The Cursed Prince

"Did I say something wrong?" Emmelyn asked Raphael. She noticed his change of expression and wondered if she had offended him.

The man quickly shook his head and smiled. "No, you didn't. Since you are willing to gift me your most valuable possession, I can only accept with gratitude."

He took the pendant from Emmelyn and closed his hand. With his other hand, he took off the long thin scarf that had been covering his eyes and handed it over to Emmelyn. "Take this. It will wake her up from her deep slumber."

When Raphael took off his eye cover, Kira instinctively looked away, and her body was shaking slightly.  She was traumatized by the experience she had when she looked into those deadly eyes of Raphael.

Meanwhile, Margueritte let out a sigh when she saw Raphael gave the scarf to Emmelyn. Her face was filled with a question mark. She seemed to want to say something.

However, the witch held back. Renwyck noticed Margueritte's expression and he was wondering what just happened that caused her to look uneasy.

Emmelyn was surprised when the scarf touched her hand. She remembered Kira told her not to look at Raphael's eyes to avoid being turned into ice. So, she didn't dare to raise her face.

Emmelyn kept looking down at her hand when she spoke to the man. "What should I do with this scarf?"

"Just cover her eyes with it for one night. Her soul will be brought back from the elf realm," Raphael replied calmly. "I know her human body is still well preserved, so you can still bring her back. When she wakes up, she would think she went into a deep slumber."

Emmelyn felt overjoyed. She finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. This was the happiest day in her life to date. If she wasn't around other people, she would have jumped up and down in excitement.

She cried. This time, it was happy tears. She bobbed her head to confirm that she understood the instruction provided by Raphael. "Thank you."

"How do we know that you can really bring back her mother-in-law to life?" Maxim suddenly spoke.

He witnessed the exchange between Emmelyn and Raphael and was not happy with how easily Emmelyn trusted the man.

He added, "For all we know, you can just pretend that you can revive the woman to get Emmelyn's pendant."

Raphael just made a claim that he could revive the late queen of Draec from the dead and he got to receive Emmelyn's most valuable possession. Well.. what if he lied?

Maxim had traveled to many places and encountered many types of people and cultures and never heard about anyone having the ability to revive dead people. He didn't want Emmelyn to harbor fake hope.

The king bravely stepped forward and challenged Raphael. Maxim was not afraid of the ice prince's deadly eyes as warned by Kira because he knew Renwyck would not let anything happen to him.

The powerful wizard knew Margueritte and Raphael well and they seemed to have quite a good relationship too. If Raphael turned Maxim into ice, Renwyck wouldn't stay quiet.

So, Maxim raised his head and looked Raphael in the eye. He was immediately dazed when he finally saw the ice prince's eyes.

Maxim had never seen anyone with golden eyes before. And for a few moments, he was mesmerized.

"I never lie. I am not like you," said Raphael coldly. His eyes looked straight into Maxim, made the king feel attacked.

Well.., Raphael was not wrong there. Maxim did lie like it was his second nature, but it wasn't always a bad thing.

As the king, he must know how to use many different faces and said the right words at the right time. He shouldn't be an open book that people could read easily.

"What guarantee she could get that the scarf you gave her really could revive the late queen?" Maxim asked again.

In his mind, he was really looking out for Emmelyn's best interest. He didn't want Emmelyn to owe anyone, and he also didn't want her to be scammed.

"Your Majesty, you can trust him. Raphael never lies." This time, it was Renwyck who spoke.

He bowed down slightly toward Maxim. His expression looked sincere that Maxim felt bad to question the wizard.

Okay, he didn't know Raphael, but he knew Renwyck well enough to trust his words. Finally, Maxim nodded and didn't press on the matter. He turned to Emmelyn and said, "Very well. Since Renwyck vouched for him, you can trust the man."

Emmelyn, who realized Maxim was not turned into ice after looking directly into Raphael's eyes finally gathered her courage to raise her gaze and look at the ice prince too.

She was very grateful that, with only the exchange of her snake pendant, Raphael was willing to revive her mother-in-law. 

Emmelyn couldn't wait to bring the scarf to Draec and bring Queen Elara back to life. She would be so happy to see Harlow!

"Thank you so much for this," said Emmelyn with a big smile on her face. She was truly happy. "I will always remember your kindn—"

Her voice halted when she caught sight of Raphael's eyes. Emmelyn was surprised to see him having the same golden eyes as Mars.

She wondered if it was a coincidence or...

Was Raphael also part elf?

This would explain why he knew how to call Queen Elara from the elf realm. Maxim furrowed his brows to see Emmelyn's reaction. He was wondering what she was thinking.

Raphael noticed Emmelyn's astonishment but he didn't bother explaining himself. The man just smiled and nodded. "Good luck in Myreen."

Emmelyn was moved from her daze and muttered her reply. "Thank... you."

Kira was wondering why the people around her didn't turn into ice when they look at Raphael. Weren't his eyes deadly? Why didn't they affect Emmelyn and Maxim?

She pursed her lips, thinking maybe Raphael intentionally shield them from his ice gaze somehow, and here she was, looking pathetic by being the only one who was scared and looking away.

However, Kira didn't want to take risks. She became wiser after the traumatic experience of being turned into a statue and didn't wish to go through the same thing. She kept looking away.

Kira's voice faltered when she begged Emmelyn to leave the place. "You've got what you're looking for. Can we please go now?"

Maxim shared her sentiment. He also didn't want to stay in the ice castle for much longer. The man wanted to interrogate Renwyck about Margueritte and Raphael.