The funeral of Duke La'more was held the following day, which was where everyone was currently. The funeral was being held at the cemetery. Everyone came and placed a flower on the coffin, which held the Duke's dead body. After that everyone left, except Dria and Ian. Dria walked closer to the coffin. She placed her hands on top of it, laid her head on it, and started weeping. Ian watched from behind her with his own tears. He felt so bad for her. She lost both her parents at a young age. After an hour, he decided to let her know that it's time to go.

"Dria, it's time to go," he said, but he got no response. He walked up to her, and saw that she had fallen asleep. All that crying must have tired her out. Ian decided to pick her up. He squatted down and picked her up. He placed her head on his shoulder, before standing up.

"You can rest peacefully, Felix, I will watch over and protect her until my last breath," Ian said to the coffin, before turning around and walking away with Dria in his arms to the carriage. After 30 minutes, they came back to the La'more mansion. Dria was still asleep, so Ian had to take her out of the carriage. He handed her to Lily, who was waiting for them outside. Lily took her into her arms and made her way into the mansion with Ian following them. They got to her room. Lily went into the room, while Ian stood outside, doing guard duty. Lily placed Dria on her bed, took her shoes off and tucked her in. She turned to leave, but a tiny hand held her dress. She turned back around to see Dria awake.

"Please, don't leave me too," Dria cried. Lily sat on the bed and held Dria's tiny hands.

"I will never leave you until you want me to," Lily promised.

"Promise?" Dria said, holding up her pinky finger.

"I promise," Lily replied, connecting their pinky fingers together and touching their thumbs together. While Lily and her were making promises, Theodore La'more was being appointed as the new Duke of the Western Empire.

"Say I if you agree to make Theodore La'more as the new Duke," Viscount Chavaze said. Everyone except Duke Azitil of the East and Viscount Easthall said I. They didn't like Theodore La'more,they know his true colors since no matter how smart a villain is they always leave clues.

"Majority wins, so Theodore La'more is the new Duke of the West. Congratulations," Viscount Chavaze continued as he placed the La'more symbol pin on Theodore. The picture of the new Duke La'more was taken. After that, everyone left. As soon as they left, Vetta came to her husband.

"Now that you are the Duke, is it right for us to stay at the West wing," Vetta, now known as Duchess La'more, said to her husband.

"Yes, but let Alex stay in her room for today. Tomorrow, we will be moving Ivy into her room. She will live in the East Wing." Duke La'more said. The Duchess didn't like that idea. She wanted Dria to live in the maid residence.

"You will be in charge of the house, maids and treasury," Duke La'more continued, "Do whatever you see fits and please." The Duchess nodded, smirking.

In Middle of The Night

A man walked into the dungeon and into the cell, which held Henry. Henry looked up when he heard his cell door opening.

"My lord!" He said, "Did you come to get me out of here?" He was thinking that Duke La'more came to get him out of the cells, but he thought wrong. Duke La'more didn't say anything. He kept walking to Henry.

" My lord?" Henry questioned as the Duke stood in front of him. All of a sudden, he felt a knife pierce him. He groaned and looked down to see the Duke had stabbed him. He looked back up at him, confused.

"I can't have you rattling me out. No hard feelings. You understand," the Duke said as he watched Henry drop dead to the floor, before walking out of the cell and out of the dungeon.

Next Morning

Ian was making his way to the dungeon to interrogate Henry. When he got inside, he saw the panicked look on the guards who were in charge of watching the prisoners.

"What's wrong?" He asked them.

"Sir, the Poisoner is dead," one answered.

"What!" Ian shouted, rushing to where Henry was held. He got into the cell to see Henry's dead body on the floor bleeding out from a stab wound with the knife still in.

"How did this happen?"

"Someone must have got in last night and murdered him," one of the guards said.

"How did they get past you? You two were on gaurd last night?"

"Well, all I remember is eating a treat that a maid brought and after that I don't remember anything," One of the gaurd from last night said.

"You were drugged. Do you remember who the maid was?"

"Yes, she was one of Madam's maids."

"Are you able to point her out once you see her?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then, you come with me. You guys clean this up," Ian ordered as he turned and walked out of the cell with the gaurd following suit. They walked into the dining room where the family was having breakfast. Ian saw that Dria wasn't there.

"Ian, what is it?" Duke La'more asked, and stopped eating.

"Well, my lord, Henry was murdered last night and one of the Madam's maids is the culprit," Ian replied.

"What! Vetta, take Ivy and go. This is a private matter that she doesn't need to hear," Duke La'more said. The Duchess nodded and took Ivy away from the room with no maids following them since they all were asked to stay.

