Zenith had always been obedient. She was obedient when her father said not to go outside of her chamber as she was growing to be a beautiful woman. She obeyed when her mother said she needed to learn everything that an ideal lady would know even though she might never need it again. She had always stayed in her room looking outside and never tried to get herself swayed with her desires. She didn't even let the thought of exploring the outside world come to her mind. She learned stitching, cooking and every little thing that would be needed for her father to propose a marriage alliance with The Salamanders.

She had always known that she would be the Queen of the Dragon Nation because that was what her father taught her. She never told anyone what she wanted. She never dreamt of her desires because it will only make her want to break all the rules. She wanted everyone to know her existence as Zenith and not as a daughter of a famous ruler and not as a wife of a King. That was why she wanted to become a queen so everyone could see her worth. However, that dream of hers might never come true as the words left from Billard's mouth.

"Wha- what?" She asked as Billard smiled.

"I liked that you have the nerve to send your men--your father's men--to kill my brother." He repeated while Zenith went still.

"Yo-you are mistaken. I-I would never do that." Zenith's heart thumped and her palms and forehead got sweat bids. She had never imagined out of everyone Billard would find out about it. Had the wizard tell him? There was no way he would find out! She had been careful.

Billard laughed which echoed through her heart and it fastened its pace.

"Of course, you didn't." Billard's eyes grew intense and with each second her fear pinning her body with its thorns. "Because your men could not even reach them." Billard added which made her confused.

She didn't say a thing as she was petrified and her mind became blank.

"Do you want to know how the wizards get into the castle?" Her husband asked, sending a cold threat toward her. Indeed she wanted to know because it was bad news if wizards had infiltrated their home.

Then she recalled her brother saying something like each one of his men died. Wasn't that Seraphina and the dragon guards who killed them?

"You assigned your men and they took advantage of it."

She looked up at him with wide eyes.

"They killed your men and disguised themselves as them." Billard said, "Of course, as a future Queen, you certainly know some good ways to enter the castle, don't you?"

She gulped. She hadn't expected her plan would back fire her. All she had wanted to save her home but instead she ended up making a mess. She looked down at the ground.

"I- I didn't want our men to suffer that-"

"Enough!" Billard's voice echoed in their chamber and it made her shudder in fear.

"Tell me why did you want to kill my brother? What did he do to you?" He asked, "I know how he treats you is rude but he gives the same treatment to everyone."

"But he is cursed.. "

The moment it left her mouth, Billard went still. A thick silence wrapped them under a duvet and Billard asked, "Ho-how did you know?"

She looked at her husband and saw rage ruling over him. His golden eyes were on fire and she drifted away her eyes from her husband. She was scared even to look at him.

Billard came near her in two long strides and squished her shoulders harshly that might leave some bruises. She hissed in pain but he didn't leave her as he roared in anger, "Tell me, how did you know that?"

Tears rolled down from her eyes in fear and pain as she sniffed, "I-I heard you and Master Valentine talking about it."

"And then you started to plan how to kill him?" His grip tightened more and now she cried with pain. "It-it's hurting."

"Answer me now?" His rage-filled voice made her shake in fear as she said, "Then I found that the curse he had could abolish the whole Dragon nation if he transforms into a berserk dragon."

She tried to get away from him but with failed attempts and asked, "Tell me how can I sit tight when he was going to destroy everything? Including you."

She looked up, tears wetting her face and she said, "I don't want anyone to get hurt by him. I know he doesn't have a choice as he was cursed since birth but that doesn't mean we will have to suffer for it."

Pain excruciating on her whole body as she added in between her cries, "Your whole attention was on saving him no matter what. You didn't even want to see what we all were going to face. So I did it." She clenched her teeth as she said, "I planned to eliminate him before the transformation and I am not feeling any wrong that the wizards had taken him."

A few muscles clenched on Billard's jaw as he pushed her to the bed. Zenith fell on the bed as she tried to sit up straight while soothing her shoulders. She could feel Billard's glares on her. She knew Billard was going to hate her for what she had done to his little brother but she had to do it. Wasn't that how her father taught her to eliminate the problem before it would become bigger?

"Today..." Billard began, "You have shown me how it feels when your family stabs on your back."

Zenith looked at him and retorted, "I have never stabbed you. I wanted to save you because you were going to be killed while saving him. There is no saving him."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because there is one in a million chances that he would become a pure dragon. Don't you see how he acts? How does he like to feed on others suffering?" Zenith asked as her voice raised. She had never raised her voice on Billard but he had to know the reality. It might hurt him but there was no way Demian would become a peace dragon.

"The others who had suffered, you say, are the ones who had done bad deeds to our people. And maybe his methods are harsh but he had punished them so they will never make that mistakes again." Billard said, "And because of him, the peace remained on the whole Dragon Landing. Nobody dares to steal, to scheme, or to be unfair to anyone and these are all because he played the cruel Prince."

Zenith went silent as she tried to recall when Demian had done those. All she heard about how cruel and merciless he was to the poor or how treated them rudely. How his wrath could destroy a city or how he could use his powers to cast away the nobles.

"If you had taken time to know him like Seraphina did, you would never want to kill him." Billard said as he turned around to leave.

Zenith looked at him, sadness itching her core. Now maybe Billard would give her death sentence.

"You have broken my trust," Billard said facing his back at her and Zenith's heart shattered into pieces by his words as he continued, "I wanted all of us to be happy together but you have schemed against my family."

He slowly turned around, casting his betrayed face on her with a pair of hard, cold eyes and said, "I could kill you and your whole family right this moment but that would be unfair."

She furrowed her brows. "But my family has nothing to do with it."

"Yet, they tried to provide support." Billard said, making her eyes go wide. "Or, better, I will just eliminate your whole family in front of your eyes."

