My shoes made sharp clicks on the polished wooden floor as I made my way across the long gallery. Oil paintings of different hues lined both sides of the hallway, displaying pictures from the wild, unexplored peaks of the mountains to the slices of life of the Royal family. Starting from the founding monarch, King Gavienus, to the current King, my father, they and their close families were all enshrined in portraits along the gallery. I was not amongst the paintings, but I was certain there will come a day where my portrait will be in the long gallery as well.

Just as I was nearing the exit at the other end, my feet paused. I turned my head to the left to look up at a particular painting that had caught my attention.  

It was a woman in her late teens with rich, chestnut brown hair braided up neatly, and a pair of warm hazel eyes that curved down slightly as she smiled pleasantly. With her hands clasped below her chest in a regal manner, she sat on an olive-green armchair made of gold-painted wood. While not exceptionally beautiful, there was a calming and gentle aura around her that could make even the viewers of her portrait relaxed.

And that was my mother - the former Queen.

I heard that she passed away soon after giving birth to me due to illness. Hence, I had never met her in person. Even so, I heard from the old retainers that she was a dignified and gentle person who was kind to everyone. She was from Breusia, a neighbouring country that was around the same size as the Lorzelea Kingdom. Just like how my engagement with Lady Liliana was an arranged marriage, her marriage with father was arranged as well. Political marriages amongst royalty were not hard to hear of, but many couples did not have a happy marriage with each spouse ending up having affairs outside. However, I heard that she had a good relationship with my father, and she was well-liked by the people of Lorzelea Kingdom.

“It would be nice if Lady Liliana and I can get along as well,” I murmured hopefully.

“Charles! I was looking for you!” a voice called out energetically to me.

I turned my head back to see a boy taller than me with wavy chocolate brown hair gesturing wildly as he ran towards me. It was no other than my childhood friend, Aedus Lev Swenson, the son of the current Knight Commander of Lorzelea Kingdom’s Royal Knight Order. As our fathers were close friends, we had grown up together as well.

“Hey Aedus, you’re here,” I greeted in return with a smile. “Have you been looking for me?”

“Yeah!” he replied as he skidded to a stop in front of me.

Then, with two palms together, he bowed.

“I’m so sorry for what happened the other day! I didn’t know she was your fiancée!”

I could not help but give a smile at his exaggerated actions. Although Aedus looked frivolous, he was actually an earnest person. But it was not enough to stop his butler from running after him and lecturing him on the proper behaviour of a Duke’s son.

“Ah, so it was about that. Your butler dragged you away so quickly I was not able to talk to you about it.” His butler had ran into the room in a huff after hearing about the trouble his young master had caused. As they had to leave the Palace immediately due to a prior appointment, Aedus was dragged away by the back of his collar while being severely lectured. He definitely had a hard time after that.

“Don't worry. Lady Liliana was fine when she left the Royal Palace yesterday. I was really angry yesterday because of how afraid Lady Liliana was. But as long as you understand how dangerous it is to run in the Palace’s grounds now, it is okay.”

“And instead of me, wouldn’t it be better for you to apologise to her instead?” I asked.

“Uh, yes, I will definitely apologise to her in person, ” he answered after a slight pause. “But that was not what I meant!” he exclaimed.

“I mean, she’s your fiancée, right? Even though I was caught up in the moment, I, uh, still did something like, k-kissing her hand…” His face turned red as he said his final sentence with his eyes wandering around.

I was unable to understand his reaction.

“Hand-kissing is a gesture of respect, isn’t it? Although it is hardly used nowadays and more romanticised,” I mused as I looked up thoughtfully. “Well, even if you did that, it should not be serious enough for you to be scolded. Did something happen?”

Aedus looked perplexed at my reply. “No, nothing happened to me,” he replied quickly before turning sideways to mutter something under his breath. “Have I been overthinking? Hmmm… I guess if it is alright with him…?”

