The notorious Celena Raveniel, the renowned blind manhunter, who had accomplished so much throughout her years as a manhunter, was afraid of heights. 'How utterly embarrassing!' Celena thought while shivering as the carriage soared in the air, hovering towards their destination. Prince Quentin's eyes shone with amusement at his newlywed wife's feeble frame, staring at her thin legs, clearly shivering.
As Celena emerged from the mines, she took off her shoes. However, as she rode in the carriage, her sense of direction faded, and she was unaware that the prince sat just next to her, on the brink of touching her.
"Are you afraid?" Prince Quentin asked as a small smile spread across his face. Celena jolted and faced in the direction of the prince's voice, clearly surprised that he was actually sitting right next to her. "I didn't know you were right next to me." Celena said.
The prince chuckled and said, "I am sorry. I thought you were the renowned manhunter, so I assumed you might know where I am even though you are blind."
Celena stayed silent. Of all the things he said, that was what she had least expected, because she didn't expect that she would be sitting in a flying carriage! If it was a normal wooden or metal carriage, she might be able to make her escape from the prince's clutches and be on her merry way towards her freedom.
She was masterful at her role as a manhunter; she had sealed off any potential weak spot for her opponents. However, it appeared that this prince was aware of her aversion to flying.
"I am, however, very impressed with my new wife. Since you are not trained in the magical department, you can still easily deal with adversities thrown at you during your missions." The prince continued.
"Why did you hire me to kill you and your brother, your highness?" Celena said, unable to contain her curiosity any longer.
The prince looked at Celena and said, "I was contemplating taking my life and bringing my brother along with me."
"That's a crude joke, Your Highness."
"I am surprised that you never once asked me about our contract marriage."
"Right, because I am so overwhelmed by my deposition that I do not know how to react."
The prince chuckled even louder this time. "It seems like I outsmarted the famous manhunter."
"Don't get too proud of yourself." Celena sneered.
"Do not worry, we are not officially married yet."
"We were not?" Celena questioned herself as she touched the ring that was given to her.
"No, what we did earlier was an unbreakable marriage bond that binds us together for a certain amount of time."
"What's the difference?" As the blind girl arched her brow, looking bewildered,
"The difference was that the marriage we had at the entrance of the mines was just a heavenly intervention to bind you to me so that I wouldn't lose you. With the emperor and empress Dowager as witnesses, the public will be able to see the formal event. The official wedding ceremony will occur in Sharbel."
Sharbel, a place where Celena thought that she would never step into again.
"So, what preposition do you have for me? What services did you expect from me if I am not deserving of the gallows?"
"My brother had sparked war between kingdoms. He tried to unite several kingdoms, create an empire and crown himself as the Emperor of the East." The prince explained.
"Wait, the late Emperor Azulon was already the Emperor of the East and united several kingdoms before you were even given the title Crown Prince." Celena recalled.
"That's because the union is supposed to end after the death of my father. When I take over, I will be King Quentin instead of Emperor Quentin, but things went wrong after the sudden death of my father. The succession went over to my brother when he overthrew me." Prince Quentin explained.
"After the emperor's death, the new emperor didn't kill you." Celena asked, her curiosity piqued.
"He did try it at the banquet that you were hired to spike our drink."
"But I thought you were the ones that hired us."
"I didn't; he did. He double-crossed me, just as your sister double-crossed you."
"You knew-?" Celena was surprised that the prince knew so much more than she did. Perhaps being blind caused her to be ignorant of certain facts about the mission.
"Let's talk business for real now. You will be my wife by day, and by night you will join my special task force to conduct espionage and secure classified information for me."
"I don't have to be your wife to do that; you can hire me as your maid or just a manhunter as usual and I don't have to reveal my face to the public ever."
"Are you that naive? You had been a manhunter for what, a decade now? Look where that led you! Betrayed by the very same people whom you thought were your family for life! It did not work!" Prince Quentin replied with a hint of sarcasm and continued.
"And you want to be a maid? You will be busy during the day with all of the menial tasks and then at night with a demanding job. You will not have sufficient rest and perform poorly, which defeats the purpose. Moreover, you will be running around within the castle being bullied to do all the chores within the castle grounds, where I cannot protect you." Quentin restates his case with his rebuttals.
"Besides, if you are married to me, you are given the title Princess Duchess, which will serve well under my protection and allow you to blend in perfectly with the nobles."
"I am capable of doing your undercover tasks without holding the title Princess Duchess; it is going to hinder my undercover work."
"With proper training, it will not be a barrier."
"I don't need training; I am the renown man-hunter of the empire; I can handle whatever reconnaissance work you throw at me. My track record is flawless."
"Was flawless, the last mission you failed terribly, which led you to suffer in the Endromeda mines. Who knew if you were still capable of being a manhunter or not?"
"I am capable of many things. And may I remind you, I was betrayed?" Celena yelled while picking up her jagged nails and digging the dirt out beneath them. It was disgusting and she hoped that the prince wouldn't notice.
"Accept the title that comes with becoming my wife; you will be trained by my hand-picked governess on proper etiquette, reading braille and, of course, by my special task force personnel on martial arts and military training. Lastly, you will have classes with the mages as well."
"Mages? But I don't have an affinity for magic."
"Oh, but my love. I begged to differ; you seem to have an affinity for it, but you didn't discover it for some reason. I have been watching you all this time, the way you move and navigate within the mines; you were using magic but you didn't know it."
"What? That cannot be!" Celena's eyes widened in bewilderment.
"I believe your assassin friends knew this as well. They just taught you the bare minimum to survive."
Celena cannot believe her ears; she will be subjected to more training and classes than ever before, and she still doesn't know what she is up against or for how long.
"So, how long am I going to be your wife? I assume that this job is a contract job." Celena asked curiously.
"Until my objective is achieved." The prince answered immediately.
"That would take forever! I refuse."
"Then I will just drop you off from this carriage and become a widower in this instance."
"Your jokes are ever so crude." Celena jeered at the prince's lack of tact and all-or-nothing approach.
"I am not joking, my love. We said our vows in front of the mines; you cannot back out of this."
"Five years; create a magical contract for five years and I agree to all your terms."
"We had a marriage vow earlier; there is no need for another contract."
"No! I do not acknowledge that marriage vow. After the five-year mark and we have succeeded in whatever objective you have set, I will leave, and you cannot stop me unless you kill me." Celena insisted on another contract marriage bound by magic, with all the terms and conditions verbally announced.
"Ten years." The prince countered.
"Four!"
"Five it is." Prince Quentin relented.
"What if I fail?" asked Celena.
"The mission fails when one of us dies."