chapter vi. the castle by the sea

After dropping such an outlandish response to your gullible question, King Aneas sits you down in front of his desk to give you a chance to process everything. Once you are settled, he goes around his desk to pour you a drink while he slowly begins to tell you a little bit more about this place.

"Imagine yourself looking into a mirror and seeing another world that exists on the other side which appears with your reflection. It looks similar to the world where you are standing in, but it is not quite the same. You might say that this realm and the world you came from exist the same way. The Land Far Far Away is not entirely different to the human realm, except most everyone here was born with mana or aura flowing within them. Magic exists here everywhere you go, and there are also beings that you would never see walking amongst common humans in the other world. Smotia is like a barrier separating the two realms, and it can also act like a magic door which connects both realms under specific conditions. That was one of the reasons why I chose to claim the territory before anyone else could and expanded our empire from here to the land of Smotia."

Mana? Aura? A place filled with magic?

Once again, what you are hearing from your father sounds absurd, and yet, you still believe him. "Everyone? Even you, and all the people here in the castle? Is that how you managed to travel so quickly to get here? With magic?"

A grim smile appears of his face when King Aneas answers you, "Yes, Princess. There is mana here all around us, and within the people you saw here in the castle. There is mana flowing within me, just as much as you have it within you since the day you were born."

There is magic...inside me?

Everything seems unreal, and still so many questions continue to come through you. But you believe every word he says, as deep down you know that there is no way your father, would ever try to trick or deceive you. Not about something like this.

As he sees you falling silent, His Majesty hands you a glass filled with a finger deep amber-coloured drink, something that you are most grateful for. Because after everything that you had been put through, and after listening to all the things that he had just said to you, you are obviously going to need one. The drink tastes unlike anything you have had before, but it does soothe your body and mind a little, allowing you to regain your focus again as he continues, "You were still so little when you were taken away from home, so you might not remember much about the life you had in this palace. I also understand that it might take a while for you to get used to things here, especially when there is no magic exist where The Citadel and the Seacrest Manor are located."

You take a few more sips from your drink to stop your head from spinning. You may have recovered quite well from the shock so far, but it doesn't really mean it would make it easy for you take everything in so quickly. But then something that His Majesty mentioned earlier clicks as your mind wanders back to the forest, when you recall all the peculiarities that the Elcester Forest possesses.

"You said earlier about our homeland acting as a magic door. Does it have anything to do with Elcester Forest? Is that where these two places meet each other?"

King Aneas hums approvingly. He even seems quite pleased with your question, but you have no idea why until he explains, "You are correct. The forest acts like a tunnel that opens up to this realm on the specific nights when the flow of mana in the air are the strongest."

"Wouldn't the townsfolk be able to go through the forest and find this place?" you question him, though you quickly recall that there has yet any word of the common people ever reaching the other end of the Elcester Forest, not even the hunters who have free rein of the forest during hunting seasons.

"Have you heard any of them succeeding so far?" King Aneas questions you, as if he can read your thoughts. "There is a powerful magic that has been set in the forest that prevents the common people from going too far into the forest or to find and go across the borders between the two realms. For common folks, the magic will act as an illusion to confuse them and make them go in circles until they find their way back home to the towns in Smotia. For folks like us, with the right spells casted on the right time, a portal will open on the invisible walls protecting the realm to allow us to pass."

"Last night," —you start, recalling the events which happened during your journey—the rising thick white mist, the peculiar gloom that kept getting intense as you got deeper into the forest, the sightings of the blue flames, and the wall of blue inferno that was so ominous in its presence—and you begin questioning, "Was that the reason why you chose last night, the eve of Lemmus Rising, to send me away from The Citadel? Had it been one of those special nights that you were talking about?"

Crossing his hands on the desk before him, King Aneas leans forward as he explains, "Lemmus Rising is a phenomenon created by the magic protecting the forest, when the magic grows the strongest that it often manifests into small patterns of mana appearing in various places within the dark forest like guide lights to show you where the portals would be able to appear. Normally, regular humans won't be able to see them with their bare eyes, yet some of the elders who had lived in Smotia for a long time have caught sights of them and may have mistaken them as the souls of the dead."

