★★★

47. Sapphire kingdom

No words could ever describe the feeling I have right now, half of it is happy and half is uncertain about the strangers in front of me, hope have crushed my soul for more than once, I have hope that alex will live and my mother and us will be happy and free from anyone's evil plots but it didn't...

And now Another hope have again appeared in my heart hope that this same pink haired man infront of me is my brother that is supposed to be died---and I saw it with my very own eyes how he and my mom left me all alone many years ago, but at the same time I didn't want to believe all of this and this man is nothing but a similar looking of my brother.....

I couldn't utter no words at all, all I could think about is him despite the fact that I'm on a ship right now and probably heading to the sapphire kingdom to be killed or to be held hostage by them,
I shifted my attention to my surroundings as the two strangers walked away, The one that looked like alex walked up to the ships steering wheel and took charge of it, the other one stood beside him, four person stood on each corner of the ship with wands and matching blue hooded capes, mages? What are they doing?

"Now!" The blonde one shouted, The mages chanted a a spell and raised their wands in the air,

"Water bubble barrier!" The
Water started to raise and envelope the whole ship in one massive bubble, the bubble sank under the ocean with the ship protected inside, water magic? Wait they aren't magic, the wands are! The Sapphire kingdom has banned magic from their lands since the beginning of their era, The magic in the sapphire kingdom are too powerful that no mage can withstand the mana in the environment then ended up died, They don't know how to use magic but they created weapons that has the ability to summon mana and produce magic! That's how they get through the obscurity mist, they went through it by traveling under the mist and avoiding the rocks but wait, the obscurity mist is far to shallow so how will they---a tunnel?! A tunnel that leads in and out of the obscurity mist that explains everything..

"Just to inform you, You commander Iris natasha Everhart are here as a guest and not a prisoner so therefore we have put down the magic block barrier as a proof about our clear and good intentions, you can either leave or corporates to us to clear some misunderstanding between our kingdoms" they put off the barrier? I tried making an ice blade and then cutting the rope tying my hands and feet together, standing up firmly and brushing the cut ropes from my hands "who are you?" I asked sternly, the two of us stared at each others eyes in a silent declaration of war or some sort--not wanting to back down at all "I am Prince Kaito sapphire, crown prince of the sapphire kingdom, pleasure making your acquaintance" kaito sapphire? His name is even similar to alex, Why is this happening? "Sapphire kingdom right ahead your highness" one soldier said, the sapphire prince nodded and eyed me in a rather this-is-it kind of look, soon after the ship came out of the dark tunnel and heading up to surface, a blinding light made me close my eyes tightly before opening them again but what I saw was truly a majestic view....

Different species of birds flown above us, the bubble popped making the new sapphire kingdom breeze hit my face caressing it ever so gently, The smell of the sea woke me up, the sunny sun from the sky radiant with light and life as if it's welcoming me to the kingdom, My mouth subconsciously gasped wide open as I gaze into the mainland ahead, A castle with beautiful dark blue color and the flag waving at us....this is sapphire kingdom....

No people from magnolia kingdom have ever seen what the sapphire looked like, Usually it's the sapphire kingdom that visit us but never let us know the hidden pathway they use to get to our kingdom from theirs.... it's beautiful...

They took down the sail as we approached the dock, as the ship fully stopped every soldiers unloaded the ship before lining up in a two single file line and hands in a salute position waiting for the sapphire crown prince to unboard the ship with me and the blonde haired idiot looking soldier following him behind, everyone greeted us or them a warn welcome and a safe return, at the bottom of the dock parked a white carriage, by the look of it and the decorations it's clearly stating that words "royalty" to anyone who See's it...wait now I remember something that Arthur told me about

*Flashback*

"Arthur are the rumors about you rejecting a sapphire kingdom princess to be your wife, true?" I asked out of curiosity, I've heard this rumor since I was in the sky army camp but I never really heard if it's true or not, since the rumored person--A.K.A arthur frost is here then I can just ask him, the said general just scoffed and rolled his eyes

"It was a peace treaty between us and the sapphire kingdom, The kingdom's eldest princess whom is a concubine-born princess were sent here for peace marriage and thus can freely pick anyone to be her husband and enter his house or residence as the first or lady of the house wife, but unfortunately for me that unruly and unmannered girl picked this young general to be his husband" he in an uninterested way while tossing an apple in the air and catching it again

"So you rejected her?" Not to be a critics or anything but I have rejected a marriage offer from the crown prince himself infront of the king and to me it's not a big deal but rejecting a peace marriage between the two kingdoms can cause a war! even I'm not that stupid to do that! Victor is more powerful than me in terms of magic and authority, Vincent is much more sociable and gentle than me, Cain is much more knowledgeable and no2 arthur is more bolder and braver than me!! Dang capture targets! I guess you aren't that useless afterall!

"As much as I love to welcome any girl with open arms, This young general cannot open his arms for such a rude and ugly looking and personality girl much less let her become my wife!" He declared, I just sweatdrop (• ▽ •;)(٥↼_↼)

*Flashback ends*

So the sapphire kingdom king has more than one wife? How many prince and princess are there in this kingdom?

If this is the crown prince then that means he must be the queens first born son.

"Ladies first, commander iris" The crown prince offered me a hand to the carriage, I hesitated for a moment before taking his hand and climbing in the carriage before the two..

