"I see that you have finally returned from your mission my faithful servant. I hope you carried out my orders and did what you were told."

With its head bent low, the ghoul stood in the presence of Damien. "Yes, My Lord, I did." It replied with a low voice. "I have been keeping a close eye on Prince Taehyung for the past few days and you were right, the Prince seems to be losing hope and slipping into despair. He is afraid not for his safety, but rather for the safety of his dear ones and seeing them in pain, is causing him pain too."

A smile formed on Damien's lips as he played with the glass of wine he held in hand. "That is great news! A weak Taehyung means a better chance for us to control him. You may go now."

The ghoul gave a deep bow in respect and turned to walk out of the room. Just then, the doors opened and in came a girl.

"You called for me, My Lord?"

"Yes, I did." Damien replied.

"Say it away then, your servant is listening." 

"I want you to do something for me, Evie."

"What is it?" 

"The Prince is succumbing to negativity, this is the perfect time to make a move."

The dancing flames of the candles dimly lit the room as Evie held her breath, intently listening to what the Dark Lord had to say.

Her eyes moved around, and fell on the locket that Damien wore. It had a huge black pearl attached to it and if one would look closely, they would notice wisps of darkness running in circles inside that pearl.

"I am finally assigning you a task my subject and hopefully you will not fail me."

"I won't, trust me." Came a confident reply to which the Dark Lord smirked.

"Go to the Prince and give him an offer such that he will not be able to resist. If he truly is that passionate to defeat me, he will surely follow you. Tomorrow is when the countdown begins and when night sets, he will have lost all the glory he has today."

///

The next day...

After getting ready and having had his breakfast, the first thing the Prince did was to head to Aera's room. On being lectured by his friend last night, Tehyung had made up his mind to drop his attitude and fix things between him and Aera.

And so he walked, down the long corridors, taking one turn and then the next.

The morning sun shone brightly above in the sky while fresh air entered the castle. 

Standing infront of a wooden door, the Prince took a deep breath and hit it with his knuckles three times. 

The sound of his knocking echoed as the Prince waited for the door to be opened.

"What am I going to say?" He thought as he bit his inner lip with nervousness. "She is probably really angry with me but I guess I deserve it after all. I have really messed up this time."

Time flew by but the door never opened and soon the Prince started getting worried. "Where is she?" He muttered to himself and just then, he saw a worker passing by.

"Excuse me!" He called out and the lady worker turned towards him. Seeing the one and only Prince Taehyung calling out to her, her cheeks flushed deep red as she walked towards him.

"Yes, Prince?"

"Do you know where the girl, who stays in this room, is?"

"Oh, you mean Aera?"

"Yes, have you seen her?"

The girl nodded as she replied, "Miss Aera woke up early today. She and her friend went out somewhere, saying that they were going to meet someone."

"Who?" Taehyung asked to which the girl shrugged her shoulders. "I am sorry Prince, I don't know. But if you want, I can tell Miss Aera to meet you once she returns."

"Sure, please do." Turning his back on the girl, Taehyung frowned as he kept his hands in his pockets. "I wonder where she has went now. Please don't get into trouble Aera."

///

Walking down the path of the village that had now become so familiar, Aera and Jimin kept stealing glances at the letter Aera had received.

"This is so weird..." Muttered Jimin.

"Totally..." Muttered Aera as she looked at the address which had been scribbled down on the paper she held in hand. 

"I thought you both were not close with each other and if so then why is she suddenly calling you for a get-together?" Jimin asked.

"No idea, I have always found that girl a bit weird."

A chuckle escaped Jimin's lips. "Weird, but in a good way."

Aera raised her eyebrow at this statement as a teasing smile made its way on her lips. "Looks like someone is falling in love~"

The two friends laughed as they finally reached the place they were headed for.

Opening the door, the warm air and delicious aroma of freshly baked buns hit Aera's nostrils as she was immediately taken back to the time when she had visited this place with the Prince.

"Uncle James Bun Shop, been a long time since I last came here." Aera said as she waved at uncle James who stood near his oven, baking a cake.

"Good morning!" He greeted as he looked at Aera and then at Jimin. "Your friend is waiting for you."

"Friend?" Thought Aera and that is when her eyes settled on Jungkook, who just like her, wore a surprised expression.

"Oh my!" Exclaimed the boy as he headed towards the two. "I was not expecting to see you guys here." He said but when his eyes fell on the letter Aera held, he raised an eyebrow. "Evie sent you a letter too?"

"Well, apparently yes."

A smile tugged up the boy's lips as the three took their seats.

"So tell me," Jungkook said as he sipped on his glass of water. "How did you get that letter?"

"I don't know, I was in my room and it just magically appeared, out of thin air, as if it was teleported." Aera replied as she remembered last night. 

The surprise that had jolted through her when she had seen the letter come out of no where and just hang in the air as if an invisible ghost was holding it, still remained with her as she noticed Jungkook widen his eyes.

"That is exactly what happened to me! Evie must have upgraded her magic skills because it takes a lot of practice to master teleportation as perfect as that."

Aera nodded as she looked out of the window. Soon, the outline of a figure came into her view and as that figure came closer and closer, she immediately recognised it and called out to the other two. "Look, there she is!" Aera said as the three saw a girl walk towards the bakery.

