She wasn't the only one devastated. Even the maids who grew fond of Rania, Rose, Lily and Iris who just arrived at the scene, and the soldiers, too.

"The National Treasure…'' murmured one of the soldiers.

"The king specifically ordered her protection and preservation…"

"Oh no, we are doomed! If he learns about this ..."

"You better have an explanation to this!" shouted the other soldier to the n.o.bles who were trying to escape.

"No, we didn't do anything to her"

"It was her! We were only following her" said the other while pointing his fingers to Selena.

"It was your knife who hit my lady!" exclaimed one of the angry maids.

"Yeah, and my lady told us she's fetching her friend whom you two, were chasing for whatever reason you have!"

"Y-you!" shouted the guilty man.

"Disrespectful maids!" the other followed.

"If only you two children were not such h.o.r.n.y beasts! Our lady!" sobbed the other.

"What has gotten into you? She's human! You're siding with humans now?" confused, the man asked.

"You, who have never been with her, will never understand." with courage, Iris spoke up.

"What should we do now?"

"We can't hide this from the king forever."

"We should report it to him."

"And you two, you'll definitely be punished for this."

With deep sighs, everyone moved out of the place. The trio carried Selena to Meracus for her to rest. The soldiers brought the two younglings to the king and reported everything that happened. The king went furious after hearing the whole story. The Grand Palace shook in his anger. He immediately ordered to kill the younglings not caring for their n.o.ble descent. Poor Rania. It seems that even the king could do nothing against the Forbidden Chamber. He could only let himself be angry of the situation but do nothing to resolve it ...for there was no solution. Once in, no one could ever get out unless they're dead. They could only wait for the door to spit out Rania's corpse.

"Haah…..hahhh…..haah". The sound of breathing can be heard inside the Forbidden Chamber. Slowly losing her life, Rania sat down on the floor and leaned on a pillar. After being swallowed by the vines, what awaited her was simply, from the looks of it, a bedroom chamber. Rania breathed deeply and after a few seconds, drew the knife out of her body. Barely putting any pressure on her wound, she covered it with her hands. But blood continued to gush out of her.

"Hah...hah ...hah….." she breathed. Even breathing was now hard for her.

Wooooosh….

A ball of black light suddenly sprouted in the middle of the room. Little by little it grew until it's big enough to reach the ceiling of the room. It changed its shape. Slowly, it turned itself into a dragon. And after a few more moments, the black light was no more and what's in front of Rania now was a very enormous and scary looking black dragon. Its scales were like s.h.i.+ny black crystals and its wings, tall and proud. As for the eyes ... a glowing gold. It looked as if it was ready to devour anything and anyone.

Seeing Rania, the dragon opened its gigantic mouth and formed a ball of fire.

Rania, accepting her fate, closed her eyes and prayed to herself.

"I guess this is the end of my journey. It was short but I was happy. Now, I offer my soul to you, my Lord."

Alas! The dragon roared and breathed the ball of fire to Rania. The fire reached the poor girl and engulfed every part of her. The breath of fire lasted for a whole minute. Surely, no one will survive this kind of fire.

This now marks the end of Rania's story.

The fire that engulfed Rania ceased. And after the fire, only bones were left.

Wait…

There were no bones.

Glowing in bright light, Rania, survived the fire, unscathed.

The dragon's eyes widened. It couldn't believe what happened. Until he saw sparkles of light surrounding Rania as if …..protecting her.

"Stop! Don't!", the dragon heard a little voice. So little it seemed like a whisper. "Here! Below! I'm here!"

The dragon looked around but couldn't see anyone, only the girl who was now fast asleep.

"Oh for goodness' sake! Why don't you transform, you Guardian! You're too big." said the little, childish voice.

The dragon transformed itself again. Covered in black light, it changed itself to a form of a man, losing its enormous size. As a man, he had long and straight, silky, black hair as ebony and captivating golden eyes. His visage, so alluring and body so perfectly in proportion. He wore a long black cape embroidered with silver markings at its corners. His inner clothing looked like that of a regent.

