The big fancy carriage drove through the north gate of Gambit but unlike the other days, it did not turn into the upper residential quarter, it went up the hill where the castle was.

Soon they reached the metal gate of the castle. The stone wall alone was as tall as her house. Past the gate was a beautiful garden with a pond in the middle. The carriage drove past the garden around the pond and stopped in front of the hallway.

"My lady-to-be, what do you think of this garden?"

"Beautiful and neat."

"Indeed they were until I met you. Now I found them ugly."

"Oh... Your kind words flatter me, your grace."

The Duke was happy on his own. Leila rolled her eyes while he was looking other side. She felt nauseous as the old man tried to be cheesy.

Longbarts were richer than some nobles but the castle of the Duke was far outrageous. The great hall was filled with gold. Golden candle holders, golden plates, golden tableware and even a whole set of gold armour were displayed proudly. The Duke took her to his office and stood in front of a painting taller than her. It was the portrait of the Duke in his gold armour. On the right was a portrait of the late duchess, half the size of the Duke's. Surprisingly her portrait gifted by her father was also hanged on the left alongside the other two. The shock put her on her knees. Now, she understood that there was no hope for her. The Duke already thought of her as his wife.

"Are you alright my lady-to-be? You must be tired. Rest for now. A servant will fetch you when the guests arrive. ...hey take your lady to Duchess chamber. And attend to her needs."

A servant came running and led her to the duchess's room. The same as the hallway, it was glided with gold. She looked around the room and found another painting of the late Duchess. It was a full-sized portrait of the late Duchess when she was young; and naked. It might have been painted through the Duke's imagination.

As if a punch landed on her stomach, she vomited till the bile came out. It flustered the servant. Leila felt apologetic to the servant as she spoiled the room. She wished she could help clean it. But she had no energy left to do so. Soon the servant left her to rest alone. Leila sat on a chair by the window and gazed outside miserably.

The town seemed beautiful from up here. The upper residential district was glowing with lights from the houses and commuters. Every year after the final day of the competition, boys who had met their other half at the stage invited their partners to dinner at home. This year was the same. Sometimes Leila could hear laughter from the fresh couples on the road.

"All of them look so happy down there yet up here I am in misery." She muttered to herself.

Suddenly a metal clanking noise came from the West gate as it was opened. From there a line of fancy carriages with different sizes came up one by one. Esteemed guests have arrived. All of them were royalties; counts, viscounts and barons with their families. Among them, she found familiar faces. It was her family, Mr and Mrs Longbart and her brother.

She heard a knock on the door and saw a bunch of servants coming in with a yellow dress. Yellow is the symbol of Rode.

"Your grace, his grace order us to prepare you for the feast. This dress is the gift from his grace himself."

"Thank you. And you may call me Miss Longbart. I am not a Duchess."

"Yes, your grace."

Leila gave up correcting them. They dressed her up with the finest velvet, rarest jewellery, and a golden tiara.

"Oh lord Mordu'." One of the servants muttered in surprise as she fell in love with Leila's beauty.

When she walked down to the great hall, it was already filled with guests.

Three long tables were placed in an inverted 'U' shape inside a golden-glided hall. Golden tablewares were placed on the top table while silverware were prepared for the other two.

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Leila was led to an empty seat next to the Duke. As she walked past, she saw Mrs Longbart smiled and winked at her. Her father was too busy talking business with a royalty.

She bowed to the Duke and his peerages before she sat.

"I apologize for my late arrival your grace."

"It is alright. I heard you were feeling unwell."

"Yes, your grace."

"Oh poor thing. You should ask for medicine from Ayeegyee. I just saw him. Where is his benevolence?" The Countess of Sousa overheard the conversation and said in worry.

"Thank you, Your Excellency. I am feeling better now."

The dining hall was noisy with laughter, whispers, crunching and metal clanking. The servants were busier now than ever too. Food and drinks kept rolling into the hall.

Even when the king and Her Highness came, they stood up only for a while then they continued to dine. They did not stop until the Duke clanked his golden cup with a golden fork.

"All right everyone. Quiet, please. ...yes. thank you. Although it is late and his holiness could not join us, let's have a toast for his holiness and the temple for their successful competition which had given us a thrill and excitement. May the temple stand till the world end and protect us!"

"Hear! Hear!"

Everyone gulped down a cup of ale without rest.

