Hazel looked at the scenery passing through the window with a lost face. The trees and the large lake, she would have looked at them with wonder if it would have been any other time but now.. She did not even know what was in front of her eyes.

Not even did she get married to a sword instead of a man. She was even asked to kiss it in front of everyone.

Hazel could not help but curse the so-called bat in her heart once again. She did not care if he was so powerful and a night creature. She deserved some respect too even if she was going to die! She wanted to die with pride.

“Live your life well as the empress, my daughter.” She wanted to laugh at the words of her so-called father.

But before she could scorn and shout at her father, since she was the empress now, she should have some power. She was dragged to the carriage by the maids.

Her brothers and sisters whom she was meeting for the first time waved at her as if she was a knight that was going to sacrifice in the war._.

“Lets bet, for how many days would she be able to survive?”

“Do you think she would even pass the palace and meet her husband?”

“I heard that he was the only ugly night creature that was why he did not dare to come here.”

“What a poor luck! The only thing that was good about night creatures was their beauty! She didn’t even get that!”

“Well, at least, she was the one who was chosen!”

She wanted to punch all of them. How could they be so cold towards her when she had never harmed anyone. She did not even remember who said what things except that they all waited for one thing..

That was her death!! Was that how a family was supposed to be? Though she knew that she would never get an equal treatment, due to her mother being the maid of the palace and she was the result of a one night stand, she had never thought that her ending would be this soon.

Even her governess looked at her as if she was looking at a corpse. She did not even have the confidence that Hazel would survive even when she was the one who had taught them.

She wanted to shout and tell all of them that she was not dead yet, but she was not confident enough how long she would survive.

She waited all this time to get a single assurance that only Anne could give her. But until she was dragged into the carriage and left the palace, Anne was nowhere to be seen.

“Had she lost hope in me too?” Hazel took a deep sigh as she leaned on the seat of the carriage.

The carriage was luxurious and grand, it was adorned with rare gemstone and was showing how big empires had enough wealth to splurge on the vehicle that only a woman can dreamt.

Her eyes fell on both maids that had come to escort her to the palace. Their faces were pale and gloomy too as if they were going to receive their death punishment. Looking at their faces made her further gloomy!

She felt dizzy as the carriage got closer to her destination. Just when they crossed the borders of the empire,

The place turned eerie. The winds were so cold and howling that she shivered. It was more like the sound of shrieking of the souls that had received an early and painful death.

She could see the mountain a bit away from where the carriage was! Even they were covered with a vial of mysterious fog and dark clouds.

The snow had covered the land completely like a layer of soft white flowers that had been decorating her grave.

Everything around her was so gloomy that her heart dropped and unpleasant feelings had started to cover her completely.

Her heart started to beat irregularly as the carriage continued to move towards a castle. It was a big and white castle whose roofs were covered with snow just like the path.

As hazel entered the door of the castle. The band that was waiting for the arrival of the bride, started playing the songs of welcome.

Though the sound of the song was beautiful, Hazel could only feel that they were playing her last tribute to humanity as she was nothing more than a sacrificial lamb.

But her heart came out of her chest when the carriage stopped abruptly. All the maids looked at her with pale faces, their expressions were nothing better than her.

“If I go in, I will die!” she muttered under her breath as she looked at the large amount of maids and knights that were standing on the door of the castle, waiting for her to alight out of the carriage.

“But if I did not go in and try to run away, I would still die!” it was certain that her father had made sure that the carriage would not stop anywhere but at the door of the palace so she did not dare to play any trick! Running from here only meant that she would die the second she would run.

“If you are going to die anyway. At least choose a way that would save our lives!” pleaded the scared girls who looked at her as if she was their last hope.

A mocking laugh formed on the face of hazel. They all used her as if she was nothing but an extra to be discarded easily while they would enjoy the fame of being the family who sacrificed their daughter for the well being of their empire and humanity and yet they think that they were righteous.

“Ha! To think that I will be thinking about you even when I am going to die anyway. You sure have the guts! Now I even want to see how the Stagenrib empire would survive!”

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