Despite the heavy rain in Rainvale, Julian's ice cream shop remained bustling as ever. Although its clientele mostly consisted of young girls and women, rarely any children except on weekends."Hey! Um, could I have a large serving of ice cream in a bowl, please?" A girl, perhaps fourteen or fifteen years old, requested. It was her first time visiting Julian's ice cream parlour, as she was unfamiliar with it. Her long, black hair was neatly braided. Her sparkling eyes reminded Julian of Serena from their younger days, causing a sudden pang in his heart."Yeah, of course," Julian smiled softly. He swiftly grabbed a sundae bowl and filled it with four scoops of ice cream, then drizzled it with chocolate syrup, condensed milk, chocolate chunks, and various other sprinkles. As a finishing touch, Julian placed a cherry on top. He then slid it towards the girl, who deliberately sat on a bar stool next to the ice cream counter.Meanwhile, the other customers were delighting in

In fact, Julian was unaware of Juliana's deception or whoever that girl's real name was. And there was no way Julian could remain calm when facing a girl cursed with the power of a Revenant: it meant that everything was not okay. Kieran, Serena, and Arlo were not okay. Varidianth was not okay either.And Julian himself was not okay, clearly.Julian took a deep breath. His eyes locked onto the shadow at the kitchen cabinet door, observing the figure of the girl standing right behind him, her eyes blazing like hellfire. As red as blood."What did I do to make your boss angry?" Julian asked casually. "Because I don't remember doing anything.""It's none of your business," Juliana's (or Revenant's, whichever) voice sounded so deep and cold. The power of the Revenant could only be attained after reaching seventeen years of age, so it was clear Juliana was just pretending to act like a fourteen-year-old girl when meeting Julian. Or perhaps Julian was wrong to assume so.Cassie, Julian's bel

"Are you alright, Lady Serena?"Serena blinked in surprise, realizing that she had been staring down at the plain black fur carpet beneath her feet. She lifted her head slightly, meeting Jenny's gaze, the maid who had been diligently painting her nails plain black with silver glitter. Behind the girl, a fire flickered in the fireplace. The warmth that Jace always enjoyed whenever he visited the old central palace of Varidianth."Should we extinguish the fire in the fireplace? You seem uncomfortable with the warmth," Jenny murmured softly.Serena shook her head, then forced a smile. "I enjoy the warmth," she said, secretly longing for the cool weather before the heavy rain in Rainvale. "I'm just not used to being dressed up like this."She wasn't entirely lying. Jenny had been with her for an hour now, quickly helping her dress, style her hair, and apply makeup. By the time Jenny decided to paint her nails, Serena was already tired and sleepy."Oh, really?" Jenny suddenly looked guilty

"Malevolent Sorcerer-King?" Kieran repeated Morana's words with confusion. "If you mean Prince Vikrant, he has not yet ascended to the throne in the kingdom of Valorthorn."For a moment, the bedroom fell silent. Only the sound of raindrops tapping outside and the faint murmurs of tense conversations among the servants in the garden could be heard.Neither Morana nor Rory were eager to confront Kieran's naive statement. It was too painful to acknowledge its truth."Alright, I understand," murmured Kieran finally. "King Nightcrown has long been confined to his bed due to the chronic heart disease he suffers from. But I fail to see the correlation between the existence of a 'Malevolent Sorcerer-King' and the abundance of children in Valorthorn who have been cursed with revenant curses. I myself have been cursed because my father was also a Revenant. I don't know about you, Rory, and the new revenant you're chasing."Morana sighed deeply. Her eyes roamed wildly, perhaps forming speculatio

There was once an observatory erected in the western part of Varidianth's central palace. It was a dome-roofed building made of gleaming iron, visible even in the daylight, and reserved solely for research purposes. During his time at the palace, Dravon never found interest in the iron dome or anything within it. However, in Valorthorn, the observatory and planetarium were open to the public for research and divination purposes. When feeling weary, Dravon often visited just to gaze upon the beauty of the universe. The beauty amidst millions of chaos—from the past to the future.From several servants Dravon knew, he learned that the coronation ceremony had been postponed. Actually, the word 'postponed' was too simple to describe the current situation. All the servants were in a panic. The drizzle followed by an impending storm was a bad omen in Remirer, a city almost unfamiliar with rain. They had to relocate all the chairs and tables in the palace's backyard, where the celebration wou