Ron was standing there, smiling, as if he had known Karina would come.
She waved to him from afar, and he responded with a warm smile that melted the last traces of the distance between them.
Karina felt a strange warmth in her chest, and a few tears gathered in her eyes.
It had been a full two years since she had last seen him,
but today he seemed different—more mature and calm, yet his eyes still sparkled with the same old brilliance.
Grandmother Osana noticed her granddaughter's gaze toward him and her little hands waving joyfully.
She approached her ear and whispered in her gentle voice:
"If you want to talk to him, go ahead, my little one. We'll wait here… don't take too long."
As soon as Karina heard those words, she ran lightly toward Ron.
She laughed excitedly, her turquoise hair flying behind her with every step.
When she reached him, she shook his hand with genuine longing, a wide smile spreading across her face.
Ron said, returning her smile:
"How have you been, Rina? It's been so long since we last met."
She replied, still holding his hands:
"I'm fine! I came with my grandmother and my cousin to take a little walk!"
Ron looked toward the spot where Osana stood smiling in the distance, then turned back to her gently:
"Then you shouldn't keep them waiting, right?"
Karina nodded and said lightly:
"I'll tell you later the day we meet… but for now, I have to go."
Ron smiled, nodded in agreement, and then bid her farewell in a calm, warm voice.
---
After that, Karina walked through the streets, watching the children play and laugh.
She smiled at them, thinking about the stark difference between their simple, free lives
and the lives of noble children who lived behind high walls like prisoners.
She arrived with her grandmother and Sina at the large shelter where the poor resided.
The place was simple but clean, filled with the echoes of children's voices and laughter.
Osana spoke to the shelter's director with grace and dignity,
offering a generous donation to improve their conditions, bringing tears of gratitude to the director's eyes.
Then Karina and Sina began distributing the pancakes they had prepared.
The smell of toasted dough filled the air, making the children run toward them with joy.
One of them smiled and said:
"Thank you! We missed sweets!"
Karina laughed as she handed him a fresh piece.
But deep down, she knew that some of those pancakes held a dangerous secret.
Sina had prepared her own pancakes, placing a sedative in them intended to harm people,
then planned to blame Elena to appear cruel and unjust in front of everyone.
Within minutes, some people began feeling dizzy and coughing.
One man held his head and said:
"I feel dizzy… what is this?"
Whispers spread among the crowd, faces filling with fear.
Osana became very flustered and shouted for help immediately,
then ordered a doctor to be brought quickly, paying his fee from her own money.
The doctor arrived within moments and began examining the people carefully.
After a short while, he announced:
"No need to worry; it's not poisoning… perhaps just a mild reaction."
Grandmother breathed a sigh of relief, while Karina looked toward Sina and saw fear in her eyes.
Sina was shocked, not understanding how her plan to make perfect pancakes had failed.
She had no idea that Karina had altered the pancake ingredients beforehand.
---
Everyone returned to the palace in heavy silence.
In the hall, Osana looked at Sina and asked calmly, with a hint of firmness:
"Who cooked the pancakes, Sina?"
Sina became flustered, trembling:
"My mother… she cooked them… but she is innocent, Grandma, please forgive her."
Osana approached her gently, patting her head and saying:
"Don't worry… we won't do anything."
But after a moment, she turned to Karina, approaching slowly.
She extended her hand and gently lifted Karina's chin to look her directly in the eyes,
then whispered softly with a hidden meaning:
"Malicious…"
Karina froze and quickly said:
"Huh? What did you say?"
Osana chuckled lightly and did not answer, then left the hall heading toward Theobald's office.
---
In the evening, Theobald summoned Elena to his office.
She entered nervously, barely able to speak.
Theobald stood by the window, his back to her, his deep voice filled with anger:
"What did you put in my mother's dish that day? Tell me the truth and don't waste my time."