In the first place, what was there about it to be disagreeable with me? I only gave a puzzled look in return.

“Anyway, where are you heading to?” he continued lightly.

“I am on my way to the library. There was something unclear during my lesson, so I wanted to further look into it. Do you want to come with me?” I invited.

Aedus dropped his jaws comically. “You’ve just finished your lesson, and you are going to study again?”

“Not study, it’s just reading up on something.”

“I don’t see a difference in that…” Aedus muttered as he furrowed his brows.

I gave a wry smile. Even though Aedus was not awful in his studies, he was a person who preferred to move his body instead of reading books.

“I heard that there are some new books on biology. And it seems like they are from a faraway country. Do you want to take a look?”

Aedus’s eyes sparkled. “Yeah! A faraway place? Maybe they will have a sample of never seen before flowers!”

“Let’s go then,” I said with a grin.

As we walked down the corridors to the library, we chatted about how our day went. Aedus had been into gardening recently, so thanks to him, my knowledge of the plants in our garden had increased as well. The way his eyes shone and how his actions become exaggerated while describing what happened reminded me a little of Lady Liliana as she ate sweets. She was the first person I had seen who gave the happiest expression as she sampled sweet after sweet.

All of a sudden, a thought came to me. I waited for a break in Aedus’s story before I asked, “By the way, you said that you are going to visit Lady Liliana soon, right?”

“Yeah! Why?”

“Can you find out for me her likes and dislikes? Although I tried to find out during our meeting, she was quite reserved so she might have answered some things to suit me,” I asked.

“And you should try to be gentler to her, you definitely scared her the previous time,” I said as I recalled how she had hid behind her maid’s dress after talking with Aedus.

“Sure! Leave it to me!” he replied energetically as he gave a bow with his hand over his heart.

“Leave what to you? Are you up to something again?” A mature woman’s voice carried powerfully to us.

Aedus and I looked up to see a woman wearing a fitting indigo gown that empathised her waist grinning with an arm on her hip. Her long wine-coloured hair swayed as she stepped towards us with two maids in tow; a pair of identical twins looking to be around 14-year-old with light blue hair.

“Even though she is a married woman, the charm of a mature woman in her late twenties is the ultimate weapon that can make any men fall - and my negotiations go easier,” my father had once said before he was hit on the head with a fist by the very person he was describing. Although I am not old enough to fully understand his words, I could comprehend that my stepmother was an exceedingly beautiful woman.

“Good afternoon, Queen Alena,” the both of us chorused as we bowed.

When Aedus raised his head again, he took a half step back at the closeness of her face as she had bent down to his eye level.

“So what is Aedus up to now? I heard that you pushed a girl into a pond while trying to steal one of my roses?” she asked as her lilac eyes twinkled.

Aedus looked down at the floor with a pale face. “I-I’m sorry. I won’t do that again…” he quickly apologised.

Queen Alena straightened her back and gave a tired smile. “Sorry sorry, was I too fierce? I didn’t come here to make you apologise to me. But if you ever want a rose just ask me, alright? I don’t want you to go around doing dangerous things again.”

Aedus nodded vigorously. “I won’t do that again!”

“What a relief,” one of the maids spoke up. It was a girl with neatly trimmed short bob hair. Her grey eyes revealed no emotions as she spoke. “You don’t need to have your hands chopped off.”

“Or your legs tied together and hang upside down,” another girl with her hair braided into two plaits added in a tone like she was talking about the weather.

“Oh, hanging upside down is the worst. You will throw up until there is nothing left in your belly and your head will feel like it is being crushed from the blood pressure,” the first girl replied as she looked at her twin.

Her twin nodded. “But at least it is better than losing your limbs!”

Aedus widened his eyes at their words and looked as if he believed them with his face turning a paler shade of white.

“Kori, Ame. You are taking the joke a bit too far. And Aedus is the son of a Duke, this is not an appropriate way to talk to him,” Queen Alena noticed Aedus’s discomfort and quickly lectured her two maids.

