Inside The Prison which was under the basement of the Royal Palace in the Capital of Amidon.
In one of the prison cells which was small enough to accompany a single human being, there lay a woman who had been cuffed with chains all over her body.
Generally, most of the prisoners didn't need to pin down with so many shackles but she had to suffer such a fate.
The smell in the prison was awful, filled with small insects and mice that could deter any lady and frighten them.
No one in the prison cell could guess that the enchanting lady who was rotting in the prison cell beside them was the Queen of the neighbouring state.
Even after suffering so much, there was the same indifference and coldness when she used to sit on the throne.
With a well-developed body, many thought that this girl might be a seducer who might have sinned by taking someone's life by tricking them.
While everyone was wondering about her circumstance, Catherine was lost in thoughts thinking about the welfare of the Kingdom.
"Without me, what might happen to Wright? The Kingdom that I built with my blood and sweat will be destroyed by these brutes." Catherine murmured in a small voice as she hugged her knees and cuddled tightly to give herself some warmth in this cold frozen place.
Looking around, she bit her lips as her body trembled constantly due to the coldness of the night.
A few days ago, she was adorned as Queen but now she was just a wretched prisoner living under the enemy's mercy.
A self-deprecating smile escaped from her lips as she started to think about her past.
She was a single child of the King of Wright. There was no Prince or Princess beside her except for her parents she had no one to rely on.
After her birth, her mother had a miscarriage after which she was unable to give birth to more children and her father refused to take any more concubines.
Being a girl, many show her unfit of leading a Kingdom when her father decided to raise her as a successor and supported her to become the Queen.
Many even show her contempt and started to spread rumours about her that she was bad luck for Wright as after her birth the King wasn't able to give birth to any more children.
Some even tried to pull strings and cause many unfortunate incidents in her presence to prove that she was a harbinger of bad luck.
They started to make plans to seize the throne after her father's demise.
With traps all around, Catherine tried to do her best to shut their mouth and her efforts didn't go unnoticed.
Frequently, she used to have odd dreams which gave a bountiful of ideas of how to promote the social structure and all of these came to change when she got the recognition of the artifact.
After the death of her parents, she used the artifact to crush down her enemies. All of those kingdoms that tried to take this chance to gain the territory were defeated and Wright was even able to snatch some territories from them.
The reforms she carried out went on smoothly alleviating the status of the common people of Wright and her Kingdom was finally able to climb the tiers but the moment of happiness didn't last long.
The Emperor Of Kinley got wind of the artifact and directly sent a force to bring it and her refusal proved quite costly.
The only way to protect everything she built was to marry the Emperor's idiotic son Alex who would soon become King of Nevan and both of their territories would merge.
Instead of despairing, she thought of this as an opportunity sent by heaven.
Although Alex was an imbecile, he was quite good compared to those leecher and lustful men.
With Alex being an idiot all the administration fell into her hands and she wanted to unify Nevan and Wright but she was met with strong resistance from Nevan nobles.
Before she could take solid steps, she got the news that Amidon was preparing to go to war against them.
Gritting her teeth, she decided to let go of Nevan for now and strengthen Wright's forces to take on Amidon.
Alas!!
Everything proved fatal.
With dazed and saddened eyes she started to question herself where things go wrong.
As Catherine was thinking about the recent events, the prison cell glowed with crimson colour and Catherine was startled by the sudden change.
She got up from her feet to see through the small skylights, which was the only space to peek and she tiptoed to see what happened but before she could take a look the prison cell started to shake and she was thrown to the ground. Her head hit the ground while small pieces of dust and debris started to fall from the roof.
She was covered with pieces of debris and after a few moments, the tremors that shook the capital finally stopped.
She shook away the dust and debris wondering what happened.
As she was wondering what was going on she heard a loud noise outside the prison and soon heard the faint sound of footsteps.
She raised her head to see a man drenched in blood walking towards her cell. His eyes glowed in crimson giving her the look of a mad psychopath.
For a moment, Catherine was frightened as she saw the man standing before her cell and then suddenly he slashed, pulled the cell and tore it apart.
"Who are you?" Catherine asked with a frightened voice.
"Did someone order you to kill me?"
"Don't come near me?" Catherine spoke after mustering all her courage.
"Catherine, it's me."
"Huh!"
Catherine heard a familiar but at the same time unfamiliar voice and raised her head to see the man's appearance clearly and frowned a little.
Even before she could speak, the man pulled her into his embrace and said"Catherine, I am Alex. I came to save you"
"What!" Catherine almost screamed in disbelief.
"You are.." Before Catherine could speak, Alex carried her in his arms in princess carry positions and started to walk out of the prison.
"Don't worry, you are safe now. We have won the war."
Catherine wanted to speak further but stopped as she saw Alex's inexplicable emotion.
Moreover, Alex's hug gave her warmth and gave solace to her mind.
As Alex walked carrying her, she was shocked to see Angus pinned on the prison wall with a sword with an arm missing.
Alex carried Catherine to the bedroom of the Royal palace where Christina lay after being treated while Riya stood at the side.
"Riya and Christina," Catherine muttered seeing their appearance.
"Christina!! What happened to her?" Catherine asked with a panicked expression as she saw Christina's wretched expression.
Riya gave a small explanation but before she could finish Alex pulled Riya and laid her on the bed while Alex lay beside the unconscious Christina.
Catherine struggled to get out of Alex's grasp but stopped seeing Alex pleading gaze.
"I don't know when I will wake up so in the meantime, please take care of yourselves," Alex muttered and passed out.
