Anna marched back to her room, fuming and barely able to see the path in front of her.

When she came into this world, with only a few Chapters of information, she was dying to know what happened between the Princess Orchid and Leon that led to such heated hatred between them.

Now that she had the answer, she wished she was still in the dark about it. That would have been easier.

She walked over to her desk and grabbed a fat strawberry. As she ate it, she raked her mind for her next line of action.

I need to avoid Leon. Completely.

That thought echoed ceaselessly in her mind. Leon had made it clear, abundantly so, that if he had a chance to kill her, he would take it without hesitation.

For a while, Anna wished she hadn’t healed him after Ray poisoned him. But it was too late now to cry about that.

But how do I avoid him? By royal decree I’m to soothe his corruption daily without fail. But if I step into his range again, there’s no telling I’ll come out alive.

At first, Anna didn’t care if she lived or died.

But now, she didn’t want to die in someone else’s petty fight.

So she ate more strawberries, cleaned her hands, and went out looking for Bella. She spotted the servant girl talking with some of her colleagues, laughing quietly over something. They spotted Anna and instantly jumped to their feet, bowing shakily.

"Bella, come with me."

"Is everything okay, your highness?" Bella asked as they walked out together.

Anna turned to her. "I need jars, a lot of them. Ones with tight covers."

Bella frowned slightly. "I will have them sent to you immediately."

"Good. And the birthday ball for my friend Thalia, remind me when it’s taking place."

"In three days. The royal tailor has your dress ready, she will be stopping by today for final fittings."

Anna nodded. She wasn’t a huge party person, however she found herself looking forward to this party. "Thank you."

"Your highness? May I speak freely?"

Anna paused and turned to her. "Yes. What is it?"

"I shared the fruit with some of my friends and they really liked it. Um...can they...can they join me in gathering information too?"

Anna smiled. "Oh, you like gathering information for me?"

Bella’s cheeks turned pink and she ducked her head. "The fruit tastes really good. That’s not to say I don’t like working for you, your highness! I’m so sorry if it came out that way!"

"I’m not offended. And yes, your friends can be recruited to. They’ll be paid in fruits, daily. The more people we have, the better."

Bella raised her head, a bright smile on her face. "Thank you so much, your highness!"

Anna waved dismissively. "Hurry. I need the jars now."

Bella bowed before running off, a skip in her step.

"You’re smiling with peasants." A cold voice said.

"She’s a person. A really kind person."

"Who cares about peasants? You’re tarnishing my image. Stop this nonsense."

"If it bothers you so much, come and take back your body. Oh that’s right, you can’t."

AI Orchid didn’t reply after that. Anna was grateful for her silence.

As she turned to head back to her room, she came face to face with someone.

"Ray!"

"Your highness," he said with a bow. "How is your health?"

Anna blinked twice. She recalled the cliff, the feeling of floating in the air. "I...I’m okay. You...you were there?"

He didn’t reply, but the confused look in his inky eyes told her all she needed to know.

"You’re not supposed to be flying in broad daylight, Ray. You could have hurt yourself!" She rushed up to him, scanning his face for any injuries. "Are you okay? Did you see the doctor?"

"You’re the one that you should be worried about. Leon tried to kill you again."

"I know that." Anna gritted out. He did worse, he’s going to do much much worse. But she couldn’t say that without blowing her cover. So she inhaled and exhaled. "What happened back there? I can’t remember much."

"It’s not important. All that matters is you’re fine."

"That doesn’t make me feel better, Ray."

Ray looked at her, noting the pallor of her skin and the dullness of her eyes. She needed to rest. Instead she was worrying about him. Ray knew again, that this woman was not the real Princess Orchid.

The real Princess locked him outside the hot sun. She let him burn, let him stay there till his vision turned white and he inched close and closer to the edge of death.

But this woman? She’s worried about him. She was the one that almost died and she’s worried about him.

Ray wanted to know more about her. Talk to her. Figure out the kind of person she was. What was her name?

She looked up at him, and he forgot how to breathe.

"About Leon, has he figured out you’re not his real spy?"

Ray had to clear his throat and turn away before he replied. "He hasn’t. Hopefully it stays that way."

"It should. Gods I’m tired of that man."

Ray had so much he wanted to say about how she shouldn’t have married him in the first place. Then he remembered that she wasn’t the one that chose to marry him.

