n

n

n

"Aww...poor prince, if you lick my feet...I might consider making you my emperor.

" Diana murmured smirking at Philip who was standing frozen in one place.

nMarinette is still losing blood on the floor.

n

"Don't want to lose your pride, but the beggar doesn't choose. I'm the daughter of the EMPEROR after all.

" she kept taunting the prince with her words.

n

"So does that mean you're just a fake daughter of the duke??

" the prince took his sword back then crossed his arm standing tall with his cold gaze staring at Diana.

n

"The past IS the past, I still can't believe I become a princess like this.

"

n

"Should I congratulate you?? But what about the man you love?? Will he accept you as the princess?? I think commander Victor doesn't like royalty much.

"

n

"AT THE other side of the DOOR, I'll go and find him...and then I'll explain to him everything. Just worry about yourself, you stupid prince.

" Diana dragged Marinette's feet and slammed the door of the throne room against the wall.

n

"I lost all my excitement thanks to you. I guess I'll keep her alive and torture her later in the UNDERGROUND PRISON.

"

n

"...

" the prince soon followed her outside and went to execute his plan.

nThe prince looked left and right hiding at the corner of the palace, and the shadow of a person reflected at the bottom of his feet as that person arrived.

n

"Robert, go and save Marinette in the underground prison. Take Mary with you for safety.

" the phoenix came out of prince Philip and then flew to sit on Robert's shoulder.

nThe prince kneeled down on the ground marking the ground as Robert behind him vanished to do his mission.

n

"Let's wait until the night.

" the prince smirked.

nAt the underground prison,

n

"Who are you??

"

n

"Haah??! I'm the princess of this empire, how dare you fool??!!!

" Diana raised her voice against the knights guarding the prison.

n

"She...she is the one sir Oliver told us about.

" the tall knight was nervous when his colleague told him that, he bowed ninety-degree at Diana then opened the gate for her.

nThey were terrified by the sight of the blood of the body Diana dragged inside the prison.

nAs their attention was on Marinette, the vine of rose came out of the dirt on the wall and grabbed the keys to all of the cells, and was brought to Diana.

nDiana tossed Marinette inside the prison after inserting the keys inside the hidden pocket inside her dress.

n

"You'd better get it right, Prince Philip.

"

nLight Magic: Blessing of Goddess

nHuff huff

nMarinette at the other side of the cell was panting as she could finally breathe after all the pain Diana put her through.

nDiana smirked seeing Marinette in such a terrible state and put her hand inside the cell to grab Marinette's hair.

nMarinette inside the cell had her eyes turned blue gritting her teeth in anger.

n

"It's so nostalgic, isn't it...Diana??

"

n

"YOU B*TCH!!!! Give me my body back!!!!

"

nDiana smirked as she brought out the antidote which was in the other bottle to show Marinette and teased her with it as her hand couldn't reach to grab it.

n

"I still need your body, Diana...so stay patient in here. Bye b*tch!!

"

n

"Marinette!!!!! I swear I'll kill you!!!!

"

n

"Well, try~

" Marinette who was inside Diana's body grinned and then used her death roses magic to tie Diana's hand to the iron cell. Diana's face with the scar hit the cell, Marinette bent her knees and then pulled out Marinette (Diana)'s tongue.

n

"I wonder is this what you see when you cut Marinette's tongue...Diana...

"

n

"What--what...what...are you...

"

nMarinette brought out the dagger and slid the dagger on that tongue she held.

n

"When I get that body back...listen, Diana, I will cut your tongue and then throw it to the dog...

" Marinette tossed Diana on the cold floor.

nDiana glared at Marinette with killing intent, her heart boiled as seeing Marinette using her body as she please while she had to be stuck inside her painful body.

n

"I will kill myself in your body!!!

"

n

"Do it then!!! Can you...??

"

n

"You're just an outsider, Sun-hee!!! Why are you so similar to Marinette??!!!!!

"

n

"And you're just another personality of Diana...how dare you use her body as you please?? You're also the one who pulled me inside the lake, aren't you??!!

