Chapter 111: Sleep

After his talk with King Armen, Drayce returned straight to his bedchamber. It was late, and he should have been resting at this point after working the entire day, but he somehow felt restless, thinking about a certain someone. 

He only saw her the previous night. For the entire day today, he didn't even hear her voice though he could feel her presence around him thanks to the unknown energy, which was getting stronger along with the improvement of her health.

The previous two times, he had reasons to sneak inside her room using his powers, but tonight, he had no reason to visit her. She was well enough to move on her own, so there was no need to give her those magic elixirs, and neither was she uncomfortable in her sleep. 

'Why is she not having any nightmares today?' he thought as frown lines appeared on his forehead. As he mused over his dilemma, he realized something and smirked. 'Do I really need a reason to go see her? I should be able to see my soon-to-be wife whenever I wish. I won't stay long, just a quick glimpse to make sure she is indeed well. It won't be rude, and neither am I affecting the virtue of a lady, isn't it?'

Drayce finally convinced himself with many different reasons that sounded more and more valid to him the more he thought of them. The next moment, he disappeared from his own chamber, accompanied by the strong flutter of curtains.

With a similar strong flutter of curtains, Drayce appeared inside Seren's bedchamber. The two nurses assigned to her were sleeping soundly, and they didn't realize there was an intruder once again. 

But there was a certain bird who was greatly disturbed by Drayce's action, feeling like his feathers would be plucked out of his wings due to the sudden strong gust of wind. 

Dusk was initially dozing off by the window, where he was gripping the thin wooden sill rim with one claw, the other leg folded up within his bulky body. With perfect balance, he slept with his beak buried in his bulky chest. But with the speed of Drayce entering the bedchamber through the window, the poor sleeping bird was almost rotated by three hundred sixty degrees, making him lose the grip of his claw on the window sill. Even without opening his eyes, it was an uncannily familiar scenario, and he knew who the culprit was. The startled bird fled away from the room after receiving the threatening force he experienced from his master. 

Drayce did not even pay him any attention. He headed straight towards Seren without hesitating for a moment. He moved away from the netted curtain around the bed and sat at the edge of the mattress. His eyes didn't move away from her veil-covered face since the moment it came into his sight. 

What was so amazing about this imprisoned princess that he couldn't stop himself? This was the question he kept asking himself again and again and might keep doing so till he got the answers to all of his questionable urges. 

Drayce wanted to see her purple eyes. Those eyes were the main reason he was pulled towards her, but he had never gotten to see them again after their encounter in the market. After that day, whenever he visited her, it was always during the night when she was asleep. 

He held her hand that was out of the quilt covering her and tucked it inside. He moved his fingers towards the mark on her forehead, wanting to see that sparkling light like a kid playing with something amusing. But the next moment, his eyes darkened as he thought, 'I need to find out what this is.'

At that very moment, Seren sensed something weird on her forehead. When she opened her eyes, some kind of light rays were shining above her forehead momentarily blinded her vision, only to see a large manly hand hovering over her face, its fingers doing something on her head. 

With eyes wide open, she was about to scream when that rough manly hand covered her mouth, suppressing her scream.

She tried to move but the owner of that hand pressed her at her shoulder, restricting her thin body from moving even an inch. 

How could a weak body like hers compete with a healthy adult male? 

With fear clouding her mind, her breathing quickened as she tried to struggle out from the man's hold. The light rays lingering on her forehead disappeared the moment he moved his hand to cover her mouth. 

She was about to start crying when she realized there were a pair of beautiful red eyes staring at her. They shone brightly even with the dim lights coming from the lamp near the walls of the bedchamber.

Seren couldn't understand what was going on. Who was this person? Why was he in her room? What—wait, red eyes?

She realized she knew the owner of those red eyes. 

"We don't want another disaster in the palace, do we?" the strange man asked as he leaned down closer to her to whisper in her ear.

Seren gulped in fear. Her heart was thundering inside her chest, too frightened to have other thoughts. 

What was this man doing here? How could he enter the royal palace?

Drayce slightly moved back his head to peer down into her gem-like purple eyes which had a tinge of brightness even in the dark. Her eyes, full of fear, stared at him, causing him to smile lightly. The more she was scared, the more it amused him. 

"Be good and sleep quietly," he said, his voice surprisingly gentle. His face was so close to hers, his warm breath fanned against her cheek. 

She did not move. No, it was more like she could not move. Other than staring at him in the dark, she could do nothing.

Getting no reaction from her, Drayce moved the hand holding her shoulder down to cover her eyes. "Sleep!" 

The next moment, those rough yet warm hands were gone from her body and she opened her eyes. 

The man was gone.

The bedchamber was calm once again, and there was only the sound of curtains dancing along the night breeze entering through the open window.

Seren sat up in bed and looked around. 'Was it a dream?' She could still feel the warmth of those rough palms on her skin. 'No, it was not a dream.'

That red-eyed man… he was the one who had saved her before when she sneaked out of Martha's watch. Why was he here? Was he here to harm her? 

The mind which blanked after that terrifying incident in the tower started to fear her future. 

'Should I... run away from here?'