The welcome dinner in honor of the master's return became one of the few recent events in Fortress Nord when the usual cold and gloom gave way to warmth and lively chatter.

  The aroma of roasted meat and freshly baked bread wafted under the vaults of the spacious hall. The gray stone walls were topped with the emblem of the land of eternal ice — a snow-white wolf. The hall filled with the clatter of pewter plates and bowls, loud conversations, and laughter. For the first time, the servants and guards could relax after exhausting service and hunger.

  Remesis sat at the long table with the others, enjoying the feast. On one side of her sat the master, on the other — Asil. Since Remesis had already assigned people to replenish their supplies, today she decided to loosen the purse strings a bit and reward those who truly deserved it. Along with the wild boar meat, dishes made from the remaining provisions were served. One of the kitchen servants had even somehow obtained wine from the storage cellars…

  But Remesis, of course, couldn't afford that yet. She drank plain black tea. Unlike the master, who was happily pouring the burning liquid down his throat.

  "So you turned down Hasher's offer?" the old man chuckled.

  The girl confirmed his words with a nod.

  "Well, I must say, you made the right choice. That fox Hasher… that is, not a very good person, didn't deserve to teach you."

  Remesis laughed.

  Luven had a particular dislike for the family of great scientists and brilliant minds of the empire — the Hasher family. The founders of the Imperial Institute. Because it was one of the representatives of this family who had taken his place at court two decades ago. Though, the master himself considered them not great scientists at all, but rather possessors of long tongues. For this, he had given them the derogatory nickname — Hasher foxes.

  However, in one thing he did agree with Professor Ezekiel. Luven also considered Remesis an extremely gifted child. In response to the praise of her abilities, the girl only smiled thinly. Of course, all her talents looked impressive only against the backdrop of her age. But once Remesis got older, she would hardly differ from an ordinary educated aristocrat.

  After the master finished his angry tirade about noble scientists, using, of course, the most decent expressions from his vocabulary, Remesis decided to talk to him about work matters as well. After all, after the lord himself, the master held a fairly significant place in the life of the castle. Essentially, he was something like the chief steward here.

  The master's duties included monitoring the life and health of the lord and his family. Maintaining communication with the castle, and also serving as a secretary at the master's request. It was an extensive position, encompassing many things. The master simultaneously fulfilled the roles of tutor, advisor, physician, and keeper of knowledge. Generally speaking, maintaining good relations with such a person was very beneficial.

  At first glance, Luven also seemed an ideal candidate for the role of Asil's regent, until she could independently assume this post. After all, he was the most educated person in the fortress. There was only one "but." And it wasn't even Luven's advanced age, but his worldview. The man was very compassionate. He would never be able to exert pressure or achieve any benefits for the fortress with an iron grip. Perhaps this explained his previous failures in negotiations with noble families.

  Thus, he was best suited for the role of an advisor who merely assists the lord in affairs. Therefore, Remesis hadn't initially intended to offer him this position. Instead, she hoped that Asil and Luven could find common ground.

  In the previous life, when the North's influence began to grow, the princess never involved him in affairs. In other words, the old man retained his post only formally, while in reality, his words and actions held no significance. Asil, who always acted according to her own judgment, couldn't stand others' advice. At times, it came to clashes when

  Luven dared to express his modest opinion regarding Asil's actions. In his view, the princess's bloody politics did not at all contribute to improving the North's reputation in the empire. Instead of genuine recognition, people were forced to agree with her only out of fear.

  "Your Highness, fear is only a temporary measure," the master would reasonably try to convey. "True trust of the people can only be won through sincerity. When people get tired of obeying, sooner or later they will want to overthrow the tyrant…"

  But Asil didn't want to listen to him. She perceived the old man's words as nothing more than useless chatter and showed him no respect as an elder. And when he dared to teach her something, the situation threatened to end very badly.

  Fortunately, the master quickly understood this and backed off. Although there was certainly a grain of common sense in the old man's words. The key to a long and successful rule primarily lay in the support of one's subjects. If Asil wanted to truly establish herself on the throne — she would have to devise other means of influencing people besides terror. Otherwise, she would go down in history as nothing more than a bloody murderer. And Remesis hoped that Luven would be able to drum this into her. Their joint lessons would certainly help with that.

  The welcome dinner dragged on until late evening. Discussion of the lesson schedule and other details was postponed until tomorrow. Most of those present were already quite tipsy and, staggering, dispersed to their rooms. Before leaving, the guards and ordinary workers sincerely thanked the Princess Consort for the feast. She responded to each with a smile. The girl herself, distracted for the first time in several hours from her engrossing conversation with the master, suddenly discovered that Asil had disappeared somewhere.

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  Remesis looked in surprise at the empty chair next to her.

  "She's gone?" Remesis was a bit puzzled, because usually the princess never went anywhere and always followed her like a tail. And this time she left without even saying goodbye. Maybe all the noise had tired her out, and Asil wanted to go to bed early? Thinking along these lines, the girl reassured herself.

  Generally speaking, she herself shouldn't stay long either. Tomorrow there were many work matters to discuss that required energy. Wishing the master goodnight, Remesis left the main hall. She yawned as she walked. However, upon returning to the room, the girl was surprised to find that Asil wasn't there. The bed was also empty.

  It was already well past children's bedtime. Remesis involuntarily began to worry: where could Asil have vanished to, especially at night. This was the first time the princess had gone off somewhere in an unknown direction. Maybe she had even been kidnapped? Or had she encountered mercenaries?

  At first, Remesis decided to wait. But half an hour passed, then an hour, and the princess still hadn't appeared. Finally, when the clock struck midnight, the girl lost patience and intended to start searching.

