior beside her quickly nudged her a little hard, and she glared back at him.

Raziah simply shrugged, "Maybe."

"Come here," Aragon commanded through tight teeth as he grabbed her other hand and pulled her further inside. He alone knew that the woman saw running outside holding another was Raziah because he had earlier seen her wearing a cloak. If his strong hunch was right, then her maid was the other woman whom might have gotten hurt.

"Where is the maid?" He questioned.

"She is with a friend." Replied his wife.

"Where did you go?"

"Maria fainted from shock, and we ran into her friend who helped wake her up," Raziah lied without a care.

"What happened exactly?" this time, he bit his tongue from hissing out the question.

"I was shot. I managed to evade the arrow, but as you can see my palm got cut,"

"I asked you to tell me exactly what happened Raziah!" He stopped abruptly as he toned out viciously, and she followed suit. Without letting her go, he acrimoniously spun around and faced her, "What made your eyes get colder? Because I have this strong inkling that it wasn't just because of the shot, or even this poison!"

If nothing had truly flabbergasted Raziah from the second she set her eyes on his man, then this definitely did. And if she hadn't confirmed her subconsciousness always repeatedly telling her that the man was irrefutably dangerous for her, then she just did, "I believe my eyes have always been cold and lifeless. I just don't know what you're trying to say, your Majesty." She had succeeded in keeping the dumbfounded look out of her eyes.

There was conviction appearing in her eyes instead, and he almost laughed miserably out loud. He would have believed her words a second ago if that convincing eyes didn't suddenly show up in those unfeeling peepers of hers, blastingly showcasing how much she just wanted him to believe her words.

"I see, snow-white. I see," He muttered before he looked back at her infected arm.

The whole palm had turned black already, and her veins were almost visible.

Indah was right to have asked that question, and yet his wife was showing no sign of being in physical pain. His enraged eyes matched her cold ones, and he needn't a soothsayer to tell him that whatever was going through his woman's mind was far more soul-wrenching than the pain from the poison.

Aragon's arms were already moving on their own, and Raziah was pressed warmly against his chest the very next jiffy. He gently patted her back heartwarmingly as he thought to himself.

'She can't be melting me'.

About fifteen feet away, Princess Gwenore stood beside Fertiti with a small bottle of the antidote dangling in her hands, watching them with trembling lashes.