Zenith's body trembled and she said, "Th-they didn't do anything. They don't even know-"

"It doesn't matter." Billard's face became grim which terrified her. Did she just drag her family to this?

She shook her head still not believing his words as her voice trembled, "Y-you can't do this. My father is a great help-"

"Zenith..." Calling her name with a voice as cold as ice made her breath hitched as her whole being could feel the threat from his tone. "It might take me a few years to find a capable ruler such as your father but it would not be a matter for me to lose him."

He came closer with slow steps as if he was a predator and she was a prey. She had never seen this side of him and it terrified her. Right there, the person standing before didn't feel like her husband. Billard's demeanor had changed completely and she felt the ground beneath her feet slowly vaporizing.

"Why do you think I always play the part of a good Prince?" He asked.

Zenith didn't seem to find a word as he stopped before her and caught her chin up. "Because people like to see a gentle natured King ruling the kingdom."

He bent down as his face came closer to her. His golden eyes glinted evilly as shadows appeared on his face which portrayed the darkness in him. He said in a low voice, "I am not a good Prince, I do kill people who I see a threat but the difference is, I do it in the dark where everyone is oblivious to it while Demian does it on a broad daylight."

For a moment, Zenith's heart had stopped and her mind went numb as she could not register anything around her. Her husband seemed like a stranger to her and suddenly she felt she had come into an unknown place. Who was he?

His each word sounded like he was telling the truth. He could kill her family and still people would not find out if it was his doing. Right there, Zenith felt she was caught into her own trap and she could not really know her husband in these two years.

"Don't... Please don't kill my family," Zenith sniffed. She was mistaken. She never thought Billard could be this terrifying. She thought he was a gentle person and didn't want any trouble. But everything was just a made up act. He was just like Demian with a cold heart.

"And why do you think I would listen to you?"

"The-they didn't do anything. If you want to kill anyone then kill me." She fell on his feet as she begged while crying, "I was the one who did all of these. It was all me."

"And that is why I would punish you for this mistake by killing everyone dear to you." Billard's harsh voice ranged in her ears as she cried more. If she knew her one mistake could end up in killing her own family, she would have never done that.

"Please. Please, I beg you." She whimpered, "I will do everything you say. Please don't punish them for what they hadn't done."

Zenith's forehead was touching his feet as she wept, "I am sorry for scheming against Demian."

"Call him a Prince!" Billard growled, which made Zenith tremble in fear. "You have lost your rights to call him by his name."

"Yes... I am sorry for scheming against Prince Demian. Please punish me, not my family." Tears streamed on her face as she helplessly begged Billard not to punish her family. She was ready for any punishment he was going to bestow upon her.

"Alright." Billard said as Zenith looked up, her lips quivering as he said, "I will not kill your family and nor will I abolish our alliance for your mistake."

Zenith felt relief flooding over her body; however, Billard wasn't finished yet.

"You will stay as Princess Zenith to everyone's eyes but you have lost every authority over my men, maids and from this whole castle." Zenith listened to every word without uttering a sound as her eyes stayed lower; only tears created translucent paths on her face.

"We can't disclose the fact that you have lost every right in this country so you will remain in this chamber forever in abandonment." Billard said in a distasteful voice, "I would have liked to make you live forever in the dungeons but that would make a bad reputation of our land besides I don't want any trouble for my alliance with your father and brother."

Zenith felt dizzy but listened silently as he continued, "You are forbidden to contact anyone outside, even your family. I will assign a maid who will send you your daily meals in your room but aside from her, no one is allowed."

Zenith wanted to laugh at her fate as her husband punished her with living in this room forever just like her father did this to her. She wasn't allowed to contact others or make friends before her marriage and now after her marriage she brought this upon herself. She thought, 'At Least her one sacrifice can save her dearest ones'.

"And about the child..."

Zenith's attention was caught when Billard mentioned their child. She had almost forgotten about it. She was going to be a mother soon. She wanted to know what his thoughts were on it.

"It will never be the next heir in line," Billard announced as Zenith's head snapped up. "Your child will suffer the consequences of your mistake. I will never acknowledge him as my own."

Zenith clenched her teeth as rage gave birth in her stomach. She exclaimed in disbelief and anger, "How can you be so cruel? It is your child as well! How can you take away his rights as well?"

"Because you disgust me." Billard said, his voice coated with malice. Zenith shuddered at his treatment toward her and it hurt her. She was angry but she knew she had listed herself on his hatred list.

"You made me feel how incapable I am at handling my wife, our future queen. You made me this sort of a man I never wanted to be." Billard hissed as Zenith looked down in guilt. More tears ran down. It was all her fault that both her husband and child were suffering the consequences.

She pleaded again, "For my mistake, please don't give our child a hard time. He hasn't even been born yet, how can you decide his future that way?"

"Then since it is your mistake, I should make it more fair for our child." He added, "After you give birth, you will never see him again."

Zenith felt her whole world was crumbling down as she heard his cruel punishment for her. A gap formed on her mouth and it was becoming more and more suffocating. "How can you be so cruel to take away my child from me?"

"Then choose wisely. If you want him with you, he will suffer the same consequences as you and if you want him to become the next heir then you will never see him again." Billard said with a harsh voice as Zenith cried. "I don't want a single shadow of you lingering around him if he is going to be an heir."

She felt her heart was scattering in a million pieces and she was devastated. She wanted to be selfish and watch her child grow up but if she told him that, her child would have to suffer everything that she had been suffering. She knew how lonely it was to have no one to share their feelings or how terrifying it was to stay in one place day by day while watching everything from a window.

So she bit her bottom lip to stop the tremble while drops by drops of tears came out from the corner of her eyes as she said, "Yes, you Highness. You may take my child after I give birth to him."