Every word that came out from his mouth felt like ice cold water was doused upon her naked skin- it hurts and the pain was ever growing. She didn’t like this feeling creeping up beneath her skin. It felt bad and it made her nauseous. But she didn’t know how to stop herself from feeling it.

She wanted to say so much and ask so many questions. Why now? What made him change his mind? Was there something that she can do to fix it?

But the questions remained stuck, unable to come out no matter how much she clawed at her throat.

BAM!

The sound of the door banging from behind Renee had interrupted her from her thoughts.

A woman with beautiful, exotic features and a voluptuous body came into the room. While the dress she wore was befitting of a woman with high nobility, the way she carried herself indicated she was a commoner. Despite that, every man in the room turned towards her with greed dripping from the corner of their eyes. 

“Elias! Why didn’t you see me today?” she pouted, her voice as melodious as a siren.

The princess’s heart clenched. Why was this unknown woman speaking to him so affectionately and without referring to him with title? The impertinence!

Already in a tense mood, she was about to berate on this woman for being so rude, but Elias had cut in before she could do so.

“Zahara! I told you to wait in my study room!” he frowned but his eyes were gleaming with affection.

“Oh! Should I not have come? You were taking such a long time and I was getting bored. You said you’d settle things really quickly and take me out later”

Renee felt her vision was spinning. Settle things really quickly? It couldn’t be that she was referring to the cancellation of their engagement right? Was the annulment of a royal engagement like passing an order to a servant? Was that how little he thought of their relationship?

The woman walked up towards the throne and snaked her hands around the prince, a coy smile plastered on her red lips. Under normal circumstances, she would have been beheaded for disrespectfully approaching the throne as she was not royalty...

... And yet why? Why weren't the guards stepping up to arrest her? Why did the prince not reprimand her?

“Not to mention, my pregnancy craving is making me want to go to Julia’s” the woman continued, speaking in a voice loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. It was clear that she wanted to make her point loud and clear.

At this statement, the room began to fill with shocked murmurs. It appears that despite the knights having full knowledge about their relationship, the news of her pregnancy was a shock to everyone, including to Elias himself who looked up to her with a stunned expression.

SNAP!

The sound of thread snapping was the only thing Renee could hear after the woman finished her sentence. After that, she couldn’t hear anything else, not even when the guards whispered words of pity. She finally embraced the consuming darkness that was clambering to possess her.

“ARGHHHHHHHH!”

As Renee screamed, the entire atmosphere began to change. The still air began to reverberate as if there was a small earthquake. Swirls of dark clouds began to appear out of nowhere causing everyone but the princess to panic. The princess dropped to her knees and wailed in anguish.

When her heart broke, so did the last of her sanity.

“Take Zahara out of here”

“Wait Elias-“

“GO!”

The prince pushed his lover towards a nearby guard as soon as he noticed the dangerous aura had began to accumulate them. He didn't have to order the rest of the knights to ready their stance- they were already brandishing their swords and pointing it towards the princess.

They didn’t know what was happening, but they knew from the hairs standing on the back of their necks that something bad is going to happen.

In an instant, the sounds of snapping and the cracking bones overlapped the sound within the room. It was a disgusting noise that could send someone rolling their eyes in terror.

The princess arched her back and began to transform. First, her milky unblemished skin changed into the colour of the night sky and scales had revealed themselves from underneath like a hatching eggshell. As her petite figure grew in size and the bones of her body were thrown in a grotesque shape, two wings sprouted out from her spine, ripping the emerald green dress she had worn.

Her screams had become distorted and guttural, which resembled the sound of a beast’s mourn.

Her veil was already torn into pieces and yet still nobody knew how her human face looked like because her mouth had transformed into the shape of a reptile. Renee’s eyes bore the colour of flaming red orbs- it was clear by now that she no longer held the eyes of a human being.

The prince’s body was trembling and his hands were shaking as he gripped the helm of his sword. But, he wasn’t trembling in fear ... he was trembling in excitement.

Right there in front of his very eyes was a living, breathing dragon.