The next day had started and as usual, everyone was kept busy by their work.

Morning had quickly passed by in what seemed just a few minutes and now, it was almost past afternoon as the sun's heat cooled while it slowly began to disappear below the horizon.

People started to hurry and worked twice as fast so that they could finish their work before sunset but if there was to be one person mentioned who had totally forgotten about time and its quick passing by then that person would be Evie.

Throughout the day, Evie was in a daze, lost deep in thought and this was not gone unnoticed by her friends and some other people whom she knew as some of them even turned to ask if everything was fine to which Evie would just absent-mindedly nod and walk past them.

And the reason for this you may ask?

Well, she was just really nervous for something that she was going to do soon and now, as the time for that 'thing' started coming close, Evie found herself trying to calm down and taking deep breaths while continuously reminding herself with the words, 

"Do not panic! Stop getting nervous! I need to stay calm and collected or else I would just make a fool of myself."

But still, these measures did not take to much avail as now, taking hesitant steps, Evie walked towards the left corner of the royal palace's garden, where a small patch of daffodils were grown.

This was the place where she had asked the Prince to meet her.

Her heart thudded in her chest while she felt quite breathless, all the previous courage fading into thin air as her eyes settled on the Prince who sat on a bench located few meters away from her.

"Evie!" The Prince called out as he got up and waved at her with a smile.

Evie's eyes sparkled on seeing him as she walked towards him, totally forgetting about everything that surrounded her and only focusing on the Prince.

Soon, she now stood infront of him as her cheeks were flushed with a bright red colour while her eyes lost in the Prince's beauty.

"Sup! Everything's fine?" Taehyung asked as he noticed that Evie looked quite nervous, as if something was bothering her and she wanted to speak it out.

Evie stood there, extremely silent, her eyes glued to the ground and fingers fidgeting. 

"Evie?"

It took each and every ounce of courage left in her to look up and meet the Prince's eyes. "Do it!" She told her self as she took a deep breath...and then breathed out.

"Do it!"

Her inner voice screamed once again as she took a second deep breath and looking the Prince in his eyes, parted her lips and out came the words in a gush, "Iloveyou."

Silence gashed its way through the air, giving a deep cut just like how a sharp knife would cut through a thin fragile cloth as Taehyung stood completely still, his mind trying to comprehend what Evie had just spoken; and when it did he froze in shock.

His mind ran wild over the words Evie had spoken as he gulped, not knowing what to say.

"Evie I-" He fell silent once again, not wanting to hurt Evie with the reply he was about to give.

On seeing this reaction from the Prince's side, Evie's hopeful heart crashed to the ground as she was able to make out the reply Taehyung wanted to give and though she had mentally prepared herself for this situation beforehand, it still hurt a lot.

So before the Prince could complete his sentence, Evie raised her hand making him fall silent.

"You don't love me, isn't that what you want to say?"

Taehyung felt his heart being wretched on knowing that he had hurt his friend. He felt guilty though he knew he had done nothing wrong. And in this situation, lying wouldn't help either because afterall, love is an emotion that can never be forced.

But still, he made an attempt to lighten things up by giving a smile and saying, "No, I do love you Evie but not in the way you love me. I love you as a friend and I hope you understand...please Evie, don't feel sad."

While words were being exchanged and a thick atmosphere had formed between the two, a third person, who had just been passing by and accidently heard the conversation stopped at her tracks.

The place she was passing by and now stood on was situated near the bushes and behind the Prince so she was hidden from sight.

"Taehyung-ah, its ok. Don't worry about me, I will get over it anyways..." She heard Evie whisper as she could see how the girl was trying to hold back her tears. 

"What is going on?" The person thought in confusion.

Evie heaved a sigh and was about to look away when a sudden rustle from behind a bush caused her attention to divert. A frown made its way on her face when she caught a glimpse of that person.

Jealousy slowly started to form in her heart as Evie came a bit closer to the Prince and asked a question which caused the Prince's cheeks to flush, "Aera is the one you like, isn't it Prince?"

Taehyung's eyes widened on hearing these words as he looked at Evie and shook his head in denial, though his heart seemed to be replying with a different answer.

This reaction from the Prince solidified the doubt Evie had as she tightly closed her palms into fists, trying to get rid of the negative emotions that were starting to take her by a storm.

But it wasn't easy as she could feel her previous hurt emotions now starting to turn into bitterness for the person who stood behind the bushes, the person being Aera.

Evie knew that she had to go from here if she wanted to stop her emotions from messing with her brain so looking at the Prince, she forced a smile which hid her true thoughts like a mask, "Don't lie to me Prince, you do love her and I guess I cant do anything to change that."

"Evie," Taehyung softly called, and in a voice which sounded more like a whisper said, "I am sorry."

"It's ok." Came an empty reply to which Taehyung stood silent for sometime but then, with hesitance asked, "So...are we cool then? Friends?"

She didn't respond but just nodded her head as she could no longer take it anymore. All she wanted for now was some alone time after which she would probably feel much better.

She felt confused, lost, angry, jealous but above all, she felt her heart breaking with each passing second...

With her eyes devoid of any emotion, Evie looked away and towards the entrance gate of the castle as turning around, she retraced her steps and walked out.

As soon as she exited the garden, Evie broke into a full fledged run, letting her feet take her to only one place she could think of; the woods.

Floating up in the sky, having seen and heard each and every word of the conversation that had taken place between Evie and Taehyung, Albrutus slightly smirked as he now followed Evie to the place she was running towards.

Evie by now had lost the count of time as night started to fall and darkness hung like a heavy and suffocating veil.

Two...or maybe even three hours had passed since Evie had been running and now, her chest burned while her feet ached.

