But she had no time to think about this now.

Under Carmichael\'s watchful gaze, Cassandra and Prince Hunter started walking away from the group.

"Ah, this place is beautiful. The trees are charming; the wild flowers are certainly unique to this place." Prince Hunter noted as he walked next to her. He put his hands behind him and his gaze never left the dark forest where Cassandra had met him.

The use of the word charming to describe a forest full of negative energy made her cringe. She eyed the forest which was located about half a mile from where they were standing. Coupled with the current atmosphere devoid of wind, it felt like she was looking into some dark abyss instead of a lush forest.

She recalled the things that happened three weeks ago. How she had chosen to walk into the forest to meet the Prince.. If someone would ask her to go inside now, she would probably refuse.

"You wanted to talk to me?" she asked, switching her gaze back to him. A soft gush of wind from the forest surprised her. She shivered before she held her long brown hair, preventing it from moving along with the wind.

He looked in the direction where the wind had come from and answered, "About the marriage."

"It\'s not going to happen"

"Hmm?" His steps halted. Shifting his gaze towards her, the prince asked, "Why?"

She had anticipated this moment since he had arrived, telling him some random reason about politics and how being a member of royalty was too complicated. "Your family is trying to suppress my family. And I think that\'s stupid."

She didn\'t miss the surprise in his eyes. "Did you just call the king stupid?"

She snorted, "Did I?"

She watched as his face morphed into a scowl before he suddenly let out boisterous laughter. His eyes crinkled, as he leaned his head back. Had she said something funny? "With the current events…" she tried to tell him that a marriage between them was impossible as the empire was trying to subdue the power of the four great clans.

But the mention of the word \'event\' somehow awakened another group of visions. She hated how her visions had apparently increased since she had come back.

It wasn\'t supposed to be like this. The visions shouldn\'t be this frequent.

This time, the vision involved a man. Dark hair and a red right eye, with a prominent scar that ran from his right chin to his left eye which was obscured by an eyepatch. The man was looking at the army of dark ones. To her surprise, the man suddenly angled his head towards her direction. Then he smiled.

"What\'s wrong?"

She shifted her gaze towards the prince, face paling, as the next set of visions appeared in her mind.

It was her… death.

Unlike the one that she had seen in the forest, this one felt real.

She felt herself standing on a cliff. Warm wind that smelled of dead fish and seaweed assaulted her senses. The sharp sound of waves against the rocks beneath her echoed. It was followed by the voices of… no, laughter of people. She tried to turn her head towards the laughter. She tried to move her body.

To no avail.

"Water is the weakness of fire…"

A deep voice echoed inside her. Her heart started racing.

"Kill her!" Again, the voice echoed.

She tried to turn around to see who was trying to kill her only to feel herself falling.

"Cassandra?"

The soft tug in her arm snapped her out of her stupor.

"Can you hear me? You look pale. Are you alright?"

"Cassandra!"

"Hey! Are you alright?"

She felt his warm hands on her arms. She lifted her eyes and stared at his dark brown ones. "I—I am fine. Thank you." She tried to wriggle her way out of his strong grip.

Instead of letting her go, his hand tightened. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. It\'s just my head. Probably because I have been sleeping for the last three weeks."

A sigh left his lips before he straightened his back and let her arms go. "You should not accept any more visitors after this."

"I shouldn\'t have agreed to see you," she said.

"I don\'t think I can rescind my words to my father any more. The marriage is set."

Cassandra lowered her head and stayed silent until she felt his gaze towards her. "Why did you tell him that I saved you? You could have said it was you who saved me." The man was using her! He was using her as a shield! And she hated it.

Cassandra had seen his abilities while fighting that demon. The fact that he was a dark one also meant he was faster and stronger than normal Zealandians. Saying that he was the one who saved her would only attract the attention of his brother, the crown prince.

She knew all this and yet she dared to ask, she wanted to know why he did it despite knowing that the four great families hated the imperial family. Was he planning to marry her to have the La Roche Family\'s support?

Why was he digging his own grave?

"It seems that Lady Cassandra is not only powerful but smarter than I originally thought." Prince Hunter gave a cunning smile. "But you already know I won\'t tell you the reason why I did what I did, right?"

She scoffed and nodded. Realization hit her. "It seems that the turmoil inside the palace is actually just as chaotic as the one outside?" Crippled, without any maternal enemies backing him, the Prince\'s power inside the imperial family was almost nonexistent.

He only responded with a smile.

A flash of understanding glinted in her eyes.

"I came here to give you this," Prince Hunter said. He opened his palm and showed her a necklace with an orb-like blue pendant, a pendant that looked just like a blue diamond especially under the sun. "It would protect you… from the bad dreams."

Almost immediately, she frowned.

Before she had gone inside the forest three weeks ago, she had seen the Prince kill her while she was wearing the same necklace. She wondered if touching the necklace would trigger another set of visions?

"I am allergic to any type of gold," she lied. "But thank you. I appreciate the gesture." The fact that she hated wearing jewelry was not a secret in Zealandia. Most women who loved to talk about her, also talked about her lack of elegance due to her not wearing a single piece of jewelry on her body.

"Which is why… it\'s silver."

Cassandra smiled. It seemed like the Prince was adamant on killing her before their marriage. She wondered when this scheme had started. Was it when he had recognized her? Was it when he had seen how powerful she was? Losing her would surely anger her grandfather and the other members of the four great families.

Cassandra had no way of telling what this man\'s goal was but she was certain that this necklace would get her killed. "Your highness…"she removed her gaze from the blue pendant and stared at him. "Do you want to kill me?"