The doors opened, revealing the vast dining hall with the curtains pulled and the table stationed near the window far from the entrance door. Valerie's eyes instantly searched the entire table, the seating was like the usual, the king was sitting at the head of the table, he didn't even look at her as she made her way up to the table. she was surprised to see her father was already at the table, sitting by the king instead of his usual seat at the far end of the table. she had been told he'd arrive in the evening. why was he there so early?

neither the royals nor the guards gave her a mind, they were all too immersed in their own life, even her father, who seemed happy that for once the sunlight was shining on him, hidden in the shadows of his other siblings. Valerie also found her mother at the table, which was a surprise considering her mother was never invited to anything royal.

'the king must have lost hope in ever winning' she thought to herself

at last, they noticed Valerie's presence once she called his majesty, her voice so high it was almost as if she was shouting. the table turned silent, if the royals hated her mother, then they despised Valerie.

she bowed towards the king and he only gave a nod, his white hair carrying a crown filled with colorful diamonds, his white beard so long it reached the table, it had turned yellow in some spots and it disgusted Valerie, she smiled away the gagging sound she was about to make.

she finally turned to her father, whose face had more wrinkles than ever, his face had aged for about ten years in only three months. he smiled brightly, though. for once he wasn't lying to Valerie. his smile was genuine and the tears in his eyes were of happiness. Valerie would have looked past it if she hadn't known what happened, what was about to happen to him if anyone other than her found out.

being too caught up in her thoughts Valerie didn't notice him standing, extending his arms, waiting for a hug from his only daughter. She glanced around the table, everyone's face was filled with confusion. How can she not hug her dad who had won a war for his kingdom

she quickly wrapped her arms around her father, she felt a fit of hyperventilation coming, it was all too much, she had woken up that morning and too much information was given to her lazy morning brain, at that moment she did want a hug. the caress on her back calmed her down. "I'm here, darling. I'm here" she sobbed onto her father's shoulder, the sun-shaped badges on his shoulders that were just given to him got drenched in Valerie's tears and snot. She pulled away from her father, he took a handkerchief from the table and started wiping away her tears.

"I have missed you so much my dear, Valerie"

"me too, father" she managed in between sobs. staring into her father's brown eyes, forgetting the atrocities he committed, for a minute, it did make her proud. it made her extremely proud that the other princes and princesses didn't manage to win and it was her father who did.

it would've been even better if the victory wasn't so sketchy and fraudulent.

Valerie sat in between her mother and father. sitting across her was Sebastian, who was glaring at her with different colored set of eyes, almost telling her that isn't your seat with his eyes, but he couldn't do anything about it, the king granted them a higher seat at the table, and Sebastian had to deal with it. he was also stationed in between his parents, his avian mother with her piercing blue irises, and his crown prince father who never smiled in his entire life.

this was going to be a magnificent breakfast.

her mother cut up a piece of boiled egg and put it on her plate, a smile spread through her face, a face that resembled her own. As a kid everyone had told her she looked so much like her mother as an insult because her mother wasn't the daughter of a nobleman and she wasn't a lady, she was a 'peasant' as they called her.

Valerie's father fell in love with her when he was on a mission in one of the villages in the west, in a week he was in love and proposed. he brought her to the palace to marry her, despite the king being against it. he insisted on her and promised the king he would never ask for anything else. love blinded her father. Valerie could relate to her father in that.

that was the last time Valerie's father fought for his wife, the palace made her life hell afterward. treating her like she was one of the servants.

she felt a soft hand over her own trembling hands. she wondered how life would have been if her mother was also a noblewoman, would they have treated Valerie and Vincent a bit better?

she should have been thankful for her mother, it did make her feel guilty for having those thoughts, but it was also not fair that they had to put up with so much from them just because of her.

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glancing around the table Valerie noticed that none of the other princes and princesses were at the table besides the crown prince and his family. her cousin, Lillian had also been present. the others didn't like their family enough to come and celebrate their success, they hated the fact that their brother is a better prince and protector of the crown and hated that a woman with her mother's position made her way into the royal family, they deemed it 'unfair'. it was expected that they would miss out due to their envy, Valerie was only surprised that they had made it so obvious. missing out on breakfast when the king is present is very bold. even for his kids. but the king seemed unbothered by it. he was happy that the Tari king was caught and was soon to be imprisoned.