"There you go, now can you see me?"

The dragon finally saw who was speaking so rudely in front of him. It was none other than a little fairy who looks like a child with long and wavy light pink hair and golden eyes.

"Oh, a fairy" the dragon said unamused. "And what is a fairy doing protecting..a human? Or should I say, fairies? Since there's a bunch of you here?" he continued. His voice was deep and a bit sarcastic.

"Don't hurt her. She's a kind human. She helped us before. She saved us from those nasty wolves trying to eat us in the forbidden forest."

The other fairies nodded in agreement.

"And why would a human go to the forbidden forest?"

"Because those nasty girls were playing tricks on her before! They told her they were sick and that the medicine could only be found in the forbidden forest."

"And she believed them? Then, she's a fool."

"No, she's not! She knew they were lying but ...those girls...She said they need to feel how to be trusted so that they could give trust in return. She said humans could only share what they have."

"Huh! Still a fool." the dragon snorted and turned his back. He's now making his way to the inner chamber. "Since you protected her, I'm not gonna kill her just yet. Feel free to leave once you're done."

"Oh! And her Pandora dress is also white! It's just covered in blood right now ...A white pandora dress means that she's pure inside and out, just so you know. She's really great. Hehe" the little fairy continued to brag about Rania half laughing.

With those last words, the dragon stopped.

"What did you just say?" he asked.

"Huh? She's...really great?"

"A white pandora dress?"

"Ahhh… yes! Look!" the fairy gestured and flew towards Rania. She pointed her tiny fingers to the skirt of Rania's dress which wasn't covered in blood yet. And it was sparkling white.

The dragon walked towards Rania to feel her dress and make sure that it was a genuine pandora dress. As he felt the fabric, he was convinced. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"A human?....This can't be….", he whispered to himself. He stared at Rania, then stared at the little fairy with frowning eyes.

"What's happening here?" another man came in. His voice...how should we describe it? It was simply the most beautiful and captivating in comparison to anyone else's voice. He was wearing a plain white mask that covers his whole face. This was the same man sleeping at the pavilion during the last banquet.

"Elliot…" the dragon called him. "This…" he hesitated.

Seeing Rania, Elliot floated towards her. He only observed the situation for a moment and he already understood what had happened. He knelt down, removed Rania's hands from her wound and aimed at it.

"Wait, what are you doing? Don't hurt her." the little fairy said and the others chorused.

"Just shut up, midget" the dragon reprimanded her.

"Hmp! How rude!"

Bright and white light suddenly surrounded Elliot's hands, extending to Rania's stomach. He was healing her. Seconds after, her wounds had completely healed. The fairies exclaimed in happiness. They all thanked the young man.

"She's no longer in danger now but she lost too much blood. She needs to rest" Elliot explained to the fairies.

Afterwards, he lifted Rania to his arms and carried her to his bed chambers. He let her unto his bed made of blue and silver with a very soft mattress, and covered her with a warm blanket.

"Do you know the girl, Elliot?" asked the dragon.

"Somehow ...She's the one who lent me her robe"

"Oh...what a coincidence. It seems fate has brought you together again."

"Fate, huh?" he smirked. "Then I guess, it's also fate that locked me in this chamber."

The dragon frowned, "No - I didn't mean....I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Ducis. No need to stress yourself."

A few days have pa.s.sed but the king's anger has not subsided. To quel his anger, the house leaders arranged for the king's entertainment. Every day, they would send one of the candidates to perform different sorts of entertainment for the king. Some of them danced, some of them sang a song, some read him a book, some played an instrument, and a few others who even tried to sleep with him just to please him. But none worked. He was still upset and nothing could change him.

One afternoon, while walking in one of his palace's ma.s.sive gardens, he saw a familiar silhouette. The girl had long and wavy platinum blonde hair and a pair of blue eyes. She danced and sang in the garden while playing with the flowers and the flowers, in turn, danced with her. It was a very pleasing sight. The woman's face and body, was simply divine. It reminded him of Rania during the last banquet.

The king approached the woman. Noticing him, she stopped her dance and bowed in reverence.

