Silvert slowly moves his head toward a corner in Zeliker’s living room inside their mansion. Before, he noticed Zeliker’s presence was gone in the palace and sensed Zeliker had entered his room in their second home inside the dimension. He thought Zeliker might have wanted to leave already and he had left Xcerox and others after saying his goodbye.
When he entered Zeliker’s room which was unlocked by the latter, the atmosphere inside felt so strange. The aura of gloominess can be seen with his naked eyes. And it was so strong in the corner in the living room where a long sofa was located. His view of Zeliker was blocked because the long sofa front was the opposite of his view.
“Zeliker…?” He called with confusion.
Did something happen to his prince?
He approached the long sofas since he didn’t hear a reply. Once he looked from above the long sofa, he was stunned to see Zeliker's pale appearance.
“Zeliker! Are you alright?!” Silvert got worried instantly.
He moved to the front and kneeled in front of Zeliker who lay on the long sofa. The latter looked like a dead demon in his eyes which scared him a lot. The dead eyes slowly lighten after seeing Silvert.
“Silvert…?”
“It’s me. What’s wrong with you?”
Zeliker didn’t answer, instead many emotions appeared in his eyes. Silvert caught some of them which showed guilt, sorrow and embarrassment. He wondered what happened to his prince to have so many emotions at once.
“Zeliker, please tell me. Maybe I can help you…”
Silvert feels useless. He wished he had the ability to read someone's mind right now.
Zeliker was still quiet. How can he expose the mistakes he made? His action was so degrading. And, and shameful! Why does he have no self-control?!
‘
He should have left earlier before it happened. Stiria after all was not his fiance or in a relationship with him. He felt so lost. How should he meet her next time? Would his actions make her hate him?
He sighed and turned his head away. “I need some time alone.”
Silvert blinks his eyes and frowns. “Is it something you can’t tell me?”
He saw Zeliker nod slowly.
“Alright. If you need anything, I will be in my room.”
Silvert knows he can’t force Zeliker to talk. The latter would keep it to himself, bearing it all alone again. Now, he can only wait for Zeliker to open up to him.
He walked out of the room and closed the door. He still thinks something had happened when Zeliker met Stiria.
‘Maybe Stiria has the answer on why he turned into this. Should I go meet her?’
He decided to visit her. Since it was still early before the night fell upon them, he appeared again in the palace. He walked on the path toward Stiria’s room. Coincidentally, he met Kiara who was searching for Zeliker’s and his room.
“Kiara?” Silvert called to her.
“Lord Silvert… Are you with Your Highness Zeliker, my lord?” Kiara asked after she approached him.
She didn’t see Zeliker with Silvert and wondered where the prince was. Silvert shakes his head.
“Prince Zeliker is inside the mansion, resting. Kiara, did something happen?”
Kiara's eyes shone for a moment before it was gone.
“Why do you ask, my lord?”
Silvert can feel a fit of slight anger coming at him from her. He was bewildered by her.
‘Something did happen after all but how should I ask her? She seems to be on guard with me now.’ Silvert sighed silently.
“Kiara, I am sorry if Zeliker or I have offended you and Princess Stiria. But, I do not know what’s wrong since I am not in the area you all met. Would you tell me what happened? Because my prince looks so awful right now and he won’t talk to me about it.” Politely, he asked her.
And he even exposed his prince's situation in order for Kiara to explain too. Kiara went silent for a moment. Truthfully, she also doesn't know. The guards won’t explain it either.
She sighed. “My apologies, my lord. It is very rude of me to show you my bad attitude. Hope you are not offended.”
She realised her mistake and bowed.
“It’s fine. Do you happen to know what the problem was?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer. I was ordered to pick a gift from my princess’ room to be given to Prince Zeliker when it happened. I do not know what happened to them and it made my princess look so uncomfortable. But! I hope you can tell Prince Zeliker to stay away from Princess Stiria from now on. She is engaged and shouldn’t be close to any men. Hope for your understanding.” She sternly said to Silvert and wished for the latter to inform Zeliker about it.
Silvert went speechless. He felt guilty all of a sudden because he had let Zeliker meet Stiria alone and perhaps his prince had caused some kind of conflict between them. He should have accompanied him.
