The princess subconsciously stepped back as Alex continued walking closer to her, glaring into her eyes like he was piercing through her soul. The danger in his eyes turned uncontrollable and she instantly felt as if he was almost going to do something brutal.
But before Alexander could reach her, the Queen suddenly stood between them.
"Alex, please calm down," Queen Leah urged, her face filled with worry.
However, Alex just let out a menacing laugh.
"Hahaha. Calm down? How could I calm down when my little lamb is nowhere to be found?" he asked. He still looked relatively calm but everyone knew that the volcano would soon erupt if they didn't do anything. They had to find this girl or else something worse than their worst nightmare might happen.
"Alex, we will help you look for her." The queen did her best to coax him but Alexander was a solid, unwavering glacier that no fire could melt.
"Oh, help me, huh? Of course you should…" he told her before his gaze flew back to the princess. "Now, step back. I have business with your daughter," he coldly and heartlessly said, causing the queen to feel terrified.
She looked at Princess Mira with millions of questions in her eyes. She knew that Alex was targeting the princess but what could her daughter have done to earn this treatment?
"Alex, wait please. What do you mean –"
Before the queen could complete her statement, Alex already walked past her towards Princess Mira. However, before he could reach the princess, the king finally moved and stood between Alex and his daughter.
"Alexander…" King Livius pulled Princess Mira behind him and stood before Alex, his expression now looking very grave.
"King Livius, step aside. This has nothing to do with you," Alex uttered as his eyes blazed coldly at the man.
The queen was about to approach them again because she was afraid that a fight might explode between the two but the King stopped her with his next words.
"Leah, stop! Do not interfere anymore," the king said without averting his gaze away from Alex. Vigilance and intense alertness were flooding in his eyes.
"Move, King Livius." Alexander's patience had long reached its limit and the warning in his voice this time was tinged with the highest form of danger.
"Alexander, you think my daughter is the one behind that girl's disappearance, right? Let me handle her so stay put," the King calmly said. Gone was the man who let out that loud, thundering sound earlier as he became incredibly calm and careful.
The king could not let Alexander start a fight in this place with all his family here. He knew that if a fight broke out, that would be disastrous. This problem needed to be solved as fast as possible. They needed to find that girl very quickly or Alex might really do something even worse than what he imagined.
Without waiting for Alex's reaction, the king turned towards the princess, grabbed her by the shoulders and he cornered her by the wall.
"Mira, where is she?" the king immediately asked the girl.
He looked at the girl's expression and he knew right then why Alex had targeted her. Mira may have hid her intentions very well and managed to fool everyone with the innocent and noble look on her face but there was no way she could fool him nor Alex. Her words and expressions were enough for him to deduce that she was hiding something so of course, Alex would pick up immediately on that. He knew that Alex wasn't wrong and that this daughter of his had something to do with the girl's disappearance. There was also one more incriminating thing that he knew about this daughter of his and that was the fact that Mira had been in love with Alex for a very long time.
Even though the princess wasn't the only one who may have wanted to be with Alex, this daughter of his was the only one who would be foolish enough to do something like this right under Alex's nose! She was the only one who would act rashly like this, not thinking about the consequences of her actions. There was no one he could suspect but her.
The King's jaws clenched hard as he glared at his foolish daughter. "Mira, if you still want to live, spit it out," he threatened. "Now!" he demanded but the girl just shook her head.
"I don't know anything! Father, please believe me! I was with Mother the entire time, how could I kidnap someone?" the princess started tearing up.
"That's right, Livius, Alex. Mira was with me the entire time. Stop suspecting her like that!" The queen stepped in.
"Father, what evidence do you have to suspect that I am the one behind this? Please, I never did anything wrong! I don't know what you are talking about!"
"Livius, listen to your daughter. She's telling the truth," Queen Leah urged her husband but the man was unswerving in his certainty about Alex's accusation. He hated to be like this towards his daughter but he knew Alex well and he had never been wrong about things like this.
Ignoring his wife's plea, the King returned his gaze to his daughter.
"Mira, I'm only going to ask you one last time. Where is the girl?! This is your last chance to save yourself. If you cross Alexander, you will regret it," the king said in a stern and threatening tone. He was extremely worried for his daughter but he needed to let her know the gravity of the situation because he knew what Alex was capable of.
"Father, how could you not believe your own daughter?" she uttered in disbelief.
"Because I know that Alex is right," was all he replied.
The girl gritted her teeth and shook her head, denying her involvement in any of this. The queen forced her way between them and held her daughter.
"Stop this now, Livius! I am not going to let you treat my daughter like this!" The queen was now angry but more than that, she was extremely worried. They were becoming so emotional that they didn't notice Alex's disappearance.
"Enough with this nonsense!" Alex's words boomed in the great hall as he walked back inside. He was dragging a dead soldier's body with his hand and when he reached the trio, he dropped it on the floor, right before the princess.