"Let me escort you to your room," he offered, only so he could walk with her longer and just be around her. He absolutely didn’t want to read her mind again.

She smiled. A warm smile that made him want to smile back. "Thank you, Ray."

Meanwhile, Anna couldn’t understand why he was suddenly so kind to her.

She didn’t hate it, but at the same time she wished she knew why. As much as she tried to figure out his reason, nothing came up.

Walking with him is nice though...he’s so quiet. His footsteps don’t even make a sound. Oh right, I need to ask him about Drax.

"Ray—"

"I’m sorry your highness, I must take my leave now." He suddenly said. With a quick bow, he vanished.

Anna was left standing in front of her room, wondering what the hell just happened. A fleeting thought came to her mind—can he actually read minds?

***

Kai peeked out from a corner, watching Ray and the Princess walk side by side.

Anger filled his heart, all of it directed at her.

He didn’t have a name for it, and he wasn’t even sure if it was real or a hallucination, but she was doing something to him. To everyone. It couldn’t be her spores, they hadn’t changed much, well aside from the black spores she unleashed the previous day.

It couldn’t be her spores.

There was something else that made his heart beat weird, and it was affecting everyone else.

The events of the previous day rushed to his mind. He couldn’t believe what he’d done, he couldn’t believe he’d stood up to Leon just to protect her.

He would never do such a thing.

She never needed protection. Not even once. And now she does?

Kai didn’t have a previous image to contrast her recent behaviors against.

And as much as he tried, he never came up with a viable answer.

What caused her change?

What caused him too to change? Why did he see her at the foot of that cliff, small and frail, and felt the overwhelming desire to crush anything that dared hurt her? Why did he want to kill Leon because of her? Why?

Kai touched the collar around his neck, the cold metal that never warmed up no matter what happened to it.

He needed to get answers.

Even if it meant shedding blood for it.

***

In a quiet, dark room in the palace, Azul stared out of a tiny window, watching the day roll by.

On the outside he was the image of calm. His large frame still and silent as death itself.

His mind, which was always in a state of tranquility, churned like a storm over a tsunami.

He pondered upon his strange actions in relation to his wife, and the more he turned his thoughts, the harder they churned.

Azul believed himself to be a dutiful man. Whether that came to taking care of his Clan or being a husband. He didn’t think too much about anything, always preferring to do things by the book.

The right way.

The natural way.

Naturally, it was only right for a husband to protect his wife from harm.

It was only right...

However...

His eyes turned to the metal bat laying a few feet away. It had been cleaned, polished till it shone.

That metal bat had tasted the blood of countless.

And yesterday, it nearly tasted The General’s blood.

Azul averted his eyes to the window.

It’s a husband’s duty to protect his wife. It meant nothing. It was only natural.

Yet, he shifted to his beast form. He hadn’t done that in years. He sensed danger to his wife and his beast took over.

It was only natural.

He wanted to kill the General.

It was only natural.

Azul glanced at his hands. All he saw was blood.

It’s only natural to protect my wife...no matter who had to die.

***

The days leading up to the party were chocked full of events.

Anna sent a message to the council regarding her new method of soothing Leon’s corruption, and it was received with praise. They believed she should have done it much sooner, especially given how volatile the General was.

Anna learned to bottle her spores and send them to him. She was able to condense several bottles before she ran out of energy and needed to soak in medicated water for three straight hours. But when she was done, she made ten doses for ten days.

The last thing she wanted to do was cross paths with him ever again.

Even though she felt a twinge of pity for him—being forced to marry someone he clearly didn’t love was surely terrible—she didn’t excuse his actions or try to rationalize his violent tendencies. He could have chosen other methods to handle this, instead he chose violence.

Anna hated both Princess Orchid and Leon equally, and she wished she could fast forward time and divorce him.

The General Games resumed and went uninterrupted. Tristian came out as Temporary General. Anna sent a private congratulatory message to him, silently hoping that now he’ll be too busy to bother her. The past few days he’d been trying to speak her, although each attempt was blocked by either Kai or Ray.

Anna still had no answer for Ray’s sudden warmth towards her. However she accepted it, and chose not to worry about it too much, for fear that it would disappear if she dwelt too much on it.

Some normalcy returned to her life.

In between completing System tasks, directing her growing Strawberry Network, and official duties, she barely had time to think about Leon.

Finally, the day for Thalia’s birthday ball arrived.