Sacrifice

Of all things...of all things that Albert could ask for...this was it?

Regaleon completely understood what that statement meant and his face turned sour for a second before he recomposed.

He massaged his temple in slight frustration before asking, "Which of them?" he took a deep breath to steady his changing mood while hoping deep down Albert was not referring to Alice.

Since he hadn't mentioned any of the twin's names, maybe he could manoeuvre things to fit his perspective, Leon hoped.

Time stood still as he stared at Albert, waiting for a reply.

Albert still had a notorious smile playing at the corner of his lips. He rounded his fingers on the tip of the goblet before answering, "The one with chubby and round cheeks."

That description was enough to kill Leon's hope. He let out a small groan of annoyance but he didn't directly tell Albert he wasn't going to agree to that.

"Oh..." he chimed. "You don't like the other one?" he questioned in a negotiating tone.

"Princess Amie?" Albert asked to see Leon nod.

"Seems you don't even like that one yourself," he commented with a sardonic smile, completely aware of how Leon was indirectly trying to push Amie to him when he was cognizant that the person he wanted was Alice.

"I love both my sisters equally," Leon uttered.

"You can tell that to a stupid person." Even a stupid person knew Leon had a softer spot in his heart for Alice.

He glared at Albert again before saying, "I do my best to treat them equally and with similar affection," which was quite true.

He didn't like that people thought he was being unfair to his sisters when he was only treating them based on how they behaved.

Knowing Alice was the calmer one made him much more lenient on her. That didn't mean he didn't care for Amie as well. He just dealt with her according to her daringness.

Albert almost rolled his eyes at those words before deadpanned, "No. I don't want her." his words left no room for arguments.

Leon looked slightly defeated but refused to give in. "Amie would be a better match for you."

"What makes you think that?" Albert questioned with a raised brow.

"She is more attractive." was all Leon could come up with. He wasn't going to give out his dear sister to a man just like that all for a war settlement.

"I know that," Albert said. Even a partly blind person could tell that Amie was prettier than Alice. "She may be very attractive on the outside but..." he shook his head. "Even you are aware that she is rotten inside."

"You will not speak ill of my sisters, Albert. I don't care if we are allies." Leon abruptly snapped at Albert for saying that but the young king didn't budge. Instead, he looked amused.

"You can keep denying it because she is your sister but we are both aware..." he smiled but didn't finish his statement.

He left the rest to Leon's assumptions.

Leon didn't look the least bit pleased at all with Albert's request. It wasn't because he felt Albert to be incapable of taking care of his sister but he also wanted to allow Alice to get married to whomever she wanted.

How would she feel if he chose an alliance over her happiness?

"I cannot give you an answer yet," he told Albert. "I have to seek her consent to know what she yearns for. Then I would give you a reply." That was all he said.

"Take as much time as you want then... I'll be waiting patiently."

When the room was left silent, Albert realized there was nothing else they needed to talk about.

"I would love to retire to my room now," he said to see Leon nod.

Good riddance. Not that he wanted to see him here after what just happened.

"You should have a good night's rest." The young king bid through gritted teeth as he watched Albert stand up and walk to the exit door.

Now that his anger had mellowed down, he took in the savannah king's appearance.

He had only worn a dry shirt to the courtroom and didn't bother changing his wet trousers even though they had still been dripping wet.

That only reminded him of the scene of Albert with Melina and his rage came back again.

When Albert's hand was just an inch away from the doorknob, he impulsively turned to meet Leon's figure that was seated on his throne.

"And before I forget..." he placed his hand on the knob ready to turn it and he said as he drew the man's attention, "Make sure you find a way to kill Kilgharrah. I have my reasons." his voice sounded serious and weirdly concerned...something Leon knew Albert didn't show most of the time.

He was about to ask why but Albert had already opened the door and barged out of the courtroom, leaving Leon with many questions.

However, that wasn't his problem at the moment. He wanted to do something else before bothering about other things.

---

---

Melina who had run out of the room earlier now stood in front of a lantern. Because of the drama from earlier, she had made it appear as though she finished her work quickly so Ms. Carlos didn't assign another job to her but like always, she was wrong.

Sighing, she picked up the lantern and began to walk around the castle.

"It's your last chore for the day, Mel. After this, you'll just have a good sleep," she reassured herself.

She had to admit that it was her fault. She should have simply sneaked into her room after the hullabaloo she had just not long ago but she had foolishly roamed about in the corridors, making Ms Carlos sight her and now, she had been ordered to light all the torches and candles in the castle.

Where was she going to start from?

Her aim the entire time was to get to bathe and sleep early but with this task Carlos had given her, she was sure Leanna and Nikita would be long asleep before she would even be done with it.

Her life was utterly miserable! She cried in her head.

Holding the lantern she picked up the big torch and put fire from the fireplace in it before she began lighting up the palace, reducing the darkness of the night that had filled the unusually quiet castle.

"Thump!" she heard a loud bang that made her shriek and she looked behind her to see what had caused the noise but there was nothing.

The place was clear.

Strange.

Not thinking much about it, she turned around again, this time humming a song to keep her mind busy as most of the thoughts that were flying in her head were about what King Albert had told her.

Witch? She scoffed.

If she was a witch, she would have first made sure to make Ms. Carlos's life a living hell before thinking of any other thing. How could someone just assume she was a witch by looking at her hair? What a joke!

Crazy elites everywhere. They just did things the way they wanted!

If she were a witch, she would have burned these elites into ashes for the way they treated servants.

So many thoughts crossed her mind at the memory of King Albert calling her a witch.

It had better not be true that she was a witch or the gods should be aware that they had chosen the wrong person for the job.

She deepened the torch again into another ball of fire and kept walking around, putting fire to the candles and different fireplaces.

Once her thoughts were everywhere, she didn't put enough concentration into what she was doing and...

"Ouch!" she felt her hand burn and just like before, something glowed in her eyes again, a fiery red sparkle twinkled in her iris, and she was too busy checking her burnt pinky finger to notice it.

She kept blowing on the wound and when the pain simmered down, she became aware of her surroundings, feeling the same strange presence she felt before.

Alarmed again, she turned around but found no one as she looked around. This time, the presence did not leave her vicinity. She could feel it around the corners.

That was enough to frighten her and she frantically began searching for who was lurking around.

Was the person intentionally trying to scare her or what?

"Ahh!" she screamed when someone pulled her and pushed her against the wall with both his hands on either side of the wall. The torch she was carrying fell and went off as it hit the floor.

"Your Highness?" she called when she saw an angry Leon standing in front of her, his gaze trained on her body that had now dried, no longer showing all her curves like it did when he had seen her in Albert's room.

"What were you doing in king Albert's room?" he went straight to the point as he stared intently at her.