Prison was meant to break people.
The guards tried their best. Diana was given rotten food, denied clean water, and locked in darkness for days. Yet every time they returned to her cell expecting tears, they found her sitting upright, defiant, whispering plans to herself in the stillness.
Days blurred. Or was it weeks?
She didn't know.
But she held on.
She remembered her grandmother's stories — the quiet strength of the women in her family. She remembered the flash in General Kael's eyes when he had seen her arrested. And she remembered Seraphina's smirk.
That was enough to fuel her through the coldest nights.
Her cellmate was an older woman named Lian, once a merchant wrongfully accused of smuggling. She had sharp eyes and sharper words.
"You're not from the slums," Lian said on the third day. "Your hands were soft when you arrived."
"I was thrown here because I challenged the wrong woman," Diana replied, biting into a piece of stale bread.
"That's not courage. That's foolishness."
"I don't see the difference anymore."
Lian gave a slow, surprised smile. "Maybe you'll live after all."
The two became unlikely allies. Diana shared ideas from the modern world — how to purify water with charcoal, how to preserve herbs with salt. Lian taught her how to listen without being noticed.
Together, they survived.
Meanwhile, in the palace, Kael was fighting a different kind of battle.
"This trial was a sham," he told Minister Zhao, one of the few left with a conscience. "I demand an investigation."
"Lady Seraphina holds too many favors," Zhao replied. "If you accuse her without proof—"
"I don't need proof," Kael growled. "I need access to the prison."
That night, cloaked in black, Kael entered the city under a false name. With Mei's help, he found the hidden entrance once used by smugglers. He bribed a guard and crept down into the stone corridors, past sleeping prisoners and the stench of rot.
He found Diana hunched in the corner of her cell, weak but awake.
She blinked, stunned. "Kael?"
He knelt beside her. "I'm getting you out."
The escape was chaos.
An alarm was raised. Torches lit the sky. Diana and Kael raced through winding alleys, pursued by guards loyal to Seraphina. They fought off hounds, ducked under collapsing beams, and crossed the freezing river under the cover of fog.
By dawn, they had reached the base of the eastern mountains.
Kael turned to her. "We'll rest here. There's a village nearby. People I trust."
Diana collapsed against a rock, breathing hard. "You risked everything for me."
He looked at her, eyes softening. "You risked everything by standing up to a woman no one else dared confront."
She didn't respond — only reached out and touched his hand.
For a long moment, he didn't let go.
The village welcomed them with quiet warmth. Hidden in the mountains, it was far from Seraphina's reach. Here, Diana was no longer a servant or a prisoner. She was simply Diana — the strange girl with clever ideas and fire in her eyes.
She helped farmers irrigate their fields using bamboo pipes. She taught them to dry herbs for winter and boil water to prevent illness. The villagers began to admire her. Children followed her like shadows.
Kael watched her from afar, a smile often tugging at his lips.
One evening, as the stars bloomed above them, he finally said, "You've changed this place in weeks."
She smiled. "Maybe this place is changing me."
He stepped closer. "You saved me too, Diana. You remind me what I fight for."
She looked up. "And what is that?"
He took her hand gently.
"You."
But peace has a way of making enemies bolder.
Word came that Seraphina had begun purging anyone who had spoken in Diana's defense. Mei had gone into hiding. Minister Zhao had been removed. Seraphina was growing more desperate — and more dangerous.
Diana stood beside Kael as he sharpened his blade.
"We have to go back," she said quietly.
He turned to her, brow furrowed. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "She's hurting people. And I have proof she's a traitor. If we don't stop her now, she'll destroy everything."
Kael looked at her for a long time — then handed her a cloak.
"Then we go together."
As they left the village, the people gathered to see them off. Lian, now free and living among the villagers, pressed a pouch of herbs into Diana's hand.
"You'll need strength for what's coming."
Diana hugged her tightly. "Thank you. For everything."
And then, with the mountains behind them and fire in their hearts, Diana and Kael set off toward the capital — not just to survive this time, but to win.
To reclaim her name.
To confront the past.
And to rewrite her destiny.