Elena stammered:
"I didn't do anything, sir… maybe a maid… or someone else…"
Theobald interrupted her sternly:
"Do not doubt our servants; they have been with us for twenty years."
She stepped back, fearful:
"Then why does your daughter suspect me? Could it be she…?"
Theobald turned to her, fury blazing in his eyes.
"Do you mean my daughter would do that?!"
She quickly said:
"No, no, I didn't mean that!"
But his voice thundered through the room like lightning:
"Enough! Stay in your room for a full month, and if I hear you mention my daughter's name again, I will take it as a personal insult. My daughter is a part of me… I understand her as I understand myself!"
Elena dared not reply, bowed in fear, and left the room surrounded by guards.
---
A few days later, a royal invitation arrived to attend the Second Prince's fourteenth birthday party.
The celebration was grand and majestic, and the relations between the Vershi family and the imperial family were excellent.
In the spacious hall, the Emperor spoke with Theobald about political matters,
while Karina sat near her grandmother among the court ladies who exchanged chatter about fashion and marriages.
Karina felt bored, so she leaned toward her grandmother and whispered:
"I'll go out for a little walk."
Osana nodded, and Karina quietly left the hall.
She walked along the long corridors until she reached the large balcony overlooking the palace gardens.
Only then did she realize the place was different;
she was not in the main imperial palace but in the Second Prince's palace itself.
She lifted her gaze and saw the Empress's palace across from her, closed and completely dark.
The windows were covered with heavy curtains, and the air around it was still, as if it were a place forgotten by time.
The palace looked like a stone ghost from the past, or a nightmare still breathing behind its walls.
The Second Prince's palace was a strange blend of old and new, as if time had wavered between two centuries. From the outside, it seemed gloomy, its walls tall as if bearing the scars of forgotten wars, yet inside it was completely different—the light filtered through the high windows and touched the polished marble, and the walls held paintings of people with calm features and eyes that truly looked at no one.
Karina walked through the palace hesitantly, observing the carvings on the walls and inhaling the scent of the past. She whispered to herself as she examined the column decorations:
"Isn't this the taste of the late Empress?"
She had heard much about her distinctive style, that mix of Eastern simplicity and European elegance, and here it was before her exactly as she imagined.
The inner garden was strangely quiet. No birdsong, no trickling water, only a cold breeze moving through the leaves as if whispering the secrets of the place. Even the servants who passed by moved in complete silence, as if afraid to disturb the spirit still dwelling in the palace.
One of them spoke softly when she asked about the back garden:
"It is called the Empress's Garden…"
He pronounced it with great respect, as if speaking a sacred name.
Karina descended into the back garden and found herself in a breathtaking scene. The flowers were not just plants, but living paintings of color. Violets swayed with white roses, and jasmine climbed the stone walls gracefully. Everything was arranged with astonishing precision, as if a master's hand still tended it even after death.
She bent slightly, touching a violet leaf with her finger, smiling shyly.
"How beautiful you are!" she whispered as if speaking to their spirits.
She hesitated to pick any, feeling the place was special, and these flowers belonged to a memory, to a woman who had once been a symbol of beauty and power.
She looked up at one of the maids and asked hesitantly:
"May I pick some flowers?"
The maid smiled and said with clear respect:
"Of course, Your Highness."
But Karina did not reach out. She feared the flowers would wither away from their home, as if she sensed the Empress's spirit still guarding them here.
Suddenly… the silence was broken by slow footsteps coming from the stone corridor behind her. The rhythm was confident, measured, carrying a familiar tone to her. She froze in place, feeling her heart pound in her chest.
Before she could turn, a deep voice cut through the stillness like a melancholy melody:
"Who told you not to take the flowers?"
The air around her seemed to freeze, and she turned slowly.
There he stood, half in light and half in shadow—his gray eyes calmly studying her, his blonde hair gleaming in the evening light.
He smiled lightly and spoke in a soft voice as if issuing an order she could not refuse:
"I permit you… even if you take them all."