You remember how you felt seeing the small flames appearing between the thickets, and try to imagine what would have gone through the people's minds as they saw those lights. "You let them believe it to be true."

Laughing gently, your father merely shrugs. "It was the easiest way to hide the truth from the common folks," he says, not even showing any drop of remorse from deceiving his own people, while you can only shake your head and silently wonder how he can be so lenient about this matter.

"This is all so confusing."

King Aneas nods his head understandingly. "Take your time. You will get used to everything here once you've settled down. It'll be too soon for you to understand everything. I'm sure you're overwhelmed and you haven't even had time to rest," he says as he leans back in his seat, looking as if he is ready to end the conversation for now. "You have Lady Abigail to keep you company, and Lord Gordan to show you the way around the castle. I have also instructed Lord Gordan to teach you all about the castle and this part of the region to help you understand how everything here works, so he may be able to answer some of your questions when I'm not around to help you. You will also be assigned with a new tutor, one who will guide you to learn more about magic and to use the mana you have inside you."

Shaking your head, you can only exhale a deep sigh. He was right, after all. You are starting to feel overwhelmed with all of this. "You know that I still have so many questions to ask you."

"I'm sure you do, and you shall have all the answers you need," King Aneas says with a soft chuckle. "Unfortunately, I will not be able to answer them all today as I cannot stay. I have matters to attend to and preparations to deal with, but I shall return later before supper. The lady maids would have sent all of your belongings to your bedchamber by now so you will be able to settle in soon. In the meantime, Lord Gordan will show you the way to your bedchamber where you can freshen up and perhaps take a short nap until breakfast is ready for you. You must have found it hard to rest in the carriage all night long."

Nothing else is shared between you and your father until Lord Gordan arrives at the study room under His Majesty's immediate summon to show you to your bedchamber as your father has instructed him to. This time, there are no guards following you close behind as Lord Gordan guides the way, which lessens all the tension you may be feeling for having extra eyes shadowing your movements.

Walking down the hallway with large windows overlooking the palace's grounds, you cannot stop comparing this place to The Citadel. Much like how King Aneas had explained it to you earlier, this castle does remind you a lot to your previous home, with minor details separating the two of them from one another. The inner courtyard appears almost twice the size of the one you would normally see back home, with a few more towers standing all around the castle. There is even one which appears larger than any that you have seen before, standing so grand that you cannot help but pay attention to it as you walk by.

You curiously point this out to Lord Gordan as he starts explaining a bit about the castle, and he gladly answers for you, "The South Tower does appear quite grand when it is viewed from this distance. On the top floor, you will find the gallery which would allow you to get the perfect view of the entire estate and the surrounding area around the palace, including the ocean and the cliffs which stand across the coastline. You might also get a glimpse of the bluffs and the part of the Elcester Forest that stretches out all the way here from the capital city of Smotia. His Majesty may handle most of his work at The Citadel, but he does spend quite a lot of his time here in the home castle, either in his study room or the South Tower gallery to work when he is not resting in his bedchamber whenever he returns home."

For some reason, you feel like you are being drawn to the South Tower that you cannot look away from it. Knowing that the King spends a lot of time up there also draws your curiosity that you keep focusing on it until you can no longer see it after walking past a few more windows. Once the tower is out of sight, you turn your gaze towards the end of the courtyard, where you can see a long brick wall with an iron gate at its center, which is surrounded by shrubberies and flowers blooming in various colours, reminding you of the gate which opens up towards the gardens you have back home at The Citadel. Once again, it draws your curiosity and immediately question this to Lord Gordan.

"That is correct, Your Highness. The gate leads to the palace's gardens. I'm sure you would love to visit the place as His Majesty himself takes good care of it both with his hands and his magic."

Hearing how the garden here may contain your father's magic, you wonder if you can take a closer look and see if it is truly anything different to the gardens at The Citadel. "Will I be able to explore around?"

