The Garden, a picturesque green paradise of peace and tranquil. Most would have thought that but this garden is absent of green, yet it is as peaceful as it can be. Green is rare for Frozehaven as far as the first human had lived here, so for Princess Aburah’s request to meet up in the garden boggled his mind because this particular garden is located outside and is in the courtyard, and that means it is freezing cold out there.


    Victor turned the corner and the light shone upon his face, blinding him for a few seconds before he could regain his sight. He looked at the shivering Princess, he knew that despite her thick coats, it''s still freezing out here.


    With a single breath, Victor drew a smile and walked toward the Princess. Aburah finally noticed the Prince and hastily stood up and accidentally tipped over the end table right next to her. She yelped in surprise and rushed to save the tray of steamy teas, but it was too late as the delicious tea was wasted onto the frozen dirt. Victor stopped as he got closer and held in his laugh before walking up to her side and helped her with the spilled cups and teapot.


    "I''m such a klutz, sorry you had to see that, Prince Victor," an embarrassed smile accompanied her apology.


    "It''s okay. Also, call me Victor, there''s no need for formality."


    A curious eyebrow crept up as Victor noticed that there weren''t any escorts with her. He had to be sure so he glanced around him, searching for them, but none of them were here, only a couple castle guards were present. After the mess was cleaned up, Victor noticed a book among the cracked teacups, a familiar book.


    "The Mysterious Archaic By Gustav Zola," muttered Victor.


    A high pitch screech surprised Victor, he looked at the panicked girl with wide eyes; she tried to hide the book, but kept slipping it out of her hands, and eventually failed when the book dropped into Victor''s hands. She snatched it away and looked away with flushed cheeks.


    “I know, I know… A girl like me shouldn’t read books, we shouldn’t talk back, stand out, and always do whatever the men want and look pretty while doing it,” she sighed with a dropped gaze, “I guess you find my hobby unappealing.”


    “No!” yelled out Victor accidentally, she looked back at him with wide and glimmering eyes.


    “What I meant to say was… I don’t find it unappealing at all. I love books and that book is one of my favorites. Also, I think it’s nice to find someone who loves books as much as I do,” Victor’s gaze met with Aburah’ and at that moment, Victor felt something brewing in his stomach.


    A single tear dropped down from her right eye, “Did I say something wrong?!”


    “No, you didn’t. Those words really make me happy. It feels like I just found someone who finally understands me. Do you feel the same way too?” Her hopeful gaze waits for Victor’s answer.


    “I do.” Her bright smile lifted Victor’s heavy heart and caused him to smile along with her.


    Victor and Aburah sat, facing each other with only their gaze matched, enough to occupy the crawling time. Even though the snacks were wasted onto the ground, it is still fulfilling to just sit there and let time pass without doing anything. Well at least, it’s what Victor was feeling, and he hopes it''s true for the company in front of him.


    “I was wondering something.”


    “Is it about me?” Her eyebrows raised slightly.


    “Kinda, why did you pick this place to meet? It’s freezing cold out here.”


    “I don’t know, I just like the...snow, I guess. Where I’m from, the concept of snow is foreign as you to that fish earlier,” she looked over to the untouched snow-covered ground, every inch of this garden from the canopy to the semblance of rock covered in icy flakes. She giggled at every breath she let out, watching as the steam dissipated into nothing.


    Victor tried to look at the common sight of his home and just couldn’t see what Aburah was seeing. However, he did relate to her feelings as he remembered the exotic fish from earlier. He turned to the Princess once more, “If you don’t mind, would you like to come with me?.”


    “To where actually?”


    “It’s a surprise,” Victor stood up with eagerness in his eyes.


    The Prince took the Princess’ smile as an answer and led her toward the destination. As anticlimactic it seems to Aburah when the destination was the library all along but pleasantly surprised nonetheless as she looked at the old books surrounding her. “The Library! Certainly a pleasant surprise.”


    Victor only smirked as he stood with his back against a particular bookshelf. A bookshelf that he had touched so many times, with a single pull of a familiar book, a gap appeared behind the bookshelf and revealed a darkened path. Aburah stepped back when she felt the freezing gush of air blowing against her skin and shivered slightly.


    “What is this?”


    “I think I can trust you, there’s someone you need to meet. Maybe your opinion can shed light on this mystery, but first, will you trust me?” Victor extended his hand toward her with a hopeful gaze.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    “I trust you,” Aburah lay her hand against the Prince, and he guided her through the maze and darkened path.


    Aburah’s pupils contracted when a small amount of light entered. Her feet froze to the floor, her skin felt the sudden changes of temperature from cold to warm. When she saw the content of the greenhouse, she was astounded by the sheer greenness of the room. Every plant, small to big is vibrant and thriving. Victor noticed the mesmerizing gaze of the Princess and he immediately pulled her deeper into the room.


    “You see what I meant? It doesn’t make any sense. There are plants here that don’t belong right next to each other. Their needs are widely different and yet they exist by each other,” Victor pointed to some of the flowers growing on the ground, but Aburah barely gave her attention at the Prince as she was in awe by the overloading beautiful plants around her.


    “H-How is this possible?”


    "I have a few theories, but you have to see it yourself," Victor crept up to a donut-shaped bush and peeked inside.


    Aburah finally peeked over the bush, to see a half-naked girl, whose skin and hair are whiter than porcelain. It finally occurred in her mind that the heat was generated from this spot. No, it was this girl. The heat was coming from this girl.


