Louis returned to the castle. He still had the kitten in his hand. The guards questioned where he went but discontinued interrogation when Louis said he was probably sleepwalking again. Louis had a sleepwalking problem.

Once, Louis had entered the king's bedroom in the middle of the night and lay in Niall's bed. When Niall pushed Louis off the mattress, Louis sat on the floor and began singing to himself. Niall had stared at his son in confusion before calling the guards to return Louis to his own bedroom.

In the morning, Louis walked out of his room. The cat followed behind him, scuttering on her tiny legs. As Louis passed by a window in the corridor, he noticed someone coming out of the forest. The person wore a pale violet dress under a black cloak which covered her face. She had a dainty build.

Louis ran downstairs to confront the girl as she entered the palace. The cat scampered along, struggling to catch up.

"Louis, what is that mangy animal doing in the castle?" Modeste asked in disdain. She crossed her arms over her chest. She held a black cloth by pressing it against her lilac dress with her elbow. The fabric draped over her arm.

"She is not a mangy animal," Louis scoffed. "And she happens to be acquainted to me via a friend of mine, so why are you being so rude to my guest?" Modeste rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry then." Modeste said but Louis doubted that she meant it. She bent her knees and squatted to pet the kitten. However, the kitten did not receive her affection with open arms. She extended her claw and swiped at Modeste. Louis burst out giggling. Modeste stood up, straightening her dress before flashing a sarcastic toothy grin at Louis.

"What is up with all that blood on your hands?" Modeste questioned. The blood had clotted but Louis could not resist picking at the scabs so his hands began to bleed again. "You didn't murder anyone, did you?" Modeste joked. It was Louis' turn to roll his eyes.

"Why were you in the forest?" Louis questioned. Modeste rarely went into the woods for royal duties and she had always appreciated the nighttime for it was only after dusk that she could sleep.

"I'm hunting down that stupid beast that you told your dad you found in the forest." Modeste spat out the words.

"Really?" Louis asked. Modeste raised an eyebrow. Then, she nodded stiffly, "Yes."

"I had another encounter last night with the demon-" Louis started to say but Modeste butted in, "You snuck out of the castle, didn't you?"

"Well, maybe I sleepwalked into the forest. You don't know my life!" Louis snapped. "Wait, how did you know that I was grounded?"

Modeste hesitated to answer. She looked down at her feet for an answer but she never found one. At that hour, Modeste should have already clocked off. Louis forced a few puzzle pieces together. Modeste was out of the castle throughout the night. A feminine voice was that that called the beast. Modeste knew Louis was grounded, and quite possibly knew Harry was back in his home. She did not particularly like Harry.

"Are you keeping the demon as a pet?" Louis questioned.

"What?" Modeste asked. She looked lost.

"Don't play dumb with me." Louis instructed. "Tell me, where were you last night?"

"I was in the forest looking for the beast."

"And did you find it?"

"I did not find it."

"Liar! Then, explain those scratches on your arm."

Modeste quickly covered up the glaring red marks on the arm with her sleeve. Her desperate attempt to conceal the gashes were futile. Louis had seen it. There was little use in trying to hide them. Modeste still had to explain herself.

"I fell and my arm scraped against some bark." She accounted for the injury.

"Likely story!" Louis barked. Modeste continued to deny the claim that she was lying.

"You let the demon free so that it would attack Harry, didn't you?" Louis claimed. "Well, I will have you know it did not work because the stupid thing attacked me!"

"Louis, I am telling you that I did nothing of that sort." Modeste denied again.

"You shall call me 'your highness'." Louis snapped. "Your calling me 'Louis' compels me to question your respect for me, adding onto my impression of you when you lied to me."

"For the final time, your highness, I did not release a beast to kill Harry." Modeste put her foot down. Her dress bounced as she stomped.

"Yes, Modeste, you are absolutely right. This will be the final time you tell me that," Louis said. "Because I will see to it that my father fires you for lying to me. This way, you would not even have to tell me anything ever again."

"Don't threaten me with claims you cannot prove to be true." Modeste pleaded. "They may appear realistic in your surmise but I assure you, your highness, that I am not lying."

"Silence!" Louis ordered. "I do not wish to further continue this conversation."

"You can instruct me to be quiet but it will not change the fact that I am telling you the truth." Modeste stated. "I did not set the beast loose in the bakery.

Louis frowned at her. "I never said I was at the bakery." Louis pointed out. Not once did Louis mention that he went to Harry's home.

Panic was written all over Modeste's face. Beads of sweat formed on her temples. She gulped down a lump that was lodged in her throat. Her skin went pale. Modeste tried to utter a response but it came out as a incomprehensible stammer. "I did not say that either." Modeste found her words and asserted. "I said that I did not release the beast in the bakery. Your whereabouts are not of any concern."

