Meanwhile, in Wicker Empire, Asher, the Emperor, threw his golden crown on the floor as his aide rushed to pick it up. He was so furious with his advisor, Dickinson, who kept on following him behind.
"Are you certain that you searched everywhere for her, Dickinson?" he angrily asked, dropping his royal mantle on the floor.
"Yes, Your Highness. I have searched everywhere for Princess Arshivelia and there have been no signs of her existence in each of the Kingdoms we have visited so far." Dickinson carefully replied, watching how Asher's ice blue eyes had changed colour to red due to anger.
"You!" Asher pointed at one of his guards. "Are you familiar with the Aleppo Kingdom?"
"My Emperor, yes, I am familiar with that place." The guard respectfully knelt on one knee and answered him.
"Then, I have a mission for you."
"My Emperor, will that only be causing more issues with that Kingdom, as we already know that they are planning a revolt towards us." Dickinson carefully ventured, picking up Asher's cloak. "Should you reconsider? What if he gets caught and end up getting killed?"
Asher turned to look at his guard. "Will you get captured?"
The guard chose his answers carefully. "No, My Emperor."
"Will you get killed?" Asher asked him again.
"No, My Emperor." The royal guard replied respectfully
There were no ordinary guards in his palace. Each of his guards was special and he knew how to pick the strongest knights. All the guards in his palace were fully trained knights and some of them were also trained assassins. For his empire to be the strongest, he had to take several precautions.
"That is settled. You shall leave for the Aleppo Kingdom today." He dismissed the guard and went to light a tobacco stick. He looked dismayed and tired. His pale and fair face looked tired as his midnight-black hair landed beautifully on his shoulders.
"Smoking is bad for your health, Your Highness. You should put an end to it." Dickinson calmly begged while seeing his ruler's eyes return to their natural colour.
Asher completely ignored him and continued to puff on his cigarette as he sat in his chair, thinking. The worst memory he had was yelling at his sibling to run and not look behind him, not knowing it would be the last time he saw her. He always blamed himself for being such a coward that he couldn't even protect his sister back then.
After taking over the throne from his late father, he never stopped searching for his sister. His mother went mad upon losing her child and was confined to her chambers. He had a lot on his plate.
"Shall I be excused now, My Emperor?" Dickinson asked.
Asher waved his hand without looking at him. Dickinson respectfully bowed and left the room.
As Dickinson was walking outside Asher's room, he bumped into Ashley. She was wearing a long-sleeved crystal blue dress with a long winter fur-lined cloak of the same colour. Her beautiful wavy and curly white blonde waist-length hair flowed perfectly on her back. Her fair skin and lavender eyes, made her look like a real-life goddess.
"This humble servant greets the most beautiful diamond in the Wicker Empire, Princess Ashley." Dickinson bowed as he greeted her.
"Please, you may rise Dickinson. How have you been?"
"I have been well, My Princess."
"That is good to hear. Is my brother in his chambers?" she politely probed.
"Yes, His Highness is in his chambers."
"Thank you. You may take your leave now." She kindly dismissed him.
She stood outside Asher's chamber doors battling whether to knock or not. She finally made up her mind signalling as she knocked. The guards bowed to her and opened the door.
"Brother, I am here to see you." She cheerfully greeted Asher and went to take a seat. "I have always loved this chair; it is so fluffy just like a wolf's fur."
"Well, it is not. It is just made from combed wool threads," he replied without looking at her.
"What a shame." She contemplated. "There is an exquisite wolf within our walls with very fluffy fur but now I pity it."
Asher looked at her without saying anything.
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
He shrugged. "I am just surprised with your sudden change of heart."
"I can be a little humane if I feel like it…I heard that you are still in search of our dear beloved sister," She grimaced at the thought of it. "It is not that hard to predict what you are up to these days."
"News does fly so fast in this palace; I am not surprised." Asher eyed her coolly and responded in a dry tone.
"I am your twin sister as well, Asher!" she retorted. "Yet, I have never seen you care for me the way you do for someone who is probably dead by now."
"Watch your tone, Ashley." Asher gritted his teeth. "You may be my sibling, but do not forget who your superior is." He said glowering at her.
'What on earth was that expression?'
Ashley sighed with exasperation. "Superior or not, you are still my brother." She answered woodenly. "I am sorry but I still find it quite unfathomable as to why you are still searching for her. I mean, are you not tired at all? She might already be dead." She shrugged, sneering in response.
Asher scowled. "I warn you again, Ashley, I will not stand for another offence."
"What? Is it not the truth you do not wish to accept?" she smiled quite inappropriately.
Asher grinned while taking out another tobacco stick to light it. He watched how his own sister was behaving wondering how different they were. The only resemblance they had was that Ashley was identical to Arshivelia but their eyes and hair were different. He wondered how his lost sister would have been like if she had not gone missing and grew up with them. Would her attitude be different from Ashley's?
"Have you noticed something about yourself, Ashley?" Asher asked pushing a billow of smoke from his lips and into the air.
"Noticed what, brother?" she asked, cringing her head to the side in question.
"Your character is truly evil for that face ."
