From the author:

This is my first time trying to meet your summoning pen request and give you a bonus chapter. We'll see how it works ^^.

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Kira looked especially happy when they saw her in the dining room. She had washed up and changed into a new outfit. She looked fresh and the fear and trauma she experienced on Mount Tempest were gone.

Lysander didn't join them at the mayor's residence because he was just a lowly knight and immediately joined other knights in the military quarter once they arrived in Belem. So, Emmelyn didn't see him again.

"Welcome, Your Majesty, and Lady Emmelyn," came to greet them was Lord Marius's wife. She was a fat woman in her 50's who dressed impeccably. She was smiling broadly and looked very friendly.

"Thank you, Lady Marius," Maxim replied. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"No, Your Majesty. The pleasure is all mine," Lady Marius waved her hand and chuckled. She welcomed them to the dining room and exchanged pleasantries with her guests. Her husband joined her not long after.

Lord and Lady Marius had two adult children. One of them lived in Belem and was ready to take over power from his father, while the other one was a scholar who was studying at the university in Castilse. The lady loved talking about his children and seemed very proud of them.

The dinner was pleasant and the atmosphere was quite relaxing. It was a fresh change for Emmelyn after traveling simple and stayed in an inn after inn and sometimes even under the stars.

She didn't realize that after months of being on the road she actually missed this atmosphere. The mayor's residence reminded her of her life as royalty which felt like such a distant past now.

"We are so happy to host Your Majesty and your friends here," Lady Marius chirped happily. "We have so much to offer here in Belem. The beaches are truly beautiful and the port is so busy every day with merchants and travelers from many different countries."

Emmelyn noticed that Belem was just like Wintermere. It was a port city that became the trading and transit hub for people and goods. Their market and city center looked so busy and lively.

"I know Belem is really beautiful," Maxim commented. "Unfortunately, we cannot stay for too long. We will continue our trip tomorrow after breakfast. We have so many things to do in the capital."

"Ah, I know Your Majesty must be really busy," the lady of the castle nodded in understanding. "I hope someday you can come back and stay longer. I will ask my older son to take you around."

"That will be lovely," Maxim said.

"It would be our pleasure."

They continued eating with a light chat about the current situation in Belem and many trivial matters. The food was good and it was accompanied by good wine too. Once they finished dinner, everyone was in a really good mood, including Emmelyn.

She felt like she finally saw the light at the end of her dark tunnel. Slowly, one by one her worries were sorted.

She had cleared her relationship with Maxim. She had Raphael's help to revive Queen Elara - she didn't even care about proving her innocence at this point. Emmelyn just wanted the late queen to live again.

She also found clues about the Leoraleis and would soon meet Maxim's mother who could point her in the right direction to find the kingdom. And what's more important was that she had secured Maxim's support.

The king had promised to help her get whatever things belonged to her. Even if she wanted Wintermere back and her daughter, he could make it happen.

Now, she no longer thought she was cursed with bad luck. Her life had started to change for the better. All thanks to Maxim.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see the man was busy discussing politics with Lord Marius with wine in his hand.

She admired Maxim. He looked so well-conversed in politics and economy. Now, it was so hard to imagine Maxim from the old days when he and she snuck inside an evil lord's mansion to steal from his treasure chest. A king would never do something like that.

Ahh... the happy-go-lucky man had gone, she thought. Maxim was now a real statesman. However, Emmelyn liked this other version of Maxim too. He was truly a versatile man.

Well... maybe, like Maxim said, once everything was over and the dust had settled, if Emmelyn could open her heart again, she might be able to see him as a man, not just a friend.

Maybe.

"You were looking at me during dinner," Maxim commented after they finished dinner. They were walking toward their chambers on the second floor to rest.

Kira decided she didn't want to join them and rest early because she wanted to walk around the city center and sightsee since they would leave Belem the next day.

Maxim asked Emmelyn, "Did you want to say something back there?"

Emmelyn pursed her lips. This man was too slick.

Emmelyn thought he was busy talking politics with the mayor, but apparently, he still managed to pay attention to what she was doing?

"Narcissistic," Emmelyn said. "I was just trying to listen to what you guys were talking about."

"Lies!" Maxim chuckled. "You don't care about politics. You told me that once."

"That was a long time ago," Emmelyn retorted. "I am a changed woman."

"Oh, really? So, now you care about politics, royalty, and the people?" Maxim asked Emmelyn back. "Why? Do you want to become a queen?"

Emmelyn rolled her eyes. "I actually wanted to ask you something but you ruin my mood."

"Hey, I was joking, okay?" Maxim laughed. "I loved that you were paying attention. So, what is it that you wanted to ask me?"

Emmelyn had decided to ask Maxim one favor. Since she knew Edgar was in Summeria, she thought maybe she could ask Maxim to find the man for her.

She wanted to know how Edgar was doing and what kind of information he had obtained so far. And most importantly, she would send Edgar back to Draec with Raphael's scarf so Queen Elara could be revived as soon as possible.

She would be able to find Edgar faster with Maxim's help.

"I have a favor to ask you," said Emmelyn. They had reached her door and she halted her steps. "I want to find someone."

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From the author:

Thank you so much for the gifts you have been showering this book. And also thank you for the golden ticket votes! I love you lots!

If you haven't seen the new feature, it's okay, let's just wait. My app is not updated too and I keep checking every five minutes.. T_T

The IT people said so far only 40% of app users get the updated version. Hopefully, we the 60% will get it soon too.

By the way, another thing that you might notice after the update is the new feature called "summoning pen". This can be used to request bonus chapters, like what you are getting with this chapter.

You can request bonus chapters to the authors of your favorite books with only 200 points using the "summoning pen".

Maybe if the authors see thousands of requests/summons, their cold hearts will melt and decided to write more, like what I am doing now... bahahahaha.

Anyway, I am just trying this new feature and see how it would look. I can't promise to always fulfill your summons.

I already try to publish 3 per day this week to hopefully get me used to publishing 3 chapters per day throughout September IF... If "The Cursed Prince" can claim the top spot on the Golden Ticket ranking.