Not a sound could be heard as she looked up at the man she was supposed to marry in order for the political climate on the continent to remain peaceful. There was something odd about the situation, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

At the same time, reality hit her. It wasn't just his looks or his age. She didn't want to leave the country she was just getting used to to marry someone she didn't know. Not that she knew anyone in Arlen better than she knew Norina, but marriage was something else.

Mere weeks ago she had been a teenager - no, a child. People used to say she was mature for her age, didn't fit in very well, but looking at others in her profession, maybe it was something that came with the job.

Maybe she was peculiar on top of that, but she hadn't even shared a kiss with anyone, hadn't even had a sip of alcohol before, and now she was going to get married? She read a lot of books when she wasn't watching TV. All that stuff her parents would probably not approve of.

Her head, trying to get rid of the thought of what was going to happen on her wedding night, something she didn't even want to put into words, with a man three times her age, even in this body, started to spin.

'You need to calm down.' Pan didn't sound particularly worried, but his voice had that soothing tone that fell like a blanket over her busy mind. 'Do you not have to answer this person?'

He was right, she needed to calm down. Nothing had happened at this point. How many minutes had passed since she stood there staring at the Emperor's face like a broken doll?

She swiftly looked around the throne room, which was imposing in itself, but not heavily decorated at the moment. The throne sat three steps above the floor they all walked on, and a few servants stood along the two walls to the left and right, between eight tall windows.

The members of the envoy weren't completely scattered around the room, but rather lined up in a sort of hemispherical fashion around the iron throne that towered against the wall opposite the large double doors. On either side of the doors stood a knight, fully clad in iron armor from head to toe.

Rowena was at the center of them all, suddenly aware and feeling their questioning gazes.

Outside those windows, the reddened sky, darkening by the minute, shimmered on the waterways between the white buildings that reflected the color just as well, but differently.

Then she thought of the conversation she had had earlier. "It is indeed beautiful," she finally replied, as if to confirm what she had already pointed out during the carriage ride.

The Emperor, a little taken aback by her behavior, laughed out loud to clear the air in the room. "Indeed," he said, "the Moon of the Empire used to say that at this hour of the day as well. You would have gotten along splendidly, I'm sure."

There was a wistfulness in his words as he also turned his eyes to the scenery outside the window. "The Moon of the Empire," in other words, the late Empress. If the Emperor was the Sun, the Empress was his opposite, bathed in his light, the Moon.

Obviously, it didn't sit well with her to hear a potential spouse she didn't want say that she was close to the woman he had married before. But there was something else that struck her.

"You must have loved her very much," she said, following his gaze back out as the night sky swallowed the light left behind, casting a silvery light on the previously reddened city, with the moon reflecting on the water surface in front of the palace.

Well, she realized her mistake a minute too late when she heard muffled gasps around her and remembered that she couldn't just make wild assumptions like that in a foreign country, let alone in the presence of and fully directed at the Emperor himself.

Hastily clearing her throat, she closed her eyes and pretended to be an ignorant child who didn't know what she was doing wrong. "Of course, it's not a subject I know much about. Besides, I am quite tired. May I retire for the night?"

Only then did she look back at the man in front of her. If he tried to poach her now, it would be "game over" for her. Not that she wasn't afraid, but the severity of the situation hadn't sunk in yet, so she could remain calm on the outside.

And Emperor Alejandro was staring at her wide-eyed, but maybe not in shock, though she couldn't tell. Really, she wasn't that good at reading people.

"Surely, this assembly was just a formal greeting. You may join us at the meeting tomorrow morning, as you are to be educated on foreign affairs, as I heard from the young Duke."

Rowena didn't dare look at Alan, for she couldn't possibly say that she was making the best impression here. "I will gladly do so."

"In that case, I hope you have a good rest. One of the knights will escort you to your quarters."

She wanted to say that she had already seen the rooms, but it was probably a security measure - not only for the guest, but also for the Empire, since they couldn't let a person from a foreign nation wander through their main palaces unsupervised.

"I told you you would love it," a familiar, tinny voice said as the young lady realized it was the knight escorting her.

She couldn't say anything at first, instead she stopped moving. "It's you again."

"I thought we had a pleasant conversation before." Did he sound a little disappointed?

"I don't know. Do knights in this country just talk so freely to high-ranking noble ladies without an invitation?"

It was one thing when it happened in the carriage, but now that they were alone, it felt inappropriate to her. Besides, she just didn't want to talk to anyone.

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"We're very outgoing."

He simply repeated his words from earlier, not even trying to make an excuse. It irked her, but she didn't know how to respond anymore.

Technically, she didn't have a title of her own, she simply used her father's prestige as his daughter. Although she had every right to do so, it didn't mean much in another nation.

While it wouldn't be a good idea to harm her in any way, so as not to sour relations with another empire they needed something from, simply talking to her wouldn't be a big deal, as long as no one saw and proved it.

On the other hand, Rowena didn't want to go so far as to report him for talking to her. She wasn't used to all that status herself, as one could easily tell by her reaction in the throne room.

"Well, I would be happy if you would escort me quietly from now on, Sir Knight." She tried to keep it somewhat amicable between them.

He held back a chuckle at her attitude. "Understood, my lady."

He did as he was told, she couldn't blame him for that. When they arrived, her maids took over and helped her get ready for bed, as they always did. Sometimes, when she looked at Norina from behind when she worked, her shoulders seemed to drop a little.

She knew the girl was probably trying to put on a good smile and keep her mind free of negative thoughts, but there was no way she wouldn't feel bad. Still, there was nothing she could do at the moment but try to keep her from thinking about her sister back home.

