An hour passed by, and the little prince refused to move from where they were seated. He continued sitting at the cliff, staring mindlessly at the river where he knew his mother would be. Those eyes were swollen from shedding tears, and his tiny shoulders could be seen heaving every now and then. Though he had somehow calmed down, deep in his heart, he was still hurting, calling out for his mother.

By late noon, the little guy had fallen asleep, finally exhausting himself from continuously crying. Lady Tyra, being a powerful witch herself, disappeared from that cliff with Drayce and reappeared inside the Second Prince’s chamber.

Lady Saira had already returned to Drayce’s chamber after being interrogated by the relevant palace officials. Though she knew the truth, she had to play ignorant, saying she had no idea about the disappearance of the Queen and the Second Prince. She was very worried about Drayce though and would pace around the Queen’s palace, having no choice but to await his return.

Earlier, she had gone to Lady Tyra’s quarters but there was no one in her chamber by the time she arrived. When she returned to the Queen’s residence, she learned that the palace had already discovered that the Queen had disappeared. What she didn’t expect was that Drayce would also be reported missing.

After the investigation officials got hold of her, she then asked to meet the King, but she was told that the King had left the palace with the royal knights. She didn’t know what to do and where to go. The Queen leaving was a sensitive issue and she could not just go to anyone with it, and now, the Second Prince had disappeared too. She decided to wait for Lady Tyra or the King to return. For the meantime, she began to fix the bed of the little prince, using that excuse to stay in his chamber.

“Lady Tyra?” the nanny called out the moment she saw them appear inside the chamber.

Lady Tyra put Drayce on the bed and heard Lady Saira ask, “What happened? Did…did His Highness find his mother?”

Lady Tyra nodded and said in a sad voice, “And saw his mother leaving.”

Tears rolled down Lady Saira’s eyes. “Now what shall we do?”

“Where is His Majesty the King?” Lady Tyra asked. “Did he come to the Queen’s residence?”

Lady Saira nodded. “The entire palace already knows that the Queen was missing because the King mobilized the knights. I heard from a servant that he left with his knights on horseback,” she informed the older lady.

“He must have gone to search for Her Majesty. I am afraid he will return with nothing.”

There was a knock on the door, and the voice of the servant reported, “Lady Saira? Great Lady Theodora has arrived and is currently waiting in the Queen’s chamber. She said she’d like to see you.”

Lady Saira was startled, but it didn’t surprise Lady Tyra as she knew the King’s mother was aware of everything about Esther.

“Inform her that the Second Prince is back,” the older woman told Lady Saira.

“I will be heading out then.” Lady Saira wiped her tears and went towards the Great Lady.

After a while, she returned together with the previous Queen to Drayce’s chamber. Exhaustion could be seen on the Great Lady’s elegant face, but just like her son, her expression was normally cold and dignified, and no one could see through her thoughts.

The three women could only look at the small guy sleeping on the bed as they could do nothing for him.

“I will stay here with Dray,” the older lady informed.

As Drayce had lost his mother, as his grandmother, it was her duty to take care of him.

——

A month had passed by since the news of the Queen’s disappearance shocked the capital. Ever since she was found missing, the King had not stepped foot inside the palace to search for his wife, relentlessly scouring through the territories of his kingdom one by one. For the entire month, Drayce had also not stepped out of the Queen’s residence. He forgot how to smile and hardly said any word. He would mostly sit idle with only his pet Dusk to accompany him in silence.

From time to time, he would spend time in his mother’s chamber and remember her, which would be known by all as his sobs could be overheard by the passing servants. Everyone had a difficult time handling him, seeing the naughty prince become unusually withdrawn. Thankfully, Great Lady Theodora was there to comfort him. His grandmother would stay by his side during her free time, since she had reassumed the position of the King’s Regent, handling the matters of the kingdom in the absence of the King.

No one knew where their king was, and even the Great Lady would only hear news about him from the local territory lords and the knights, but rumours had already started to spread in the capital that the Queen was not abducted—rather, she had left on her own because of the King’s mistake and the King had gone to beg for her forgiveness.

The Great Lady declared nothing as she simply waited for her son to return. But she could not stop the rumours of the Queen leaving.

——

Theron received a letter from his mother, asking for him to return since she’s finding it increasingly difficult to manage the palace affairs on her own. Such a large kingdom could move without its King and Queen because of the territory lords, but the royal family would risk lessening their authority over the nobility if it was left on its own. He was also receiving messages from the ministers and other palace officials, begging for him to go back to the palace and simply leave the search for the Queen to be handled by the royal knights.

After more than a month of searching, Theron finally returned to the palace with no positive result. He knew if Esther wished to hide herself, then there was no way he could find her but he still didn’t wish to give up on that hope.

What if while searching she saw him and changed her mind and then followed him back? What if he found her by chance and convinced her to return with him?

For the entire time, he was outside the palace, he hardly cared about food or resting and searched for his wife like a madman. He would not even stop at the estates of the local nobles and simply stay at inns in towns or villages whenever night came, or if they were out in the woods, they would set up camp only to rest briefly and would set out at the break of dawn. Even his knights were worried that the King would end up sick. He had lost all the brightness on his handsome face and looked nothing like the King who they had been serving for all these years.

Theron would have kept searching for Esther till the end of his life, but he had no choice but to return to the palace. He had to return for the sake of his people and this kingdom.

It was late in the night when the King silently returned to the palace along with the knights. Once he arrived, he locked himself in his chamber, not wishing to talk to anyone.

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