" Marinette finally remembered when she saw Diana's eyes turn blue. It was from the day when she started hating Diana because she pulled her inside the lake.

nDiana's eyes at that time when the duke saved her were blue.

n

"I think the one who burnt Marinette's gift for Diana was also you!! If it wasn't for you, Diana wouldn't turn like this...

"

n

"What??? You knew nothing, you wench!!! I--I--I am the main personality!!! I am the real Diana!!!

"

n

"...

" Marinette put back the dagger since she had no time to listen to her speech, she turned her back walking back to the surface. But then the creepy voice was heard behind her back, the light of the torch flashed on Diana who was in Marinette's body.

nFor a split second, there was a shadow of the dragon with its teeth was shown trying to devour Marinette.

n

"Ha..ha...ha...I'll kill you...Sun-hee...or Marinette...I'll kill everyone you love...even your father...and your lover...

"

n'I need to delete this personality from Diana as soon as possible.' it was Marinette's thought as the evil inside Diana's other personality had no bound.

n

"Don't let anyone come inside the prison.

"

n

"Yes, your highness!!

"

nMarinette flinched a little when those knights called her by the royal title. She took a deep breath then continued walking to the surface.

nShe bent her knee covering her face full of guilt as she said many rude words to the first prince, she even called him stupid.

nThe light coming from the sun started burning her skin, that was why she got up and walked all the way back to the royal chamber of the princess.

nShe had to be like the real Diana and be mean as possible to fool the emperor's eyes, with her current clue about the emperor's power, that was the only thing she could do.

nThe only thing she had to worry about was Aurora and Tristan, she really hoped that Aurora would understand the meaning of the secret code she told Valencia to give to her.

n

nThe center empire, the Mortel duchy,

n

"La~La~La~shinyyyyyyy~

"

n

"So that's the plan, I hope you come to the ceremony tomorrow, your grace.

" Irene told duke Jellal.

n

"I will. By the way, congratulation on becoming the new priestess.

"

n

"Thank you, your grace. Right, I have one more thing to say to you.

"

n

"I'm listening.

"

n

"La~La~La~hehehe...pig tail.

"

n

"Flynn is a spy sent from the crown prince, Richard.

" Irene spoke with a serious face but the duke was sitting from the desk with the expression as he already knew that.

nHe sighed and replied to Irene,

"Marinette already knew about that though...she knew how to deal with it.

"

n

"But isn't it better to fire him with this opportunity we get?? He failed to protect lady Marinette!

"

n

"I don't think it's the right thing to do...after all, they're pretty close.

"

n

"But your grace, he's not an ordinary spy...he even intrudes the duchy of duke Asher.

"

n

"I'll think about it. I heard from lady Herod over here that you're quite a good friend with Marinette.

"

nIrene scratched her head and shook her head denying, she murmured,

"I don't think she even thinks of me as a friend though...and the first time we met...it's kinda terrible.

"

n

"I'm pretty sure my daughter is lucky to have you as a friend. Please continue taking care of my daughter.

" Irene laughed nervously when hearing the duke talking like a nearly dead man.

n

"That guy really cares about his daughter!! So don't tell about the things today to Marinette.

"

n

"

/

/

/

/

" the duke cleared his throat hiding his face behind the paperwork.

n

"O...okay...

" Irene smiled nervously.

n

"Shiny!!! Old sir, can I have this??

" the little kid Garu pointed its finger at the feather the duke held in his hand. Garu was sitting on the duke's lap the whole time

n

"Lady Herod, why are you bringing this kid to my study room??

"

n

"I want you to adopt this kid.

"

n

"Are you out of your mind?? Where's this kid's parents??

" Garu couldn't follow the conversation sat there clueless biting the duke's finger as he didn't give him the feather.

n

"He's a slave from that empire, I can't deal with the kid. So take care of him, will you??

"

n

"I can...can take care of Garu...

"

n

"No...no...no, I want the duke to take care of him. You're a priestess, you're busy...you know??

" the duke and Irene looked pissed glaring at Herod who was eating cookies being carefree like that.

n

"Papa!!

"

n

"No, I'm not your papa.

" the duke put the kid standing on the floor and took his watch from the kid's pocket making him sulk on the verge of tears.

n

"Garu, come here.

" Herod picked Garu up and looked at Jellal with puppy eyes.

n

"Garu, say it...

