The ashes before Strife

Episode 20 : Elven princess 1 ; 4

[might be my fault. The emotional separation might not be perfect after i returned] incursik stated almost amused [ill see if anything's gone wrong. Give me a few hours]

I thought he was lying to comfort me but it did help to calm me a little bit. Pulling my hand from my face i looked up at the windows of the castle walls seeing all the servants hurriedly moving foods and cakes to one area of the castle.

Already needing something to distract my thoughts i shot a rope of corruption to the top of the castles wall and climbed back up to the roof. It was slippy but it was easy to walk on if i balanced myself well as it also served as good training for my footwork.

"Things always end up messy somehow huh."

Daringly i walked across the spine of the roof. It was foolish that there weren't at least some sentry towers on look out atop the castle. The elves placed too much faith on the heavily discriminatory society to root out any hidden invaders.

Reaching my desired location i slid down the roof until i reached the edge, wrapping corruption around my waist like a rope and walked down vertically on the castles walls.

None of the beasts had spoken a word yet today. It was still far too early for them to be woken up naturally so it was unsurprising but still daunting i had no one to at least keep me preoccupied.

Grasping the edge of a window i swung inside the castle into a desolate corridor where i walked to a pair of double doors. Opening them i came to a viewing gallery looking down the large ballroom the party was going to take place.

I could see musicians rehearsing, tables being set, the floor being repeatedly cleaned and food being repeatedly replaced.

At a glance you would think they were all tired of the cumbersome preparations but if you looked closer you could see they all genuinely wanted it to be perfect. They held a lot of love for the princess which was unsurprising considering her comfortable atmosphere and how she treated everyone with respect despite her constant curiosity.

My ears pricked up hearing footsteps and i turned around to see Isaac with the queen looking at me not angrily but there was definitely some hidden scorn.

Wanting to avoid the lecture that was likely coming i leaned back against the railing preparing to fall.

"Stop." The queens voice held me in place stopping me from falling over "thats very dangerous."

The gravity around me was crushing my body as white veins covered me trying to give myself the final push over the edge.

"Walk to me." My body shakily moved away from the edge and took two steps forward but corrupting my body even further i made it so she had to walk to me.

Thats a re~ally annoying aspect.

The queen grabbed my chin "just because your upset it doesn't give you the right to hurt others. My son especially." Chris was hiding behind Isaac as he looked from behind him with a slight fear.

It was tempting to just corrupt her body but if i did i might as well forget ever seeing my family again.

A slap then came right to my cheek. It wasn't the pain that surprised me but the empathetic look on the queens face that was "kids really do need a lesson on how to communicate properly. Just because your friend wants some space temporarily you've gotten grumpy and don't know how to react.

I wish it was just her needing space. Though thats not the case. Lumine was being cold to me ever since the journey started not once talking to me or even responding to me.

"Why are you silent?"

"..."

"Answer me! Why are you so angry!" At the beckon of her voice my vocal chord and mouth muscles began to move but retaining my silence i bit down on my teeth. "Stubborn little. Answer me!" My muscles resistance was futile as broken words slowly left my mouth