CHAPTER 7 – THE QUEEN WHO NEVER WANTED A CROWN
One year passed.
For the first time in generations, the Kingdom of Valedorn knew peace.
The dungeons were empty.
The execution blocks gathered dust.
Children laughed in the palace gardens where terrified servants once hurried with lowered heads.
King Adrian had changed.
He dismissed corrupt nobles, lowered impossible taxes, and transformed abandoned military barracks into schools and hospitals under Elisa's guidance.
People no longer called him "The King of Death."
Now they called him...
"The King Who Returned."
Yet Adrian noticed something strange.
Elisa was preparing to leave.
One morning he found her packing dried herbs into leather satchels.
"You promised you'd stay."
She smiled sadly.
"I promised I'd survive."
"I never promised I'd remain in a palace."
"You belong here."
She shook her head.
"I belong wherever people are suffering."
For a long moment neither spoke.
Finally Adrian asked quietly,
"Do you know why I truly wanted you to stay?"
She looked at him.
"Because I love you."
Silence filled the room.
Elisa lowered her eyes.
"I know."
"But love isn't always enough."
She walked away.
Adrian didn't stop her.
Because for the first time in his life...
He understood that love could never be forced.
Months later, rumors spread across the kingdom.
Villages near the northern border were disappearing overnight.
Entire families vanished.
No blood.
No bodies.
Only empty homes with doors left open.
Some claimed wolves were responsible.
Others blamed raiders.
But the survivors all described the same thing.
A rider dressed entirely in black.
Wearing no face beneath his hood.
One evening an exhausted messenger collapsed before the throne.
"Your Majesty..."
"He asked for you."
"Who?"
"The man called..."
The Collector.
"He said the debt of the royal bloodline was never fully paid."
Adrian felt ice run through his veins.
May you like
He thought the curse had ended forever.
He had been wrong.
