‘Y-Y-Your h-highness!!!’ The maid jumped back.

  ‘I think Edmund is not feeling alright, your highness.’ The chef looked at the duchess.

  ‘Are you okay, peasant?’ Ariadne touched Edmund’s shoulders and looked at his face.

  The regret he felt was ?going away when Ariadne touched him, but his eyes were almost overflowing with tears as he looked at the duchess and blinked. Tears flowed from his eyes, just enough to make a line on both cheeks.

  ‘What is wrong, peasant? Did they do something?’ Ariadne turned her gaze at the women in the kitchen.

  ‘We did nothing, Your Highness, I swear!!!’ One maid exclaimed.

  ‘Shut up!!!’ The duchess yelled.

  The kitchen was silent for a minute as Ariadne looked at every single woman there, following their expressions one by one, until she heard Edmund’s voice.

  ‘No, I’m sorry, duchess. This was my fault. When she touched me, it was too much for me; I was just too happy. Edmund smiled at her.

  The duchess's gaze of discontent turned to Edmund, and her hand, like always, came for his throat, lifting him and slamming him to the wall close to her, making everyone in the kitchen shiver and causing him to grab her arm with his two hands as her nails entered his flesh.

  ‘What did you just say?’ She looked at him with enraged eyes.

  ‘I-I-I’m sorr-y-y; it was a jo-jo-joke.’ He was fighting to gasp for air.

  'Why do you keep doing this to me, peasant?’ Ariadne looked at him with disappointed eyes.

  She released him, and as he sat on the ground, gasping for air, she came closer to the maid. She was aggressive, took her two hands, came closer to her, and looked into her eyes like she was almost reading her soul.

  ‘I’m sorry, it was my mistake; please forgive me; I shouldn’t have yelled at you, or any of you for that matter.’ After looking at the maid, she turned to the others in the kitchen.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  ‘No, duchess, no... You don’t need to apologize; you just care about Edmund; if he doesn’t appreciate it, it’s his fault.’ The maid gave the duchess a tender smile.

  ‘Yeah, you care too much, duchess, which isn’t your fault.’ The chef laughed.

  Edmund got up while massaging his throat. He looked at the scene before him and opened a calm smile. He put the refrigerator in an open corner and came next to Ariadne.

  ‘I’m sorry, everyone; it was my fault.’ He bows to them.

  This startled them, but they all just brushed off and chuckled. Ariadne sighed, turned around, and walked out of the kitchen while everyone bowed to her. After some time, she stopped beside a window, looking at the closest tree. There she stood, deep in thought, with regretful eyes.

  The town was receiving more and more people each day as they passed, as they were directed to the villages all over the duchy. Some families didn’t have a chatzi in their families, fully A-Dam or Shafran, but they could use the tablet to complete their registration. The families that had more education stayed in the town so that they could go to Edmund’s classes, making it necessary for a rapid expansion.

  At the castle in the kingdom of Velvent, King Rufus was at the table conversing with his council.

  ‘So you are saying that the Chatzi living in our forests are not there anymore? Where did they go?’ Rufus asked.

  ‘Your majesty, reports say that they are moving to the ex-princess Ariadne's duchy; they are moving at night, and there are rumors that she is a goddess or something like that; they pray for her.’ A man next to the king gives him a paper.

  ‘They are praying for her? What an absurd thing to do. Did any noble try to do something against them?’ Rufus punched the table.

  ‘No, Your Majesty, we did as you ordered.’ A man to his right shivered.

  ‘So why are they leaving my kingdom?’ Rufus looks at everyone with angry eyes.

  ‘May I speak my mind, Your Majesty?’ A man at the back spoke.

  ‘Sure.’ Rufus gestured for him to get up.

  The man with dark hair, some gray parts, and blue eyes appeared to be in his fifties. He went up from his chair and looked at everyone before fixing his eyes on King Rufus.

  ‘We didn’t give them anything other than misery; it was better for them, the Lavan nobles, who use monsters to kill them in the forest, but living in the woods as they did was no happy life.’ The man spoke.

  ‘But the people are afraid of them; abomination is what they call the Chatzi. We tried to force the integration, but the commoners said they were stealing their jobs.’ The man to the right of the king sighs.

  ‘Our king tried to integrate them into society, but I think something like this takes at least one generation, and if we pulled back after a year, I would imagine they feel betrayed.’ The older man spoke in a sad tone.

  ‘They are ungrateful; that is what they are.’ To the left of the king, a man spoke.

  ‘But what I think pushed them was the fact that the monsters that we are pushing towards Lavan, and there are rumors that Lavan is pushing monsters towards the duchy, but they are holding strong somehow.’ He holds his chin with one of his hands, looking at the table, lost in thought.

  ‘That is indeed interesting what the Duke of Aram said; how are they holding the monster's back?’ Rufus tapped the table with his finger.

  The room fell silent; the only sound was Rufus tapping on the table.

  ‘Pushing the monsters into Lavan made it impossible for us to infiltrate because of the nests they made on the border.’ The duke broke the silence.

  ‘Yes, the nobles in charge of the border even gave reports of more repeated attacks on forts by monsters.’ The man to the right of the king spoke.

  ‘I don’t like it being in the dark; fix this.‘ Rufus retorted.