The two girls immediately lowered their heads and placed both hands together in front of them with one hand clasped over the other.

“We apologise for our impudence,” they apologised with crystal-like voices.

From what I knew, the both of them grew up in Breusia and were recently brought into the Palace to serve Queen Alena as her maids for two years. After that, they were to attend the Academy for three years before returning back to their country. They were said to be strong magicians from a reasonably distinguished family in Breusia and were sent here as a special diplomatic effort between the two countries. I have not interacted with them much, but I could tell that they were the type that was tough for me to handle.

“Ahem,” Queen Alena gave a dry cough to clear the atmosphere. “We went off the topic just now. So what were the both of you talking about earlier? What is Aedus helping with?” she asked curiously.

“Aedus is going to visit Lady Liliana soon, so I asked him to find out her likes and dislikes for me,” I explained.

“So that’s how it is,” Queen Alena nodded as she replied. “Since Lady Liliana’s birthday is coming up in 3 months, it is good to start getting some ideas of what to get.”

“Do you know when is her birthday?”

Queen Alena looked surprised. “Aren’t you trying to find out her likes and dislikes for her birthday present?”

I shook my head. “I did not know her birthday was coming up. I just thought it would be good to find out more about her since she is my fiancée.”

Queen Alena placed a hand on her forehead and shook her head. “Is it that the men in the Lorzelea family have no romance in their bloodline?”

“If it’s romance, I know a thing or two about it!” Aedus suddenly exclaimed. “Girls like cute things and flowers, right? I heard about it from Mr Gardener. He also told me that knowing more about flowers will make a person popular with the ladies.”

“Wouldn’t jewellery be a better gift? It retains its value over time and can be sold in times of need,” I questioned.

Queen Alena gave a wry smile. “The both of you are not wrong, but your thoughts are too shallow!” she declared as she shook a finger. “Just appealing to their taste is not enough, meaningfulness is important as well.”

“Ah, I have a good idea!” she suddenly exclaimed. “Why don’t you make a magic crystal for her?”

“Magic crystal?” Aedus asked blankly.

He probably had not heard about it since he was not a magician, so I started to explain, “Magic crystals are made by flowing magic into a bowl of salt water solution as you grow the crystal. The resulting crystal will have high magical property and a unique colour depending on the creator.”

“But it takes a long time, and the resulting crystals are usually really fragile. Will that really be a good gift for Lady Liliana?” I asked as I looked at Queen Alena puzzledly.

She gave a firm nod. “You still have some time from now until her birthday. It is not impossible to grow something that is strong enough to be made into an accessory. Plenty of time for you to trial and error,” she said as she gave an evil grin.

“And as an added bonus, I will help you to insert a protection spell into the crystal. Not a bad deal, right?”

“That is the reason why she is your fiancée,” father’s ominous words echoed in my head. The scene of Lady Liliana lying on the bed limply while magical beasts attacked the Palace flashed through my mind. Queen Alena was one of the most potent magicians in the country; her protection spell was definitely going to be very powerful.

“Alright. I’ll do it,” I said resolutely.

“Mmm, and just in case anything happens to her, there is another attribute about the magic crystal that will help you as well.”

“Another attribute?”

Queen Alena gave a mysterious smile. “That is -”

*****

“She, hah, she is this way!”

In between huffs, I raised my voice as I ran alongside a group of men in different types of commoner clothes. The stomps of boots hitting ground echoed off the brick walls in the small alleyways as we sped past bustling streets into the maze-like back alleys. I understood how eye-catching our group was with a large group of over a dozen men with a young boy amidst them. In fact, there were many curious onlookers fiercely whispering as we raced past them. However, there was nothing we could do at this point apart from ignoring them.

