'Stay alert, Jyver'

At the garden where they decided to take a breather, Amelia opened the note Constance gave her. It was a short, saying that Ancel had some urgent matters to attend to as ordered by his grandfather.

"Who gave you this?" Amelia waved the small parchment paper then held it higher, trying to look for any faint letters behind the written ones because it's clearly not Ancel's handwriting, or Reignolds. Not even Arabella's, and for sure not of their other brothers because they're not in Creador right now.

"One of our knights did. Is something the matter, your grace?"

"No, it's just..." She let her words hang. There's no way Ancel would leave without actually seeing her and explaining it to her in person. And without Arabella around, there's no way that the Felfords' heir would just go without having someone to take over his position.

"Cice? What is it?"

"I think I should be careful tonight," she said in a whisper, and as if some sort of sign, Amelia witnessed the first snowflake of the season fall onto her arm.

"Duchess, it's snowing!" Constance mentioned with a skip on her tone as she looked up with a childlike gaze.

"It is..." answered Amelia, holding her palms up in hopes to catch any. But her heart's racing so fast it warmed up her body against the cold wind that any which fell into her palm didn't last.

"Let's head inside, ladies, or you'll end up catching a cold in this weather." Alexander gestured for the duchess and her lady-in-waiting to head inside, and they both followed him without a question.

But before stepping past the threshold, Amelia noted the glass glimmered at the distant greenhouse where she first met the empress before and then a sudden thought entered her mind—it also snowed on the day her parents were buried. She remembered praying so hard for snow that the grounds where they died and the place where they're buried would be covered in white—like how the heavens were described in the religious texts she read.

"Your grace?" Constance's warm hand on her cheek took the duchess' attention and she blinked fast. "Are you okay? Was someone there?"

"Ah..." she took her lady-in-waiting's hand and lightly squeezed it. "The greenhouse just took my attention. It would probably be covered in snow tomorrow. There were a bunch of off-season flowers when I last saw the inside of it. I'm sure, some of them already bloomed." Amelia smiled ruefully before returning her attention to Alexander and the path before her; noting the others from inside had took notice of the falling snow and are now making their way to a nearby balcony or window to gaze innocently at the wonder outside.

"When did you entered the empress' greenhouse?"

"Oh, back when we visited after the celebration in Aclador. The emperor had some prior engagements and his secretary permitted us to look around. I just happened to come across it. It was opened, so I took a peek."

"I remember Ralphe telling me that there's an unwritten rule that no one can enter the greenhouse other than the empress herself and her maid. Maybe it had something to do with what happened to her. The greenhouse was a gift from the emperor, so she'd have something to take her mind off her… condition." Constance shared but Amelia couldn't find it in her to continue the conversation. It didn't sit well with her, talking behind the empress' back when she's the reason this night is such a success.

Empress Maeve is a daughter of a powerful Marquis from the capital, said to be second to Vernon in influence as the guardian of the empire. They said that the emperor married her out of love, a rare connection for a powerful ruler. They said, he loved her so much that when she couldn't walk anymore, he did everything in his power to make her life not a tad different from before.

Lavish parties, expensive dresses and jewelries, exotic plants for her greenhouse, overseas entertainment… Poems and songs were written about them and performed all over the empire during the capital's festivals. The emperor would miss audiences and drop everything with just one call from the empress. That's how much they said he loves her. The reason she's incapacitated was unsure though—some said she had an accident, some said she contracted a disease that almost took her life.

"Did my father also love mother as much as his majesty loved the empress?" The question came out of nowhere, yet it felt like a question that needed an immediate answer.

"Well, Mister Vance used to tell you stories how they both adored each other so much that the late duke would come home from the capital as soon as his business here was finished." Yes, yes. Her grandfather used to tell her stories like that, and yet… this feeling—a heaviness in her heart she can't seem to shake off.

A mental picture of her mother yelling at her father one night when she just wanted to sleep with them instead of the nursemaid.

Delicate fingers that were quick to flick her hands when she only wanted another piece of pastry.

Her constant cries for attention that only fell into deaf ears—Amelia blinked her now slightly blurry eyes and massaged her temple. Turning to her side where her lady-in-waiting and Alexander were busy looking at the spectacle before them, she opened her mouth and said, "I wish that they really did," in a whisper that only she heard.

-----

As the snow continued to pile outside, the emperor decided to end the ball early. Some who were too far away from home and didn't have a place to stay in for the night were given rooms in the palace. Some also offered their homes to others, and since Alexander didn't have a manor in the Capital, he offered Leticia's small vacation home instead to those from Thuenia looking for somewhere to stay. He'd have an earful from her when she gets back but she won't be back for at least a couple of weeks—that's enough time for him to prepare himself.

