Dmitri was shocked. His father had promised his hand to that little girl! Who was she? And why did his mother hide his father's memoirs in the attic of the palace? No one was allowed to go up there. His mother had laid extremely strict roles for entering the attic; she had barred anyone from going there. Only she would enter the attic, and even that was rare.
In the morning, Dmitri had been strolling around the palace after Adrianna had left and had wandered up to the rooftop to see the landscape from above. He missed Adrianna's presence more and more with every passing second and his willpower was playing with his rationality. It was getting increasingly difficult being away from her; she was the only person in the world who understood him inside and out.
With a sigh, he had turned back and was about to head downstairs when his steps turned towards the attic. He creaked open the door. Unlike what his mother had painted it out to be, the attic was a very neat, clean, and brightly lit place. It was arranged as though it was ready for someone to enter and relax. There was a large amount of books and documents sprawled across a desk.
He wondered if his mother had often come into the attic without anyone's knowledge. Intrigued, he looked around and found a hand painted wooden box on the topmost shelf of the bookshelf. It was the only item on that shelf. Curious, he took it down and opened it. Inside, he found many papers and leather-bound journals. Not wanting to warrant unwanted suspicion, he quietly exited the attic and brought the box back to his bedroom.
For the rest of the day, Dmitri read through the journals inside the box. Most of them belonged to people whom he hardly knew, but the one that caught his attention was a sapphire-blue journal that was labeled, "Pierre". It was his father's diary. He pondered over whether or not he should read it. Why did his mother hide his father's journal? Upon taking out the first journal marked with his father's name, he noticed that there were several more sapphire-blue journals marked "Pierre" inside the box. Dmitri couldn't resist the temptation. This was perhaps the only way he would ever know about his father, whom he had lost when he was just seven years old. His mother never talked about his father and instead, was only interested in making Dmitri a ruthless warrior.
He stared at the first diary, and exhaled as he turned the first page. Throughout the day, he continued to read the diaries one after the other in between doing his usual chores. When Adrianna arrived in the evening, only two diaries were left to read.
As he read the diaries, events unfolded in front of his eyes; many mysteries were cleared up, and one thing was clear: his father was scared of a very strong enemy. But who was the girl whom his father had promised to give his hand to? He decided to find the girl and, to respect his father's memories, he would apologize and perhaps heavily gift her. Then, he looked at Adrianna and smiled. He stroked her hair out of love and said, "I will find who that girl is Adri…"
He continued to read the diary and decided to first look around for Alex's cave. His father had written that the cave was not too far from Ed's house.
Too tired to read any further, he woke Adrianna up to have dinner.
When they came downstairs, much to Adrianna's surprise, they found themselves to be alone for dinner. "Where is Keisha and Cora?" she asked.
"Mother has gone to see Keisha's new house. They say it is coming out beautifully, so mother has been contemplating on moving in with Keisha for a few days till Keisha has been settled in."
"Oh! It seems she will really miss Keisha..." said Adrianna.
"Yes... Keisha had been with her from a long time and she looks at Keisha like her own daughter... The main reason for this was that when I left home for long times to attend to various issues across the packs, Keisha would give her company."
"Are you feeling sad about Keisha?" asked Adrianna getting a pang of jealousy.
"All I know is that I wasnt my wife to be happy," he replied with a grin immediately.
Adrianna didn't say anything, but was elated. She smiled, and they had dinner in peace.
When Adrianna left for the wizard kingdom the next day, Dmitri set out to search for the cave that had been mentioned in his father's diary.
---
At the wizard's academy, when Adrianna arrived, she saw many students surrounding the notice board. She went over to see what all the fervor was about. The notice board was encased in a glass sheath and a notice was appearing before the students in the form of moving words. Only a student who was currently reading the notice would see the movement of the words. The words would move from right to left and then settle on the lowest part of the board every time the student finished reading it. .
The notice was about the details of the competition. The competition comprised of three stages, as previously announced, and each stage was a quest. Only the details of the first stage were announced. When Adrianna read the details, her eyes became wide with shock. Angrily, she headed to her class where she saw Professor Ziu being flanked by all the girls and a few boys as usual. When she went inside, Ziu saw her and asked all the students to return to their desks so that class could start.
It was only after an hour that Ziu had the chance to talk to her. "Why are you so angry Adrianna?"
"I read the details of the first stage of the competition. They are ridiculous! What do they mean by having to trap a werewolf in a cage and bring them here, regardless of whether they are dead or alive? Is the ministry so disgusting? What in the world do they mean by this! I will talk to Isidorus about this," Adrianna angrily spat.