Valerie caught Lillian's eye and waved at her. Lillian was the only person she found tolerable among these people. she was also her only friend aside from...

her thoughts drifted to Michael and she searched the room for him. but he wasn't there. As sad as it made her, she was also grateful that for once she didn't enter a room with only him on her mind, it took her about ten minutes to notice his absence this time, which for Valerie, was progress.

she couldn't believe the guard that was guaranteed to keep her safe hadn't shown his face in three months, the lover that promised he would stay by her side wasn't trackable and had hidden from her. The first few weeks after he had disappeared Valerie turned feral, she was angry at everything and everyone, even more than usual, she got angry at the children, the flowers, the sky, the animals, everything and everyone cheerful and wasn't wallowing in sadness and hatred like she was, she was miserable and she stayed miserable, but she was no longer angry, the fire inside her had burn out to be a small flame, just like Michael's love had done for her.

the army men had told her he was on a mission, that he went to the outskirts of the kingdom to do a task for her father, then they told her that her father had no idea he was missing and she shouldn't let him know or else he would worry. and although it had felt like they were playing with Valerie's mind, she agreed with them and didn't tell her father who was at the front. she only wished to know why he had left without even telling her.

if he was on a mission he would have been home by now.

Valerie's reoccurring thoughts were that she must have done something wrong, he had told her that they could never get married but she had always deemed it as banter.

"why aren't you eating, darling?" her mother whispered, noticing she had been playing with the piece of boiled egg with a spoon till it got smushed on the plate, Valerie quickly put a bite in her mouth to seem clear-headed and in control.

"it was hot" She munched on the boiled egg, and put some fruit and bread on her plate, despite not having any appetite.

"was it really?" called out the Aavian beast, his blonde hair pushed away to reveal one eye blue and one brown, he truly seemed like the devil to Valerie. She would often see a beast with the same eye colors in her nightmares, but even the beast was more merciful than Sebastian. " you were late to breakfast, it had gone cold, dear cousin," he said with a taunting yellow-teethed smile.

"I am sorry I was late" Valerie replied with a voice empty of humor, she stared at him right back and showed him she wasn't afraid of him. like she always did. "I wasn't aware that my father would be here for breakfast. I wasn't informed"

"oh no it's fine!" he said with exaggerated hand moves "After all you've been hanging at the town inn till dawn, I assume you need all the sleep you can get" he picked a piece of bread with a fork and put it in his mouth, Valerie wished she could take the gold cutlery and poke his eye with it, specifically the brown eye.

"the town?" Harvey(Valerie's father) questioned. Valerie couldn't dare to turn her head and look him in the eyes, she just stared at Sebastian wishing she had the Aavian sorcery to make him choke on the water he was drinking.

"It's alright, Harvey" he smiled "Missing out on a few practices isn't that terrible" Sweat formed on Valerie's forehead, there was no way out of this, she had to face her father at the table.

her father put her with the soldiers and made her practice every day since she was ten. magic, swordsmanship, archery and wrestling. he had also put her among some women who mastered these skills on horseback. she hadn't had a break until he had left and she tasted freedom.

she could feel her father fuming beside her.

"You missed practice, Valerie?" with a scarily quiet voice, her father brushed over how his nephew just disrespectfully called him by his first name instead of addressing him properly. he was prone to disrespect, his only priority was to make Valerie's life a living hell.

the table went completely silent again until she heard a deep sigh coming from beside her.

"Father, I missed it for a few days. I am already very skilled in working with sunlight magic, I know swordsmanship and I have even learned great archery skills from Alice..." her words trailed as she saw the disappointed look on her father's face. she was just spewing excuses from everywhere. fortunately for Valerie, her father didn't continue pestering her about it.

over breakfast, Valerie reminisced about the days she would go to the town before her father was back. she wished she was at one of those inns right now. dancing and drinking, making love to handsome strange men to forget about the one that broke her heart. if he had never gone to that war she wouldn't have tasted the sweetness of the freedom that was provided outside the giant palace walls. now she had to get back to practicing every minute of the day. battling the annoying men at the training grounds who brownnosed her father.

'what more can a woman learn?' she thought.

Valerie thought it was humorous, he went around bossing his kids about how they should act meanwhile he had just burned countless innocent people and could be sent to the dungeons if the wise found out about it. for once, she didn't self-loath because of her father's disappointment in her, and allowed herself to hate him with no guilt.