章節 15: Chapter-15 Blue Glow
"Something isn't right," Sebastian said to Lucas and Garry as they followed him back to the mansion.
"What do you mean, sir?" Garry asked cautiously.
"The presence of the royal guards from the main family right before we reached there, even when the place was closest to us. This doesn't fit. We left immediately after receiving the information, right?" Sebastian paused and looked at Lucas, who nodded.
"Yes, sir. We left immediately. The spy who gave us the information even confirmed the time when he saw the rogue entering the kingdom. We took only thirty minutes to reach the location. The royal palace is almost 50 minutes away from the place. It's strange how the royal guards -" Lucas paused when he saw the prince walking to the backyard.
"It's not a coincidence, Lucas. There is no way the royal guards can reach there before us. It only leaves one option. The royal guards had been following the rogue since earlier. Or should I rephrase it? They were trying to capture the rogue before anyone else could find out about it," Sebastian said before he pulled out his phone.
"Grandpa is hiding something from me about the kingdom. I am not sure if he wants to use that information against me during the throning ceremony by providing the information to Stephano and others, or if he is trying to protect the kingdom from something bigger," Sebastian dialed Blue's number and was about to call her when he remembered another thing.
"Did you notice the way he was looking at us? I want you to send our best spy in the royal Kingdom to try to capture the face of that rogue. I feel like we know him. And even if we don't, we can find more information about him through his face. Once we get to his background information, we can search more about what is turning these vampires into rogues," Sebastian looked at Lucas, and the latter immediately nodded before writing it on his tablet to keep records.
"Garry, I want you to look for Witch Madonna. If there is anyone who can tell us what is happening in the kingdom without us risking our plans, it's her,"
"I will do it right away, sir," Garry said, and Sebastian hummed.
"Regarding the matter with this rogue vampire, I want you guys to keep this secret among us. And by that, I mean you shouldn't even reveal the information to your team members," Sebastian turned to look at Lucas and Garry, who nodded back.
"There is something I wanted to report, sir," Harry walked to Sebastian, and the prince quirked his brows at the subordinate.
"I think there is a mole in the palace. From what I heard, the royal palace was given the information about our arrival. According to your instructions, I checked the whereabouts of the royal guards. They were mostly the ones who were already in the area. Princess Scarlett and Victoria were shopping in the area," Harry reported, and Sebastian scoffed inside his head.
"It's faux. The presence of the princesses in the local market when they never set foot there is already suspicious. This makes me even more confident that they are deliberately trying to mislead us," Sebastian said.
"Good work, Harry. Keep a keen eye on Stephano's guards," Sebastian dismissed Garry and Harry before walking to his garden.
He looked at the plants his mother grew, feeling strangely calm in their presence. It was as if he could feel his mom's presence through them.
Sebastian remembered that he was about to dial Blue's number and took out his phone again.
"Aaaaaaaaahhh," he heard a scream coming from the forest and turned to look at Lucas, who looked back at him with wide eyes.
"Was that -?" Lucas started.
"Where is the Princess?" Sebastian asked everyone in the mansion through the mind link.
"She has gone into the forest, sir," Miss Zoya's voice came through, and Sebastian closed his eyes in frustration.
"And where the hell are the guards, which are supposed to guard her?" His voice roared through the mind link.
"Blue is following the princess as instructed by you, sir," Miss Zoya replied again, one of the only people in the palace who could answer the prince in his angry state.
"Where is Blue?" Sebastian looked at Lucas before they started running toward the forest.
Meanwhile, Blue ran across the forest to look for the princess too. She also heard the scream, and her body shook with fear of what would happen if the prince heard or found out that she lost the Princess's trail on her first day.
Thankfully he wasn't in the palace.
Blue reached the water body and saw Elliana sitting at the edge of the lake. Her legs were pulled near her chest as she supported her head on her knees with her hands extended in front while she touched the water, mumbling something incoherent.
The princess was completely drenched and shivering from the cold. It was obvious what had happened here.
Blue sat on the tree, looking at the princess. Her only job was to protect her from danger and spy on her. The description never said caring about her cold and minute things like that.