"I'm not comfortable about you going home by yourself." Alexander told the duchess as she readied herself to leave as well after saying her farewells to the Mulfords and the others that passed by her while waiting. Her council all have residences in the Capital, and Sybil's family owned an inn nearby as well; he offered this to others who didn't want to stay in the palace.

"I'll be with Layla and our family's knights. I won't be entirely alone."

"Why don't you wait for Constance? Or me. I don't think my meeting would take that long." When they were resting earlier, a servant came up to him with a small plate of snack that the man said Alexander requested, but before he could deny it, he felt an embossed mark of the Order at the center bottom of the plate.

"Constance hasn't seen her husband for months. I told her to stay here at the palace with him."

"What about Christa? Marchioness Maude will—" Amelia raised her hand to stop him.

"Christa has some important matters to attend to with the Marchioness. It's okay, really. Calser is not that far, and you're insulting my knights' capabilities." Amelia jested but Alexander still wasn't buying it. For one, none of the Whitt siblings are around. She, herself, said that she should be careful tonight and now she's saying she'll be okay with just Layla with her?

"I'll have Jyver escort you."

"Then what about you?" Alexander almost scoffed, but he ended up blushing instead. Her furrowed brows made him want to kiss her forehead and sweep her off her feet and into a corner, and just hold her close.

"I'd feel more at ease knowing Jyver is there to look out for you. Plus, I can imagine Vance skinning me alive if anything bad happens to you." Amelia laughed heartily for the first time that night and took the attention of the others who was still there. Seeing such a jovial sight, they too, smiled at the two rulers—all oblivious of the roots crawling beneath the thickening snow.

After a few more exchanges, Alexander walked out to the entrance of the ballroom with Amelia, and Layla behind them. He asked her again to wait for him, but she refused all suggestions, eventually reasoning that her grandfather might be worried sick waiting for her back at Calser where he said he'd be when the ball is over—something that Alexander won't be able to refuse. He knows how she wanted to spend every waking minute with Vance as her grandfather and not an advisor.

With a last sigh, the duke kissed the back of Amelia's hand before she got inside the carriage after her lady-in-waiting. When he closed the door, he instructed something to the coachman then walked towards Jyver and told him to stay alert and not leave Amelia's carriage out of sight, but as he told this to his knight, he caught one of Amelia's looking at them.

"You," he called, and everyone turned to look at him. "Let me see your face. I don't remember you riding with you lot from Osmea," he demanded in a low voice, but before he can reach the man in question, he lifted a part of his black robe and showed what seemed to be an emblem of a crescent moon with spikes around it making it a full circle—the Felfords' symbol. Jyver has one of it too.

The duke eyed the man who pulled his hood over to further hide his face and noted that the others did the same after showing their identifications of belonging to the famous clan.

"I'll make sure that the duchess arrives safely to Casler, your grace." Jyver took Alexander's attention. "Maybe Ancel ordered their people to stand as knights in his absence. He is the next clan leader after all, it's not surprising that he could gather so many of the members in such a short notice," he whispered.

And although Alexander should feel relieved that a group of capable people are escorting Amelia, the fact that they're assassins still doesn't sit well with him. At this point, the only assassin he would trust with his life is Jyver; and the only assassins he would trust to die for Amelia are the Whitt siblings and Reignold.

'Maybe I should skip this meeting and just go home with Cice,' he contemplated, but Vernon is here plus it's not a coincidence that Milly was singing earlier with Walton nowhere to be found. The last time he's heard about her so-called adventure was that Walton couldn't even go out on a business trip without her by his side to boast about to his male companies.

Conflicted, Alexander threw a glance at the carriage and noted the coachman's visible huffing and rubbing of hands to keep himself warm. He shouldn't keep them out this long. The snow will only deepen and then it will be difficult for the carriage to push through if that happens.

"Protect Amelia and Lady Layla as if it were me, Jyver." The duke placed a heavy hand on his knight's shoulder and Jyver saluted in return before mounting on his horse and trotted to instruct the coachman to prepare for departure and leave in his signal. Alexander watched him as he knocked on the duchess' carriage to tell her that they will be leaving to reassure her of their safety. Amelia even peeked out of the window to wave goodbye to Alexander with a smile; then he went around the carriage, saying something to the other knights before circling back to where his superior was.

"Your grace..." he said asking for permission to depart.

"Stay alert, Jyver." With a nod, the knight assassin squeezed his legs and his horse sprinted to the front, stopping beside the coachman who later whipped the carriage's horses' reigns and the wheels started turning. The horses neighed for a quick second followed muted hooves against the snow-covered ground. "Safe travels, Cice." Alexander murmured to himself as the group vanished behind the gathering thick fog.