"This is General Miguel, one of my trusted advisor and companion, General Miguel here is also the first general of the sapphire kingdom army, he would escort us safely to the castle, now let's go down to business...... The reason we have to kidnap you is to clear some misunderstanding between our kingdoms" he explained, sitting on the opposite side of the carriage from me with his said general beside him "what misunderstanding?" I asked firmly "we have been receiving news that your magnolia kingdom is blaming us for the missing keys to your hidden vault, but we speak nothing but the truth and I say, we have no interest in your hidden vault and thus have nothing to do with the missing keys and their holders..... Us sapphire citizen may not communicate with your kingdom as much but we have no intention of starting any war or conflict between us" this prince has a tough shell, We stared at each others eyes or more like glared at each others eyes actually before the carriage stopped indicating that we have reached our destination, cold and down pressuring atmosphere were still around us as we climb off the carriage....

"Crown prince Kaito sapphire have returned! Open the gates!" Someone shouted as the double gates opened and a red carpet rolled from the castle double door to our foot, Wow such drama(insert sarcasm)...

"First princess Iris natasha Everhart Sapphire have returned!!" Someone shouted, The crown prince just smirked while I was.....

Eh?.......

★★★

48. The curse of the Everhart family..

Eh? (・_・;)??

"Come on now princess, let's get you inside" miguel shove me from behind toward the castle door while I was still spacing out and wondering if I heard it wrong or not..... I hope I'm wrong...

But the second I walked(shoved) in the throne room everything made me more confused then ever...

Four thrones on the platform that has 7 stairs making it stand out in the room, two empty blue and pink small throne and two big and majestic looking one with the queen and king sitting on it....

But what shocked me more is the resemblance of the woman sitting beside the king and on the queen's throne indicating that she is the queen to my mother, the crown prince looked so much like my brother, they called me a princess and even added a sapphire last name in my family name and then this!! What is happening right now?! I saw the two of them die before my very eyes! How can this be!!

And kei sapphire, king of the sapphire kingdom is the exact replica of the man that duke azalea feared! No it's not a resemblance at all, it actually him!

"Leave us" the king instructed at everyone cleared out of the room except for me, him, his queen and the crown prince, I scanned the room more with my eyes while moving around until two pairs of arms wrapped themselves around me from behind...

"Natasha...." "Nee-chan..." They longingly and lovingly said, their voices filled with hope, Love, and happiness......as I heard what they said, my body froze, My mind still processing what's happening, my heart was beating fast and loud that it's like I could hear it with my own ear, I didn't noticed the tears streaming down my face "what?............." That was all I could say for now "darling we missed you so much" she said, even though I was sure my family already died but right now I'm more sure that they are here, with me, hugging me, Calling my name "mom......alex..." After a very long time, I finally said those words once more as I felt them hug me more tighter, Footsteps echoed behind us as the king of sapphire emerge from behind us and faced me with a gentle smile on his face "welcome home.....my daughter" daughter? "What?" I asked once more, mom and alex loosened their hug on me and smiling, one hand still on my shoulder "it's ok natasha, his your real father" she explained, I finally regained all my senses as I turned to my mother and nearly shouted at her "mom what's happening!? How are you alive?! How is alex even alive?! And what the hell do you mean about him being my real father?! And most importantly why are you here in sapphire kingdom and never sent me anything or even told me that you two are still alive?!!!!" I ranted out all of my questions, feeling and heart in one breath " calm down first nee-chan, mom and I will explain everything, I promise" my brother compromised me as both of his hand are on my shoulder and smiling at me, I hid my face in his clothed chest and almost cried my eyes out for a minute or two while calling him and mom over and over again...

"You alraight now, sweetie?" My dad rubbed my back to ease my feelings and asking gently, even though I don't understand anything at all right now I still felt some kind of connection with him...

"Now, We'll answer your questions but first I want to tell you that none of these are your fault darling" my mom said, I wiped my tears away and nodded slowly

(⚠️Long story right ahead!)

"First, you have probably heard about the curse and the promise that was made by the ancestors of both the azalea and Everhart family, the time of the promise day have come And unfortunately it happened during my time, No one on each family actually knew the real reason behind this promise but it must be done, but I discarded it and didn't agree but we didn't knew the problem was so big that it was already too late to do the right thing, In the past their were only The Everhart, azalea, Xin, orobell, wisteria, calista and magnolia family that stood on this very land even before it was soon established to monarchy by the magnolia family,
The Everhart family was curse, And the azalea family was blessed on the other hand, Our family contain what we call the sacred blood, it's existence was only known by the ancestors of the seven family and written in a scroll that is currently being locked inside the secret vault, The sacred blood was the blood given by the gods to our family, to others it may sound good and holy but to us it was horrifying and terrible,The sacred blood can only be gifted to one special Everhart family member in each generation but after 3 generation we learned the true nature of the sacred blood, it contained unlimited power and mana that it's impossible for anyone to withstand and if the chosen one can't control the magic it will bounce back to the other family members.....so they sealed the sacred blood as long as they could, the seal lasted for 20 generation, no Everhart family member had the sacred blood during that time but on the 23th generation---My generation the seal broke but the scared blood wasn't pass on to me---it was pass on to you----the first born was always the one who inherit the blood by at that time none of us knew of the curse and it's my fault that alex nearly died and you being left all alone........The azalea family contain the blessed blood different from our sacred blood, it made their magic more calmer and tranquil, The ancestors knew that the seal will eventually broke so that's why they tasked the 23th generation eldest child from both family to get married and conceive a child because only the blessed blood of the azalea family can stop and slow down the effect of the sacred blood in our family but......I disobeyed the tradition and I choose to have a baby with your father and that's how I got you two, but I never once regretted it...."

To be continued..