With the sun setting as his backdrop, Drayce's tall body cast a long shadow inside his chamber as he stood by the window, seemingly waiting with a faraway gaze. Just a while ago, he heard Seren and Cian talking to each other and got to know the Ilven siblings were finally back.

After a short while, a majestic bird landed on the window sill and flapped his wings to greet his master. Drayce asked while caressing his head, "Did she have a good time with her brother?"

​​

Dusk pecked on his hand to say yes.

When Seren was busy traveling here and there, she didn't know someone was keeping eyes on them from up above the sky. Drayce had ordered Dusk always to follow her wherever she went.

"Good to know it," Drayce said. His red eyes seemed to shimmer as he pondered. "Will she be happier than this once it's her husband himself who takes her out the next time?"

Dusk didn't react at all, neither saying yes nor no.

"Even you don't know," Drayce mumbled, and jealousy flashed in his red eyes. "We can test it once we take her to Megaris. If we can't make her happier than this, we will never let her come back to her brother."

This time, Dusk immediately pecked on Drayce's hand to say yes. Just like his master, he too did not want her to return to Abetha.

Drayce was delighted with his reaction. "I can say you are indeed my pet."

Dusk rubbed his head against Drayce's palm, happy to receive praise from his master.

Drayce looked at the sky and said while thinking about something, "Let's see how far she can go tonight."

---------

(Seren's POv)

Just like the previous night, I was prepared to run away. I got myself another small pouch hidden underneath my outer robe; although it was a pity, I did not manage to pack a lot of snacks this time since I was out with my brother the entire day.

I clenched my fist. 'This time, I am more confident that I will make it to the forest outside the capital and go deep enough to hide myself till morning.'

When I figured that most people were probably asleep, I stepped out of my room. The two knights guarding outside immediately bowed to me. This time I said nothing and turned to leave, walking calmly as if I only intended to take a short midnight walk to relax.

It was the same route I had taken the night before. There was a turn in the corridor, and I silently walked towards it.

I chanted to myself, 'Calm down. You have done it once. You can do this again.'

The moment I took a turn and the two knights could no longer see me; I hurried to walk while being careful of my footsteps. If the knights guarding outside were to appear in front of me suddenly, I should be able to hide somewhere.

Although I was half running, I did not forget to look around to check if the red-eyed man was around. As per my senses, I couldn't feel anyone's presence nearby. Only after making sure no one was around did I feel relieved. If that man were to appear, I was not sure how to face him.

'Don't show your face to me again, pervert!'

I walked till the end of the corridor from where I could see the knights patrolling to guard the palace wing. With the help of the light from the lamps hanging on the wall, I could see how many of them were on duty and guess what my chances were of hiding while crossing this corridor. Unfortunately, I did not realize how close I was to the hallway decors and ended up pushing a vase kept on the corner where I was peeking out from. I tried to catch it, but it fell down—

It was as if time stopped.

To my shock, the vase froze mid-air before it could touch the floor and shatter into pieces.

I covered my mouth with my hands before I could say a word in shock and thought, 'How can this be?'

'Am I hallucinating?' I blinked my eyes many times to check, 'No I am not."

I looked around, only to notice that not just this vase but everything around looked frozen as if I had stepped inside a realistic painting. The decorative banners hanging along the walls, even the curtains which were moving a while ago with the light breeze coming inside the palace, suddenly became motionless.

The situation was equally frightening and fascinating.

As I let out a shaky breath, I crouched to pick up the vase and put it back in its former place. Nothing changed around me. No movements, no sounds...

'Did time really stop?'

I steeled my nerves and ignored what was happening as my priority was to run away by all means possible. I peeked out again to check on the knights—this time mindful not to touch the vase—and just as I guessed, they were all standing still in their positions.

I slowly walked ahead, tentative at first, as if testing if they were truly frozen. As I got closer, I noticed that their eyes were open but not even once did they blink. It was something magical, but I didn't want to think more about the reason behind this at the moment. My time was precious.

Passing those statue-like knights, I got out of the palace wing without a problem. I was happy that I could run away without any trouble. While grabbing my dress's skirt, I continued to run across multiple corridors until I reached the front doors of the royal residence and saw the same scenes. The royal palace guards were frozen in their places by the door. Even the leaves of the trees beyond did not move. Not a single thing was moving.

Just like that, I reached the main gate of the palace which was closed since it was the middle of the night. Beside the huge iron gates was a side entrance used by the servants and guards to go in and out of the palace, which was only big enough for one or two people to pass at a time.

'Do I need a key?' I thought as I looked at the lock put in the horizontal iron plates on the door.

As I stood in front of it and tried to figure out how to open it, it suddenly opened on its own. Startled, I took a step back. I suspiciously looked around, but aside from me, no one around me was moving.