“Your Highness, are you sure it is this way?” one of the men asked with a tense face. He was a person in his late twenties and the unit commander of the unit of Royal Guards that was in charge of my protection this time. Although Lord Remington had said to leave the security to him, my father had sent a group of Royal Guards in plainclothes to follow me secretly.

“Hah, hah… Yes, I am sure!” I replied as I panted heavily.

Like an invisible string, something was drawing me in a specific direction. And there was no way could that be fake.

I clutched the cloth over my heart as I continued to run.

I could feel that she was near. Maybe around this corner? Or the next?

Even though she seemed to be moving further away from us, I was glad. If she was running, then it must mean that she was still alive.

Unlike the guards surrounding me, I was already panting heavily, and my legs felt as if they were going to break anytime. Even then, I forced my legs to continue running because I was the only one who could tell where Lady Liliana’s location was.

The other attribute that magic crystals had was the creator having the ability to locate it. No matter how far, it was still possible to sense the general direction of the magic crystal. Could it be that Queen Alena suggested that because she predicted something like this might happen?

“Your Highness, let us stop for a while,” the unit commander who had been running beside me suddenly announced. Before I could say anything, he stopped in his tracks, and the men behind immediately did the same.

“I need a few men to go ahead to check how things are, another to go back to the town hall to receive updates. The rest stand by for further instructions.”

“Yes!” the men shouted back as they gave a salute.

Very soon, the men split up the job scope and ran off in the respective directions.  

“Hah… Hah... Why are we stopping?” I asked as I bent over trying to catch my breath.

The unit commander raised his hand to give a salute before replying, “This is to organise our manpower and gather information. Currently, our resources are stretched from closing down the three exits, going after the escaped assailants and guarding the prisoners. There might have been new developments while we are chasing after the signal from the magic crystal.”

My brows knitted together. “But I lost the signal from Lady Liliana’s magic crystal earlier. If we do not chase after her now, what if we lose the signal again?”

“Are you still feeling the signal from her magic crystal?” he asked tersely.

I closed my eyes and took deep breaths as I felt the magic coursing through my veins. Magic was said to be a kind of energy that only selected people can use. Although it existed in the air and in the bodies of all living creatures, just people with a particular aptitude are able to sense it and use it.

The magic crystal that Lady Liliana has was previously a part of me. Therefore, when I concentrated enough, I was able to sense its general direction.

“Yes. I can still feel it, and Lady Liliana seems to be moving slower now.”

“Good. I have checked the map, although this area is complicated, there are not too many places for a girl to hide. The men that I have sent are highly trained trackers, so we should be able to find traces of her soon.”

“I hope so,” I replied as I gave a tired smile. “What you said was true. There are too many strange things about this incident. We need to get as much information while we can.”

The unit commander gave a wry smile.

“Please take the chance to catch your breath, Your Highness. We need you to be in good shape to lead us to the girl.”

Leaving that sentence behind, he lifted up a hand to excuse himself before approaching one of his men.

“Nathan, I need to discuss something with you. The map that we were given…”

As their voices blended into the background, I took a step back to lean on the wall.

“Hah,” I heaved a deep sigh as I lowered my head. It frustrated me to know that I was a burden in their operation.

The other guards who were waiting for the next point of action started to discuss amongst themselves.

“I’ll say that they have underestimated us by trying to kidnap His Highness!” a guard wearing a brown cap said agitatedly.

“But don’t you think that it is suspicious? Having a bunch of armed men hidden inside the shop like this. It definitely had to be planned,” another guard said. “And the only other person who will be well-informed of the Prince’s whereabouts will be from the Remington family.”

“So you are saying that the person behind this is Lord Remington? I thought it was suspicious how he wasn’t around to greet His Highness this morning!  And even though he said he would arrange for security, not only was there was no security at all, there was even an ambush!”

“I don’t think Lord Remington has anything to do with this,” a guard with short dark grey hair said. He placed his hand under his chin before he continued, “When the masked attacked came out of their hiding places to attack the Prince and the footman, the footman said, ‘So the Lord’s hunch was right. How dare that bastard does this!’ It sounds like it was something he had not expected either.”

