"Sila, what happened?" Yuria saw Sila waiting outside her room as she opened the door and inwardly sighed in relief.
Sila bowed and said, "Your Highness, I just came to check on you since I heard how the king found you in the kitchen."
Yuria sighed as she pursed her lips, "Yeah, it's unfortunate that my secret passage got found out. But don't worry about it. He isn't angry at me."
Sila placed her hand on her chest as she said in a relieved tone, "Thank god. But in case His Majesty is still angry at you, please let me know. I will take complete responsibility."
Yuria felt warmth in her chest knowing that she had such a loyal and kind maid, "Don't please. You have done more than enough. In fact, we have already talked about it, and everything's fine."
Sila happily nodded and said, "Okay. Ah, I also wanted to remind you that you should get ready for the competition. After all, at least during the final rounds, your presence might be required."
Yuria waved her hands as she casually said, "Oh, don't worry about it. I will be there on time. You can go take some rest, Sila."
Sila bowed with a smile before leaving, and Yuria quickly closed the door.
*Creak*
Just before Yuria could open the cupboard, she saw Valentina coming out and looking at her in a strange way.
"What?" Yuria asked in a confused tone.
Valentina said with a stony expression, "I will go now but remember...we are not done."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Yuria smiled hearing her response, and she felt that she might have acted like Valentina if it weren't for the experiences she had to undergo in her previous life.
And now, she didn't want to waste any time by showing jealousy or possessiveness even if she felt it because she knew how precious time was, especially spending them with the ones she loved.
So she decided to spend happily with them instead of wasting her time on anything else.
"Wait! You don't know which way to go back, right? The guards might see you if you are careless. Let me help you," Yuria said as she came forward and grabbed her hand.
Valentina was about to refuse, thinking that she didn't want to rely on her help. But on second thought, seeing her friendly smile, she gave in as she softly nodded.
"Good. You should take the secret passage since not many still know about it. Even if there are guards nearby, I will distract them for you. Oh, yeah, I forgot to ask. How long can you stay invisible?"
Valentina pursed her lips, feeling reluctant to tell the secrets of her power.
Yuria grabbed both her hands and shook them, "Oh, come on. We are not enemies here. Okay, let me go first then. My soul is what they call the Soul of Spirits, which means I have the ability to imbue consciousness into whatever I create just purely based on my soul and will. If it wasn't for an ancient record my father dugout, we wouldn't have even known what kind of soul mine is."
She went on, "Oh, and my body constitution is quite puzzling. My ethereal core has only a single seed, but they seem to constitute different elements. So papa and I are still in the process of researching the historical records and figure out what kind of ethereal core I have. I bet it is the reason I am able to meld and shape any object I touch."
Valentina was a bit taken aback at how Yuria was being so direct and revealing everything or at least most of her powers, even though she barely knew her.
She wondered if Damien never taught her not to trust people easily. But then she felt that Yuria might be trusting her because she was Damien's fiance.
Then she realized she could also probably trust Yuria since Damien trusts her, and they would probably be seeing each other again.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})However, at the same time, she was astonished by how powerful Yuria was even though she only somewhat understood her abilities, especially the part about her soul.
She now felt that it made sense based on the things Damien told her and why this kingdom was so powerful and prosperous. It was all because Yuria was the one propelling it mainly. Otherwise, she also found it hard to believe how a kingdom could get so powerful in only a dozen or so years.
"Fine...I can only be invisible for a few seconds. After that, I just feel tired and need a few seconds break before going invisible again," Valentina said in a low voice.
However, Yuria said excitedly, "Wow, that is so cool. No wonder you were able to make your way in without letting anybody know. I wish I could become invisible too, so that I wouldn't have to rely on these stupid passages, hehe."
Valentina slightly smiled, feeling flattered.
"I take it you have a special soul too?" Yuria asked as a light of contemplation flashed in her eyes.
Valentina softly nodded, confirming her guess.
Yuria squinted her eyes, forming many guesses in her mind. But then she thought it could wait for later, "Okay, follow me. I will clear the way ahead for you."
Valentina followed Yuria's instructions and soon got out of her residence and made her way back to the guest residence.
She decided to walk slowly as she tried to process her encounter with Yuria and why she was finding it hard to get rid of her or at least be angry at her. In fact, now she was feeling less threatened by her existence after talking with her.
Instead, she was now feeling a slight curiosity to interact more with Yuria for some reason.
Valentina also thought about how long the king was going to hold Damien for questioning. But to her surprise, just as she opened the door to her room, she found Damien sitting on the bed, looking at her with a serious expression, "Valentina, don't tell me you went to pay Yuria a visit, did you?"