The door opened and in she came, heading towards them with a calm look on her face.

"Evie! Care to explain your sudden disappearance?" Jungkook asked as he walked up to his friend with a bright smile. The girl smiled back, but it looked too forced to be real.

Walking towards Aera, Evie eyed her up and down and then finally spoke, "I am glad to see you guys."

Jimin, who till now had stayed silent, looked at Evie as his heart suddenly started beating twice as fast. His cheeks unknowingly flushed and his breath hitched when he noticed the girl looking at him.

"H-Hi!" He said as he walked towards her but on seeing the dead coldness in her eyes, he backed away. "Evie, its me, Jimin."

Evie frowned as she furrowed her eyebrows. "Jimin who? I don't remember anyone with that name." Saying that she turned her attention back to Jungkook and Aera as they all sat down and ordered something to eat.

Her words hurt Jimin, but then, maybe she must have forgotten him. "It's not like I am someone special to her anyways."  He thought as disappointment started taking over his heart.

But still, he could not stop himself from continuously stealing shy glances at her and while doing so, he noticed something strange. The way she talked, interacted and did everything seemed forced, as if each and every action of hers was being controlled like a puppet.

She seemed anything but the Evie he had talked to in the Forbidden Forest, infact, she seemed like a completely different person. 

"Where had you gone these past few days, you literally just disappeared out of sight! How could you just abandon me like that?" Jungkook asked to which Evie gave a chuckle.

"I just went to visit my parents as it had been a long time since I last saw them. I guess I got really excited and so forgot to inform you guys." The girl responded as her deep red eyes flashed under the sun's light.

"Her eyes..." Jimin thought as he looked at Evie. "Weren't they green?"

And to conform his thoughts, Aera pointed it out. "Evie, your eyes, they look different!"

Evie on hearing this smiled and gave a nod. "Beautiful isn't it? I just used a small spell to change my eye colour but don't worry, it will eventually wear off."

Taking a bite from her pretzel stick, Evie let silence take over as her eyes wandered around, finally settling back on Jimin.

Their eyes met and for a second, Jimin thought he saw a sudden change in Evie's eyes, a sudden emotion that passed by them. It was hard to decipher was it meant because before he could understand, the glint in her eyes disappeared and got replaced with eyes devoid of any emotion.

"Strange..." The boy thought and looked away.

"Well enough talking about me." Evie suddenly spoke as she looked back at Aera. "How is Prince Taehyung doing? It has been a long time since we last met."

Aera found it strange how Evie suddenly changed the topic, and that too to talk about the Prince. Remembering the last time when Evie had been rejected by him, Aera wondered if she had been able to move on from the pain she must have felt.

Only if she knew that it was this pain in Evie's heart that had turned to pure bitterness now.

"Oh well, he is doing fine." Aera replied with a smile.

"Really?" Evie asked as if in doubt, but before Aera could reply, Jungkook butted in.

"To be honest, he does not seem that fine." Jungkook said as he took a bite of his sandwich. "He is feeling a bit down these days. But don't worry, he will rise up once again."

A small smirk tugged on Evie's lips, and Aera noticed it just in time. She turned to look at Jimin who gave her the same confused look she wore.

The two friends looked away when Evie suddenly got up from her chair. 

"I shall be going, I just remembered, I have an important thing to attend to. You guys continue on, we shall meet some other day."

And before anyone could object, the girl walked out of the shop and into the streets of the village.

"She seemed to quite in a hurry!" Jungkook remarked merrily, but when he turned to look at the other two, his smile fell. "What's up with those serious faces you both are looking at me with? Did I do something wrong?"

Jimin looked at Jungkook and then at Aera. "Something doesn't seem right." He said. "How come Evie does not remember me at all?"

Jungkook shrugged his shoulders at this. "Don't be disheartened bro, it's normal to forget someone."

"But then what about her eyes?" Jimin asked.

"Aera told me that Evie has the ability to talk to animals, and those with such a power, naturally have green eyes. Only wizards or normal human beings, who do not have any special gifted power, can change the colour of their eyes. One's eye colour is a major clue of what magic he or she is gifted with and Evie is specially gifted, just like Taehyung so there is no way she can change her eye colour. I clearly remember Wizard Alf telling me about this."

Aera nodded her head on hearing Jimin's words. "I agree, something seems off. The way she just suddenly changed the topic and seemed to be in some kind of hurry, she is definitely up to something."

At this, Jungkook chuckled as he shook his head. "You guys are making it seem as if she is going to murder someone. Stop worrying!"

Aera got up from her chair as she looked at the other two. "It's better to be safe than sorry. Things have been really bizarre these days, attack after attack, what if this is some kind of trap being lain and Evie does not know about it? She mustn't have gone that far, maybe I can catch up with her and see what is going on."

"Oh boy..." Jungkook muttered. "If she finds out you are following her, then she wouldn't be too pleased to know. But anyways, you can go."

"Great then, I will be back as soon as possible!" Saying this, Aera walked out of the shop to follow the girl to see what was really going on.

I am not really good in writing romantic stories so please do bear with me. There is just so much going on in this book that I just realized we are almost near chapter 40 and the two main leads have not even confessed their feelings for each other!

I am sorry for making things so slow between them (⋟﹏⋞)