The letter ended here. It was as if Theron’s soul had left his body. He must have forgotten how to breathe, because after who knows how long, he felt his chest burning from lack of air. That made him snap back to his senses.

“N-No…Esther…she…”

Theron’s shivering hands crumpled that paper into a ball and as his reddened eyes didn’t know what they were searching for.

‘No, what the hell am I doing?’

With a burst of energy, Theron slammed his door open and ran out of his chamber ignoring everything else.

“Your Majesty? What—” Sir Galien saw the King leaving in a hurry, still clad in his sleeping robe, and followed him despite not understanding the situation.

Theron went to the long hallway that connected his palace to the Queen’s residence. His guardian knight had to stop following as other than the King, no man was allowed to cross that corridor.

Theron quickly reached the Queen’s chambers. Along the way, the servants bowed and greeted him, but as if he could see no one, he stormed Esther’s chamber without knocking.

“Esther!” he called out, his yell loud enough to echo within the hallways, looking for his wife here and there, but the bedchamber was empty. The maidservants didn’t know what happened and were scared to see the King roaring for his wife in such a crazed manner. They had never seen Theron coming here in such a state, wearing clothes unbefitting to be seen by others, his brown hair all messed up and his eyes somewhat red, looking nothing like his usual cold and dignified appearance.

“Where is Esther?” Theron turned to one of the ladies.

“Your Majesty, please calm—”

“Where is Esther?!”

“T-The Queen is missing. No one had seen her since last night. Even we are looking for her,” one of the ladies-in-waiting answered.

Only Lady Saira and Lady Tyra, her trusted confidantes, were aware that Esther left on her own.

Theron stepped out of the Queen’s chamber and went to the floor downstairs where Drayce’s chamber was located. He opened the door in hurry and entered the chamber, only to find it empty

“Where is Dray?” he asked one of the servants shivering outside the door.

He was sure Esther would be with her son. Knowing Esther, she wouldn’t be able to easily leave her son with him being so young.

“The Second Prince is missing, Your Majesty, and even his nanny is not here as well,” the servant replied in a panic. They were also worried about the Second Prince’s whereabouts.

There was total confusion within the Queen’s palace as both Queen Esther and the Second Prince Drayce couldn’t be found. The most senior of the royal servants, Lady Tyra, was nowhere to be found as well.

Theron returned to his residence where he found Sir Galien was waiting for him.

“Mobilize all the available knight brigades in the palace. Have their captains meet me downstairs,” he instructed his guardian knight while he told one of his aides waiting by the door. “Summon Tyra immediately.”

After barking those orders, Theron stepped inside his chamber and hurried to change out into clothes that were easy to move around in, perfect for an outside excursion.

After a while, the King came out and headed downstairs towards the waiting room in his residence. Seeing the grave face of the king, Sir Galien reported the situation. “The captains of the second to the tenth brigade have been summoned, Your Majesty. As for Lady Tyra, your aide said she is neither in her quarters nor could she be found anywhere in the palace. No one knows where she is.”

Theron listened without a word and continued to walk fast as he needed to personally find Esther. She said in her letter that she was leaving, and he vowed to find her and drag her back.

Even if she didn’t leave by horseback and used her powers, he was the King of Megaris who ruled over millions of people—he had knights and soldiers to help barricade the kingdom and nearby territories and he had countless subjects to help him search for her. If that would not work, then even if it would take a long time, with his ability to sense her presence, he would not rest and comb all the lands of Megaris and even the other kingdoms to find his Queen.

As soon as he entered the room where the knight officials were waiting, he went straight to the point.

“The Queen and the Second Prince are missing. Get my horse ready. I will personally join the search.”

Sir Galien and the other knights were all shocked. For two members of the royal family to be missing within the palace was an absurd breach of security.

“Your Majesty, what exactly happened? Is it an abduction? Shall I send an investigator to search for clues in the Queen’s and the Prince’s chambers?” Sir Galien asked.

Though he was shaken and panicking inside, Theron needed to be calm to find his wife and son.

“The Queen left on her own accord,” he answered briefly. “She should have just left the capital. Since the Second Prince is missing as well, it’s safe to say they’re together.”

Theron then started dividing the knights into groups.

“The Second Brigade will come with me to search the northern forest outside the capital…

“The Third and Fourth Brigade will follow the river…

“The Fifth…

“Galien, take the last brigade with you and go to the western territory, in the land governed by the Holles Family. Search for her on that mountain where she used to live before she entered the palace.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“We’ve received your orders, Your Majesty.”

Further instructions were given, and soon, the King and the royal knights could be seen storming out of the palace walls on their horses.

——-

Was his mother really gone?

The little black-haired prince continued to feebly call out for her even though he knew she could not hear him. But maybe…maybe if he kept on calling for her, she’d change her mind. His young heart was still hoping she’d come back and tell him everything would return to normal.

“Mother…”

His mother had left him, but maybe if he continued to call out…

Drayce had been crying for so long that trails of dried tears had stained his cheeks and he was having a hard time breathing in between sobs.

Lady Tyra continued to hug his trembling body which was exhausted from crying. The two were sitting on the ground atop the cliff, their clothes already covered in grass and dirt, but neither of them had the heart nor the will to leave. Lady Tyra wanted to grieve, but she knew that she had to control her emotions and prioritize the prince.

She wiped her tears and looked at his pitiful face of the boy in her arms. An innocent child yearning for his mother, what could be worse to see than this?

‘Alas, fate is cruel.’

“Your Highness?” She cupped his face in her hands and made him look at her. “Your Highness, please do not forget your mother’s words. She had so much trust in you, and she believed that even in her absence, her son would remain a good boy who will make her proud. You won’t disappoint her, right, Your Highness?”

His red eyes merely blankly stared at her.

Lady Tyra continued to speak in a soothing voice, “Your mother…your mother expects you to keep all the promises you made to her.”

He sniffled. “T-Then, Mother will come back? If I am a good boy? If I keep my promises? M-Mother will…?”

Her chest felt a heavy weight as she replied honestly, “She won’t return, but even so, you shall not disappoint her. Be strong. You have to make her proud of yourself.”

He shook his head. “But I-I want Mother…”

Lady Tyra didn’t know what to do. She needed to take the prince back to the palace. Moreover, she was worried about what was going on with the King. The royal palace must be in an uproar now. She knew Esther had planned to inform her husband and explain everything to him before she left.

After realizing his wife’s gone, Theron would probably go crazy. Lady Tyra was a distant relative of the royal family in the same generation as the former queen, Great Lady Theodora. Together with the former queen, she too had watched Theron grow up from childhood.

With the King’s temper…

Her heart sank thinking about what the King and Little Drayce would do from now on, how they would cope with Esther’s departure.

Drayce was a child but the King….she could not imagine what it would turn him into.

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