As he made his way inside the room, James was stunned to see how beautiful the princess was. He blinked twice to confirm what he was seeing. Elizabeth was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his entire life. With less and less interaction with the outside world and people, she was like a goddess to him.

Hearing the sounds of door opening and approaching footsteps, Elizabeth awoke from her daze and tilted her head towards the direction of the sound, where she saw a handsome man with pure black hair with sparkling blue eyes.

She perfectly knew who he was. How could she not know about the most infamous man in the entire empire?

As Leonhart moved closer to her, his meeting style kicked in. He moved his right hand towards the princess for a handshake as if he was meeting a client, but the princess didn't understand his action and appeared perplexed. Noticing her reaction, James moved his hands away, smiling awkwardly.

"..."

"..." James kept standing, looking here and there awkwardly.

"Aren't you going to sit?" said the princess, looking at his awkward expression.

"No... It's just rude to sit without permission, so..."

"Oh. I am sorry, please sit..." said the princess, gesturing towards the chair opposite to her.

"..." James, or rather Leonhart, sat down, saying nothing.

And soon the atmosphere was filled with silence. Both of them said nothing.

"I... I am sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings by not attending the ceremony." The first one to break the silence was James. He recited the lines, which he had practiced thousands of times before. Well, he was here for her forgiveness, so why not do the very thing from the beginning and talking to a girl was also his other weakness.

"No... It's not a problem." Elizabeth was used to hearing the same excuses. She sent him the letter, already expecting this outcome.

"I...I..." Despite trying, no words came out of James' mouth. His anxiety was slowly getting on his nerves.

Again, the silence fell between the two.

"You know, Leon, you don't have to come this far to say the same thing."

"..."

"You and I both know how these things would work, so why don't we just mind our own business without disturbing one another." Among the four individuals her father had chosen, she was most comfortable with Leonhart, which James didn't know. It was not because she liked him, but because he was direct with everything, didn't lie to her about anything, just told what was right and what was wrong and in which both of them agreed. He was a notorious man, but still respected the people, wasted a lot of money on gambling and drinking, but hurt no one for no justified reason.

"..." James just nodded. He could understand how she felt? From the research he had done in the past few days, he knew this marriage proposal was done from a purely political perspective. And he could feel the princess didn't like it.

He desperately tried to come up with some interesting topic cause, conversational back-and-forth was one of the basics of maintaining interest, but couldn't. Still, as he looked around the grand room a little more, he found a lot of paintings drawn beautifully. Some were hung, some were thrown here and there.

"Did you draw all theses...?" asked James, pointing towards the paintings.

"Yes or why do you think they are in my room?" said the princess irritatingly.

"No, I mean they are beautiful, really beautiful... Even if I try, I couldn't draw something like those in a million years." His drawing part was absolutely true. James was an engineer. He had to draw diagrams repeatedly but really sucked at making something worth looking at.

"Really... I can teach you if you want..."

"I would love to... but I think I will prefer getting out this place for now."

"I didn't know. You hated my company this much."

"Wait... What...." asked James with a dumbfounded expression. He did not know what the princess meant.

"What... You said you want to get out of this place, then get out... I also don't want to talk to you anymore." said the princess with a pout. She felt like Leonhart didn't mean what he said, but still.

"What... I didn't mean I that, I was talking about something else... I mean..." This was the reason why James never had any girlfriends. He couldn't read the room and the girl wouldn't understand what he meant. By leaving this place, he meant out of this country, back to his world, not out of this room.

"I think this will be enough for today... Why don't you rest for the night? I believe you are tired." said the princess, standing up, breaking off Leon's speech in mid-sentence.

"Yes... I am sorry." said James stiffly.

James had no choice. It was his mistake to begin with, so got up went towards the door. Reaching for the handle of the door, he suddenly stopped and tilted his head towards a certain direction, precisely towards a certain painting.

It was a painting of a beautiful bird, locked up inside a cage, looking towards the sky, where other bids of his kind were flying. The cage was hung on a branch and some bystanders were also looking at the scenery, some of them were praising about how beautiful the scene was and some stayed silent. Seeing the portrait, James felt something, it was something but not happiness. The painting was definitely praiseworthy, but something was amiss. It was like the person who drew this wanted to convey something. But what it was? He couldn't quite figure it out.

Seeing Leonhart staring at the painting, Elizabeth felt a little odd. He was not a person who would appreciate the beauty of a work of art or try to decipher the meaning behind it.

"How long are you going to stand there?"

"No... I... I am going." James didn't realize that he was staring at the painting for too long.

—Clank!

Once Leonhart left, silence descended in the room. And the princess lay down on her massive bed. She had met Leonhart countless times, but today something about him was different. He had never asked about paintings nor ever looked at them, but today he was looking at a particular painting for far too long, like he was tying to comprehend something.

***

Soon the curtain fell for the day. James ate his dinner alone in the dining hall. No one from the royal family joined him, well they had considerably higher standards, so again, no comments. And he went to the room he was provided with. James had no interest in staying here, but it was not like he had a choice. He was here to accomplish something and he would do it. Also, he didn't want to face the angry duke again.

Resting on the bed, a myriad of thoughts passed through James's mind. It was now confirmed that this whole setup was not a prank; it was all real. He really had become someone else, but was it even possible? There was no explanation for this strange phenomenon. And the thoughts of Nightangel were eating half of his brain. Did it work? People liked it or not? How many people accepted it? Thousands of questions with no answers.

Just how would he be able to get back to his world or whatever that was? James had to do something and a little plan was forming inside his brain. But for now, he could only sleep doing nothing, because he had to do the same thing tomorrow.

***

"James... James... Wake up...!" (a faint female voice)

James woke up with a jolt. His eyes were teary, whole body was covered with sweat. Same nightmare, same road, same car, same truck, everything was the same. From the day he awoke from his family's demise, he started experiencing these nightmares. He tried visiting many therapists but nothing, and soon he stopped the medications and worked like a maniac.

But in reality, it was all just a way to cope with the pain that he was feeling every day. For the outside world, Nightangel was something extraordinary, but for James, it was just an excuse. He just needed something to set his mind elsewhere.

James got up and made his way towards the balcony, from where the garden was visible. The garden was beautiful, properly taken care of. As his eyes darted around a bit more, an unexpected sight was seen. A girl, probably in her twenties, was drawing something. Her eyes were glued to the sketch board and the brush in her hand was dancing on it. He had seen no one draw, with that much concentration and as a massive fan of art, it naturally attracted him.

Wasting no time, James quickly got ready and hurriedly went towards the garden. As he moved closer, he expected the girl to react, but she didn't. She continued to draw, her hand movements were flawless, and the drawing was getting its intended shape.

"It's beautiful..."

"Huh..." Hearing the voice of Leonhart, Elizabeth was startled. She didn't expect someone to come here this early.

"When did you get here ?"

"Just now..."

"Why?"

"What...?"

"I mean, you are not someone who would get up early and visit the garden." said Elizabeth.

"I just saw you from there and came... You know this painting of yours really is beautiful." said James, trying to change the conversation.

"It's not that beautiful."

"No... It's pretty. You should take some credit."

"If you say so..." said the princess, placing the brush on the side of the sketch board and got up from her seat.

"Want to go on a walk...?" asked the princess. Something was bugging her after she saw Leonhart staring at that painting drawn by her long ago.

".... Sure." said James awkwardly.