She finally stopped, panting for breath as senses struck her and she turned around to look where she was. Worry immediately caused her to furrow her eyebrows as realization dawned on her. 

"Where am I?"

Fear slowly started building up in her chest as she looked around in panic.

As far as her eye could see, there was just darkness looming everywhere while spooky and creepy shadows fell on the ground.

A shiver ran down her spine as she heard echoes of laughter and weird howling noises.

"Shit..." She cursed under her breath, as she took out her sword while her green eyes started glowing, activating her powers. Once again, she looked around hoping that her eyes were playing tricks on her and that the place she had come to was not the one her mind kept telling her.

A shuffling sound came from the bushes behind as Evie immediately turned and looked at it. Pointing her sword at the bush she slowly walked towards it when suddenly, a rabbit jumped out.

She yelped in shock but heaved a breath as relief flooded through her. Atleast it wasn't something she was anticipating.

Her figure was just about to calm down when something, or more like, someone hit her on the head from behind, knocking out the sword in her hand and causing pain to gush through her.

Before Evie could even have a second to think and react, a green spell flew towards her as a deep voice shouted from behind, "Statify." And that was the last word Evie heard before her head started feeling heavy while all her energy left her, causing her to fall to the ground and loose consciousness.

"The Dark Lord would surely be happy when he sees this..."

///

It was nearly midnight and yet Aera had not fallen asleep as she lay on her back, her eyes staring at the ceiling while her mind running over the scene she had witnessed earlier today.

"Iloveyou."

These three words she had heard Evie speak still echoed in her thoughts as she now wished to not have heard them because they were just not leaving her mind.

"I wonder what happened...why was Evie so sad one minute and suddenly seemed annoyed or angry the next minute?" She mumbled with a sigh.

Aera was so lost in thinking about all this that she had no consciousness of her surroundings, so when a knock on the door of her room reached her ears and disrupted the silence she immediately got up with a surprise.

It took a few seconds for her to grasp what was going on, and when she did, she got up from the bed and opened the door, only to be once again surprised on seeing the Prince standing right infront of her.

"Prince Taehyung?" Aera said, as her eyes looked around and then back at the Prince.

Taehyung gave a smile as he scratched his neck, "Umm, sorry for disturbing but I noticed from outside that the lights of your room were still open so I thought why not pay you a visit before going to sleep."

Aera raised an eyebrow and stood silent, not knowing of what to do. Should she let a man enter her room this late at night?

But keeping these thought's aside, she reminded herself that this man was not just some stranger but rather someone she knew and trusted. So giving a smile, she nodded and moved aside to let the Prince enter.

Now, sitting on a chair which was kept beside the bed, Taehyung looked around nervously. He himself did not know of why exactly he had come to Aera. Maybe he just could not sleep and the thought of talking to her seemed to be a good option.

Maybe the thought of Evie and how she must have felt when he rejected her kept haunting him and talking to Aera about it would make him feel a bit better and put him at ease.

"Aera," Taehyung finally called out, breaking the icy silence. "Evie confessed to me today...and I rejected her."

Aera's eyes widened, surprised at the frankness of the Prince and how he had suddenly brought this topic up.

Though she may have known about Evie's confession she had no idea of what was the response Evie got, so coming to know about it and that even from the Prince himself caught her off guard.

"You, what!?" She exclaimed in disbelief as she then muttered, "So that is the reason of why Evie seemed so sad."

On hearing the last few words spoken by Aera, Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at her with confusion, "Wait, how do you know what happened?"

Aera looked at Taehyung as her bewildered expression went away and a small smile cracked on her face, "Um, I was passing and uh, heard a bit of the conversation that took place between you two." She paused a bit but then raised her eyebrows and proceeded with a defensive tone in her voice, "But I didn't do it deliberately!"

Taehyung stared at Aera for a few seconds, but then shook his head and sighed. "It's ok, I don't mind. Rather, I want to ask about something."

"What?"

"Aera," He quietly said with a sudden change in the tone of voice. "If you really were there and you heard everything then, do you think I was rude?"

On hearing the Prince's question and also noticing how sad his voice sounded, Aera thought for a bit and then looking at him, replied, "Though I was there, I actually did not hear the whole conversation so I don't know much but if you want to know what I think then, I wouldn't say you were rude..."

After thinking for some more she continued, "Taehyung, you did nothing wrong. Feelings of the heart can never be stopped or changed forcefully...it just happens that Evie loves you and it is not your fault that you don't feel the same way. So don't feel bad about it."

Taehyung looked at Aera and then at the blue sky which was visible through the glass window. His heart felt heavy as he closed his eyes and said in a quavering voice,

"I take Evie as a friend of mine and nothing can change that for me. Infact, I don't even take her as a friend but in a way I think of her as my sister. Evie is someone I deeply care about and the thought that the reason of why she is probably feeling heartbroken is me makes me feel even more guilty about this all."

Aera's expression's softened as she could see how sincere and worried Taehyung was. It warmed her heart on hearing about the close friendship he and Evie shared, and somewhere deep in her mind where all her memories lived, she was reminded of her very own childhood friend.

"As far as I know, Evie is a person who has a strong personality. She will get over it soon and this tension between you both will cool down." Aera said with an encouraging and uplifting tone in her voice as Taehyung nodded and smiled, heaving a sigh as he let his heart lighten.

"Yeah, she surely is one heck of a strong and independent woman no doubt! I just hope she does not do anything silly while still feeling sad..."

But right at the moment of when Taehyung had spoken those words, deep inside the woods, a place where the dark magic lived and horrifying creatures existed, Evie's limp body was being dragged down a corridor and towards the room where the ruler of the darkness sat.

Statify: A spell, not fatal but still pulls all your energy from you, causing you to feel very weak or simply loose consciousness. Sometimes this spell can also make you a statue for a short of period of time.