The next morning, Irene stirred in her sleep, attempting to shift onto her side - but finding herself unable to do so. With a groaning sigh, she opened her eyes, only to see her vision obscured by a body of white, sitting on top of her as if she were some sort of pillow.

"Snow...?" She sighed, her body still limp and tired. "What are you doing...? Get off of me-"

"Irene, talk to me through your mind, you're being watched." The Phoenix calmly alerted her, and upon hearing those words, Irene woke herself up. She glanced up to see his beady eyes locking onto her gaze with a serious look inside them.

"What's going on...?" She asked him, trying to suppress the creeping feeling of dread causing goosebumps to form on her pale skin. She sat up, pretending to rub her eyes, as Snow took a deep breath and started explaining the situation to her. He told her about everything he had seen the previous night, while she slept.

How he followed Ms Cather out of the estate, to some sort of isolated area of Laydel in a carriage. How the old woman headed into a dingy alleyway, and there was a small building her couldn't enter because of some sort of invisible barrier. Snow explained that there was a strange man there, who was shrouded in all black and had some sort of dark crest.

"She went there to receive something - but I'm not sure what it was. And when she went inside, the building, I couldn't really hear what they were talking about," he gulped. "But when she came closer to the door, where I was waiting outside, I heard her say something... And everything made sense to me then."

"What did she say?" Irene asked, calmly listening to every detail of her spirit's recount.

Snow took another deep breath, as if bracing himself for what was to come. "She mentioned a demon telling her that you were aware of her being a dangerous person, and that she needed to kill you as a result."

Irene's eyes widened, trying to hide the look on her face by burying her head into her bed again. What the hell...? A demon...?

Dark magicians exist in this world? I don't remember ever mentioning such a thing in my original story... She raised a hand up to her chin in deep thought. Snow heaved a sigh as he gazed down at her. "There's a chance she's left a demon to watch you right now. We can't take any risks," he told her. "It's no wonder Mikael wanted you to stay away."

As if a flip had switched inside her, Irene inhaled sharply when remembering that Mikael was exposed to that woman's murderous powers. Albeit clueless about what dark magic even involved, the feeling of worry quickly overtook her.

"He's in danger right now," Irene realised, getting out of bed, trying to conceal the panic on her expression. "I have to go to him."

"No, wait!" Snow stopped her. He flapped his wings so that he could stop her before she ended up doing something impulsive, which could put her and everyone at great risk. Irene paused, glancing at the bird who took on a stern expression.

"If you walk in there right now, it's going to be like walking into a mouse trap. She'll probably be waiting for you in Mikael's room," Snow told her. "From the way she spoke, it seemed like she was going to get the job done as soon as she could. You have to wait, let Mikael come out of his room on his own."

Irene clenched her fists. "...I can't do that, Snow." Gazing down at the floor, her eyes wavered with frustration. "What if something happens to him in the time I spend waiting? I can't just sit around while he's getting hurt."

"I'll go and keep watch," he offered. "Just go about your day as normal. If something happens, I'll come and get you."

Irene contemplated it for a moment, her golden eyes glassy with worry. But she knew that Snow was someone trustworthy and reliable, as eccentric as he may have seemed. There was never a time he couldn't pull off a request of hers, and he did manage to save hundreds of soldier's lives during the war against Izadel.

Mikael would be in capable hands, as long as Snow was there to watch over him. Plus — spirits went undetected by demons from what he told her, so he was the perfect guard for the prince until Irene could figure out how to solve this situation, without acting suspiciously.

"Alright," she relented. "But I'm going to visit him at least before evening hits. So please make sure he's okay until then."

Throughout the entirety of the day, Mikael hadn't left his room. Ms Cather forced him to stay inside with the intention of waiting for Irene's appearance - because that persistent girl never did know how to leave the prince alone.

Cather answered the door to any servants who came by, telling them he had a fever and didn't want anyone entering. They decided to leave him be, despite her unusually strong refusal against allowing a doctor to come check on Mikael.

The whole time, Snow waited inside the prince's room - invisible to everyone else. Mikael was still asleep in bed — but from the tense look plastered to his pale face, it seemed he was in the midst of a frightening nightmare. Nothing seemed to be going wrong just yet, and Sophia Cather simply waited by the door for hours on end - her creepy demeanour not once fading.

As Irene tried going about her day as ordinarily as she could, the eerie feeling of something close by lingered around in the air. She pretended to keep herself occupied by reading books in the library as she usually did during her spare time — but not a single word could get her attention.

Just then, a knock resounded from the door behind her, breaking the sinister silence. She turned to see who was at the door, and found a familiar girl her age - whose brown eyes gazed warmly at her and healing presence helped to ease the tension almost instantly.

"Isabella!" Irene jolted out of her seat, heading toward her friend who came as a surprise. "What brings you here?"

"I was wondering if we could have some tea together," she told her with a gentle smile. "It's been a while since we last saw each other... I hope I'm not intruding."