“I understand… Please send my regards to the princess.”
Since he can no longer find any clue and asking more might get irritation from Kiara, he left afterwards with a slight nod.
Kiara watched Silver walk away until he was gone. She patted her chest in fright. How could she talk so rudely in front of a high-ranking demon? She should be glad Silvert was her prince and princess’ friend. If not, she might have lost her head.
However, Silvert's kind and gentle attitude makes her brave enough to point out the problem between Zeliker and Stiria. She should not make this into a habit if she found another demon like Silvert or she might not know when she died. She left the area to return to her princess room again.
The next morning, Zeliker went out with Silvert following behind. They appear inside the guest room in the palace.
“Do you feel a lot better now?” Silvert asked.
He didn’t mention Kiara's warning to the latter. He felt it was ridiculous to tell Zeliker. If his prince liked the princess so much, it was impossible for his prince to give up like that. After all, Zeliker already told him he wanted to break Stiria's engagement to Flare. Let’s just watch and see how it was done by his prince's hands.
Zeliker nodded at Silvert’s question. After thinking for one night, he thought it was normal for his body to lose control. He was a demon. Their body and feelings were most honest to someone they like. Though, he still was angry at himself.
“I’m going to meet Stiria a bit.” He needs to apologise to her.
Silvert nodded. Well, he should ignore Kiara if she glares at him later. They moved out of the room and went to Stiria’s room again.
“The princess has gone to take her class, Your Highness.” A guard at the door, different from the two guards yesterday, told Zeliker.
“So early?” Zeliker was stunned.
The time was only 7.32 AM.
“Yes, she said if anyone is coming, we should tell them she was busy taking her class and won’t be seeing anyone today.”
Zeliker silently gripped his hands. This was her answer to him. She didn’t want to meet him after all. He felt so dejected and sad before he sighed.
“Alright, thank you for informing us.”
Zeliker and Silvert left the area. Silvert was silent the entire way. He was unable to comfort his prince since he didn’t know what happened between him and the princess. He could only accompany him silently.
“Zeliker, Silvert, over here!” They heard someone call after them from the palace yard.
“Everyone.”
Zeliker was stunned to see Xcerox, Miulwess, Gizelis, Nish, Frix and Ashla waiting for them with two beautiful horses.
“What are you guys doing?” Zeliker asked them.
“Of course to see you both off. How can we not do that?” Xcerox grins.
“I see. Thank you.” Zeliker felt a little better from their caring.
“Heh! Be careful on your journey, Zeliker, Silvert. By the way, I heard there was a small war still ongoing in the Lagendia Kingdom. So, be extra alert on your way, okay?” Miulwess warned them.
“We will, Your Highness,” Silvert answered.
“Take these two horses. This one is called Teresa while the other is called Azuris. These two are war horses. They can help you run away fast if something happens.” Nish pulled the two horses' reins and gave them to Zeliker and Silvert.
Zeliker smirked. “You know we can run faster than them, right? But thanks for giving us these two.”
Nish chuckled embarrassingly. “I know that. Stay safe.”
Zeliker nodded and he jumped on Teresa's back while Silvert on Azuris.
“See you two someday. You guys would still come back for the party, right? Don’t forget about it.” Reminded Xcerox.
Zeliker nodded again. “It’s on 15th February, right? I will be there.”
“Good. Heh! Who could have thought we would meet in October last year and it’s been four months since your arrival.” Gizelis replied with awe.
Time does move so fast.
“Which means you’re getting older,” replied Silvert with a chuckle.
“When is your birthday, Zeliker, Silvert? We need to celebrate them every year from now on.” Frix asked since they have mentioned such a topic.
“Zeliker's birthday just passed on November 9th. Mine on March 22nd.” Silvert told them.
“Aww. You should have told us. How can you keep a secret from your friend?” Xcerox glared at Zeliker.
Zeliker shrugged. “You didn’t ask. Alright, it’s time to move. Goodbye.”
He kicked Teresa gently for her to move. Silvert moved Azuris to follow him.
“See you guys next month!” Nish shouted at them while waving his hands at them.
Everyone yelled the same and waved at them too. Zeliker and Silvert nodded at them and then kicked their horses to move fast. They went out of the palace gate before going to another path leading outside without entering Antonia City.
