As per Drayce’s wish, a royal meal was prepared for all the Megaris soldiers before leaving Abetha. 

Inside his bedchamber, Drayce could be seen standing, wearing an all-black attire with a soft armor that was tailored perfectly on his well-sculpted body. He had already taken off a king’s royal clothes and had donned clothes that were comfortable yet sturdy. Strapped on his waist was his personal sword.

Abetha, Griven, and Megaris had finished all preparations for the war that would soon break out. Before heading down to meet his men, Drayce had something important to do first. 

Standing by the window, he caressed his pet, the majestic eagle with long deep brown feathers and a large arched beak. The eagle looked at his owner with a pair of sharp golden eyes, his strong black-colored and huge claws with sharp nails slightly scratching the window sill. 

“Dusk, don’t be scared of her,” Drayce said as he patted the head of the eagle, which Dusk obviously enjoyed, and even rubbed his head against his owner’s palm.  “She is nothing but one scared kitten. If you stand in front of her with your wings wide open, it’s enough to scare her.” 

Drayce’s hand then moved to Dusk’s wings which were folded into his body. The tone of his voice lowered as he mused, “But if you dare scare her, these wings won’t be here anymore.”

In response, Dusk shrank his wings back to his body even more. His owner was one scary man.

Just in time, Slayer entered Drayce’s bedchamber.

“Your Majesty, it’s here,” Slayer said, holding a square-shaped package wrapped in a blue silk cloth. 

Drayce nodded slightly, and Slayer placed the wrapped package on the window sill. 

“Dusk, you know what to do,” said Drayce. 

The next moment, the eagle clutched his strong claws at the knot of that blue silk cloth and fled away, carrying it as if it weighed nothing.

“Your Majesty, may I ask who it was for and—”

“No!” came a straight denial from the proud king. The knight knew better than to dare ask again.

When he could no longer see Dusk, Slayer escorted Drayce to where his injured soldiers were enjoying the hospitality from Abetha before excusing himself to meet the other military officers. 

Drayce was satisfied to see where his men were resting. It was the largest among the military quarters within the palace, which showed how good a treatment Megaris was receiving from the royal family.

Upon seeing their King, the soldiers all rose to greet him, but Drayce dismissed them by raising his hand. They understood the King wanted them to leave him alone and resumed eating. 

One of his knights approached him. He was the captain of the Drayce’s royal knight brigade, and he was the one looking after the injured soldiers while Slayer was with Drayce all the time.

“Your Majesty,” the knight bowed.

“Slayer had told you what to do,” said Drayce.

“Rest assured, Your Majesty,” the captain replied.

Just then, Dusk returned and sat on the captain’s wide shoulders. 

“Did it go well?” Drayce asked Dusk. 

The bird didn’t react, and Drayce continued as he smirked, “Don’t worry. Tomorrow, it will go fine.”

“Your Majesty, it’s time to leave,” Slayer informed when he returned to the military quarters after checking on other soldiers as he was the commander. 

Drayce looked at Dusk and the captain with a warning gaze. “Any mistake and your hand and his wings will disappear.”

The captain bowed, saying, ‘there won’t be a mistake’ while Dusk shrank back. 

On an open field just behind the royal palace, Drayce found Arlan talking with the commander of the royal knights, the military general, and the King of Abetha. The elite squad beside them was composed of twenty of the best knights from the three kingdoms. 

The rest of the knights were standing by quietly as well, together with a battalion wearing the crest of Abetha, a mix of infantry and cavalry units awaiting their orders. As they only had a few hours to prepare, this was only the first wave of the army leaving the capital tonight.

King Armen was merely there to see everyone off and wasn’t joining the actual operation. He greeted Drayce, and after an exchange of a few words, the army quietly left the capital under the veil of the night.

——–

(Seren’s POV)

The sun was about to set, yet I couldn’t get anything to eat. I felt like crying the entire day, but Martha’s warning didn’t let me shed a single tear. As I recalled today’s incident, coupled with the intense hunger gnawing at my tummy, I thought to throw caution in the wind and let my emotions out, but I couldn’t. 

I couldn’t disappoint Martha.

Standing by the window, I looked at the sky as I spoke, “Martha, when will you be back?”

As I stared at the empty sky, I noticed a huge shadow…no… Something was flying towards the tower, and it looked huge in size. The familiar widespread wings looked scarier in the dark. 

It was the same majestic eagle from earlier.

The huge bird landed on my window. Realizing I had taken an unconscious step back, I exhaled deeply the breath that was stuck in my chest. “You scared me.”

The bird stared at me. With the light from the lamps in my room, his golden eyes looked like glittering fireflies. 

“Are you happy to scare me?” I asked, and the bird widened his body as if puffing up his chest to admit he took pride in scaring me. He was about to open his huge wings, but suddenly he settled them along his body. 

Only then did I realize that the eagle brought me something 

“What is it?” I asked, still maintaining a good distance between him and me. 

The bird pecked his beak twice on that square-shaped thing wrapped in blue silk cloth, but before I could respond, it fled away in haste. 

After making sure he left, I went closer to the window to check what it was. Just as I was about to touch it, I retreated my hands. 

“Martha said I should not touch anything that’s not mine,” I mumbled to myself and returned to bed. I tried not to look at that thing, but my curious mind wouldn’t stop urging me to check it out. 

I had my hands full dealing with hunger, and now, I even had to deal with my curious mind. In the end, I couldn’t bear it and went to check that thing. 

With a deep breath, I carefully touched the knot of the silk cloth and quickly retreated my hand in fear that something would happen, but it was fine. Nothing changed, and it seemed like an ordinary item. 

After a few more seconds, I finally decided to open it. 

There was a square-shaped wooden box inside the silk cloth. I opened it, only to get tears of happiness in my eyes. 

“It’s food!” I exclaimed in surprise, and I nearly danced in joy. 

My body moved on its own. I took the box inside and put it on the wooden table inside my room. It was a huge box with so much food in it. I removed the wooden plate inside the box, separating the two layers of food, and below that, there was more. 

There was a variety of meat and fish dishes, vegetables, and desserts, and there was even mushroom soup. The rice and soup were still piping hot, meaning the meal was freshly made.

It was a royal treatment of food. No, it was a feast! 

The aroma and the heat being emitted by the food increased my hunger even more. Just as I thought about starting to eat, warning bells rang in my head. 

“What if it’s a trap like last time?”

When I was eleven, Martha had to leave me for two days. I could still remember that someone rang the metal bell at the garden gate, and I came out of the tower to see who it was despite Martha’s instruction of never doing so. 

When I went near the closed gate, I saw a huge wooden tray filled with different kinds of food. Not thinking much, I took it with me and ate it, only to wake up after not remembering what happened.

Martha said someone poisoned my food, causing me to be bedridden for days. Good thing that Martha returned and had nursed me back to health before I grew worse.

After that, I learned that I should never accept anything from others. 

To date, I followed that lesson, but today I didn’t wish to. “At this rate, I will die by starving anyway, so it’s better to eat. This way, I will die with a happy tummy.

I picked up the still-hot white rice with the spoon kept in the box, but I stopped before I could put it in my mouth. Even though I said all that, I was still hesitant. 

“But, I don’t want to die.” 

As I moved the spoon away from my mouth, my nose captured the sweetest aroma, making me lose my rationality. I immediately put that spoon inside my mouth as I thought, “I don’t care.”

Simple rice never tasted so heavenly until this moment, and before I knew it, the wooden box was empty. 

I had eaten everything.