"Then you don't know what happened after she left your place?" the King concluded.

"Only thing I knew was that she was scared and worried for her baby and was running away from something to protect the child, but she didn't tell me the exact details," the physician replied as he gazed questioningly at the King. "Is there something that I should know?"

King Armen closed his eyes as he took a shaky breath. "They… They cursed my baby daughter, and all these years, I have to hide her from them to keep her safe." He looked hurt as a line of his closed eyes turned moist.

"Cursed?" The old Physician exclaimed in surprise.

Since the old physician was trustworthy, King Armen briefly told him about what kind of curse Seren had, as well as details of her difficult life inside the tower. He had never discussed it with anyone before, but the old physician was someone who knew Seren's mother. In the past, this old physician had helped them countless times, and the two not only trusted him, but they were also indebted to him.

"Poor child! Can't even express her emotions," The physician sighed. "Can I meet your daughter?"

King Armen explained Seren's condition at this moment before adding, "If you are fine meeting her even though she remains unconscious, I can arrange for you to see her tomorrow."

"Who does she looks like?" The Old physician asked and then he concluded on his own smiling lightly, "I am sure just like her mother."

"I am sure of it," King Armen said, feeling heavy in his heart but couldn't come up to say he had never seen his own daughter's face. He had yet didn't tell his old friend about a veil part and why his daughter had to wear it all the time.

The old physician nodded, and the two sat there, reminiscing memories of younger days.

After a while, the old physician could not help but ask a question that had been bothering him for a while. "Didn't she return even once to check on her daughter?"

King Armen shook his head. "Never. She disappeared again after showing up to hand me over our baby. I searched for her, but…."

"She must have her reasons." The physician, who looked like he hated the King when he arrived, suddenly turned soft. "Knowing who she is, we can only expect her to be fine."

King Armen nodded, and the physician spoke again. "You too disappeared suddenly, and I never thought to meet you like this."

"I had no other option," said the King.

"After seeing you as a king, I can only assume there must be a valid reason. Well, I will try to forgive you."

"Thank you."

The old physician scoffed. "The keyword is 'try'. Given our past interactions, I can still assure myself that you are not a bad person. But the way you disappeared suddenly, and when I saw her carrying a baby and fighting to protect it on her own, I could only resent you."

"I didn't know she carried my child. She didn't tell me before disappearing."

Erich Winfield sighed, "This all seems so complicated."

King Armen could only nod, not saying anything in response.

When the two separated to retire for the night, a name they had never forgotten despite the long years remained hanging unspoken in the air.

'Sierra…'

------

Deep into the night, when the entire palace had been cloaked in darkness and its people asleep, Drayce opened his eyes and lay staring at the ceiling. He had been calm till now, thinking he would go see Seren in a while without anyone knowing it, but suddenly, his mind turned restless and knew he had to check on her at once.

Drayce got out of the bed and strode towards the window without even bothering to change out of his nightwear. The next moment, he swiftly jumped out of the window as if it was nothing. Despite the guards patrolling outside, they were unable to catch his shadow as he moved at a speed that a normal person would not even be able to understand what had just happened in front of their eyes. The curtains hanging by the window fluttered due to the strong gust of wind caused by his exit from the window.

Afterward, the curtains in the window of Seren's room fluttered the same. The noise of the window opening had pulled the two lady nurses' attention towards the window.

"What is it? Is there a storm?" said the one as her sleepy eyes looked at the window.

The other one stood up from her cushioned seat, went towards the window and looked outside. There was nothing outside, and everything was as calm as usual. She closed the windows, not wanting the cold night breeze to enter the room. "Doesn't look like it. Must be just a wind. We can ask the servants to fix the lock tomorrow. It might be a bit loose."

She returned to her place, and the two resumed their light sleep.

In the dim light of the lamps inside the room, the two didn't notice someone was already inside the room with them, standing by Seren's bedside while looking at her worriedly. The intruder was holding the bed curtain to one side with his hand, which was something they would have noticed if they had checked on Seren again. More like, they were sure that no one could dare enter the Third Princess's room when royal knights were guarding the door.

Drayce didn't care if someone saw him, but based on experience, he also didn't doubt the ability of normal humans to not notice strange things around them. As expected, the two nurses ignored everything and went straight back to sleep.

'This is how King Armen had decided to keep his daughter safe? In the hands of such ignorant and inattentive weaklings?' Drayce sneered at them as he sat at the edge of the bed.

======

The dim light from the lamp was enough for Drayceto see Seren clearly. Though the lower half of her face was covered with a veil, it couldn't hide from anyone watching her restless face that she was having a nightmare. The frown lines on her forehead and her difficulty in breathing were telltale signs of how bad her dream must be.

Strangely enough, the anxiousness Drayce felt a while ago disappeared the moment he saw her, and he concluded she was the reason for it.

Sitting at the edge of her bed, he held her hand to caress it to calm her down. Her delicate hand gripped his palm tightly, as if she was seeking help and wanted to be assured that someone was by her side.

Drayce continued to caress her hand until her uneven breathing turned calmer, and she slowly loosened her grip on his hand. Even so, Drayce still didn't stop caressing her hand.

Though she had calmed down, her delicate eyebrows remained furrowed, and Drayce couldn't help but move his hand to touch her wrinkled forehead to smoothen it. Before he could touch it, he noticed something on her forehead.

"What is this? Has this always been here?" he questioned himself and moved closer to take a look at what it was. 'How come I never noticed it?'

Ever since they met, Drayce had been so engrossed thinking about Seren's purple eyes and failed to see other things. This time, his eyes noticed something familiar on Seren's skin—a tiny red symbol in the middle of her forehead.

The red symbol looked like a flame and a flower at the same time. He was sure he had seen something like this before but was not sure where.

He moved his hand towards her forehead, and the moment his fingers touched that red symbol on her forehead, it glittered and emitted mild rays of light.

'Who are you? What is it about you that always ends up pulling me towards you? Do we know each other? Have we come across each other by chance?'

Drayce wanted to ask a lot of questions; unfortunately, she was not well enough to answer.

It was not normal for Drayce to worry for a stranger since he was not the type of person to care for people who had nothing to do with him. This cold devil hardly cared for anyone, but when he did, his care had no boundaries.

Moreover, the person he was feeling worried about at the moment was not only a stranger but also someone whose face he had not even seen.

What was there that pulled him towards her always?

He also understood that the ominous premonition he had several nights ago—the one he thought was about Slayer—was in fact about Seren. She was in trouble, and he sensed it even though he was a kingdom away. What was there between the two that connected them?

After spending time to make sure she was calm, and he didn't need to worry about her for now, Drayce left the same way as he entered Seren's room.