    "What is it?"


    "There was a book that I read a couple of days ago, it said that our creation started with a burst of energy, and yesterday, an explosion occurred outside the city wall, and the outcome was…"


    "This thing?"


    "Not a thing," chuckled Victor quietly.


    "But not a girl," Aburah raised her eyebrow at the Prince, he shrugged his shoulders, and she looked back at the girl. She stumbled back when she found the girl in front of her face, the strange girl had awoken from her slumber and curiously leaning against the bush.


    "What?! What? Nope! No." Aburah backed away from the girl, but the other girl kept following her.


    "She needs a name…" Victor sighed and walked to a glass pane wall, looking through it and at the courtyard below


    "Victor? A little help here." She started to jog and the strange girl followed her on fours.


    "Hmm, what does she love more than anything in the world?"


    "Victor!" Aburah''s back was against the wall and the strange girl was about to lick her cheek when Victor said, "Muffin."


    The strange girl perked up to the word ‘Muffin'', and instantly let go of Aburah and rushed toward Victor. The Prince raised his hand in front of the strange girl''s face and she stopped. Victor bop the girl''s nose and she responded with wiggling her nose.


    "Muffin, a good name, isn''t it?"


    "Sure, if she were some cute animal," Aburah said sarcastically.


    “I don''t even know what she is. Could be through years of study, I can truly know her, but for now, her name is ‘Muffin’.”


    "Good choice of name, but can we leave now?"


    "Sure," Victor said, but at the corner of his eye, he saw something. Something he thought was impossible. His father''s smile. Below, in the courtyard there was his father and that other woman, The Empress, both of them were smiling. He never saw his father''s smile before, not even when he was with his mother. Victor grew a frown, his hands shut closed while his fingers dug into his palms.


    "Victor?"


    "Yes?" Aburah snapped Victor back to reality.


    "Would you please lead the way?"


    Victor released his hands and took a big breath before leading the Princess out of the tower. It doesn''t take a minute for them to arrive at the Library. Victor closed the secret door while Aburah waited for him behind him. She nodded her head slightly with a light smile, “Thank you for showing me, but I’ll need to get back to my escort before they get worried.”


    “It was nice spending time with you.”


    Aburah looked at Victor, seemingly noticed there is something slightly different in his behavior than before, but she couldn''t truly conclude whether it was something normal for the young Prince or whether something was bothering him. She just continued to smile as she left the room and as she exited the Library, she passed a maid.


    Gabriella entered the Library with a glee smile directed toward Victor. The Prince was still troubled by what he saw that a melancholy expression replaced his polite smile.


    “What’s wrong, my prince?”


    “Nothing.” He hated he had to keep it a secret, but why he kept it a secret is he knows that creating a scandalous rumor could cause more trouble than he foresees.


    “Are you sure, my prince? Because I know when something is bothering you.”


    “I’m sure of it. Is there something you need from me?”


    “Oh! I almost forgot.” Gabriella reached into her pocket and pulled out a letter.


    “A love letter.” She presented it at Victor and his heart squeezed when he saw the name on the letter.


    “Someone is popular,” teased Gabriella.


    “What are you waiting for? Open it!”


    Victor stared at the name written on the cover, ‘Shihong Sayo’ The Empress. His muscles tense up, his nerves stiffed, he tore the opening and pulled out the content; revealing a card, an invitation card to be more specific, but the only thing that was written here is ‘Guest room’.


    “That’s odd. What does it mean? Could it be?! No! My prince is too young for that kind of activity.”


    “Huh?” Victor raised an eyebrow at the blushed’s maid. “Activity?” Victor cheeks reddened to the meaning behind those words, “Get your head out of those dirty thoughts, Gabriella!” Victor sighed, “You are reading way too much of those romance novels. It will be nothing of the sort.”


    Again, Victor stormed off from his maid and headed toward the guest room.


    Victor stormed the hallway with the thought that right now is the perfect opportunity to confront that deceiving and conniving woman about what had transpired earlier between her and his father. From the end of the hallway, Victor saw two guards from the throne earlier standing and frozen in place and in front of the door to the guest room. As the prince got closer to the door, the guards still showed no sign of movement as if they were still as a statue.


    He stopped just in front of them and cleared his throat before speaking, ”I''m here to see The Empress.” Just as before, no smidgen of words escaped their lips, Victor let his hand pass them to reach the door and yet, still no sign of movement, it could be that he was expected. Ignoring them, the young man opened the door and entered the room with no obstacle whatsoever. The door behind him closed and he looked around the room and found no one, but he did hear a humming, Victor followed the hum toward the doorway adjacent to the room.


    Victor took a long breath and barged through the doorway, his cheeks immediately turned red as his eyes lay their gaze on The Empress’s nude untouched back. She turned her head slightly at the frozen young man and continued wearing her dress as if nothing had happened. Victor coughed loudly and stepped away with his head down. The young man took a seat on a chair near the coffee table with both eyes closed and lips sucked in.


    “It seems I have an unexpected guest…” Sayo purred as she made her way to the chair in front of Victor.


    “Are you...?”


    “Dressed?”


    Victor nodded his head.


    “At the moment...yes.”


    Victor opened his eyes to a woman seductively sitting in front of him while smoking a long thin metal pipe. The young prince looked confused when he recalled what the woman said.


    “Unexpected?”