A TALE OF FIRE AND ICE

Sacred Invitation

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***

Irene ACCIDENTALLY dropped the cup that she was about to place on the table, making her gasp in the process. She was so surprised that her heartbeat suddenly went erratic. But to be honest, she had been feeling that way since a while ago.

Is it mine or Winter's heart though?

Anyway, she wasn't looking when she put the cup down and thought that she had properly placed it on the table. She didn't pay attention to it because she was checking the blueprint of her new store at Komodo. The architect just sent it to her and she was very eager to check it.

The opening of her new store had also been delayed because of what she went through recently. But she didn't want to delay it further.

And because of her haste, this was what happened: the teacup ended up in broken pieces.

What a shame... I'm fond of that teacup.

"Your Grace, is everything alright there?" Louisa, the head maid, asked from outside the room. Along with Leni and Lani, the three served as her ladies-in-waiting. "We heard a crashing sound."

"I dropped the teacup," Irene said. "Please clean it up."

"Give us a moment, Your Grace."

Now that she had calmed down, she realized that she had started to get used to be called "Your Grace." After all, the emperor had already signed Lisa's registration as a duke. That made her a duchess as well, of course.

But even though her father already passed his duke title to Lisa, it wasn't like he was no longer a higher noble. Her father had other titles aside from being a duke. To other territories, he was a marquis.

Father is that rich.

And he would still be rich even if he gave Oakes to Lisa.

Speaking of Lisa ...

Her husband left home after lunch to check his squad and to buy the ingredients for their dinner later. But it had already been hours since then.

What's taking you long, hon?

A few moments later, the maids entered her office with cleaning tools with them. They were cleaning up the broken pieces of the cup when David, the head butler, came to deliver a letter for her.

"Your Grace, a letter from the High Priest's temple had arrived," David informed her while holding a tray where the letter was placed carefully. "The letter has His Eminence's seal."

She suddenly got nervous even though she already knew what the letter was about.

It's definitely about the date of when I need to serve the temple as the Beast Priestess.

Gosh, why wouldn't her heart stop beating like crazy?

Irene clutched her chest tight. For some reason, her heart had been palpitating non-stop even though she didn't have caffeine. She didn't want to admit this but she was feeling ominous right now. Please come home ASAP, Lisa.

***

UNPLEASANT.

That was the feeling Lisa had when his gaze met with the woman with the brown hair. His heart was thumping so hard against his ribcage because of the sudden rise of anger in his chest. He didn't understand why he felt that way.