Fang was surely messing with me. There is no way the curse of the ancestor’s wrongdoings would be broken this easily. But what about the scent that I got when Fang was around, is that some trick he puts up? How deceiving can he be to even fake this. I should ignore his stupidity. There is no way he is my soulmate. Even if he was, there is no way I would take that devil as my partner.

I turned, facing my back to the mirror and breathed out of my mouth, releasing tension. My head was going to explode with a headache if I continued thinking so much about Fang Warchild. That is not where I should waste my bare minimum resting time.

I stepped outside the bathroom with internal efforts of forgetting my thoughts. Suzan gasped looking at me and I immediately raised my gaze to see what made her do that.

She exaggerated her actions with her palm on her chest. “Selene! With all those creases on your face, you will get all wrinkly old face soon enough!” Her words lighten my entire mood in an instance. I let out a light chuckle.

“Won’t that be good? We would finally start looking identical,” I said sarcastically.

She gasped, threw a pillow at me jokingly offended, “Are you saying I am old?”

“Who said you are old Suzan?” I asked with an intention to correct her. Before that, I picked up the change of clothes she had prepared for me and headed towards the bathroom as I did not want to change in here. Turning back I finished my sentence, “I just meant that you ‘LOOK’ old”

“You!” a pillow came flying at me and I went inside, shutting the door. The pillow hit the door with a thump sound. I giggled in a taunting way and she roared from outside, “you come out now!”

I laughed louder, and she came banging on the door. “Come out, Selene! Let me kill you”

This part of friendship was something that I missed with Dandeline, my maid. She was always there with me as a friend, but the difference of position was always clear. It made me want to tease Suzan more. I knew she won’t actually get offended. “Old people shouldn’t exert themselves fighting! Go rest up grandma Suzan.”

“SELENE! y-you old hag!”, she had no comeback, but she was certainly trying to keep up with the fake offence act.

“Your comebacks are as old as your face, grandma Suzan. Try a little harder,” I said, laughing louder at her reactions. She certainly was trying to keep offended, but the lightness was slipping in her words.

In a few seconds there were giggles and then a burst of heartfelt laughter that we shared. She threw another pillow at the door. “Die you, idiot!” she said, still chuckling. Her voice travelled farther. I assumed she went back to her seat on the bed. “Come out fast, it is only 32 minutes till the start of Stage two”

“Okay grandma”

“Stop it, you night-hag,” Suzan retaliated. This was sure a better creative comeback than the previous one, which was an old-hag. But I left it at that. I had different things to ask of her right now.

I came here to end the old war between the two villages, but I haven’t checked how serious it is. The Kingdom of Adalolpha had five villages, three of them were on the right of the castle and had now merged into one – Greenlands. But the two villages on the left side of the castle, Winterwells and Waterwoods, were still in a state of conflict. That is exactly what I was here to change. Before leaving this kingdom after marriage, I could at least bring this peace and leave.

After being completely dressed, I stepped out and saw a lady who looked in her late 40s. She beamed up looking at me. “Are you hungry, darling? I have prepared the lunch. You girls can sit here and eat, no need to join the dining table”

I smiled at her. My eyes looked confused at Suzan.

She was not looking at me and spoke to the new lady in the room, “Thanks mom, I will bring it in here you don’t stress about it.” So this was her mother. I looked back at the lady and introduced myself formally,

“Hello, I am Selene. I am new in the Winterwells pack” and extended my hand as bowing would look dumb outside the castle.

The lady came ahead and hugged me, just like Suzan had done when she first met me, and it took me by surprise just like that time. My smile just grew on noticing the similarity between the daughter and the mother. Pulling away from the hug, her mother said, “Nice to meet you, Selene. I am Suzan’s mother. I have heard a lot about you from Suzan. Next time you better come to spend an entire day with us. It is the first time my daughter has brought home a friend. Nice to see her finally getting social”

She eyed her daughter, and I chuckled, “Suzan is actually very extroverted, maybe that is why she could make friends out of my socially awkward self”

“She a little lively, I will agree,” said her mother, and I raised my brows. Little was not the word that described Suzan. She was utterly extreme. Her mother let go of her hands that were resting on my shoulders. “I won’t take your time now, you have to leave, right? Sit here I will bring the lunch. Suzan stay here don’t leave your friend alone”

Suzan nodded, and I politely returned her mother’s smile. When we were left alone in the room I spoke first, “You have a splendid mother”

“I know, she is the best,” said Suzan, without a second delay. I wondered how long would it take for me to say the same about my mother. On that thought, I remembered what I had to ask Suzan.

I turned to her adjusting my sitting, “Suzan I had to ask you something”

“Yes, anything”, her eyes shifted from the snake game on her tiny mobile screen to me.

Keeping it a casual conversation, I asked, showing it as my curiosity, “What are your thoughts about the war between the two villages?”