“But he is a servant in the Remington Household. His words might not be trustworthy,” a guard added doubtfully.

“Now that you say this, the girl that we are going after now is also a member of the Remington Household, right? If they are not trustworthy, could this be a trick as well?”

There was silence as the members looked at each other with uneasiness in their eyes. We were now in a dark and narrow place and the sun going down soon. If it really was a trick to lure us into a trap, this site was a good chance for them to strike again.

“Mmm.” The one who broke the silence was the unit commander. “I understand where you guys are coming from, but it is unlikely Lord Remington is the perpetrator. Firstly, he has no benefit in kidnapping the Prince, and there is no way he can get away with that. Secondly, his daughter was drugged and kidnapped.”

‘Drugged and kidnapped’. That was what we had discovered after we had overcome the assailants and ran out of the shop. The coachman was trembling and rambling as he tried to explain what had happened and there were only a hat and an overturned basket of bread left on the sidewalk as evidence.

“However, it is worrying that we have not been able to contact him until now. Perhaps he is not completely void of involvement in this incident.”

“Ah… How complicated, if only our watchman had managed to go after the black carriage…” one of the guards sighed, and a few of his comrades immediately followed with nods.

“Well, he did try to follow them, but he was stopped by two hooded men. He was alone so it might have gotten dangerous if he insisted on getting involved. Plus, our priority is still His Highness’s safety,” one of the men answered matter-of-factly as he put his arms behind his head.

My heart felt as if someone had squeezed it tightly. Even though I should be happy that the guards were all loyal to me, there was something about their words that just didn’t sit well with me.

What will my father say in such a situation? If it were him, he would definitely say something to encourage everyone while placating their fears. But what about me? What can I say?

I clenched my fists.

“I believe that Lord Remington is a person who treasures his daughter. He will never place her in danger,” I said with conviction. “But there is too much we do not know right now. Let us try and find out Lady Liliana’s whereabouts first. She is just a child and innocent after all.”

I took a deep breath before I continued, “And if Lord Remington is really the one behind this, the King will grant him the appropriate punishment.”

The guards looked at each other with smiles before saluting.

“Yes, Your Highness!”

I guess this was okay? I heaved a silent sigh of relief.                                                                

Suddenly the sound of footsteps rushing towards us echoed off the walls.

“Commander! We are back!”

“How did it go?”

The guards looked at each other before looking back at him with grim faces.

“There is something that you should see!”

*****

We were brought deeper into the alley. Around a 10 minutes’ walk later, the two guards who had gone ahead stopped in their tracks.

“This is the place. We heard some scuttling noises coming from under the manhole cover,” one of the guards said as he pointed at a round metal cover on the floor right in front of a brick wall. “It stopped when we called out, so we find it very suspicious.”

“Lady Liliana should be nearby. The magic crystal feels to be very near,” I added on breathlessly. We had been searching the area for such a long time but were not able to find any of her tracks, could it be that it was because the answer was beneath our feet all these time?

The unit commander studied the buildings surrounding us. They were all around three to four storey high with closed windows.

“So it was underground?” he muttered to himself.

Then, he bent down and knocked on the manhole cover.

“Is there anyone down there?” he shouted. “Answer me if there is someone down there.”

There was silence for a while before the unit commander stood up again.

“Does anyone have a stick sturdy enough to open up the manhole cover?”

“Is this enough?” a guard offered out a retractable metal baton around one thumb’s width.

“Isn’t this the first weapon every guard trainee is taught how to use? You still have this?” one of the guards asked in astonishment.

“Isn’t this fine? It comes into good use now after all,” the other guard replied defensively.

“You guys, stop playing around,” the unit commander said as he approached the guard and took the baton from him.

“Yes, this should be fine,” he said as he examined the baton while bending it slightly.

