The Dragon King's Heart

True enough, they made their purchases in less than five minutes. The couple walked out of the store in matching coats. 

"Now, let's go!" Margaret declared as they brisked walked down the street, looking for Titan. 

They might have lost his trail for a few minutes, but they soon caught up to him. They found Titan clawing at the door of a run-down shophouse. Upon seeing the exterior, Margaret gritted her teeth. She ran up to the door. Without any hesitation, she kicked down the door. 

Marius dropped his jaw in shock. He knew Margaret was concerned for Laina's safety, but he never expected for her to do something like this. Titan rushed through the open door, barking brightly. He leaped straight onto a young woman. 

"Titan? What are you doing here?" Laina gasped in surprise. 

Titan licked her face, wagging his tail with delight to have found her. When she looked up, she was surprised to see Marius and Margaret. On the other hand, the children Laina was with were startled by their intrusion. 

"We were worried sick Laina! Is this where you've been all this time?" Margaret asked. 

"I'm sorry. Things happened one after another so I did not have time to inform you," Laina apologized as Margaret checked on her from head to toe. 

Laina explained to Margaret the events that had transpired. When she heard that someone sabotaged her stall in the market hall, Margaret was livid. 

"How could they do something like this? Do they not know who you are? Let me handle this," she declared. 

Laina shook her head, "I'm not a princess anymore, Margaret. Plus, I don't want to cause any trouble for the other stallholders. Especially those who helped."

She turned to Neil and the other children before looking back at Margaret, "Now I just want to focus on this shophouse."

Seeing the condition the children were living in, Margaret understood why Laina wanted to help. She pulled Marius to her side and offered their assistance to Laina, who gladly accepted it. As winter was setting in, she wanted to make the space livable for the children. 

"Can't they come and stay with us in the forest?" Margaret asked. 

Laina shook her head, "They want to stay here, and I am respecting their decision."

With more hands-on-deck, work could be done in a quicker space. With the day ahead of them, everyone got to work. Laina looked for a workshop that would be able to sell them the materials and provide workers to help them with the building. 

But upon hearing the shophouse they were working on, all of them refused. 

"I can sell you the materials, Miss, but my men will not be working there," the workshop foreman said to Laina. 

"If it's a matter of money-"

The foreman stopped her, "It's not about money." he glanced over behind her for a moment before continuing, "I'm sorry. But that's the best I can do."

Laina turned over. Much to her surprise, Jerome was standing there with a smirk on his face. The moment they locked eyes, Laina gave him a murderous glare. It immediately sent shivers down his spine. 

But that did not wipe the smirk off his face. He had the higher ground in Luzernia. Laina left the workshop and went on her way. But no matter how many workshops she went to, none of them were willing to send their workers to assist. 

"It's alright, thank you anyway," Laina replied before she turned to leave. 

Without any luck, she returned to the shophouse with her head hung low. Although it was a setback, Laina knew she could make it work. Before she entered the shophouse, she smelled smoke coming from within. 

Worried something horrible might have happened, Laina flung the door open and rushed in. Much to her surprise, the fire was in fact, a bubbling pot of soup. 

"You're back!" Margaret greeted her with glee. 

She had cooked up some food for everyone to eat. 

"The materials you ordered have been delivered," Marius added as he pointed it out to Laina. 

"Thank you," she replied before walking over to Laina. 

That night, after their meal together, they discussed what they had done that day. Just like Laina, Margaret and Marius did not have any luck hiring workers to help them. 

"Well, there's only one other way left then," Laina sighed as she ate a spoonful of hot soup. 

Margaret nodded, "It will take up much of our energy, but at least things would be done swiftly that way."

Neil and the other children, who were listening in to their conversation, did not know what they meant. 

"Without workers to help, how are we going to be able to fix the shophouse?" Neil asked. 

"With magic of course," Margaret replied nonchalantly.

"Magic?" Neil asked, "Like sorcery and witchcraft?" 

Laina smiled, "You'll know when you see it."

In order to remodel the shophouse, a lot of energy would be needed. Hence, Laina brought out some crystals and gems to assist. The next morning, they got to work preparing the entire shophouse.     

"That's it, looks like we have everything ready to go," Laina declared as she took a step back. 

With that, the three of them got to work immediately. The children insisted on helping, so Laina set out tasks for them to complete too. The three adults each worked in a separate area of the shophouse. They followed the plan Laina had drawn to begin the renovation. 

After three days of continuous labor and hard work, most of the general construction was complete. Laina took a step back to admire the work they had done. The children looked on in awe as the entire space had been transformed from head to toe. 

"Dante would love this too," Laina said with a smile.

As soon as his name left her lips, her expression turned dark. 

"Oh no, how could I forget?" Laina exclaimed. 

"What's wrong, Laina?" Margaret asked out of concern. 

"Is everything alright?" Marius added. 

"I need to see Dante immediately. I need to bring him the elixir," she blurted as she made her way towards the door. 

Laina wanted to go and look for him to bring him the elixir. But she was so caught up with the shophouse that she had forgotten to do so. Without Marius by his side to remind him, she was worried Dante would forget to take it. 

Marius and Margaret looked at one another in confusion. What elixir was Laina talking about? Before she could exit the door, Margaret grabbed her by the wrist. She pulled her back. 

"Laina, what are you talking about? What elixir?" Margaret asked in confusion. 

"I..." it was a slip of the tongue. Laina knew she could not hide it any longer. 

But if Margaret knew the truth, she would attempt to stop Laina. She could not let that happen. 

"I'll explain when I get back," she said hastily before wriggling her hand out of Margaret's grasp.