After escaping the Crown Prince’s palace, Esther returned to her room within the servant’s quarter in a hurry. She could not believe that Prince Theron had caught her, and what happened after…

‘Did we really…? We…?” She was flustered, but she was soon overcome with anger. “I cannot  believe that I allowed that to happen!”

Esther paced around her small room, her hand subconsciously tracing her lips before nervously pulling at her fingers and then the sleeves of her dress, only to find herself touching her lips again. She groaned.

“I am the one who saved his life, but instead of thanking me, he wants to punish me for it. Ugh! He must be delusional to think I have feelings for him! I had to check on him after sharing my soul with him since I am not sure about any negative consequences he might bear. It was the first time a human received a life force from my kind, and I only wished to make sure it would not put him in any potential danger. But he…he took advantage of me…That immoral Crown Prince! How dare he?! He doesn’t even know who I am! Ugh! I’m more than a century older than him! How could dare he—-“

The memories from what Prince Theron did with her flashed in front of her eyes and her face turned red. The loud sounds of her heartbeats seemingly flooded her ears.

She shook her head, as if trying to forcefully erase the memory from her head.

“Why am I remembering it? Next time, no, no—there is no next time! If he ever tries to pull that kind of stunt again, I will put a trapping spell on him and freeze him for hours!” this reminded him about something, “Wait…my spell? That sleeping spell should have put everyone to sleep, why was he awake? Shouldn’t he be also affected by the sleeping spell every night I visited him? Then why was he awake tonight?”

She thought for a while and had a guess. “Is it because a piece of my soul now resides in his body, my spells are not effective on him?” She groaned as she realized that must have been the case. “That must be the reason, or else, there is no way my spell won’t work on a weak human like him.”

———

The night after Prince Theron caught Esther, he waited for her to come to him again in his chamber. Just like he did the previous night, he threw the medicine that should have helped him sleep in the nearby flower vase and pretended to retire to his bed. Perhaps because he was anticipating Esther’s visit, it was as if time was slowly crawling towards midnight. However, Prince Theron remained patient as he tried to listen to the sound of footsteps outside.

He waited for a long time, but she didn’t appear even after midnight struck. He waited for half an hour more, yet the door to his chamber did not open. He stood up and went to check outside if his guards were sleeping.

Seeing the Crown Prince emerge from his room, the knights standing outside his door bowed to him. “Your Highness!”

They were obviously alert and very wide awake, and it somehow disappointed Prince Theron. ‘Is this the reason she didn’t appear tonight?’ He then walked away to check on the other knights in the hallways and saw that everyone on guard duty acted normally.

The escort knights following behind him felt puzzled. Seeing the Crown Prince taking a stroll at this hour of the night was unheard of in his routine.

“Your Highness, is there any issue?” one of the knights asked.

Prince Theron frowned. “Why are you all awake?”

“Huh?” His question puzzled the knight, causing him to throw a confused look at his comrade, only for him to receive a similarly confused shrug. “What do you mean, Your Highness?”

Prince Theron stopped walking and closed his eyes to push down the disappointment and the frustration he was feeling. He didn’t reply to the knight’s question and simply turned around to return to his chamber.

Getting back to his bed, he tossed and turned as he found it difficult to fall asleep. His mind was a mess. All his thoughts were about why Esther did not come tonight when she came to see him every night for the past one week.

“Could something have happened to her? Did she encounter trouble?” He frowned and then other thoughts crossed his mind. “Did I scare her last night after doing that with her? What if she does not care about me now?” He let out a sigh of frustration. After trying but failing to get a wink of sleep, Prince Theron gave up and went to stand by the window to look outside towards the night sky.

After opening the window, he took a deep breath of the fresh cold air to calm himself and distract his mind, but it didn’t help much as another thought came into his mind. ‘She is the reason I can’t fall asleep. She deserves to get punished for this.’

A faint smirk of satisfaction could be seen hanging on his lips at the thought of what her next punishment would be like.

——-

Days flew past in a blink of an eye. The Crown Prince had resumed all of his official duties, and with his busy schedule, there was not a chance for him to go anywhere else aside from the Grand Palace and his residence. Wearing his usual expressionless face and working efficiently like normal, no one noticed the growing frustration building up within the Crown Prince. He had waited for Esther for an entire week, but after the night he caught her, she never came to see him again. He only caught a glimpse of her whenever he came across his mother, but she didn’t dare look at him, much less speak privately with him. He could only keep his frustration to him and ignore her as well, but deep inside, he was feeling determined to properly punish her as soon as an opportunity arises.

‘Ignoring the Crown Prince is a very grave offence.

The day of the banquet to celebrate the Crown Prince’s recovery arrived. Although the celebration itself would start in the evening, countless carriages bearing family crests of each and every nobility coming in attendance started entering the Royal Palace of Megaris hours prior.

The entire palace was lively due to the arrival of the guests, which were mostly the titled nobles attending the event with their families. The Queen mostly only invited high nobles and close acquaintances whenever she threw balls and parties, and it was rare for lower nobles and merchants to be granted a chance to enter the royal palace. Since this time everyone with a reputation was invited, the banquet to celebrate the Crown Prince’s recovery was a good chance to socialize and befriend noble households. It was also an opportunity for them to show off their daughters to Prince Theron, who was yet to be designated his Crown Princess.

Everyone expected him to favour one of the lovely maidens within their families. As soon as they were nominated to be a potential bride to the Crown Prince, then it would bring honour and riches to their families. Better yet, if one of the noble ladies in their families were chosen to be his consort who will rule this kingdom along with the Crown Prince when he becomes the next king, then as the family of the Queen, their families would only be slightly below the Ivanovs when it came to prestige.

The entire banquet hall was filled with excited guests, a great majority of them being well-dressed young ladies with appearances as pretty as flowers in full bloom. The King and Queen had already arrived, chatting with the high nobles in attendance, and the banquet was in full swing. However, everyone was visibly waiting for the Crown Prince to show up. Soon after, the royal guard announced his arrival.

“Crown Prince Theron Ivanov has arrived!”

—

A tall young man with an unmistakably proud air entered the hall. Dressed in an impeccable ensemble of black and gold, he gave off a strong charisma that even with just him standing in place, the eyes of everyone would inevitably be pulled in his direction. His cold, handsome face—especially those dark eyes that seemed to resemble the night sky—caused the expectant faces of the females inside the hall to redden, and some even had to fan themselves to calm their excitement. Since the Crown Prince was known to not enjoy celebrations, added to the fact that he rarely socialized with those outside of his work, his face was rarely seen by the nobility who had no business within the royal palace, that was why the reactions of the guests were explosive.

Entering the banquet hall, Prince Theron walked straight towards his parents. The King and the Queen of Megaris were sitting in the chairs behind a long rectangular table at the opposite side of the hall, facing the guests, and there was an empty seat beside the King reserved for him.

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