Red Castle stood tall like a small mountain. Beneath the brilliant sunlight, its reflection cast a vivid crimson shadow across Mirror Lake.
Chief Steward Lord Kunbei walked along the corridor leading to the Inner Castle's great hall, escorted by several female guards. He kept his head lowered, thinking all the way about how he should speak with Princess Anxia and soothe her emotions.
After all.
What Princess Anxia was about to face was a change of dynasty within the Shadowflame Dragonblood Family.
"But Princess Anxia will likely be able to accept all this. Rumors have long circulated through Red Castle that Lord Russell and His Highness Shadowflame have already... Princess Anxia has always been gentle and virtuous. She will surely understand. It is Princess Kunlaya..."
Lost in thought.
He had already arrived at the Inner Castle's great hall.
"Please wait here, Chief Steward. I shall inform Old Madam at once." The female guard turned and left to notify Princess Anxia.
Princess Anxia's former status had long ceased to exist.
Her Elder Council position as Regent Lady had also been abolished.
Now, Princess Anxia merely lived in the Inner Castle of Red Castle as the widow of the Shadowflame Dragonblood Family. Officially, her only identity was the mother of the late Grand Duke, and so she was addressed as Old Madam.
Before long, Lord Kunbei met Princess Anxia. Dressed in plain mourning clothes, Princess Anxia was only a little over forty.
She had once lived in luxury and looked almost no different from a woman of twenty-eight or twenty-nine.
Yet in the years since Grand Duke Kunsitan's passing, Princess Anxia had visibly aged. Wrinkles had formed at the corners of her eyes and along her neck. Even her once-smooth face bore faint nasolabial lines, and she no longer possessed the radiance