“Hey, if there is anyone down there, stay clear of the manhole cover!”

He inserted the baton into the hole and lifted it open with a grunt. The other guards immediately went forward to support and lift the manhole cover aside.

“Commander, the lamp,” a guard handed over a handheld lamp.

Taking the lamp, the commander waved it over the dark manhole. From the dim light, I could see that the ground was not too far from the entrance. There was dry ground at the sides of the waterway, with a shallow stream of water flowing through in the middle.  

He bent slightly to get a better view and murmured, “There’s a metal fence extending from where the brick wall is. Did the girl try to escape from the manhole because the road is blocked?”

“Commander! There! There are some wet footsteps!” a guard pointed out excitedly.

True enough, there were some wet prints on the sides of the waterway.

“So, Lady Liliana is really below? We need to go down and help her then!” I said excitedly.

“Your Highness, please wait,” the unit commander said.

I looked at him puzzledly.

“Please let me handle this.”

He cleared his throat before shouting, “I am Heath Kinnison, a unit commander of the Royal Guards. We are here to help you. If you can hear me, can you come towards us?”

Why was he being reserved?

There was silence for a while, and just as I was getting impatient, a faint female voice answered, “Are you really able to help me?”

A look of relief flashed across everyone’s faces.

“Yes. We will not harm you. You have my word as a unit commander of the Royal Guards,” the unit commander answered confidently.

After a while, the sound of something walking through water echoed. However, the face that peered up from the bottom of the manhole was not the one I had imagined.

A girl around Lady Liliana’s age with silver hair tied in a messy braid and her short-sleeved dress stained and crumpled. With her amethyst eyes brimming with tears, she tilted her head up to look at the circle of men surrounding the manhole.

“Hic… Please. Hic… Please help us…” she sniffed as she wiped tears from her eyes with her darkened hands.

“Hurry! Help her up!” the unit commander shouted.

The other guards who had also been stunned by the scene jumped into action immediately.

It was not Lady Liliana? Then what about her? Where was Lady Liliana? A thousand questions run through my mind as I stood back silently.

When the girl was finally on the ground, I noticed something in her hands that stopped my heart.

“The necklace! Why is it with you?” I questioned as I rushed forward to grab her hand that was holding onto a gold chain with a pale yellow crystal attached at the end.

It was unmistakably the necklace I had given to Lady Liliana. But why was it not with Lady Liliana?

“Your Highness, you are scaring the young lady,” the unit commander warned as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

Ah, he’s right. The girl had stiffened up and shrunk away from me with her round amethyst eyes tearing up again.

This was bad. I should apologise for being so aggressive with her– Just as I thought of that, the girl grabbed my hands back in return instead, startling me.

“You know this necklace? Then do you know who is Miss Liliana?” she asked frantically.

I was so surprised by her words I was only able to nod my head.

“P-please save her! Miss Liliana has been taken away by the bad men! And, uh, uh, and Sui as well! They were both locked up, but for some reason, I wasn’t. And then the creatures suddenly flooded the room, and then I ran away…” the girl started to ramble incorrigibly as she began to recount what had happened.

The unit commander stepped in between us and kneeled down as he placed a hand on her shoulders.

“Can you tell us what has happened from the top? Have you met a girl named Liliana? Can you describe how she looks like?” he asked calmly.

The girl paused and nodded. “I met her on the streets while I was delivering bread because she called out to me. She had red hair and a pair of beautiful green eyes that looked like Pepper. But w-we were captured by bad men and brought to a dark room-”

“Just out of curiosity, but who is Pepper?”

“Ah, he’s a calico cat that lived in my village,” the girl replied as her eyes lighted up.

“I see. It must have been a lovely cat then,” the unit commander said as he nodded. “So what happened after you were brought into the dark room?”

The girl frowned as she tried to recall the events. “After that… We were left alone by the men. Miss Liliana was locked up in a cage, but I was just left outside. They kept complaining about getting hurt when touching Miss Liliana as well,” she answered.