"Evil?" she repeated that word slowly gripping her temples. "Are you seriously giving me that title when you are the one who let go of your sister's hand?" she smiled knowingly, her eyes mocking him.
"I genuinely find it hilarious," she says. He got up, pulled back his chair, and took a deep inhale, billowing smoke in her direction. "I, the one who let go of her hand, have been worried sick about her well-being, praying every single day for her safety, while the one who was not even at the scene wishes for her death." He approached her and looked down at her. "Are you keeping something from me, twin-sister?"
His question caught her off guard and she frowned a bit. "What are you trying to say, Asher?"
"The truth and nothing but the real truth." He gave out a brief shrug.
Ashley flinched and looked at him with a strangled expression. She could already feel sweat trickle down her back which was impossible since their whole empire was covered with snow. "I was only five years of age at that time as if I would remember everything that had taken place on that day." She tried digressing the topic.
"I was also five years old, yet I still have memories of that incident as if it was just yesterday." Anger crept into his voice. "You know, when I let go of Arshivelia's hand that day and asked her to run, I saw you. You were wickedly smiling as you pushed her off the cliff." His voice was low and gravely.
Ashley opened her eyes widely. Her lips pursed slightly. She could see the look of angry contempt in his eyes as he spoke. "I―I do not know what you are talking about." She replied in a pinched voice.
"Of course, as usual, you are unaware of what happened in the past." He said sarcastically. "Just pray that she is found alive and well. I cannot wait to see that mask you have on falling from your pernicious face, dear sister."
Ashley let out a long, deep sigh and fixed her gaze on him. "Surely, Asher, you can't be serious. This isn't about me in many ways...keep in mind, I really resent what you just said, and I also resent the imputation that I would try to harm my own sibling," she said angrily. "As for my personality, I couldn't care less whether she is found dead or alive because this is what you want me to say anyway because you won't believe my side of the truth; just remember, there is always a limit to what one should say or do...tsk tsk tsk and I really despise that 'twin-brother'."
"Oh, is that a threat?" He challenged her immediately.
She shrugged nonchalantly and gave him her famous serious look. "You may perceive it however you want." She rose from her seat and bowed to her brother who was still standing before her. "I apologize brother, but I cannot force you to understand a message which you are not ready to receive."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean," he demanded harshly.
"Simply put, I will do my best to keep out of your way beginning today. I shall no longer come to meet you or call you my brother until our sister is discovered, or perhaps we should sever connections, don't you think? Because you find my presence unpleasant, Your Majesty, I will now excuse myself." She bowed and walked right to the door, leaving Asher dumbfounded.
The guards opened the door just in time, and Hozier, Asher's financial advisor and friend, hobbled into the room. He bowed briefly before rising to grin at her. She returned his grin, but it was too wry as she looked up at his face, and before they realized it, the door was shut.
Ashley went along the royal corridors, still deep in contemplation, toward her quarters. As soon as she stepped inside, a white wolf with stunning blue eyes pounced on her, enthusiastically greeting her with its tail waving behind. The wolf pushed Ashley with its snout and licked her face, its warmth and affection restoring Ashley to her natural kind nature. "Kara!"
"You look very pale, Your Highness," her maid told her in concern. "Aren't you feeling well?"
"I am feeling a bit under the weather― Mary, could you get me a glass of water, please?" She sank to her knees, coughing. Blood came gushing from both her mouth and nose as from a waterfall.
"Your Highness!" Mary exclaimed, rushing to help her. "What happened to you today? You were fine before you left or were you hiding your condition from me again?"
"Oh, stop shouting. My head hurts so much."
"My Princess, his majesty should be notified about this," she said trying to get up and head for the door but Ashley grabbed her arm.
"Do not do anything stupid, Mary," she warned her, wiping blood from her face.
"But..."
"I do not want to talk about it." She interjected, taking off her gown sitting down on the floor next to her bedroom fireplace. "Could you please leave me alone?"
"I cannot do that, Your Highness."
Ashley looked at her with a frown. "Why can you not?"
Mary fiddled with her fingers, worried about her mistress' condition. She did not want to leave her alone in that state. She was her only maid in the palace. The rest of the maids refused to serve Ashley by taking advantage of the relationship between her and Asher. Mary always stood by her side and knew how much she was in pain whenever her coughing starts up.
Ashley sighed. "I promise―I will be fine. I just need some rest," she said trying to force a smile.
Mary gave up and bowed then left the room.
Ashley hugged the wolf and laid on the fluffy grey rug in her bedroom, gently petting her wolf. "A wolf saved me from a polar bear and yet, I joked to end its life before my brother at our today's encounter." When she stroked its fur, the animal let out a low growl. "I live with the scar of my sister's tears on my back, her warm grip...I can still feel it on my arm from that day when I failed to save her. I feel like I failed miserably as a sibling, Kara, and I'm terrified and hurt all at the same time because I finally understand why I'm being treated this way by my own family. I wanted to save her as well, but I was and still am weak. Please guide me, Kara."
She hugged her wolf companion tightly, burying her face in its chest. "Oh, Kara, I wish it were me who had fallen instead of her so that Asher would not have to look at me with that dissatisfied expression every time we meet."