Louis gritted his teeth. "And you knew that my encounter with the demon was in the bread shop because...?" Louis let his voice trail off and waited for Modeste to complete his sentence with her answer.

"Harry's the baker's boy. Where else would he be in the middle of the night?" Modeste responded off the top of her head. "And you snuck out. If not to see Harry, where would you go?" Louis rolled his eyes. Her explanation made sense but Louis still had a feeling in his gut that told him that she was lying.

Louis gave up arguing with Modeste and stalked off to the throne room to report her to his father. She was obstinately refusing to confess and Louis doubted anything that he could say further in conversation would do anything to sway her. Louis ensured that he had not left out a single detail about his conversation with Modeste when recounting it to Niall. Actually, Louis may have 'forgotten' to include the part where he slipped out of the castle at night and replaced it with an incredibly descriptive story about how he sleepwalked out of his room and managed to maneuver around the castle without being spotted by the palace guards.

Modeste desperately resisted rolling her eyes at Louis. She found that he was being petty.

Niall took Louis' side of the argument, questioning Modeste about where she went during the night. Modeste stuck to her story. She repeated for the tenth time, "I was in the forest."

"Modeste, I have said before that if I find that you lied to me, I will have to let you go." Niall reminded.

Modeste bit her lower lip. Modeste looked down at her fingers that were interlocked. She inhaled deeply. Her chest rose as she did so. Modeste let go of her breath and looked up at Niall. She opened her mouth and spoke, "Fine. I shall confess. I saw Prince Louis sneaking out of the castle last night so I followed him down to the bakery to ensure his safety. I did not want to say anything at first because Prince Louis, here, is my dear friend and I did not want him to get in trouble."

Modeste forced Louis into a one-arm hug and plastered a wide grin across her face. Louis frowned and squirmed at her touch. He flicked a hand at her and she let go of him. "Father, she lying to you!" Louis protested.

"The castle guards did say that you were out late at night 'sleepwalking'." Niall mentioned.
"I believe you have something you would like to tell me."

Louis sighed. "I snuck out last night," Louis admitted. He was not one to keep things from his father. He usually had nothing to hide, except maybe the erotic scenes he read in books while hiding in the adult section of the library. He was very good at keeping that out of Niall's knowledge.

Niall asked, "You know what you did was wrong?"

"Yes, Father." Louis uttered

"You will be grounded."

"For how long?"

"Modeste, how long should Louis be grounded?"

"Three days would be adequate." Modeste suggested. Louis glared at Modeste. She flashed a smug smile at him.

"Then, it shall be. Louis, you can't leave the castle in this three days." Niall declared. He turned to Modeste and continued, "As for you, I expect you to be out of the palace before Louis' punishment is over."

"Your majesty-" Modeste wanted to protest but Niall raised his palm, signalling her to stop.

"I said that if you lied to me, you will be fired," Niall reiterated. "And I do recall that you lied about being in the forest all night, you kept it a secret that Louis had deliberately disobeyed me and, worst of all, you did not report to me at once that Louis had left the castle alone, therefore, indirectly putting him in potential danger."

Once again, Modeste was lost for words. She glanced around, not knowing where to look. Louis stuck his tongue out at her.

"You have done wrong and I am firing you for that." Niall stated. Modeste stared at her feet. Tear welled up in her eyes. She blinked them away.

Outside the throne room, Modeste start walking down the corridor. Louis stopped her. "Spill. What really happened last night?" He asked.

"That was it. I followed you down to the bakery." Modeste said.

"And you did not help me when the demon attacked?"

"What was I to do?" Modeste inquired.

"Fair point." Louis gave her that. He still thought she was lying. Louis asked, "Is that the lie you will be sticking with or will you change it where it suits you?" Modeste did not give an answer but Louis took it that she would do the latter.

"You can't just alter your story for your own agendas!" Louis exclaimed.

"Of course I can!" Modeste raised. "And now you can't tell me what to do anymore."

"I'm still the prince." Louis pointed out.

"And I can migrate." Modeste grinned. A tear leaked out of her left eye as crow's feet formed at the corners of her eyes. Modeste wiped the tear away. "Can you just promise me one thing?" Modeste asked. Louis stared at her inquisitively.

"And what would that be?" Louis wanted to know what he would be getting himself into instead of just agreeing to the promise, not knowing what it was.

"Stay away from Harry." Modeste said.

"What? Why would you tell me to do that?" Louis asked. "Modeste, I love him. Wait, do you like him too?"

"No!" Modeste immediately objected Louis' claim.

"Good, because he's mine and I am not staying away from him."

Modeste sighed and shook her head. "Then, may I request something else of you."

"What might it be this time?"

"Don't stay up all night."

After giving her odd request, Modeste took her leave, leaving behind a very puzzled prince, standing in the hallway.

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