Rastos goes with one of the security teams to check who caused this. Whereas Rhea rushes to check on Argus who was bleeding. Seeing Rhea worried, he reassured her,
"Don't worry, this is just a small scratch."
"How is this a minor scratch? Come on, quickly. Let's get you treated."
She grasps his hand and drags him to one of the guests' rooms. Before going inside, she had ordered one of the maids to deliver them a medical box.
"Sit here."
She motions Argus to sit on the chair as she storms around waiting for the maid.
"Where is she?"
She mumbled. As if on cue, a knock was heard. Rhea clutched the box from the maid and then went on to treat Argus.
".....How often has this been happening in the past few days?"
Rhea inquired in a solemn tone, filling in the silence.
"What do you mean?"
Argus answered with a question.
"You comprehend what I mean."
Argus didn't want to make Rhea worried, so he disregarded her question. Rhea gritted her teeth and remarked,
"You think I didn't notice the dark circles under your eyes? How long has it been since you last slept properly?"
Embarrassed at being caught, Argus averts his gaze,
"So you noticed...."
After being met with silence, Argus looked up to see Rhea on the verge of tears,
"This is so unfair. I was so worried for you after the date passed by in which you were supposed to be dead. Every day I kept thinking if you were all right or not. I prayed that you stayed safe."
She let out a sob and tries pushing back her tears. Argus instantly hugs and strokes her head.
"I'm here, aren't I? Safe and sound."
"What safe?"
Rhea remarks hinting at his recent wounds.
"Aside from that. Therefore, don't worry. After tonight, everything will be all right."
"I sure hope so. I don't know how much more of this emotional rollercoaster I can take."
Suddenly, they hear booming noises from outside. A girl was shouting,
"Let me go! I order you to unhand me this instant!"
Argus and Rhea look at each other after recognizing that voice belonged to Calista. They rush outside to discover people from the Temple surrounding Calista and holding her. Whereas the imperial guards stood confused along with the public and the King that did not know what to do.
Calista was cursing since she had left her weapon back in her room.
This is when Rastos rushes in after he too was informed about this situation. He came in between the Temple people and Calista,
"What do you think you are doing to my fiance?"
"An oracle was passed down, your highness."
"First, let my fiance go."
"But the oracle...you need to listen..."
"I said let her go."
Rastos hissed with a domineering aura, making the Temple people flinch as they nervously let Calista go even though they continued to surround her.
"It is imperative that we must prevent this engagement. An oracle was befallen. Black aura was associated with Princess Calista. She is declared to bring doom and demise to this kingdom. We can't allow her to become the Crown Princess."
"That's nonsense. I don't believe in that."
"Rastos!"
At Rastos's words, the King reprimanded him. He then turns to the Temple people, demanding they explain more about this oracle.
"Our Crown Princess was selected through this oracle. She was associated with the color white and gold which symbolizes purity and wealth for our kingdom."
"Who is this lady?"
"It is lady Rhea Leneghan."
Everyone turned to gaze at the said person, who in turn clutched Argus's arm and glares at the people from the Temple.
"Because of this, we need to take Lady Rhea Leneghan to stay at the temple before the wedding. She is the future Crown Princess who is going to lead our kingdom to victory. All of this was in the prophecy."
"Father! This is outrageous! Say something!"
Rastos turned to the King who in turn looked conflicted and troubled. On one hand, was his dear son. On the other was the Temple with its oracle.
"I.....You said it was in the prophecy? Are you sure it was Lady Rhea?"
"Affirmative, your majesty. We saw her reflection on the water of truth."
"Then....Forgive me, my son. I cannot do everything. The prophecy has always been right. We can not deny it."
"Well, I am denying it!"
"Me too!"
Rhea stepped in. She didn't like where this was going.
"I'm afraid you have no choice, Lady Rhea. You were selected by God, and you instantly have to fulfill the prophecy."
"My son, for now, let's resolve things. Lady Rhea can go to the temple, and we will dissolve the engagement. Let's discuss everything tomorrow morning with clarity."
"I am not going anywhere."
Rhea remarked, grasping Argus's hand tightly.
Nevertheless, the guards from the temple moved forward to grab Rhea. At that moment, Argus brings out his sword, pointed straight at one of the guard's necks. It was merely half an inch shorter to slice his neck.
"You heard her. She is not going anywhere."
"These are orders from God. Unless she goes voluntary, we have no choice but to seize her forcefully."
Argus then slightly moves his sword even forward, making a narrow cut on that guy's neck. He hisses with anger,
"If you so much as so touch her, you won't get to see the light of tomorrow."
Simultaneously, Lydia and Giselle, who possessed the book, were busy trying to complete it.
"What do I do? Not any of the pens work on this book!"
