Rasmus looked out the window, and he was blown away by the landscape and the city that was built on top of it. Marooth City, or what people in East Neva called it the Sacrosanct, a city that had never been invaded, harmed, or even scratched by any living beings. The city was built around a mountain and the higher the building, the higher their status. The mountain was no longer visible due to the buildings that were built around it. Lastly, a huge palace rested at the peak of the mountain, the palace alone was at least a third of the size of the mountain itself.

"Welcome to my homeland, Count Blackheart," Anastasha muttered, her eyes fixated on the palace. "It’s small compared to kingdoms and nations, but it holds more power than any nations in this world."

"The whole world..." Rasmus’ voice was barely above a whisper. "The way you said it makes it believable," his gaze lingered on the palace, wondering how long it took for them to carve the whole mountain.

"If I can be honest, I don’t want to believe it either. But reality denied my doubts," Anastasha chuckled softly and moved away from the window. "Please keep this in mind, I don’t want chaos. I want to use this land as the center of East Neva in the future. I don’t want any sacrilegious befall this land," she stared at Rasmus with a serious expression, but her gaze was more of like a plea rather than a warning or an order.

"Does that mean your brothers and even your father won’t act the moment we enter the city?" Rasmus glanced at Anastasha.

"Well, they’ll do it in such discreet," Anastasha muttered as she took a deep breath. "If you can take care of them in such manner as well, I don’t really mind it at all," her gaze lingered on the city wall and gate ahead of them.

Rasmus didn’t say a word nor responded with any gesture, his gaze still fixated on the palace. That message wasn’t meant for him, he redirected Anastasha’s words toward Aris, Serena, and especially Rullein. His eyes then scanned through the city, looking through the countless tall structures on the mountain.

"Those large buildings on the mountain and below the palace, they belong to whom?" Rasmus asked.

Anastasha took another deep breath before she leaned to the side to look out the window. She knew which buildings that Rasmus mentioned, and there was a split moment where her expression turned cold but immediately masked with impassiveness.

"The wives, the relatives, and those who shared the same blood as the main family," Anastasha answered. "None of them are my allies," she revealed.

Rasmus hummed, remembering why it was called the Asghar family as the family of patriarchy. Seeing how Anastasha reacted to the question, he realized the moment she showed any sign of a desire for power that didn’t belong to her, the same blood that ran through her veins had chosen to abandon and disown her.

"And which building your mother lives in?" Rasmus asked, his eyes trying to guess the buildings they saw on the mountain.

"That one over there..." Anastasha muttered, her forefinger pointed at the far west of the mountain where a castle-like structure with dome roofs was. "The only place in the whole city with zero visitor," she glanced at Rasmus with a smirk painted on her face.

"And the reason?" Rasmus made eye contact with Anastasha.

"Curse? Prolong sickness? Death?" Anastasha chuckled as she leaned back and crossed her arms with her head slightly tilted to the side. "They called it the Castle of Unveiling. Those who have shown desire will end up dead after their visit."

Rasmus nodded with understanding and stopped asking questions because they were close to entering the city.

The line to enter the city was long, and it would take hours due to strict policy and safety. However, Anastasha didn’t bother by that and sat comfortably without making a scene. Rasmus on the other hand, had been observing her through the corner of his eyes. He wondered if her calmness was to prepare herself from the storm or if she was genuinely unbothered by the tension that she was about to encounter.

When it was finally their carriage to be checked, Anastasha opened the door when the guards requested it. The moment they saw the way a woman sat, a folded fan covering her mouth, and the way she smiled with her face, the guards’s faces turned pale. They immediately kneeled and their faces touched the ground, unbothered if there were droppings or if the ground was dirty, they all bowed to her presence.

"Thank you for your good work, you may continue your duty. But please refrain from checking the three carriages behind me, they’re with me," Anastasha said in a soft voice.

"Yes, your Highness the Princess," the guards said in unison and immediately stood up to close the carriage door.

As soon as they entered the city, they were escorted by high-ranking city guards that opened the path for them. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Wow, even a powerful King didn’t have such authority over someone’s dignity like that," Serena chuckled, commenting on what she had just witnessed.

"Even a king bow before the Asghar, something that I have learned from the moment I was born into this world," Anastasha turned to look at Serena with a soft smile. "It’s something that I have grown accustomed to, not something that I find it pleasing in any way," she sighed and then looked out the window at the busy street.

The mountain was surrounded by walls and heavily guarded with more than ten thousand elite guards every shift. The guards were taught and trained by the Asghar family’s commander himself, making them on the same level as Swordmasters. The whole journey, everyone in the carriage was quiet, silently observing the world that they had entered.

When they arrived at the castle, which was where Anastasha’s mother lived, the high-ranking guards left and continued their duty. Anastasha walked down the carriage and looked at the castle made, realizing that it had been years since her last visit. Unlike other families where maids, servants, or even knights welcomed their master, in this place, nobody welcomed her. There were no knights or even guards that guarded the castle, it looked vulnerable, but not to those who could see beyond naked eyes.

"Curse you say? Now I know why," Aris looked at the energy around the castle with her draconic eyes that turned every material into strings and cloths of colors. "Whatever lives inisde this castle and produces that energy, they’re not humans," she pointed out and turned her eyes back to normal before she turned to look at Anastasha.

Anastasha only responded with a smile as she looked at the domes on top of the castle.

"That’s one way to ruin the surprise, isn’t it?" Anastasha chuckled softly as she looked at the entrance to the castle. "Come, I’ll introduce you to my mother. The only person in this whole world that matters to me," she said as she walked toward the castle with grace and poised posture.