'Huh,' Elliana took a deep breath, feeling like crying. Nothing was right here. Elliana felt alone. Her eyes brimmed with tears told her to look away from the water, but she couldn't. She thought she might feel calm with nature like she always does. However, even after singing and dancing, she didn't feel good today.
Was it because she fell into the water, or was it because she felt lost? It felt like there was no meaning to her life at the moment. A puppet who was constantly waiting for their master to move them, or worse, a pet that was there to appease her master. She felt conflicted, and the misleading urge to jump into the water again and let the water take her away was clouding her mind.
The otherwise sound of the flowing water that always calms her was making her sad and overthink everything around her.
She wasn't like this. Elliana was sure that her mindset wasn't this negative. There was something about this place that didn't feel right. There were vibes of sadness as if the environment was filled with silent wails of people or cries for help. She shook her head to erase the weird images forming in her head.
She wanted to go back already, but how to do so? She lost her sense of direction when she was running and swirling mindlessly. She can only wait for the prince or the guards to come and look for her now. Elliana bit her lips before hiding her face between her knees.
"Elliana?" Elliana heard a voice, and she looked around, confused.
"Who is it?" She whispered.
"I am you. What are you doing sitting here? You should get out of here. It's dangerous here. The glow in your hands has turned blue. It will start feeding off the power of the lake, and if that happens, you won't be able to control it," The voice said, and Elliana looked at her hand over the water. The needle-like glow in the middle of her palm was glowing blue now.
"The sadness you are feeling right now belongs to this water body. This water has seen many deaths, and none have been good. Your energy is channeling the pain to you. The longer you sit here, the more you'll feel the sadness," the voice said again, frustrating Elliana.
First golden, then red, and now Blue? What kind of mysterious tyranny was this? Elliana gritted her teeth, not liking the element of surprise.
"You are not me. Who are you? If I knew everything, I wouldn't be here. Tell me what's going on?" Elliana confronted the voice in her head like G had asked her, feeling a bit scared as she removed her hand from above the lake and placed it on her chest instead.
After a few minutes, when she didn't hear anything, Elliana finally relaxed.
G was right.
It was indeed one of her delusions again. However, it didn't change the fact that what she said was true too. Maybe it was her subconscious thinking. But what if -
Elliana felt scared at the thought of another what-if in her life.
Creek!
Elliana's ears perked when she heard the sound of leaves rustling behind her.
"Elliana?" Sebastian asked cautiously when he saw her looking at him with pitiful eyes.
"What happened?" Sebastian asked.
It was clear what happened judging from her current condition, but he wanted to hear it from her.
As if she was wronged by the entire world, Elliana stood from her place and walked to the Prince in slow strides.
"I... I wanted to take a stroll. I was enjoying the environment, singing and dancing, when I heard the sound of the water. I followed it and got lost," Elliana's lower lip trembled, and Sebastain's eyes darkened.
"Then I heard some strange rustling of leaves when I turned around, my foot got stuck in that uprooted stem, and I fell straight into the cold water," Elliana looked up at the prince like a small kid who was waiting for their parents to tell them everything is going to be alright.
Sebastian looked at the girl in front of him with complicated emotions. He didn't know whether he should laugh at her because of how cute she looked, feel relaxed that she wasn't hurt badly, or get angry that she got lost and made him waste his time when he should be using this time to devise plans against Stephano and those rogue vampires.
"Why did you run off like that? Let's go back, okay?" Sebastain's voice was extra soft, and Elliana nodded like an obedient child.
Sebastian turned around, pausing abruptly, when Elliana suddenly grabbed the material of his overcoat.
It looked like she was really scared this time.
With a complicated look, Sebastian removed her hand from his overcoat and grabbed her hand instead.
Elliana was shocked to see the prince holding her hand like this, and she tightened her hold around him, moving towards him subconsciously that didn't go unnoticed by Sebastian, who sighed, unsure of what he should do in a situation like this.
Elliana's cheeks turned red as she felt warm in her heart while Sebastian's jaws squared because of the annoyance of this pretense.
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