SPELLBOUND

Last night, while the sounds of battle raging from afar was intense, Evie could do nothing else but just stand by the window, fingers with knuckles bone white, desperately gripping the window frame as if she were hanging on for dear life. The images and thoughts swirling in her brain had been driving her near to madness and terror. No, she was not at all afraid of the possibility that the enemy might be reaching her. However, she was scared and worried to death about Gavriel. She wished she could go down to the frontlines right this moment just to have a quick peek on him, just to reassure herself that he was fine. She could even accept that he would have had sustained some form of injuries as this was a war. All she needed to know was that he was alive and well.

When the realization finally sank into her consciousness that the clashing sounds of battle had stopped before daylight, Evie found herself dashing out of her room and in a few short moments, she was out on the veranda, leaning out as far as she can to catch a hint of something – of anything. To her dismay, she could hear nothing but silence even after standing still for a long while and that silence was almost as frightening as her receiving some kind of bad news. What could have happened since the moment she was taken away from the battlefront? Was it already over that quickly? She had asked herself over and over again when suddenly, a roar echoed. It was a roar of victory. The battle was over! But who won?

Her innards shook intensely at this feeling of not knowing the outcome of the battle. Only now she could truly appreciate and know how this feeling was extremely unbearable. Gavriel… she wanted to see her husband. She wanted to see him victorious. He promised her he would come back to her, safe.

Earlier, Elias had come running excitedly to her while she was in the garden with a big smile plastered all over his face and joyously told her that Dacria had won the war and that the imperial army had already left.

Upon hearing that news, Evie could hardly contain the relief and gladness that she felt overflowing in her heart that her knees almost gave way and causing her to fall over. She did not know how but she managed to steady herself and grabbed onto something to prevent such embarrassing thing from happening. After hearing the news, Elias brought her to her chambers and

But even after waking up and night came, she waited with bated breath and on tenterhooks, Gavriel never did come back to the fortress nor did he come to see her. She was a little worried as she knew he was fine. But if he was truly fine, then what was holding him back from coming back? She also had that feeling that the butler kept on dodging her every time she was trying to question him and due to that, Evie started to become a little suspicious. It was a very telling sign that she was being left out of something, as if there was a big secret that could not be told to her. From her previous interactions with him and their past experience together, she now knew for certain that even if Gavriel was busy and held up with something he could not avoid, he would often suddenly appear just to check on her and then leave again – but only when he could no longer tarry around with her.

"Elias, I want to go the frontlines to see him." Evie caught the butler that dawn and laid her demands firmly. "Since you reported that the war is now over, so there's no harm if I were to go there, right?" she reasoned it out and Elias immediately panicked.

"Uhm… err… My Lady… that is…"

"I just want to see him. I won't approach him if he's busy. All I need is just to get a glimpse of him. One glance… just to see that he's safe, and I'll return here immediately." She pleaded with shimmery watery eyes.

The butler looked extremely troubled as he struggled to respond, making Evie's suspicion skyrocket.

"Princess, you wouldn't want to go there. The battlefield is still –"

"I'll be fine. It wouldn't be my first time seeing dead bodies anyway."

"But princess, the thing is –"

"Elias, are you hiding something from me?" Evie narrowed her eyes. She could not hold it in anymore. The more they object to her going to the battlefront, the more she felt that her hunch that something was wrong got even stronger. "Is there really something wrong? We have already won the war so why I can't see him? Tell me, where is my husband? You're not hiding something from me, right?"

The Lady Evie when she was intent on digging matters up was really hard to deal with. While Elias the ever-cool butler even began to sweat and even felt cornered by this seemingly gentle and weak human lady, Zolan swiftly came to his rescue and landed beside her like a cat.

"My Lady," the long-haired man pulled her attention. "His Highness had left after settling the issues on the battlefield and went on an important secret mission. So even if you do go to the wall, you won't be able to see him. I am here to report to you about it." Zolan's report was as usual, soldier-like and without inflection to his voice.

Evie stared hard at the man. Unlike the obvious butler, she knew with one glance at Zolan that it would be impossible for her to figure out whether or not he was telling the truth or giving her the excuse they had perhaps already agreed upon earlier.

"Secret mission?" Evie could only ask with an eyebrow arched at him, but she made sure to show Zolan that she was not convinced with his so-called "report".

The long-haired man smiled. "Yes, My Lady. I do apologise for reporting on this a little late and causing you to worry. Please be ensured that Prince Gavriel will be returning soon. So please wait here a little longer. We can't let you go to the wall because His Highness had instructed us to keep you safe here until he's back. I hope you understand why we're not letting you go."

Biting the inside of her lips, Evie stared hard at Zolan for a long while before she willingly turned away and headed back to her chambers.

Watching her retreating back, Zolan released the breath he was secretly holding back and lightly scratched the back of his neck, giving a sheepish look sideways at Elias.