'Pan, I have a question.'

'What would that be?'

'If we can't help her control the powers of Chronos,' she considered, 'would there still be a chance to annul the contract?'

He didn't answer for a while as she lay on the fluffy mattress with a grim expression on her face. "Is everything all right? Is the bed not to your liking?" Norina asked immediately, worried about her well-being. 'Maybe I should ask for a new room with another bed?'

"No, everything is great. There is simply a lot on my mind."

'She just met the Emperor,' Ava thought, as she tried to close the curtains, 'I hope he doesn't live up to the rumors.'

"Don't close them, Ava," her mistress said, "It's a lovely view, even at night."

There was a lot of light coming in, but she decided it wouldn't matter too much that night. She was exhausted, so there was no way she wouldn't be able to sleep.

'There must have been no Gamble yet. Until then, the contract isn't complete, as you know. The annulment can only happen before that,' Pan eventually answered her question.

'A Gamble, huh?' When an Executor - or a Paladin in Rowena's world - used the passive powers granted by their contract, there was no problem, but to use their active abilities, they had to take a Gamble.

A Gamble could be to swear to defeat a specific amount of enemies in a set time. If they didn't make it, they would lose what they originally leveraged.

As for the leverage, it could have been an arm or the time Chronos had taken from Charlotte. But was it reversible? Was the time gone forever, or could he give it back?

'If Charlotte could use her powers to return it herself, it must be reversible, right?'

'Yes, that is plausible.'

'Then why do you sound so constipated?'

'I don't know what you are trying to say, but Chronos and Chaos haven't had contractors in a very long time. They only tied themselves down once before, to my knowledge. If Chronos decided to do it now, there must be a reason, so I question his willingness to annul the contract he made.'

Now it was her who felt quite constipated all of a sudden. No, she didn't want to think about it, otherwise she wouldn't be able to sleep. She tried to shake it off.

Certainly, she looked at the beautiful scene outside the palace for a long time, her mind running in circles, until she managed to calm it down and finally closed her eyes. It didn't matter when her maids came in and tried to wake her up, as they had already tried several times, but to no avail.

"What do we do, Ava? She's already late. If she doesn't wake up soon..."

As soon as she said the words, there was a stir, and it wasn't caused by either of them gently shaking Rowena's shoulder. As the noble lady sat up in bed, her hair standing on end from a night of tossing and turning beyond her control, her eyelids heavy, she looked around.

The sun had already greeted the empire's capital, showering her with its clear, bright light, not a cloud in sight. Then she realized where she was, remembered where she was supposed to be this morning, and whipped her head back around to look at her two trusty maids in shock.

"We need to make it fast, my lady," the blonde girl said in a stern tone.

"Very fast," Ava added.

And fast they did. It might not have saved anything, but at least she was only fashionably late as she made her way to the conference room in the White Palace. It felt like she was getting into the habit of coming in after everyone had settled down, avoiding her brothers' eyes as much as possible.

'Who knows, maybe he doesn't want to marry me after all? Who wants a slacker to be the new Moon of the Empire, right?'

With that as her comfort, she sat down. And as she did so, there was a subtle hint from the Emperor to one of his own spokesmen who was sitting with them at the long table. There were quite a few people there.

With the Emperor and the envoy of the Arlen Empire, there were about twenty people in the room. Important vassals, high-ranking officials from accounting to defense, everyone who had something important to say was present.

And just like her, there were people who wanted to learn from this meeting. Young scholars, like the handsome young man sitting next to Rowena. To her right, to be exact, as her first brother sat to her left, much to her dismay. On top of that, she hungrily inspected a pile of sweets on the table, but she wasn't sure if she should add to her already lacking etiquette by just grabbing something off the tray.

"Now that we are all here, let us begin this meeting. As you know, our Empire has been having a hard time with the increase in Visitors showing up in our border regions and in some parts of the mountain ranges," one of the spokesmen for Lodden said, "even with the help of the Holy Empire, there's not much we can do at the moment, as one of our silver mines had to be shut already."

That was something she knew from the book, too. The Aurora Empire didn't really help them much, because the relationship between the two empires wasn't good. It was said that they once held hands, but that seemed to be over now.

Money was getting tighter and tighter, they still had to buy a lot of their staple foods from elsewhere, and now they had to pay more for more High Priests to protect themselves. What she didn't understand was why they didn't request it from the Holy Empire? It would probably cost them a lot, but it would also cost a lot to get High Priests through the Arlen Empire.

She couldn't think on an empty stomach, so she gratefully accepted a plate from the man next to her, and when he waved a servant over, they started to put something on it for her. She had slept through breakfast, but at least there was something sugary for her.

Too bad she couldn't bring Norina along, because she would have known to put a little more on it for her. But a helping of macaroons in all the colors of the rainbow would do.

"...as we handed you the contract, you will see our sincerity, for we don't bow our heads easily."

At these words, she looked up from her plate, crumbs sticking to her lips as her eyes followed an aged piece of parchment that was handed through her envoy.

It didn't reach her in particular, but her torso naturally leaned to the left as her older brother read the two hundred year old contract between the Lodden Empire and the Aurora Empire.

'With this notarized contract, the Aurora Empire, also known as the Holy Empire, declares itself... words, words, words. Skip to the end... Yes,' she thought, there it was, "Oh yeah, I can definitely smell shite."

She could almost feel the movement of his muscles as her brother turned to look down at her. She chewed on a pink macaroon while meeting his gaze, and she knew she had fucked up.

'Ah, shit. I should really stop blurting out everything that comes to mind.'