"Why, certainly, Your Highness. You are most welcome to do so anytime you'd like. This place is your home, after all. If you ever need any guide to show you around, you can always ring for me or any of the lady maids which have been assigned to you," Lord Gordan says just as you finally arrive at your bedchamber. He opens the door for you and ushers you in, and you are immediately met with an astonishing view of a brighter and more spacious bedchamber compared to the one you had previously, with large windows which give you the perfect view of the world outside the palace's walls instead of a confined view of the palace's premises. "You may take your time to rest. Breakfast will be set up for you in the dining room. I shall call a servant to come and fetch you once the meal is ready."

Lord Gordan excuses himself right after, giving you some privacy and a chance to have some peaceful time after a long night. As the door is closed behind him, you turn to find that your belongings have indeed been set up in the room. It makes you wonder how they had been able to send your luggage here so quickly and you silently question if the magic that your father had spoken about has anything to do with it.

Even your weapons—the bow and arrows and your short sword which you had brought with you from home—are here, placed orderly on the side of the room together with your luggages.

Once you are completely alone, however, the unsettling feeling of being in a strange place full of wonders return to you. It makes you feel restless, while at the same time, you also feel curious. Excitement overcomes you when you think about the many wonders that you might see in this new world you have found yourself in.

Just as you are beginning to think about the promising future, you are suddenly drawn towards the windows, where you can get a clear view of the coastline in the distant. You take a seat on the settee that has been set up on the windowsill to have a good look at the spectacle before you, the sun now shining brightly enough to allow you to take in every little detail you see.

Gazing out towards the cliffs like this only makes you think about your dreams again. Some parts of the dream may have been starting to fade, yet a few small things are still clear in your memory. The way you felt when the mysterious man first appeared before you, the flutters building up in your chest and the soft tingles that came rushing through your skin when he touched you with his barely-there caress, and then there was his deep voice, and his enthralling words when he said,

"I've been searching for you for a very long time."

How was it possible for a dream to feel so real?

You have been wondering about this ever since the dream first came to you in your sleep. You can even feel it now, when your necklace seems to grow warmer, and it almost seems like it is vibrating subtly against your skin the more you are thinking about him. Even your skin tingles with the ghost of his touches, as if he wasn't just a vivid image that your subconscious had created to fill your dream.

Reaching up to the window, you brush the tips of your fingers against the glass, wishing that you can somehow find a way to reach the cliffs in your dreams that now seem within arms reach, and silently wonder if it would be wrong for you to have hopes for your dreams would come true.

Time seemed to pass by so quickly as you let your mind wander off to the man in your dreams and for getting lost in the beautiful view of the coastline. You managed to doze off for a moment while basking in the warmth coming from the sunlight, but as you woke up, feeling sore from the odd position you found yourself in but somehow refreshed from the quick nap, there was still no sign of a servant or a maid who was sent to fetch you for breakfast.

You even took a quick cold shower as you waited, and even took your time dressing up, but still nobody came knocking at your door after the long wait.

It didn't take long for you to feel bored, and you finally gave in to your curiosity. Your desire to see more of the castle instead of staying idle in your bedchamber took over and you decided to leave the bedchamber and do some exploring of your own. Thinking that this castle would have been built similarly to The Citadel, you were confident that you would be able to find the dining room on your own.

But you found out quite soon enough just how wrong you were.

You have no idea how much time has passed, but know for sure that you have gone quite far from your bedchamber, yet you still have yet to find the royal dining room where the breakfast is supposed to be prepared for you. Instead, you find yourself getting lost in long hallways, with doors that are locked and windows that do nothing much to show you where to go.

Just when you are about to give up, you reach up to touch the pendant hanging on your necklace to find warmth and calmness from it. Suddenly, it feels like you are being guided, your intuition telling you where to go and you simply give in to the voice in your head, allowing it to guide you until you find yourself in an indoor atrium with glass ceiling above your head which allows the sunlight to come through. And right at the opposite side of the room, appears to you the doors opening up towards the royal dining room that you have been searching for.

Is this some sort of magic, much like what His Majesty talked about earlier, or was it my own intuition which led me here?