Although Irene was happy to see Isabella here, a part of her couldn't help but feel slightly perturbed for her presence. Considering the dangers of Ms Cather and the fact that dark magic was suddenly lurking throughout the manor, there was a chance Isabella could fall into harm as well.

I have to be extremely careful... As long as I don't act suspiciously, things should be fine... Irene inhaled slowly, before nodding her head.

"That would be lovely," she smiled cherubically, taking Isabella's slim hand. "We do have a lot to catch up on, huh?"

Irene then promptly tidied away her books, before leaving and asking Joanne - her nanny, to bring them some tea. As the two girls made their way toward the garden spot where they'd sit and talk regularly, Isabella noticed her friend was oddly quiet and rather down-spirited.

"Irene, are you alright?" she asked, her pretty face displaying a look of gentle concern. "You look a little bit pale..."

"Ah, I'm fine," assuring her with a smile, Irene veiled her torrential worries with a perfectly amiable tone. "Don't worry about me."

Isabella tilted her head slightly, wondering if she was hiding something, before gently putting a hand on her shoulder. "If something is troubling you, I'm here to listen," she said softly. "I'll always be here for you, if you need me."

The white-haired girl could feel her heart warming up at her friend's kindness. Isabella was always this kind of person, but at times like these Irene was truly grateful to her past self, for writing the heroine to be such a gentle person. She thanked her, starting to feel a lot less tense, while regaining her inner composure.

Irene and Isabella shared a calm and peaceful time together, as they had their tea and caught up on various topics. The pair spoke about everything and anything that came to mind, and even shared a few laughs. The last time Irene saw Isabella, was when they played hide and seek with the Firventia twins, but things went horribly wrong. Although Irene and Mikael bonded over it in a way — it left a bitter feeling in her mind whenever she remembered Ivan's cruel words.

"When I went to visit house Firventia with my mother last week, Ivan looked really down," she sighed. "Haren told me he's been upset ever since the argument."

Irene frowned, dropping her gaze. But rather than feeling upset, she was still slightly annoyed. She crossed her arms and sighed. "If he wants to change things, a sincere apology and change of heart would go along way," she said with a moue of agitation. "I won't forgive him until Mikael does."

Isabella frowned, nodding in agreement. "He overstepped his boundaries. I'm sure he's learning a good lesson through this time he's been brooding," she sighed. The brunette then glanced up, as if realising something. "By the way — where's Prince Mikael? I haven't seen him around today."

Irene flinched, wondering what to say for a moment, before coming up with the excuse that he was ill. She explained how he didn't want anyone entering his room, but it only made Isabella — a girl who was adept in healing magic — stand up with a sense of urgency.

"I can use my magic to treat him." She said, but Irene quickly stopped her.

"Mikael doesn't want anyone seeing him right now, not even me," she lied, smiling sheepishly. "I think it would be best to leave him be."

Isabella frowned, but nodded. "Very well..." Once she relented and sat back down, Irene sighed with internal relief. She was determined to keep the heroine out of this mess - because it could be dangerous for her to get entangled with it. Although Isabella was reliable and good at what she did, dark magic was a field not even Irene knew anything about.

The story would have taken a drastic turn for the worse if Isabella got caught up in it all. Yes, it was her motive to change the course of her own life from the original Irene's— but she wanted everything unrelated to her, to go as planned. Such as Isabella's romantic endeavours with Daniel, which wouldn't happen if the heroine ended up dead.

Soon after the two caught up and Irene regained her level-headed rationality, she was finally able to think without too many feelings of fear or stress getting in the way of her thoughts.

The blue sky soon began to fade as evening approached. The clouds became swirls of warm colours as the sun continued toward its descent. Isabella and Irene soon headed back inside the manor - where the girls parted ways and the young lady of House Einfred decided to take her leave, and return home for the day.

As Irene waved goodbye to Isabella, she watched her receding figure disappear into the carriage that came for her. And as soon as she was out of sight, Irene sighed and went back inside the manor.

Thanks to Isabella, a lot of my tension has disappeared... She thought, gazing down at her pale little hands. The healing presence she has... I never thought it would be so useful.

"......"

Just then, a strange sound began to resound from somewhere nearby, and Irene glanced around in slight confusion. It was like something was thudding in her mind - accompanied by shrill cries and a voice calling out to her.

What in the world...?

She glanced around, trying to find the source of the sound, but there was nothing near her that seemed suspicious. Maids and servants were carrying out their chores as usual, and everyone seemed to have natural expressions while doing so. It didn't take her too long to realise, she was the only one hearing anything.

"...Sprout!" A voice called out, in the midst of the discordant whispers and clamours invading her mind. Lost in all the noise - Snow's familiar nickname caught her attention, and Irene's eyes widened at the frantic tone he spoke in.

"Snow?!" She responded, realising how oddly subdued and muffled he sounded - as if there were something interfering with their connection. As Irene focused her attention on her spirit's voice, her heart began to race with dread.

"It's the witch! She's hurting Mikael!"