Stella was relieved that she did not encounter Alina again after the ball. She had met both Prince Aiden and Alina earlier than she should. She thought that meeting Prince Aiden earlier than supposed to be was a special case. But after meeting Alina as well, she realized that what if the other events in the novel would also happen earlier?
She realized that she had no time to dawdle. The war and the epidemic might happen earlier too. If she wanted to at least lessen the number of deaths, she had to start her preparations now.
Stella could recall from what she had read that half of Valyenor's knights were sent to the war to support Prince Aiden and only half returned. Other duchies have a lesser number of knights compared to them so it was not easy for them to send off their knights to battle and leave their own duchies defenseless.
