Lana put her finger on me before I could say anything. She then grabbed her wand and chanted a spell. She closed her eyes and instantly, a thin transparent liquid was around us. “What is this?” I asked. “I made this special barrier in cases like this. The queen has eyes everywhere. Here, she cannot hear you. Speak now.” I looked at her, my mouth widened in shock and suddenly, I felt like trusting Lana. I knew that she was risking her life in order to save me. She made an effort like this... I just had to convince Lana to be on my side now. “Lana, that man there, is Ace, my werewolf mate.” She gasped. “You have a mate? And a werewolf?” Looks like this is going to be a long talk with how clue- less she is. “Lana, the queen is torturing me, letting me watch my mate get himself killed. I can’t just watch that happen,” I explained and she nodded. “But, you’re the witch princess. It's impossible. You are the Daughter of Queen Selyse...” “Stop that, I am not her daughter. I don’t have any mana to me. I cannot fully control my powers or master them. I am not strong like her.” “You can be, with my help.” “Oh, my mother mentioned how your aunt, the queen’s mother, had a werewolf mate too but he was killed.” Aunt Della? She had a werewolf mate? Oh right, I forgot about that. It must be weird for a witch to have a werewolf mate.. forbidden even. “How did you know?” “My mother was the one who helped your mother birth you.” I gasped. “Lana, I think we’ll get along well. Want to be in on a plan?” “Anything for you, I will sacrifice myself.”’ “Really? Even if it means betraying the queen?” In a gentle motion, Lana instantly bowed to me. “I am serving the witch realm, not the queen. I am serving the rightful throne, and that is you.” “Good.” I smirked. Oh, Queen Haelyn since you have just threatened me, I will make sure to return the favor. I will just find some weakness in you. And soon after that, I was always in Lana’s protective barrier, honing my powers. “I have a tip. Do not use all your mana,” Lana mentioned to me as she watched me struggle to burn the whole forest. I breathed deeply, biting my lip in frustration. How come I managed to do this in the past when I was in danger, even while I was sleeping? How could I not do it when I was fully awake? Lana shook her head in disappointment. “This is bad, Your Highness. I can only keep this barrier for an hour. It takes a lot of mana to keep this up.” “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know it was taking a toll on her. This barrier was draining her, so with the three days that we were doing this, her letting me practice inside her barrier, I was depleting her mana. This wasn’t good. She might collapse if this continued. “No, do not be sorry, Princess. I can still keep this up. Just focus on your goal,” she said, attempting to smile. Although I wasn’t fully convinced, I went back to training myself. Lana taught me a few spells to say. She said that I didn’t have to use the Latin language. I just had to visualize it in my head and feel the mana in my body. It sounded simple but it took a lot of hard work. As for the City of Lights festival and that incident, I didn't hear any commotion. It felt like the whole crowd forgot that I even existed. They returned to their usual routines and looked at me without any malice. Weird, but it might be for the better. At least they wouldn’t harass me. I figured this might be the queen’s work so I left it to her. She was good at brainwashing the witches anyway so I’d let this slide for now. I was surprised the queen didn’t appear to me, nor appear in my head. She must be busy or something so I had to take advantage of this moment. Our secret sessions went on for a week, not until Lana suddenly stopped appearing at the secret field. I waited for her for an hour but to no avail. I couldn't see her. Until Samira, the little kid Lana was with appeared to me. “Hello, Princess. Lana is not coming today,” her cute little voice said, her tone sad. “Why?” She sighed. “Lana didn’t appear to play with me. The queen has her. And the queen asked me to assist you to her throne.” I instantly stood up in alert. “What?” One thing that had came to my mind was the queen. It must be her because who else would do that? Lana wouldn’t just abandon me suddenly when she was extremely happy at my progress yesterday. She knows and she had Lana as hostage. “Then take me to the queen, I promise to get Lana.” “Really?” Her eyes twinkled in excitement as her little hands grabbed my hand. “Then let’s go! Lana must have been bored!” As soon as I got to her tower, I angrily stomped my foot and ran. “Where did you take Lana?” I yelled, not seeing any hint or shadow of the bitch. Suddenly, I felt the fire to the firewood cackling and the shadow of the Queen sitting by the chair appeared. She faced me, her usual mask was on with her red hair and bright golden eyes. The only thing I was thinking about was pushing her to the floor right there. “Ah, you’re here,” she said, acting as if nothing happened. I glared at her. This bitch! “Well, she was getting a bit too close with you. You know you’re a princess. You can’t be close with mere slaves like her.” Her response even made me madder but I tried to calm down, not letting her get satisfaction from my reaction. “How dare you call her a slave,” I snapped at her, rushing toward her. “You're mocking me, are you? Make me watch Ace there at that damn stadium!” ”You conniving child, did you like my present? I am glad you liked it.” She smirked. “But oh well, we must let that be in the past as I have asked you here for a different reason.” She then snapped her fingers and the whole scenery changed as I was surrounded by different people. Ten people who all had masks on as they stared at me with disdain. The queen had my hand tied as I struggled. I tried to burn them but it seemed fire proof. “I apologize, everyone, a queen must never be late. How rude of me to make you wait,” the queen said, putting a bright smile on. “Kira, this is the council. Be nice to them.” The queen then mumbled to me, “Your late aunt was a member of this too, but not when she betrayed us with your mom.” The queen then left me as she sat in the tallest seat in the middle. Everyone looked at me as if I was an animal on display. I just glared at the ten people that she called a council and spat on the floor in front of them. “Is that the princess?” one of them asked. “Tsk, she is not worthy to be called a princess. She only got the late queen’s face, I don't even feel mana on her.” I gritted my teeth. “F*ck you,” I cursed at them and they gasped. “She’s too... indecent. Is this what she got from living with the werewolves?” “This is the effect of having a mate as a werewolf. My oh my, just like her witch aunt.” “We can’t blame her for having a bad attitude, she lived in bad conditions. Her dead mother, who died betraying us for a human, her father not treating her good, ah, I pity this child.” With a mocking pity expression, they all looked at me like I was a pitiful creature.