You can only wonder silently about this as you make your way to enter the the dining room, where you find that breakfast has been served. You silently apologise out of guilt for knowing that there might be a confused servant out there who may have been sent for you and found your chamber empty, due to your impatience, and promise yourself to reason with the butler or the King's aide later once you see him again.

True to his words, His Majesty is nowhere to be found. And so does Nanny Abigail, who is no doubt still resting in her quarter, and to your surprise, neither is Lord Gordan. So you simply enjoy breakfast alone, with a couple of servants—who had rushed in the moment you walked into the dining room as if they had heard you coming—attending to you with plates of fresh fruits, pastries, and endless refills of your warm drink.

After breakfast is done, you refuse the help from the servants to help guide you back to your bedchamber, insisting to go on your own. Yet, instead of retreating immediately to your bedroom and wait for Lord Gordan to fetch you for your trip around the castle, you decide to make a detour, continuing what you had started earlier to do a little more exploring around the castle by yourself.

From the dining room, you try to find your way towards the garden. Ever since the moment you laid eyes on the open courtyard and the iron gate that was said to open up the way towards the gardens, you have felt the urge to be there, if only to see if you can find any traces of your mother's touch. But instead of finding your way to the courtyard in mind, you simply find yourself lost yet again, as you keep finding long hallways that remind you quite a bit to a maze.

The large windows facing the outer side of the palace are the only ones that help you feel less disoriented, but still cannot do much to help guide your way through the labyrinth. Yet, much like what you did before, you simply follow your intuition and let it guide you, until you find some more interesting rooms to see and explore—various atriums and foyers leading towards different areas in the castle that only seem to be more intriguing mazes and labyrinths where you could get lost in without a guide showing you the way—and more long hallways filled with rows and rows of doors which quickly draw your curiosity.

Doors with various sizes, intriguing in the way they are standing with various embellishments on each of their surfaces. You try to open some of them, always finding them locked and secured with not a single budge no matter how hard you try. It makes you even more curious to know what they are, and where they would lead to, wondering why such a castle would have so many closed doors and so many rooms placed not too far away from each other when it doesn't seem like there are that many people living in these quarters, as you have yet to come across any other palace staff other than the ones you met in the dining area.

You continue to explore away from the massive rooms and the heavy locked doors, until you reach a foyer leading towards a stairway winding up a connecting tower. From down below, the stairway seems intimidating. You cannot see what is up there but faint shades of sunlight surrounded by darkness.

But the not knowing does nothing to deter you. So up you go with your curiosity leading your way, until you finally reach the top, where the landing opens up to a spacious gallery with four sided walls surrounding its center hall. At the heart of the gallery appears a seating lounge adorned with a few loveseats placed in a circular angle, some glass drawers are placed against the walls, and a reading nook situated on one of its corners. On the two walls opposite to each other stand large windows, going so far from the floor and up near the ceiling. You walk up to the side which is facing towards the South. From the sight you see outside, you come to realise that you have arrived in the South Tower, the place that Lord Gordan spoke of as the place where the King would reside to whenever he needs time to work alone.

Pushing the thoughts of your father side, you look out the window, finding the view itself magnificent from up here. From where you are standing, you have a clear view of the side of the castle which was not visible at your first arrival. It appears to you that not only had the castle been built on top of the cliff and right above the sea as you assumed it to be, the castle itself seems to stand on the very edge of the precipice. From here, you can see the outer walls which seem to blend into the rocky cliff walls below, which goes almost a thousand feet down until there is nothing but the deep water and rough waves waiting for you.

And the height itself seems so unbelievable that it takes your breath away.

You can tell from one look that if you should ever drop from this window, nothing would be able to stop your fall except for those welcoming waves crashing against the rocks below.

The thought of it alone gives you a cold chill, yet you remain there for a moment, marvelling at the view as you catch the sunlight reflecting on the surface of the ocean and finding the waves on the far side of the ocean much more calming than the closer ones. You enjoy the sight until you have enough and then step away, leaving the intimidating view below as you approach the windows on the opposite side of the room which seem to be looking out towards the other side of the tower.