  "Her Highness is missing!" Remesis first informed Hannes of what had happened. The knight was sleepily rubbing his eyes when they accidentally met in the corridor.

  "What?!" the commander exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

  "She's nowhere to be found!" the girl hastened to explain.

  In the end, the master, who also hadn't gone to bed yet, joined the case of the missing princess. Before notifying everyone else, they first decided to search for her together. Remesis, Hannes, and Luven searched almost the entire castle in a short time. But Asil was nowhere.

  And when Hannes was about to call for the other guards, assuming the princess was somewhere outside, the master anticipated him.

  "We haven't checked the western wing yet," he reminded him.

  "Yes, but…" the knight hesitated. "Besides the granary, there's nothing else there. I don't think the princess…"

  "It's better to check just in case," Remesis intervened.

  Hannes didn't object, and they headed there. The semi-destroyed tower had only one purpose — grain storage, and was rarely visited except by kitchen staff. Because of this, the iron door had rusted and wouldn't open when Remesis tried to pull the ring. Even when Hannes tried, he was surprised to find that the door wouldn't yield to him either.

  "It seems it's locked from inside," he said unexpectedly.

  "What?" Remesis was surprised.

  "The door is locked from the other side. So without a key, there's no way to get inside…"

  A short pause ensued, during which everyone decided what to do next.

  "I have one!" the master suddenly drew attention to himself, pulling a bunch of keys from his huge sleeve. Remesis watched in amazement as the old man sorted through the keys, looking for the right one. At first glance, they were all completely identical.

  Finally, finding an iron key made of the same material as the door, the master inserted it into the keyhole. A click sounded, and the old door creaked open with a crash. It was dark inside, and Hannes lit the lamp he had brought. In the semi-darkness, Remesis could make out the remaining grain supplies, lying in bags of rough fabric. And among this small heap…

  It seemed that silver hair could be seen even without a lamp in pitch darkness. Beneath it, a pair of golden eyes glared hostilely at the uninvited guests.

  "Your Highness!" the knight breathed a sigh of relief. "What are you doing here…"

  When they tried to approach, the princess emitted something resembling an animalistic growl. Apparently, this was a warning.

  They had to stop. The master, who unlike these two was encountering such behavior from the princess for the first time, was stunned. "Why does Her Highness act like a beast?" After all, she was a princess. But the impression was that she had lived not in a palace, but in a cave with wolves.

  While the master was perplexed, Remesis tried to go forward alone, but Asil suddenly bared her teeth threateningly at her too. The girl was surprised, encountering such an attitude from her wife for the first time in a long while.

  "Your Highness, what are you doing here?" she asked warily from a distance.

  "…"

  "Stop behaving like that and say something. I know you can talk."

  The princess grimly moved her lips but emitted nothing except inarticulate sounds. Remesis sighed. For such occasions, when words didn't help, she had brought along some "bait" in advance. The aroma of fresh bread filled the room. The princess's nose involuntarily sniffed at the smell.

  "Your plate was full," the girl said. "You didn't eat anything at dinner, did you?" "…"

  "Why?" Remesis asked calmly, slowly approaching. "Is something wrong? Maybe… you're displeased about something?"

  Asil tensely bit her lip. Suddenly Remesis was next to her, and in her hand lay a slice of bread. Remesis, predictably catching the direction of her gaze, assured her: "If you tell me what's wrong, I'll give it to you."

  Asil: …

  "Well?" the girl interrogated.

  Finally, after some silence, the princess spoke quietly:

  "Don't want…"

  "Mm?"

  "Don't want… I don't want him to teach me."

  When the princess suddenly said this, Remesis was surprised and looked at Luven. So that was it? Asil didn't want to have another teacher?

  "But, Your Highness," Remesis tried to object, "the Master can teach you much better than I can. Besides, then I wouldn't have to interrupt my work…"

  The last phrase was perceived sharply by the princess. Her expression darkened, and coldness crept into her voice:

  "So… I'm a burden?"

  Remesis was dumbfounded.

  "What? No! How could you think that? I just meant…"

  But Asil continued to look at her with a direct gaze, which clearly reflected that no excuses mattered to her. In other words, right now, the princess was behaving like a capricious child…

  Remesis sighed and massaged her temple. Actually, from the outside, this picture looked rather absurd, since Asil was four years older than her and half a head taller. But her psycho-emotional state remained at a much lower level. So it seemed that in their relationship, they had significantly swapped roles. No wonder Hannes and Luven were staring at them bewilderedly, like everyone else.

  Realizing that trying to convince her was useless, the girl didn't continue the argument. She gave in and said:

  "Alright. Then I'll continue teaching you. Are you satisfied now?"

  The princess's recent anger vanished instantly. She obediently rose from the floor and no longer looked like a little embittered wolf cub. Remesis handed her the promised bread, while thinking about improving her method of upbringing. Because if such caprices continued, nothing good would come of it.

  But Asil for some reason wasn't in a hurry to take the food. Instead, she intercepted Remesis's hand and sniffed her fingers.

  "This smells like meat…" the girl said.

  "Well, yes," Remesis replied awkwardly. "I only just had dinner."

  The princess was silent for a short while.

  "Then I'll eat this."

  The scene that unfolded the next moment stunned everyone present. "It seems I really have a tame wolf cub…" Otherwise, who would lick her fingers?

  During this activity, Remesis felt even more awkward, especially since they weren't alone in the storage room. Hannes, out of politeness, turned away and cleared his throat. But the master didn't manage to do the same. Asil suddenly looked directly at him. Despite the girl's eyes being golden, they held an impenetrable darkness.

  And what the old man saw there frightened him half to death.