"And for the next event, I have big news to announce. I, Ducan Goldfield, Duke of Midland, governor of Rode, have a very special declaration. I decided to take in lady Leila Longbart as my wife, the governess of Rode and grant her my family name Goldfield, Your Majesty."

Upon hearing that the duke had asked for his blessing, the young king raised his cup, "then I shall grant her the title of Duchess. To Leila Goldfield!"

"Lady of Rode! Duchess of kingdom!"

The deal was sealed. It was the celebration for the Longbart family with their daughter becoming the second most powerful woman in the empire, or arguably the most powerful woman. There was no more stopping for them but to go up.

"Your wisdom, may I request his holiness to perform the ceremony of service and ceremony of blessing as early as possible?" asked the duke to his wisdom.

"As early? Can't you wait for a week to hump on her ass, old man?" His old friend, Count Heildberg joked.

Everyone cracked on his disgusting joke. Even Mr Longbart laughed along with them. The only one who could not laugh was Leila.

"I am quite busy these days. But the request is done by you so I shall ask his holiness to arrange the ceremony as you requested. Miss Longbart, I shall delay the hearing a day but you may come to the Temple for the ceremony."

"Your wisdom."

After the announcement, the feast turned into a celebration. More barrels of ale rolled into the hall.

Leila could not watch them celebrate her misery so she excused herself.

She walked out alone to the garden and stared at the fish swimming in the pond. Suddenly she saw a reflection of a person behind her. It was Princess Cleo.

"Your Royal Highness."

"You don't look happy for a person to become the most powerful woman in Midland. You look miserable."

"No, Your Highness. I am quite happy."

"Cut the bullshit. Don't say those are happy tears. If you want to cry, cry. Want to curse the world, curse. It will lighten your chest. those bastards treating us women like property and items of bribe."

"You are wrong your Highness. I approached him at my own will and I am quite happy."

"Stop it. I am already fed up with their lies. I saw your pathetic little acts failed miserably to annoy the duke. It seems you do not fully understand what kind of people we are, miss Longbart. Your petty acts looked like a cute little puppy trying to get attention from her master. You should have struck on his intelligence."

"Thank you for enlightening me. But I was trying to get his attention. I hated how he only looked at those men killing each other while he ignored me."

"Humph. You are lying. Anyway, it is your loss. I gave you a chance to have a friend you can talk to frank_to open your heart and lighten your chest. It is rare in this devious world, Miss Leila. And you threw it away.

Leila stared at the back of the princess as Cleo walked back in disappointment. Although she did not take the chance, she was happy and relieved to find someone who understood her.

"Can we still be friends even if our talks won't be the most honest?" asked Leila to Princess.

"No," Cleo answered with a smile.

The party ended when all the guests were drunk, their faces flat on the table. Some were lying on the floor. The king, princess and his benevolence were the only people conscious enough to get on the carriage on their own feet.

Leila had to ask the Duke's servants to carry her family onto the carriage. When she reached home, she went straight to bed.

The moment she woke up from bed, she saw Mrs Borger preparing a bath for her. A beautiful garment was placed ready for her to wear. These kinds of excessive treatment from her family had been the norm for her. She loved morning baths but she was sick of it now.

Most importantly, the most unsettling problem had been troubling her. She made love with Ethanial when she had not undergone the ceremony of service. Failure to serve Mordu' was a serious crime punishable by death. It was an ironclad law of Mordu'nism dominated Midland. A woman needed not to go ceremony of service if she was to marry a Templer, the warrior in service; otherwise, she must.

The moment she talked about it to Mrs Borger, the nanny flopped down like a broken puppet. Leila was the girl she raised like her own daughter. When she noticed Leila was in danger, she could not breathe.

"What... What should we do?" said Mrs Borger dejectedly. "Let's... Let's run away. We can go back to your mother's hometown in Indra. There is no influence of Temple in the east continent. I am sure your grandparents will be levitated to see you."

"No. I am the only witness. I can't run away in the middle of the trial."

"Leave him be. He deserves it."

"No, nanny. He doesn't. ... The good news is my ceremony of service will be the day after the trial. He will be free by then and we will run away together."

"There is no time. It takes a week to reach Portland. We must be out of Rode dukedom by the time of the ceremony at least. Otherwise, they will catch you."

"We don't need to go to Easton. We can stay in Midlake under the protection of the crown and the duke will never be able to touch us."

"The crown? I don't think your brother is acquainted with any man powerful enough to challenge the Duke."

Leila gave her answer with a mysterious smile.