Far above a high tower, Stiria watches Zeliker and Silvert left. Bekura and Kiara were accompanying her for breakfast. After a night of thinking, Stiria believes Zeliker truly likes her.
It was all because she was re-reading a book about demon mentality last night. She understands a demon's way to show their affection was very direct and crazed until they were forced to make love with each other.
And more so for demons above high ranks. The higher the demon ranks the lesser the control of their desires.
She should be glad for Zeliker’s restraint. He only kissed her, not entirely forcing her to make love like other royal demons would have. It makes her a little warm in her heart after realising his concern for her.
‘If I am not engaged, I might have… No, Stiria, you must remember who you are betrothed to…’ She shook her head and a slight sadness appeared in her eyes before it was hidden away.
She must not break her engagement for her family and her entire kingdom's safety. Happiness was not as important as the lives of her people.
Somewhere outside of Antonia City…
“Silvert, make us appear outside the inn we rented yesterday. The owner might feel strange for us to disappear without taking our things along.”
Silvert immediately makes a portal appear far in front of them. They enter it with their horses. Once they appear outside a small village, Silvert sends Teresa and Azuris into the stable in his dimension where there were many other horses he took care of.
Then, Zeliker and Silvert appear in their rented room, tidying their stuff before coming out of the room using the door normally. The owner, a thin adult man, saw them coming down from the room upstairs.
“Have breakfast while it is still hot, gentlemen.” He told them.
“Thank you.” Silvert smiled and sent him a payment for their breakfast.
"The meals are so-so. I like your cooking more." Zeliker commented after eating the hard bread.
He wondered if humans have strong teeth because this bread was truly hard, even for him and he was lucky to have fangs to crush it.
"Erm, this hard bread is meant to soak in the hot tea to make it softer before you can eat it," Silvert explains.
Zeliker stares at him before he soaks the bread in his teacup. It did become soft and easy to eat. The taste also had changed to palatable.
"This is magic." He exclaimed.
Silvert almost spurted his tea when he was drinking it. He coughed before a big hopeless smile appeared on his lips. His prince really has no common sense.
He was glad Gizelis had watched his prince before he appeared or he didn't know what his prince might have eaten when he was hungry. He also had to explain in detail how the hard bread was made to him. After they finished eating, they walked a bit far from the village before Silvert summoned their horses out of the dimension again.
Zeliker brings out a mask to wear. It was black and looked a bit scary because the pattern was carved with a devil's face. It covers the whole face. Even Silvert wore one and his was in white colour. They had to wear them to hide their identity from here on.
They started their journey again to the west where the Lagendia Kingdom was located. They entered a mountainous forest area and sometimes stopped near a shallow creek to let their horses rest.
"We are almost near the border called Shasui. And we need to cross the big river to enter the Lagendia Kingdom's border, Marlom." Silvert told Zeliker while looking at the map he bought in Antonia City.
Zeliker nodded. "Let's make haste. I want to be in the Miko Kingdom and reach the Neza Palace before the party begins."
'And meet Stiria again. I must confess to her and tell her my true feelings.' He continued silently.
During his journey, he would reminisce about the kiss again and again. He also felt he was in trouble because he even had a wet dream with her and in the morning he would groan angrily for spoiling his pants.
He was lucky he had many of them and had changed it before Silvert saw it. It would be so embarrassing if Silvert knew what had transpired.
Sigh, he had reached the age where he would have slept with any woman but in his heart, he only desired Stiria. He must keep himself pure or Stiria might hate him for his deception.
Zeliker didn't realise he had been concerned about his future so early when nothing happened yet between them. Silvert might have laughed out loud if he knew Zeliker's silly thoughts and called him a pervert for wanting after her.
Both reached Shasui a few hours later and went to dine at a tavern. When they were having a relaxing atmosphere, a man barged in through the entrance door and shouted hysterically.
"Everyone, pack your things and your valuable items! The Entenoa soldiers have reached near Marlom! Right now, they are fighting with the border soldiers. If they capture Marlom, we would not be safe anymore! It's dangerous to stay here!" The man said in a panic.
"What?!!!" Everyone was shocked.