| 4th Chapter

Night has come. It took me 4 hours to spotlessly clean the mess that was left in the crime scene. I also sneaked past the guards to burn any evidences that were soaked with dried blood as well as the ineffective poisons that the previous princess possess. No one should be suspicious of my activities from now onwards, and I should be extremely cautious of my surroundings.

As a beginner in the path of cultivation without any mentor who can possibly help me advance, well this will be a difficult journey for me. I still need to ask for Emperor father's permission to use the Chamber of Imperial Bibliotheca, where miscellaneous items are restored. There might be treasures hidden within the scope of that library that I need to discover on my own. I just hope there won't be anyone who'll hinder me from having this wide range of research. I need answers.

I should try and learn being an armament master too, but for the time being since my body isn't conditioned enough to withstand heavy duties I should learn the art of medicine. As far as I could remember, in this Era people who successfully completed medical school were scarce, and most of them work in our palace. As a princess I could cater a new way to learn and I could even provide my people a new kind of governmental project that would be suitable to upgrade the economical development and nurture a good change for the future generations to come.

I can even bring the luxury of the 21st century here. I have been an assassin my whole life, I just hope this body would cooperate with my future plans and be more flexible. I walked to the terrace of my room. The moon shone brightly with thousands of twinkling starlight that made the crystal sky breathtaking. I made sure the lamps won't burn anything even if I leave it be. The wind howled with the wolves, a sign of a new start for me.

Maybe I can easily cope up with the struggles that I'm about to face, like those characters I've grown to love when I was a little. Is this the beautiful world that the writers have in mind? Well it truly is wonderful.

It's still too early to witness the moon kiss the sea. As this palace where I'm at was built in the highest mountain near the sea. The dessert shall be on the opposite direction of it, I wonder how long will it take for me to travel and cross the Westlands. Exploration is a good idea in this Era.

"Master, you need to start your cultivation as early as possible, might as well take some rest"

"I'm waiting for a chance to wander around the palace today, I wanna memorize every part of this place so escape routes will be easy to form"

"But master you've already overworked yourself, it won't benefit you if you force it till you reach your limits"

"Don't worry falcon, I was a trained assassin once, my mental state is far superior than most. I can withstand the pain if I want to. And it won't take long till my body reaches the same level of superiority"

"A trained assassin? How--"

"One day I'll let you know, but for now I want you to wander around the walls of the city and find a place where I can read manuals of cultivation without hindrances" I cut him off, that slip of a tongue was enough to cause me problems.

"As you wish master" my black peregrine falcon flew away. I hope he gets a good place where I can train without disturbances.

---

/ The Crown Prince of the Westlands /

"His Highness we will reach the border by tomorrow and we will arrive in the city approximately 6 days after" my trusted confidante General Ming Wei Wan reported to me. It has already been 6 days since we left the border and 5 more days addition right when we left the castle. This journey is very dangerous and tiring. They say we'll see the desert of death, but it was impossible to see any light. It's more of an evil forest.

My Emperor father insisted on me marrying the highest ranking Princess of the east, but rumors won't escape my ears. She was rumoured to be utterly stupid. A good-for-nothing who was heavily doted by her father and mother, she also have 4 brothers.

And it's really a wonder how the Emperor of the East made himself satisfied having one Imperial Consort and no Concubines, a one man woman is indeed unfavorable in the walls of the court because he had the luxury to buy his people. I'll offer a salute to the emperor, he has made a good point in life.

These past few days I've come to understand a new meaning of difficulty as we travelled the inner section of the forest. It's risky, none of my men were killed but some were heavily injured. Spiritual beasts on its Golden peak stage appear whenever we let our guards down.

I thought it was impossible for us to reach the border any time soon. For the sake of diplomacy my father gave me no choice but abide the laws and marry the princess of the East. But how tragic can this be? I'm risking my own life for the sake of someone unworthy, I just don't understand why they're forcing me on taking up this journey if I have a choice to quit and pass the throne to my second brother. The camp was silent as I gaze at the stars above.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" A wailing shout stirred the peace. I scanned the area, they leaders were alerting their members when they've heard it.

"Who was that?" I asked one of the officials who was tasked to accompany me in this journey.

"With respect to his Highness, that man was--" before he could continue everyone saw a dragon snatch a soldier and toss it in his mouth.

"Prepare your weapons! And protect the crown prince!" I gripped my sword tightly, have the East prepared for an ambush? We knew that the dragons have long gotten their favours!

But it was too late to retaliate now, they sneaked an attack behind us. My sword fell and it was a disgrace for my title as the best swordsman in the Westlands. Claws tightly gripped my body, as we sailed by air. A red dragon captured me, almost crushing every bone that I have in my body.

From the top I saw some of my men die, but a whistle made every dragon retreat.

"The prince! They've taken the prince!" The generals were furious, but a bow and arrow is nothing to the scales of these dragons.

"I will return! Wait for me at the entrance of the city in 5 days time!" I shouted, leaving me almost breathless and the dragons flapped its wings higher, the distance between us also coupled.

"But your majesty! We cannot leave you--"

"That's an order" I shouted again, I already took the initiative to stop myself from wriggling my way out. As I faced where the dragons would take me.

Why am I so unfortunate? As I see lava coloured falls, where are we? And what do they want from me? Which part of this evil forest is this?

My body was furthermore crushed when the dragon shifted his wings. With so much pain added to the rising temperature my consciousness started to drift off. Then the dragon landed and throw me to the ground. Blood spills from my mouth and I reached for my chest.

"Well... Well... Well, look who's here Damian!"

"Oooooooooh, the mighty crown prince of the West! Welcome to hell"

So the dragons have been in touched with the Demons! Traitors!

"Felicia it's time we start the opening of the prophecy!"

"Right! Damian let them prepare what we need"

"Tie him!" An orc warrior reached for me and then I fell unconscious.