First Shine of Hope

She was confused for a moment as Zenesha remained motionless, thinking of what Prime had said before he left. Of course, she knew that according to legend, dragons were obsessed with treasure and that they said one could immediately become rich once they discovered a dragon lair, and that was on the premise that they could still come out alive.

Prime's words repeated in her mind. She was not oblivious; he called her a gem and then said he was also a dragon that was obsessed with treasures. So that only meant that if she wasn't careful, Prime might show interest in her and possess her.

Zenesha held a heavy sigh, her icy blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight. She fell silent. Being teased by a powerful dragon, like Prime and capturing his attention, sounded too good to be true, but she never wanted to be put in another cage.

She knew that if Prime only saw her as a gem and a treasure, that could only mean one thing... for him, Zenesha was only interested in her value and never in who she was, she was only a thing. An extremely weak thing.

Her lips tightened before she decided to stop thinking about this anymore. In fact, she wasn't that hurt by this realization. From the start, she knew her value more than anyone. And before Prime, Zenesha was indeed a weak thing that could be disregarded with one thought.

Zenesha stood up and slowly walked back to her bed, and yet as she sat, her hand unconsciously clenched into a fist. She knew she was weak, she was pathetic. Even so, she would never give up. No matter how hopeless, she would cling to that little hope until the end.

The next day, was yet another day to be a puppet. However, this day was a little special for Zenesha. She was inexplicably composed inside and did not complain or give any insulting comments to the personal servants or the harem.

She was about to find out how significant his influence was on the pure Zenehsa in the act after initially controlling the Spirit Shackles. Actually, rather than saying she controlled them, what she did was only obstruct them, preventing them from engraving deeper in her soul.

Her gut told her these Spirit Shackles weren't simple at all as to imprison her inside this body. Zenesha didn't have any evidence to back her conjectures, so she was still refraining from drawing any conclusions.

Once the attendants went inside, the scenario began. The disharmony of her body began to envelop her once more. However, she remained silent inside, sensing the changes in her body and soul.

She immediately noticed that as the disharmony came and the Spirit Shackles became active, the elements that were in her soul also shone and gave a breathing room between her soul and the chains. It was barely there and could also be considered negligible, and yet Zenesha immediately felt its effects and the difference.

"Your Majesty, today is the assembly of the alpha generals," said one of the attendants, her voice low and respectful. She looked at the woman and nodded.

After all, not all of her attendants were traitors. Some of them were really loyal to the Wolf Queen, but the problem was that they were all extras, and their presence was almost nonexistent.

Zenesha knew that these characters were the ones she would focus on once she had control of the body. They might be extras, but for her, they were a considerable force; she didn't care what role they had as long as they could be pulled into her side.

She had long gray hair, and her eyes were pure black. And as one looked at her head, she had wolf ears sticking out of it with blue fur. A wolf-beastkin.

In this world, the beastkins were more like hybrids. There were lots of variations among them. In the woman's case, her parents might be a human and a werewolf. They were neither a werewolf nor a human, thus they were called a beastkin. Of course, some also could have mated with other races as well and not just humans.

Zenesha didn't know her name, and she wasn't mentioned in the book; they were the nameless background characters. She wanted to know her name, but unfortunately... and as he was about to be disappointed,

Pure Zenesha smiled at the wolf beastkin; her gentle and dignified demeanor instantly made the attendant gasp in awe and bow respectfully.

"What is your name?" she asked softly. This surprised her inside, was it coincidence or pure Zenesha asking something because she wanted and intended to ask this even without influencing the body?

The wolf-beastkin attendant's ears moved; she seemed not to be expecting Zenesha to ask her and was a bit taken aback before she bowed deeply, startled and not knowing what to do.

"M-My name is Erelia, Y-Your Majesty!" She spoke with shyness and yet reverence as well. Erelia's voice was deep for a woman but still distinguishable from a man's.

Zenesha was a bit amused with Erelia's reaction, since she was inside this body, she was the first one to act so excessively as though it were her honor to talk to the Wolf Queen. But perhaps that was truly the case.

Other than being amused, her eyes became sharp and she started testing her influence on the body. The disharmony and discomfort were still there, but she wanted to know if what happened earlier was a mere coincidence.

She wanted her to accompany her and be by her side when she came to the assembly hall. Zenesha didn't know if she needed to say it in her mind or if she could just let her intention be sensed by the body. In essence, the soul and body were supposed to be one whole entity.

Zenesha still gently smiled and affectionately spoke, "Erelia, can you accompany me to the assembly hall?"

Sure enough, she could now influence the body to a certain extent! This discovery thrilled her. From now on, she only needed to know the limitations, and she could finally do what had been in her mind.

Erelia lifted her head, stunned by this offer. Her mouth parted and her eyes widened, as she looked at Zenesha.

This reaction wasn't a surprise to her. Saying to accompany her was not just simply being there, in the first place as an her personal attendant, Erelia was also always on her tail. Accompanying Zenesha specifically was basically saying to be the one in the chief attendant's place and only a step behind her, which was usually Anika's place.

"Y-Your Majesty, that's a bit..." she trailed off, slightly hesitant, but excitement filled her eyes.

Zenesha faintly smiled inside. Unlike Anika, who appeared timid and innocent but had an insidious personality, she wanted to have someone by her side who could be her possible subordinate. It was like starting the groundwork for her future.

'You don't want to?' she smirks internally.

"You don't want to?" Pure Zenesha voiced out; the two had the same meaning, yet how it was conveyed and sounded was different.

Zenesha had an influence on the body, but it was still not 'her' who was talking; it was as though the body had become her tool for communication outside. It was a little inconvenient, but this was already one of the best results she could think of.

Suddenly, it seemed the light of hope wasn't that unattainable for her.