Lord Shadow

Azief shakes his head and said

'I don't think he was wrong' Katarina sighed and then she comes close to him, her face is just a few inches from him, her eyes looking at his eyes and shakes her head

'Stop blaming yourself. I chose to fight for you. I chose to swing my sword and attack that Demon King. It is my choice to do all of that. And I don't regret it. Because I know you would do the same for me' Katarina looks at that eye and she could see the way he looks at her.

There is a gaze of a man feeling guilty. 

Katarina heart is beating like a war drum. 

Even though a person of her level could control her own heartbeat. The beating of her heart is unconsciously done.

Certain habits are hard to correct. And she had the habits of having her heart beating more than usual when he is near her.

Katarina still felt hurt by Azief choice. 

But that did not show in her face. She is a good actor. 

He had chosen Sofia. 

If he had not, right then, as her face close to his, she would have kissed him. 

Azief was her first kiss. 

And he was her first love. 

Katarina did not grow up in a very normal family. 

For most of her life, she only remembers that dark room, the sound of the whipping of the belt and the smell of alcohol

But there is no scar on her skin. Because someone else had taken the beating for her. But because of that life, she did not experience a lot of normal things in her life

Most of the things she had experienced, all of it is first time for her.

Then they both turns their head from each other. She walks again and he follows her from behind.

For a while there is silence again between them and then Azief broke the silence

'Let's go home' he paused for a second and then he said 

'Let's go home, Kat'

Katarina smirks a bit when he said the nickname. 

'You remember that. I am surprised' she said. Azief grabs her hand and squeeze it

'Katarina. Let's go'

Then she shakes her head and sigh

'I will go home. Just not now' Azief face hardened.

He was about to say something again but Katarina put her finger on his lips and said

'I'll explain later' Azief did not let go of her hand. There is silence between them, and the second passes.

Then he finally let go of her hand. He sighed and then he nodded

He basically acquiesced to her. 

Azief is never a man with many words. Maybe, that is why he is so hard to understand. 

He reveals his feelings in his action, in the way he looks at you, the way he said your name, these small things

He rarely lies but there are some things that even if he believes it to be true, even if his words seem to express his true feeling, in the end, his action reveals his true heart. 

Katarina only smiles at him and said

'Look around. I will prepare the bed for you. I still need to check some of the wings of the Palace. I think all of it had been completed but I ordered a reconstruction yesterday'

Saying this she turns into snowflakes that flew in the air and in just a second she had immediately disappeared from Azief sight.

Azief could only shakes his head. 

'Maybe, I should take her advice' he thought to himself. Today is a very weird day. A happy but weird day.

He found out that Katarina is fine and looking at the palace, she had been living quite well in this world.

He also had found out that the Orvanians seems to know that he is the cause of the Multiversal Convergence. 

That is also one of his worries that he did not tell anyone.

He fears that he had put himself as a target for the Orvanians. 

But with the message that Katarina had given him, at least he didn't have to worry that much about Orvanians coming to capture him

But, Azief would still maintain vigilance. Azief then begins walking around the palace

The Palace is quite empty. 

It looks like an ancient but beautiful palace but Azief could see through the walls and found out that this Palace is not at all how it seems.

The technology on this Palace is very advanced masked by the late mediaeval architecture design.

Azief began walking along the Palace. It is very quiet and the vastness of the size of the Palace only added to the quietness.

Azief do not know what Katrina is planning for this palace but after hearing what she had told him, he is quiet sure that this palace would be left for the people of this world. 

He begins looking around and he could see that the interior of the Palace is very reminiscent of the luxurious palaces on Earth. 

The interior reminded him of the Palace of Versailles. 

That baroque style is obvious. 

Creation by division, series of simple repetitions rhythmically marked off by the repetition of large windows

The Palace of Versailles is a court that could accommodate three thousand people

But this Palace that Katarina is living in, is ten time bigger than the Palace of Versailles. 

Considering the size of Seresian planet which is inherently bigger than Earth before its expansion, it is then only logical for the Palace to be this big. At least tens of thousands of people could be accommodated here.

The Palace itself is surrounded by immaculate gardens, with beautiful vistas, fountains and statues and contained many suites of apartment

He goes to one of the central hall and saw something he recognized.

The Hall of Mirror. 

That is what he thought when he first set into the area. 

Though it is a bit different, Azief had no doubt that the room is the imitation of the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. 

Azief also saw all kinds of furniture and furnishings, beautiful ceramic art, most of which look like the art of the people of this world. 

There is tapestry art and bronze sculpture 

She once mentioned to him that she had always wanted to go there. 

But after the Fall and after the attack of the rebels toward Jean rule of Europe, the Palace was badly destroyed.

Katarina had always love art. 

Though she did not know all the famous painters and artist in the world, her appreciation for the art and beauty had always been genuine.

Of course, Azief was quite sure that art in the modern world is nothing but a big money laundering method of the rich and famous. 

But there is no need to destroy Katarina illusion about the art. 

Because she simply finds beauty in the abstract, in the lines and colors of paintings, almost like she could feel the emotion of those who paint

Since most of her life had been spent sheltered away from the rest of the world, her thoughts are very pure but also at certain time extreme

Sometimes the purer someone is, the more terrifying they are. Because that purity gives them no doubt of the things that they are doing.

There is a reason that Katarina did not feel guilty killing those people that hides in the dark alley of Russia and yet she could smile freely and laughed joyously when she sees a good painting

To her, bad people should not be tolerated. 

And those who try to harm his brother is evil people. 

Of course, Katarina is not the same girl she was almost a decade ago. She too had grown up and the extreme part of her personality had also mellowed a bit. 

As Azief walk the stairs and walk across the corridors he could see there are many rooms. 

Azief tries to use his Divine Sense but it seems that while his Divine Sense could cover the entire palace, it is a bit distorted and Azief was surprised to see that his Divine Sense slowly fizzling out.

'This is impressive' he thought to himself. There must be a mechanism somewhere that is holding back his Divine Sense.

No doubt it must be the technology of the Orvanians.

He did not care about it that much. 

Instead he felt much safer in such places. 

The fact that his Divine Sense did not work means other people Divine Sense would also not work

Considering that the Orvanians could kill so many Essence Creation leveler they must have a pretty powerful blocking method for Divine Sense. 

He only thought that it was a pity but it did not dampen his mood as he walks to one gallery filled with paintings and beautiful art exhibit. 

Azief stop in front of one of the paintings and he smiles. 

The painting reminded him of Monet. 

But this painting in front of his eyes is very crude.