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The news that the emperor was looking for a wife spread across the entire continent faster than anyone could imagine. Houses that received the royal invitations celebrated having the chance to become the empress of this wealthy empire and power just second to the emperor.

Regardless of the emperor\'s reputation, it was crystal clear his title as a tyrant didn\'t matter. Princesses from other countries took the long journey, carrying their own agenda. Noble ladies in the empire spent day and night preparing for their trip to the imperial palace.

It was a golden opportunity no one would want to miss. After all, the royal court had been pressuring the emperor to take in an empress. Now that Abel agreed after so long, they had invited candidates for a fair competition.

Choosing one on the get-go would be plagued by ridiculous rumors, which would be an inauspicious start for the empress. No one would oppose the idea of the lady in the Vandran becoming the empress if not for the fact it would be her second marriage. Still, to appease the marquess, the royal court still invited Aries to be one of the candidates.

With that being said, while every lady was busy dolling up and preparing their best dresses, the only candidate who wasn\'t bothered by it was none other than Aries. Although the servants in the House Vandran had been restless, Aries would spend most of her time in the greenhouse with Marsella.

"Disappear…" Aries narrowed her eyes, almost drilling a hole in the plant in front of her, but to no avail. "Come on. Disappear…!"

Marsella was wearing a poker face while staring at Aries across from her. Her under-eye twitched. Witnessing something stupid, she was speechless.

"Abracadabra? Hocus pocus?"

"That\'s it." Marsella slammed her hand against the round, marbled table. Aries flinched in surprise, snapping out of her focus, eyes shaking at Marsella. "Abracadabra? Hocus Pocus? Did you think you\'re a magician? If so, why are we even here and not in a circus?"

Aries pursed her lips into a thin line. "It\'s so hard to make it disappear."

"I didn\'t ask you to erase it. What I said is you have to make it disappear from here to its original place." Marsella rolled her eyes.

"I\'m doing my best, alright?"

"Look." Marsella let out another long-suffering sigh. She plucked out a leaf from the pot, placing it on top of the magic circle. Her lips moved, but Aries didn\'t hear her voice.

Aries\'s pupil dilated when the leaf floated up in the air ever so slowly. The higher the leaf goes, the more wide Aries\'s mouth opened. When Aries was looking up, a flame appeared on the leaf out of nowhere. She watched it burn into ashes, watching the ash fall elegantly.

"Beautiful," she murmured in awe, raising her hand over the table. She opened her palm, catching the residue of the leaf. "It really burned…"

"It didn\'t." Marsella watched Aries look back at her with wide eyes, puckering her lips towards the pot. "I just returned it to its original place."

Aries moved her gaze towards the plant pot. To her surprise, the stem where Marsella pluck the leaf returned to how it originally was. Now, her mouth fell open once more, eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Amazing." Her eyes sparkled as she looked back at Marsella. "Master, teach me how you did that."

Marsella ground her teeth, stopping herself from smacking Aries in the head. "I was teaching you already, but you kept spewing abracadabra, remember?"

"Right…" Aries laughed awkwardly, recalling she was here to learn and Marsella was simply showing her an example.

"What a hopeless student." Marsella shook her head. "And here I thought we already had progressed on the first day."

"Are you sure they withered because of me? I think those plants wither easily with the slightest change in atmosphere."

"Don\'t start with me, Ram."

"Yes, ma\'am. My apologies."

"Do it again."

"Yes."

Marsella clicked her tongue, watching Aries let out a sharp breath. The latter closed her eyes and drew another deep breath. When Aries breathed out, she set her focus on the plant pot once again until her eyes narrowed.

At this point, Marsella could not help but wonder why Aries was narrowing her eyes. After all, she didn\'t need to do that at all by doing a simple spell.

Marsella crossed her arms and leaned back, keeping quiet to give Aries the peace she needed. She had already proposed to be Aries\'s lady-in-waiting since an empress candidate needed one once they enter the imperial palace. Aries and Dexter agreed since there was nothing they could do anyway. Moreover, Aries didn\'t have anyone in mind to take as her lady-in-waiting.

After some time, Marsella\'s patience was wearing thin until she could no longer take it.

"That\'s it for today." Her voice snapped Aries back from her focus. "You worked hard."

Aries frowned. "But I\'m not done yet, and it\'s too early."

"You had a banquet to attend, apparently, your own banquet, before you journey to the imperial palace." Marsella reminded her in a knowing tone. "Everyone had been eager to please your husband, and here you are. You didn\'t even put the slightest powder on your face and those bags under your eyes were growing apparent."

Aries touched the bags under her eyes with her fingertips. She had been staying late at night, trying to do a simple spell.

"Are you this relaxed, knowing you\'re already married to him?" Marsella inquired out of pure curiosity, watching Aries\'s brows raise. She smirked. "I\'m not sure if you\'re naive or simply confident. However, men are fickle. One day, they love you, and then the next second, they\'re shoving their sword into another woman\'s cave. Don\'t be complacent, sister."

"So what?" Aries blinked, this time causing Marsella\'s brows to furrow. The corner of her lips curled up into a subtle smile. "I don\'t trust men — actually, I don\'t trust people so easily. However, I trust the people I trust for a reason."

She paused, setting her eyes on the poisonous plant on top of the table. "If Abel gets tempted, there\'s no amount of preparation that could stop him. If he wants to, he would, and that would be his decision." Aries snapped her eyes up and smiled.

"It might sound banal, but I love him enough to trust him. It\'s up to him to break that trust. Moreover, I\'m pretty," she humored. "Love is not a feeling, sister. It\'s a choice and I choose to trust him, regardless. If he betrays me, whether out of lust or he fell for another, then… I\'ll walk away silently."

"Is that so?"

"Mhm. My priority is to be useful in some ways, so what happened in the coven won\'t happen again."

Marsella stared at Aries\'s subtle smile and the luster in the latter\'s eyes silently. She smiled and laughed with her lips closed, shaking her head mildly.

"Well, I\'m on your team." She winked. "I\'ll keep an eye on him."

"You don\'t have to." Aries chuckled until her lips were from ear to ear, revealing her pearly white teeth. "Should we continue?"

"Sure. Just don\'t blame me if you get late for your own party."

"I won\'t." Aries giggled. "I promise."

With that being said, Aries and Marsella stayed inside the greenhouse until the sun was about to set. And as expected, Aries was late in her own farewell banquet before her journey to the imperial palace the next day as one of the candidates for the empress.