"You may proceed," the Duke told Ian. Ian nodded and looked at the guard, gesturing for him to point to the maid that was the culprit. The guard looked around and found the maid, who was looking guilty.

"It was that maid," the guard said, pointing to that maid. The maid dropped to her knees.

"My lord, please spare me. I was order to do it," She begged, crying.

"Who ordered you to do it?" Ian asked.

"I'm not allowed to say."

"Then, you will be executed," The Duke ordered, "Take her away." Ian nodded. The guard dragged her away with her screaming no. The Duke didn't care about anyone, but himself and his family.

"Also, Ian, you are going to be Ivy's new personal guard since you are always the guard for the new main family's child. Are there any objections?" The Duke said.

"No, sir," Ian replied. He wanted to object, but what the Duke said was right. He knew that Dria was going to be sad.

"You guys are dismissed," He ordered the other maids. They quickly left the room.

With Alexandria

Lily got Dria up and ready for the day. She made sure to put her mother's hair clip on her hair. They were going to leave the room to eat breakfast with the family, but were stopped by a maid, they were not familiar with coming in carrying food.

"You will not be having breakfast with the family as well as dinner, " She said as she sat the food down on the table. This shocked Dria and Lily.

"What do you mean? She always eats with the family," Lily asked.

"Well, that won't be happening anymore as ordered by the madam," she answered, before leaving. Dria looked sad. Lily turned to her worried.

"Am I not family anymore because my father died?" Dria asked sadly, tears falling down her cheeks.

"It's okay, Dria. If you're not family to them. You always will be my family," Lily comforted, hugging her, which Dria returned.

"Now, come on, let me see a smile on that beautiful face," Lily said, letting go of the hug and whipping her tears. Dria gave her a smile.

"That's more like it. Come on, let's eat before the food gets cold," Lily said as Dria nodded. Lily helped Dria sit on the chair.

"You come and eat with me as well, Lily as a family," Dria said. Lily nodded and sat down next to her and eat together happily.

"I will take his dishes and be right back, okay," Lily informed Dria, who nodded. Dria read her favorite book, while waiting for Lily to come back. She was smart for her age and can read a novel all by herself. Suddenly, she heard the door open and looked up thinking it was Lily, but to only see the Duchess, her aunt and Ivy coming in with maids carrying luggages and boxes.

"Auntie, what's going on?" Dria asked.

"Well, you are no longer staying in this room. It will be Ivy's room," The Duchess answered as the maids started organizing Ivy's clothes in the closet without taking out Dria's.

"Will I be staying in Ivy's old room?"

"No, you will be staying in the maids house."

"But, I'm not a maid. I'm part of the family."

"Oh, sweetie, I never considered you family. Now that my husband is the Duke. You are no longer family and only family live in the west and west wing," the Duchess said, finally showing her true colors.

"Mom," Ivy started to say, trying to help Dria.

"Hush, Ivy. Go help the maids with organizing your toys," She ordered her daughter, who nodded and walked to the maids.

"I'm going to talk to Uncle," Dria cried.

"Go ahead and try, but he's the one who suggested this," The Duchess replied. This just made Dria cry. At that moment, Lily walked in, carrying a letter and saw Dria crying and ran to her side.

"Madam, what's going on?"

"She is going to be staying at the maid residence,"
The Duchess said, "By the way, you are fired. You can help her settle and you are ordered to leave this mansion."

"Why?" Lily asked since she has no right to protest.

"Because I'm getting rid of the old maids and bringing in new ones," The Duchess replied, "You guys are dismissed." Lily nodded and grabbed Dria's book and stuffed animal and took her hand. They walked out of the room. Once they got to the room, which was Lily's room, Lily set the book and stuffed animal on the bed.

"I'm sorry, Dria," Lily said, crying and hugging Dria.

"I'm going to miss you, Lily"

"Me too, sweetie," Lily said, letting go of the hug. She grabbed her suitcase and put her personal belongings in it, which was not much, before closing it up.

"Bye, Dria," Lily said, hugging Dria one last time and whispered, "Please, don't lose hope."

"Sammy left a letter, which is on the table," Lily said, before leaving with tears following down her face. She was going back home in the East. Dria looked at the letter and picked it up and opened it and began reading.

Dear Alex,

If you are reading this, that means I already left. I'm leaving the Western Empire and going to the Northern Empire. I can't be in the West knowing that my best friend is gone because of me. I'm sorry, just know that I love you always. Please always be happy for me.

Love, Sammy

Once Dria finished reading, she threw the letter and crawled in a ball on the bed and began silently crying.

"I hate my birthday. Everyone left me. My mother left, my father left, Ian left, Lily left, now Sammy left," She thought. She declared to never celebrate her birthday ever again.