Giselle cursed upon Lydia's worried remark
"I'll find different kinds of pens or inks, perhaps one of them is bound to work."
Giselle runs outside the room whereas Lydia keeps staring at the book, trying to figure out a way.
Giselle soon finds that there the hall was more tranquil than before. There was no music that she could hear. Did the party end, she pondered. While thinking, she peeks at the ballroom to discover pin-drop silence with Argus angrily pointing his sword at one of the Temple guards.
Two of the Temple people turned toward the King,
"Your majesty, there was another thing, we didn't want to mention but we are afraid it is imperative and you need to know."
"What is it?"
"Princess Calista is a witch. The reason why Sir Argus, Lady Rhea, and Crown Prince Rastos are behaving this way is that they are under her spell. We need to lock her away."
"We need to burn her away. It's the sole way to kill a witch."
Murmurs spread everywhere.
"What nonsense are you spouting? I am not a witch."
"For a little while, take Princess Calista away and lock her in her room."
The King ordered but Rastos interrupted,
"You need to go against me if you wish to carry out such a thing. I won't allow her to get hurt."
"See, your majesty! Prince Rastos is under that witch's spell. We need to help him quickly!"
After witnessing the scenario, Giselle rushed back to Lydia.
"Lydia! It's an emergency! The people from the temple are over here! They are trying to kill Calista by framing her as being a witch and they are also trying to take Rhea away to the temple since they believe she is the destined Crown Princess!"
"Oh my god! I forgot! Calista also dies in the book so her red string is already gone!"
"Just do something quick!"
Giselle aggressively shakes Lydia's shoulder.
Suddenly an idea flashes in Lydia's mind,
"I know what to do!"
"What are you doing?!"
Giselle shrieked upon seeing Lydia grasp a pen and stab her hand with its sharp nib. Blood drops started dripping on the empty page of the book. Using this blood, she subsequently started writing the end of the story. All the while, she explained to Giselle the reason for her actions,
"Back then when I died, my blood was covering the book. I have a feeling that only the letters written from my blood will work."
After a few minutes, she finished writing. As soon as she scribbled the words, "THE END".
Blue light emitted from the book as the book started disintegrating into thin air and vanished into nothing.
"What just happened?"
"I'm not quite sure. Let's go to the ballroom!"
As soon as they go there, they find people being frozen. It seems as if when Lydia was writing in the book, everyone else had frozen into place except for Giselle who was with Lydia in the same room.
Suddenly a wind blew by, and everyone came to life again. They were all startled and confused as to what was going on. Everyone was mainly eyeing Argus who was aiming his sword at one of the Temple guards. They were equally surprised to see people from the Temple there. Aside from Calista, Rastos, Argus, and Rhea.
"Umm...what are you doing here?"
The King inquired the people from the Temple.
"We came to congratulate the Crown Prince and Crown Princess on their engagement."
They stated while bowing toward Calista and Rastos.
"Also, Argus! Put down that sword, my boy. What are you doing?"
The King inquired Argus, who blinked in surprise as to why everyone was acting differently. He then glanced at Lydia and Giselle who gave him a thumbs up as a sign.
He subsequently puts down his sword and apologizes.
"I apologize for my disrespectful behavior. I thought it was suspicious they came here so suddenly."
"It is all right, your highness."
After the party again started, Calista, Rastos, Lydia, Giselle, Argus, and Rhea gathered in one of the guest rooms to discuss what had happened.
Lydia explains everything,
"Good news! I don't see any more red strings attached. We are all free now from the fate of this book!"
"Lydia! But your hand is bleeding!"
Rhea answered back in worry.
"Don't worry, at least the book is finished now. It's no longer an unfinished book. God, I feel so relieved that I am never again writing a book!"
Upon Lydia's remark, everyone burst out laughing knowing that the book has come to an end, and they can live, however, they want without being controlled by the unfinished book.
FINISHED
The End
Finally! After what I feel like years, the book has come to end!
Let me begin by apologising for the hiatus. I finally realise how much hardwork and time and effort goes into writing a single chapter. I used to be the type of person that blamed the author whenever they posted once in every 3 months, but I have learnt my lesson. I will never complain again! 😭
Every single writer works so hard so salute you to all 🫡 👏🏻
Also, I would like to thank everyone who read the book till the end! I appreciate each and every one of you, your votes and comments! If you enjoyed reading then please do share it with others as well!
Also do comment to let me know what you think of the whole book! Thanks again for reading 🫶🏻♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Ps. If you guys want to know more about the characters and how they look, I have posted extra chapters in between the book. So do check those out!
Also if any one of you follow my books then you may know that I LOVE to use symbolism and hidden meanings so like always, the characters names and their meanings and every tiny detail mentioned in the book has hidden meanings thats connected to the plot. I'll leave it a mystery to let you guys figure it out. Do let me know if you find any!