" he whispered to Garu.

n

"Pwease...

"

nJellal tried his best to avoid that pitiful eyes but in the end, he adopted that kid knowing there might be some meaning behind Herod's action.

n

"Alright then, let's go. We need to go to Madeline's household too for today.

" Herod picked Garu up and gave it to Jellal to carry him.

n

"Be careful on the way.

"

n

"Have a good day, your grace.

" Irene bowed to duke Jellal leaving the room.

n

"What's with the long face???

" Herod asked Irene as they walked down the stair.

n

"Why does the duke treat lady Marinette so badly when he loves her that much?

"

n

"I can't tell you, but if I have to say...his love for Marinette can't compare to anything.

"

n

"What's the point of it if lady Marinette will never know that her father loves her?? Isn't it painful??

"

n

"Some people are used to it though, they don't need such thing as family love like you, Irene.

"

n

"Sometimes, I feel like I'm talking to an old lady.

"

n

"Hey, that's rude!!

" Irene chuckled, then suddenly, out of nowhere, a man ran hitting Irene's shoulder in a hurry running to the big door.

n

"Who is that??!!!

" Irene raised her voice feeling the pain in her shoulder.

n

"Where's Eun-Kyung??? Is this another illusion??!!!! Eun-Kyung!!!!!!

" duke Jellal from the study room when hearing that loud voice, he couldn't believe his own ear. He rushed out of his room running down the stair to that man with white hair.

n

"Tristan!!!??

"

n

"You're not my father, you're just an illusion!!!

" it was really Tristan, Garu was scared walking down the stair hiding behind Herod taking a peek at Tristan.

n

"Tristan!!! Calm down!!! It's me, your father!!!

"

n

"You can't fool me, this is just an illusion!!! when the father and son talking to each other in confusion, Herod's eyes shook as he saw the rain outside.

n

"Irene...what's that...??

" his lip was shaking as the thousands of years he was in that world, he had never seen anything like that.

nIrene looked at the same rain Herod was pointing and immediately put on her priestess's crown running outside.

n

"Everyone!!! Listen to me!!!! I'm the priestess!!!! Catch every single person!!!!

" she climbed on the roof at the square raising her voice shouting her loudest to people.

nIt wasn't normal rain, it was the human falling from the sky.

n

"You hear the priestess, hurry!!!!

" everyone scattered to catch each and every soldier fell down from the sky.

nBut the falling still continued, no matter how many people joined to help, some of them will die from the fall.

nThen that woman stepped up on the same roof, the magic energy surrounding her made her like a shining sapphire as she gathered her magic to spread all the roses across the empire.

nDeath Roses Magic: Ocean of Roses

n

"Lend me your magic.

" it was Herod murmured to Irene as he spread his vine and roses to catch all the two hundred soldiers.

nHuff huff

nArghhhh...

nHerod took all the side effects to himself, a part of his face turned black from using such a huge amount of death roses magic.

nIrene couldn't bear to see him like that, she touched Herod and the side effect also affected her.

n

"You're too kind...

" Herod fell unconscious while Irene's nose was bleeding. For the first time, she felt so glad she could witness a hero who could save many people.

n

"You're the one who is kind...lady Herod.

"

nBack to the Mortel duchy,

nTristan who thought the real world was an illusion, he raised his sword intended to slice his own throat to get out.

n

"This is the real world!!!! Tristan!!!! I'm your father!!!

" the duke used his magic to immobilize Tristan who was drenched in a cold sweat.

nTristan started sobbing when he looked at the house which had no portrait of his mother, he finally accepted that it was the real world.

nThe father couldn't hold back his tear ran to hug his own son,

"I'm glad you're safe, Tristan...

"

n

"Father...I came back...I came back to the real world...

" he sniffled inside his father's arm dropping the sharp sword.

n

"Welcome back...

"

n

"Mother isn't here...I met mother in the illusion, father...mom was pretty...we live happily every day...but now...now...mom's gone...

"

n

"Oh...Tristan...

" the father ruffled his son's hair to comfort him, those two's hearts shattered again, the wound of losing a lover and a mother appeared again.

nTo be continued....!

n