"Your Highness," she greeted him while curtsying and bowing her head.

"You're…. Azalea, correct?" the king asked.

"Yes, your highness. I am deeply honored that you remember me."

The king nodded. With a deep sigh, his beautiful visage was now full of sadness. Seeing this, Azalea felt a sudden pain in her heart. Standing on the flowerbed, they stared at each other with longing eyes. Breaking the silence, Azalea approach the king and caressed his right cheek.

"Sadness is like the rain. No one has control over it. Until it floods us over and drown us in our sorrows. We can only but learn to bring an umbrella against the rain, and swim against the floods."

Stopping her hands she continued. "I understand how you feel losing Rania ...for she was a dear friend of mine as well. But during my days of sadness, I thought to myself ...why did she have to die? And then, it consoled me to know that she did not die in vain for she has protected a friend. And now, that friend's life continues on with her sacrifice. She was truly a pure maiden until the end. And I'm proud of her."

The king's eyebrows furrowed. He tried hard comprehending her words. But his mind was in disarray.

Azalea chuckled.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Nothing. I'm just happy that the king of Magi cared for my friend… deeply." she said smiling.

"Hmp! I'm just sad because I lost a rare treasure that I haven't even touched yet. Don't be arrogant and put meanings behind it."

"Yeah, you're sad for days for … simply losing a rare treasure."

"And what are you implying?"

"Hmmm…I wonder…."

They were now threading very slowly in the garden.

"Do you know what love is, your majesty?"

"L...love?" confused he replied.

"Yes, love." she continued as she placed her hands on her chest as if holding her heart dearly. "Love… it is an intense feeling of deep affection towards someone … That feeling when your heart beats whenever you see the person you like. Or that uncontrollable joy you feel when you're around him or her. And the feeling of longing when you're separated. When she's happy, you're happy. When she's sad, you become sad, too…. But who can really describe love? There are no words invented which will give justice to its meaning but simply the word itself."

"I don't understand where you're going with this. You usually don't spout nonsense but today you have been talking like a fool."

Azalea chuckled again with her sweet voice. "People often regard others as fools when they themselves cannot comprehend their wisdom and argument."

"Are you saying I'm a fool?" the king said with anger in his eyes.

"For now, your highness. For you don't understand it fully yet. Because you haven't accepted the fact, thus the truth remains hidden in your heart. I suggest that you let it go and let the feeling embrace you."

"I - ...I don't understand."

"Tell me, you highness. Why did you approach me just now? Normally, you would simply pa.s.s by your candidates. But today, you approached me specifically."

The king thought for a moment. "It's because…. I thought I saw...her."

"So you're longing for her, huh?... How about that night during the banquet when she performed? How did you feel?"

"....Astounded."

"So you're captivated with her, huh?" Azalea continued with her playful questions. "And during the moments you glimpse at her in her balcony every morning during sunrise, how did you feel?"

The king was shocked."How did you know I -"

"Meracus is located eastward, placed a little lower than the Grand Palace." she said gesturing her hands. "Your quarters are placed on the top of everything so you could see everything. And my current room happens to be just in front of the Grand Palace. Plus, I have very good eyesight! Hehehe. Every morning I wake up, I would look at Rania's balcony to check on her if she's doing alright and everyone else's that my eyes can reach. Until... I noticed you, your highness. Every morning you would get up as well to see the scenery and to look at her."

A storm of memories rushed through the king's mind.

"I did that, huh?"

"Yes" she answered firmly. "Others have been wondering as well why did you hail her as your national treasure and arranged for you to meet every end of the month or as you pleased ...but you never went to her."

"That's because I… I felt like I don't want to taint her. I wanted to ...preserve her ...and protect her.."

Azalea smiled and for the last time she asked. "And now let me ask you again. How did you feel whenever you saw her during those mornings?"

"I was…..happy."

A moment of silence has pa.s.sed.

"Hahahahahaha!" the king laughed hysterically. "I guess I was, huh?.... With this thing you call love. I ….

I loved her.

But she's gone now."