That was probably the effect of the protection spell Queen Alena had cast on the crystal. The girl also seemed to be calmer now and was no longer crying.

“And then Miss Liliana woke up and a bad man came into the room. There were black rabbits that dropped out of the ceiling after that, and Sui helped me to cut away the ropes on my wrists.”

“Who is Sui? Is he also a captured person?”

“Yep. Sui was locked up in the cage with Miss Liliana, but he was captured for a longer time than us, so he knew a lot of things. And he was really courageous as well even though he is smaller than me.”

“I see,” the unit commander answered. His eyes wavered at the silver hair of the young girl. “Hmm... A slave trading ring?” he murmured as the crease between his brows deepened.

My heart skipped a beat at his words. Slavery was forbidden in the Lorzelea Kingdom since the founding of the nation. However, slavery was still rampant in Breusia even though their current King had set laws to stop slavery as well. The name of the boy captured along with them was unmistakably Breusian. Could it be that the perpetrator behind this incident was from Breusia?

“And how did you come to have the necklace on your hands?” the unit commander asked as he pointed at the magic crystal.

“It was given to me by Miss Liliana. I wanted to help all of them escape, but Sui said that the cage’s key was with the bad men and he cannot use magic in the cage, so I was asked to get help. And then Miss Liliana passed this to me because she says that it can protect me.”

The unit commander’s face turned dark at her words, but he remained composed as he asked, “I see. And you have been running through the sewers after that? Why didn’t you climb out to get help?”

“Um, because Sui asked me to hide in the sewers for a while so I ran a fast as I could away from the room. When I finally ran into a dead end, I thought that it should be safe enough to come out. However, the cover was heavier than I thought. As I was struggling, I heard voices, so I stopped.”

The unit commander nodded. “Is it okay if you pass the necklace to us? We will return it to La- Miss Liliana. Do not worry, my men and I will protect you in its stead,” he said gently as he looked into her eyes.

The girl hesitated for a moment before placing it in his hands.

“Please save Miss Liliana and return it to her!”

He placed a hand on her head. “Not to worry, we will. But before we can do that we need to find out her location. Do you remember anything about the place you came from?”

“I was just running away as fast as I could, and the sewers were dark so I cannot remember the place I came from… But Sui said that they were going to move out soon so they might not be there anymore. I’m sorry I don’t know anything helpful...” the girl’s face fell as she replied.

“It is alright. You have provided handy information,” the unit commander said gently. “And just as a final question, how big was the cage that Miss Liliana and the boy were in?”

“It was around this tall.” The girl lifted her hand to her cheeks.

“I see. Thank you for your help. We will get you to safety first. Can you follow the man over there?” He stood up and pointed at one of the guards.

As the back of the girl and the guard grew further, the unit commander turned to face me before holding out the necklace to me silently.

“Thank you,” I said as I gripped the pale yellow crystal in my hand. It was one step forward but two steps back. If the magic crystal was with the girl, then there was no way for us to track Lady Liliana down now.

Was she lying out cold somewhere with steel bars surrounding her? Or could she have been attacked by magical beasts already just like that night in the Palace? How could it be that the girl that was just smiling with me on the carriage a few hours ago have disappeared so suddenly?

Waves of uneasiness swamped my heart, threatening to drown me. Despite fighting against the current, it felt as if there was no way for me to break above the water level again. For a moment, the ground felt as if it was moving.

“Your Highness, are you okay?”

The unit commander placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it lightly as if trying to give me courage.

“Yes, I am fine. Thank you,” I replied as I lifted my head up again.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. This was not the time to wallow in negative feelings. It was still too early for me to give up.

“Shall we head back to the town hall first? There is something I want to confirm.”

I gave a firm nod. “Alright.”

As the men around me busied themselves, my eyes went to the pale yellow crystal in my hands again.

"I will definitely save you, so please wait for a while more...!"