Looking out from this side of the room, a different view is presented to you. A complete contrast to the intimidating sight that came together with the steady sounds of waves racing below, of the cliff wall and the rough sea, yet just as magnificent still. As far as you can see, you get a clear sight of a sea of green tree tops with some steep hills and occasional sight of deep rifts where the hills and valleys are formed, accompanied by the glowing silver of the river flowing through the forest in the distant.

The view you are seeing feels so calming that you lose yourself in it for a moment, as you bask in its beauty and the warm sunlight that comes flooding into the gallery enveloping you.

Just as you are deeply mesmerised by the view, you feel a sudden pull trying to draw you away from the windows. Turning, your eyes fall on the wall at the other side of the atrium which had not caught your attention earlier.

On the wall beyond you stand a pair of golden framed doors, both of them seem to be shining brightly in the room despite no lights coming out of them. One door appears to be coloured in the shade of radiant blue, while the other appears more subtle, but with more engravings appearing on its surface which are painted in glimmering gold. There is something about those doors that seems to be pulling you towards them. Before you realise it, you have made your way to them, with your hand reaching out to touch and feel them. Much to your dismay, you quickly find that both of them are locked, just like all the other doors you saw during your previous exploring.

But there seems to be something different about these doors.

Not only for the embellishments that you are seeing on them which make them appear so grand, but also for the way they seem to be calling you, drawing your attention and your curiosity that it makes it hard for you to look away or step away from them. It almost seems like you can hear these doors humming and whispering to you, drawing you even closer to touch them, to keep trying to open them.

And yet, you are able to refrain yourself from reaching out to them again. Not sure of what kind of magic that the doors may posses, with your lack of knowledge about magic and spells and all the other wondrous things His Majesty mentioned during your short talk earlier, you begin to fear that they might harm you if you should continue investigating them closely. So you fight against the pull that the doors are emitting and turn away, quickly making your way to leave the gallery so you can continue with your journey through the castle before people would start searching for you.

Alas, the odd occurrence doesn't stop there. As if the doors truly have minds of their own, just as you are leaving the gallery, the humming you can hear coming out of them seems to grow louder. You quicken your pace, afraid of what the humming might entail should you stay longer to find out what they are, only to faintly hear enchanting voices calling your name as you walk down the stairs to return to the lower ground of the castle.

Once you have reached far enough from the gallery and the mysterious doors, the voices fade and all the tension that you have been feeling since the first time you heard them is lifted. Resting at the bottom of the stairs, you wonder what they were, or if they would serve any threat to you, knowing that your father would spend a lot of time on that same gallery above where the doors would be accompanying him.

Not one to get lost in your own musings, you use the time to explore a bit further before returning to your quarter. From the tower, it is easy to find your way back to the heart of the castle. Except that you make a different turn this time, hoping to find something new. Alas, it doesn't take long before you wind up finding more hallways, with rows and rows of doors just like what you have seen before. Doors, doors everywhere you turn and look, all in various shapes and forms, all of them locked and bolted. Only the windows are open to show you the outside world and even those are not sufficient enough to be made as your exit from the main building.

By the time you return to your bedchamber, not only exhaustion rolls through your body, but also wonder.

"Welcome home," the King father had said upon your arrival.

Deep down, you find it hard to see this place as such, judging from your first exploration of this place. On first glance, and after your first encounter, this castle seems more like a veritable prison, much like the dark castles that the townsfolk would talk about in their dark tales and urban legends.

As you sit on your bed to wait for the day to pass, you spend it wondering just how you are to make this place as your new home without feeling like a prisoner, just like you have been while you were living in the heaven-like prison called The Citadel.

The home camp for The Brotherhood of Jorn has been lively since the break of dawn. Between the hired soldiers preparing to leave for their jobs and the plans to move camp before the change of season, not a single one of these soldiers have been idle. Meanwhile, at the head of the camp, the Captain himself is preoccupied with his own affair to meddle with his men's dealings.

"A carriage traveling through the bluffs, you say?" Min Yoongi questions his attendant as he walks in fast pace towards his horse, carrying his heavy travel bag on his side.

