The next day.

Ivy woke up to see several clothes in the bed and a tray of food, her first meal for the day.

She immediately grabbed one of the dress and donned it on her body. She was salivating while looking at the food, her stomach was already grumbling, she hurriedly picked up the tray and eats breakfast in bed.

A few minutes later, she was done eating and set the tray aside.

She rose from the bed and entered the bathroom to take a bath. She needs to erase Maxwell's saliva on her mouth, she felt dirty.

She stayed inside the bathroom for a long time. She only exited after she already cleaned her body thoroughly.

She sat on the bed thinking of her sister, she knows that Agran and Jegun will take care of her. Fresh tears appeared in her eyes as she remembered Zemeth, the love of her life. He's gone already, no matter how many buckets of tears she will shed for him, she can no longer bring him back to life. Her heart was yearning for his presence. She was thoroughly devastated by his death.

In the middle of her lamentation, she remembered that Zemeth saves the king of the elves' life, his family, and the entire clan...maybe...the king will give him the magical healing potion that would be able to extend Zemeth's life!

That's it! She knows that the king would not let Zemeth die! Deep in her heart, she believes that he was still alive, given that she was also saved by the king's magical healing potion.

Maxwell thought that he already killed Zemeth! He could be wrong! She desperately wanted to believe that he is wrong!

Right now, she will try hard not to offend Maxwell. She needs to earn his trust again. If he starts trusting her again then she will have a chance to steal the golden dagger and escape the castle, if she has the chance, she will kill Maxwell with her own hands!

With those thoughts running in her mind, she has a new purpose in life! She could not let herself sank into despair! She should not give up easily! She will find a way how to escape the castle and kill Maxwell.

Escaping the castle and killing Maxwell were the thoughts that cheered her up and brightened her dismal world.

She will make Maxwell pay for killing Zemeth! She swore to herself. It's a hard thing to do but if she will put her mind to it, she might have a chance to do it in the future. But right now, her focus is to make Maxwell believe that she is now willing to be submissive to him.

She has to endure his touches, his kisses, and advances. She was aware that he has a hundred ways to claim her body without his consent. Her refusal will only anger him.

From now on, she will teach her mind to tolerate his advances. If it's the only way she can regain his trust again then she has no other choice. She was already his prisoner. Whether she agrees or not with everything he wants to do with her, it doesn't matter anymore, he will always get what he wants out of her by force or by power.

She waited for Maxwell's presence calmly, yet deep inside, she dreaded his return and wished that she will never see him ever again.

~o0o~

Yesterday.

Outside the castle.

After they can't find Ivy in the neighboring areas, the group assembled again and Jegun decided that they have to go their separate ways.

The king of elves thanks the Nephilim assassins and Jegun for their help. He left only after Zemeth's was already breathing steadily and left some bottle of magic healing potion in Jegun's position for Zemeth, just in case something happened again.

After the elves left. The leaves also left the area.

Jegun offered to bring the group to the island so that he can continue taking good care of Zemeth.

He opened the portal leading to the island surrounded by mountains, trees, and ocean. It was their former fortress when his master, one of the three Nephilim elders was still alive. The elder loves the ocean view and makes it their home. There were five disciples during that time. When the elder decided to sacrifice his life for the greater cause along with other elders and the girl's father, he told the other disciples to find another master.

Jegun was the one chosen to take care of the elder's infant nephew the son of a demon and the princess inside the cave.

The simple two-story brick house was preserved throughout the centuries because the house was coated by the elder with a special crystalline barrier protecting it from the harsh condition of the weather and the ocean.

~

The following day, they woke to beautiful surroundings.

Instantly, the group fell in love with the fantastic place, surrounded by mother nature. When they look to the north, east, and west, the place offers a breathtaking ocean view with an endless stretch of pristine white sand. There was an abundance of fish to catch, shells, clams, and oysters to pick up.

In the south, was a thick forest, teeming with wild animals, plants, and trees.

It was a hidden paradise that was not yet discovered by humans or anyone.

Ramza and Ogeme were sitting on the beach under the shade of the tree while watching the blue ocean in front of them. A few meters away, Agran and Ella were busy catching fishes from the ocean.

Ogeme handed the round portal artifacts to Ramza, the one he found in the grassy part at the base of the hill. "I found this abandoned by some people, I think this was left behind accidentally by the one who uses it," he said.

Ramza accepted the portal artifact and examined it closely. "Keep it!" and handed it back to Ogeme. After a while, he can't take his eyes off the relic. "Never mind, I'll take it back," he said and grabbed the relic with his right hand.

"Okay, it's yours!" Ogeme said. After a while, he talked to Ramza about the thing that was bothering him since last night, he was guilty about it. "If only I have known that the guy who was hovering in the air going to the castle carrying a woman in his arms was our enemy, I should have stopped him. I never saw Ivy's face that is why I didn't bother to confront the guy wearing a black cloak. So I just watched them entering the castle. That's when I got suspicious and find out where that guy came from and I discovered you guys in the ground...already out of the castle," he explained.

Ramza sighed a few times. Ogeme has been telling him the same story ten times. He looked at him in the eyes and patted his shoulder. "It's not your fault, don't be guilty about it. If I'm in your shoes, I'll do the same. No one is blaming you, okay?"

Ogeme smiled a bit. "Thank you..." he replied, feeling much better with himself.

"You go there... and help those kids catch fresh fish so that we can eat some delicious fish soup for lunch," Ramza ordered.

"Alright!" Ogeme rose to his feet and left, joining the kids in the ocean catching fish.

Ramza watched the relic portal in his hand, wondering where the portal will lead him to if he opens it? He put the relic inside the pocket of his pants and looked at the brick house. He was worried about Zemeth's condition, after Jegun emptied the bottle of magic healing potion into Zemet's throat, his breathing become stable but he's not conscious yet. He was wondering when his friend will ever wake up?

Zemeth would be devastated to know that Ivy was back inside the castle and the golden dagger was lost during the commotion. He suspected that whoever snatched Ivy, he also stole the dagger.

His musings were disturbed by the sounds of laughter in the distance, he looked behind him.

Simuz, Bhork, and Dredo appeared, they just come from the forest, carrying bananas, wild pig, and wild roosters that they had caught from the forest.

"Does Zemeth had woken up already?" Simuz asked.

Ramza shook his head. "Not yet," he answered worriedly.

Simuz patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, Zemeth won't die. Let's just allow his body to take a long rest and he will soon recover in a few days," he said confidently.

The trio proceeds to the back of the house in the makeshift kitchen to deposit their catch. Then they raced into the ocean to take a swim in the cool water, calling Ramza to join them. Ogeme joined the group, while Agran and Ella brought the fresh fish into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

Ramza discarded his clothes and ran into the water to join his friends. They were frolicking in the water noisily, having fun.

~o0o~

A few days later.

In one of the rooms on the second floor, Jegun was looking at Zemeth's sleeping form. He already cleaned the wound on his neck and applied some herbal medicine that would speed up the healing of the skin.

Zemeth has no fever whatsoever, the color of his skin was the same and his breathing was steady. Overall, his body was responding well to the magic healing potion that the king of elves had given him.

He heard laughter coming from the ocean. He went to the window and watched the men having fun in the water. He smiled a bit and went back to Zemeth's side. "Wake up now, lad! Can you hear your friend's laughter? They were enjoying the ocean. They are waiting for you to join them!" he said.

Still, there was no movement coming from Zemeth's body.

Jegun sighed. "Okay, rest well. I'll go downstairs to check the kitchen and find out what the children are cooking for lunch...I'll come back later," he told the sleeping Zemeth and exited the room.