"Yes, Your Highne—oh, I mean, Captain," Ansen responds to him, sounding troubled and breathless as he struggles to match his sovereign's quick pace. "The patrolling guards from the outer borders of Emburn Empire that you ordered to watch over the wastelands claimed to have sensed a disturbance from the uphill woods. So they went out of their scope of patrol to see what was going on. They came and intercepted a carriage going downhill from the source of disturbance, and suspected that their arrival may have something to do with it, even though they was said to have come from the direction of a neighbouring town nearby."

Ansen stops talking to catch his breath just in time for Yoongi to reach where his loyal horse has been waiting for him. Once he manages to calm down, Ansen lends a hand as Yoongi begins fastening his bag on the side of his horse's saddle, all while continuing to rely the message that he had just received from home. "After gaining information from the carriage's driver, the guards continued their journey uphill but found nothing. There were small traces of magic left behind near the top of the hill, and rough tracks of the carriage wheels that seemed to have come out of nowhere, that's why the guards suspected the possibility of portals opening in that area but couldn't find its source."

Yoongi halts just as he hears this. His heart starts racing, even if he does feel uneasy about the royal guards going through the bluffs when they weren't supposed to.

The bluffs which Ansen mentioned is the uncharted area spread right outside the territory of his true homeland, the Emburn Empire. A territory which has become the main border between the outer region of Emburn Empire in the Land Far Far Away and the human realm. But what makes the territory completely inviolable and considered to be a sacred land is the wastelands located on the other end of the bluffs.

Hidden under the thick wall of infinite mist and perched atop of the Earthpeak cliff, is the ruins of the Flagon Empire, the mighty kingdom which had fallen during the Great War between the fairy kingdoms of Far Far Away many, many years ago.

The only traces left behind from the missing part of his soul which he is now chasing with all of his will.

There was a reason why Yoongi had ordered some of his men to pay close attention to the wastelands, as he felt that if something was about to happen, then it would only begin right where everything started many years ago. He just never expected that his men would come too close to the borders where the remnants of the Great War, the toxic spells and dark magic, may still exist.

"And what did they say about the carriage?" Yoongi questions his attendant without daring to look at him, afraid of what kind of expression he might be showing after hearing about activities happening in the bluffs.

"It was said to be a common carriage, with an emblem that doesn't seem to represent any nearby kingdom, either in the Far Far Away land or in the human realm," Ansen explains, suddenly feeling a bit unsure just when he is about to continue. "There is one problem, however. Our soldiers testified that they sensed a magic shield surrounding the carriage as they came past, and as they were leaving the area, they caught sightings of horsemen which seemed to be following them from a fair distance while trying not to be seen."

Yoongi turns around to face his attendant just then, noticing Sergeant Jang Yijeong who is coming to approach them. Seeing the look on his friend's eyes, Yoongi can tell that Yijeong has heard what Ansen has been telling him.

"Did they have a good look at the passengers?" Yoongi asks again, just as Yijeong stands right beside Ansen, and the three of them gather closely as the attendant relays the news to them while making sure that nobody around them would overhear.

"Yes, Captain. Although, there seems to be a problem with the information given by the messenger," Ansen looks a bit doubtful for a moment before he begins to explain, "According to the soldier who came to observe the carriage closely, the passengers seemed to be two maidens, one who was a bit older than the other. Both of them were wearing fancy coats with common summer dresses underneath. The other soldier who conversed with the driver was told that the two ladies were out on vacation from a nearby town, and they were out heading towards the coastline to catch the sunrise."

Yoongi frowns at this information. Why would a common carriage drive through the bluffs, daring themselves to go as close as the wastelands and almost breaching through the borders of Emburn Empire if they were merely searching for a chance to watch the sunrise, a sight that wasn't too uncommon on that part of Far Far Away land?

He turns to Yijeong, already recognising the look that his friend is giving him before he even dares him to speak. "Why do I get a feeling that you are also here to give me news?"

Yijeong's expression turns grim for a moment, though there is a glimpse of curiosity written on his face when he speaks. "Are you talking about a carriage appearing on the other end of the realm's border?" he asks, to which Yoongi confirms by sharing a summarised version of Ansen's report before he requests Yijoeng to relay his news. "Last night, two of our men who were on their way back to camp tried to intercept a carriage leaving The Citadel during the rise of Lemmus Rising. They couldn't get anywhere near the carriage, unfortunately, as they were caught by the royal guards rather quickly. They were apprehended and questioned about their movements, but were released without any repercussions once the carriage was no longer on sight."

"A royal carriage traveling at night into the forest, followed by an appearance of a pair of travellers at the bluffs? This couldn't be a coincidence," Ansen wonders loudly just as Yoongi begins wondering the same thing.

"The Wicked King wouldn't be that reckless," Yoongi says to his men, although he still sounds doubtful.

"But who were the people in the carriage? There were no news or signs of His Majesty leaving The Citadel last night. The men had been convinced by the royal guards that they were lady maids and palace staff being sent out to the orchard house which belongs to the Royal family in the Elcester Forest," Yijeong inquires, to which Yoongi shakes his head after thinking deeply about this matter.

"I don't think that would be the case. We have never seen them sending out their palace staff in their royal carriages, let alone with multiple royal guards escorting them if it was merely for the palace's business. And it would be odd to send anyone to work during the eve of Lemmus Rising, when the people would be busy doing their rites to pray for their ancestors' soul," Yoongi says, trying to be as calm as possible even if he feels like his voice is getting drowned by the sound of his racing heartbeat. "Whoever the Wicked King sent out with the carriage, they must be important to him, and he was using the Lemmus Rising phenomenon to cover it."

His voice sounds a bit hollow to his own ears as he says this, only because he is trying his best to tame the burning hope rising in his chest.

A royal carriage traveling through the forest. The disturbance that was felt at the same exact time he felt a portal opening in the Elcester Forest. Two traveling maidens entering the bluffs merely a short period of time later.

There could only be one explanation to answer this series of events. "They were in disguises. That was what the magic was for. Whoever they were, the magic must have changed how they appeared in the eyes of people who dared to take a closer look."

"Have you any suspicions who they might have been?" Yijeong questions him, but Yoongi cannot find it in him to answer loudly.

I do.

"I'm not too sure. But let's watch closely at the situation until we can find out more," Yoongi says, completely contradicting his own thoughts as he is suddenly feeling determined to find answers. Yijeong watches closely as Yoongi tightens his coat, only realising now that the white horse standing beside his sovereign is saddled and ready to go, with packed bags being hanged on his side.

"You're leaving?"

Yoongi looks at him and nods. "You said it yourself, didn't you? It's time for me to go home," he says. "He is making his moves just as we're getting closer, so it should be ideal for me to return and heal my mana, just in case it would be needed to handle any situation that may arise in the future. I might also be able to find some answers if I observe the situation closely while planning our next move."

Yes, he needs some answers. He needs to know what the Wicked King is up to and if this has anything to do with the recent movements of the neighbouring empire that seems suspicious.

The only thing that he cannot possibly share to his companions is that he no longer has any mana left to spare. Not when he has been using the last of his mana to find his soulmate. Even if he had only managed to do so through his dreams.

Yoongi closes his eyes as he recalls the first meeting he had with you the night before. It was some sort of a miracle that he managed to find a mage hiding in Smotia who was capable of using ancient spells to help him trace his soulmate. It was through the mage that he found out that there was a place where the magic concealing your presence would not exist. And through his help, Yoongi was able to see you through the dreamlands, to find that the one he had thought he had lost a long time ago has always been so close within reach, concealed under a spell hidden within the amulet you were seen wearing in the dream.

The only thing he regretted was wasting the short time he had with you by promising to find you, only to find out that the Wicked King might have moved you to a different place. Will he find you if he returns home and once he recovered his mana?

I cannot afford to have too much hope, not right now. Not after years and years of failing to find any trace of her in this realm, he silently tells himself, as he continues to wonder what is currently happening with Nythelean Empire.

If she truly had been one of the maidens inside the carriage, why would he send her out to the wasteland?

Why now?