Demian and Seraphina had returned to Lord Heartstone's palace and as soon as Seraphina came out of the carriage, she found a really angry entity glaring at her as his moustache twitched vigorously.
"Alonzo!" She called out rather cheerfully as with three long strides, the old steward came across the distance and asked in a very calm manner, "Your Highness, mind telling me where have you been?"
Seraphina scratched the back of her neck, "Err... I-" she could not find any possible excuse as she looked at Demian for help.
"Well," Demian began, "she had followed me to the port and I might add, she went there with Casian." Now even Demian sent her daggers from his eyes.
"Casian, you say?" Alonzo nodded as his glares intensified and Seraphina felt somehow those two had ganged up on her.
"Ah! What a great day to have my favourite dessert!" Seraphina said and tried to escape from there as Alonzo said, "Well, I might forget to bring the favourite snacks of your Highness."
Seraphina halted and looked back almost pouting, "But why?"
"Did you say why?" Alonzo asked and it seemed he wanted her to question him because he had one hundred reasons not to give her the favourite snacks.
Seraphina cowered back as Alonzo began, his foot tapped on the ground as he crossed his hands above his chest, "First, you have snuck out of the castle despite knowing Prince Demian had ordered you to stay here, second, you have gone with Prince Casian!"
Seraphina diverted her eyes as it created doubt in both Alonzo and Demian's head.
Alonzo asked the young Prince in a low voice, "Your Highness, pardon me, but did something happen between the two?"
"I have been trying to ask that for this whole journey back to the palace but each time she has been changing the subject." Demian said as Alonzo hummed and his suspicious eyes fell on Seraphina.
As both of the men narrowed their eyes down at her, Seraphina felt their pressure on her. "Enough of me!" She said feeling proud, "Alonzo, you should know I have saved your Prince ones more."
Alonzo looked at Demian who said, "Of course not! This time I have protected you, dear wife."
Seraphina's cheeks got reddened and she seemed like she would have liked the ground to swallow her. "Wha- what are you saying?"
"Why? Now, I can't even call my wife, my dear wife?" He asked and she knew her dear husband was teasing her again.
"Th-that's not what I meant!" Seraphina exclaimed, her ears felt warm. "I am tired! I'm going to my chamber." And she dashed away from there with a flustered face as both Demian and Alonzo smiled at her.
As soon as Seraphina went away, Alonzo's face became grim along with Demian and a tense atmosphere surrounded them.
"Did you find out anything about Felis?" Demian asked as Irwin could not tell him more than a few things.
Alonzo shook his head, "No, Your Highness, I have asked the citizens of Rockdelia about the trading and about this Felis person, it seems, nobody knows anything about him."
"What about Lady Cathride, she seemed to have seen him."
"Yes, but unfortunately, she has been acting weird since yesterday."
Demian looked at the old steward questioningly, "What do you mean?"
"Well, at first, she had been crying, then suddenly she started to laugh and after last night, she..."
Demian raised a brow, "What?"
"She banged her head against the walls of the palace and everyone has gotten scared that she might have been possessed."
"Is she okay now?"
"Yes, I asked the guards to tie her up with the chair so that she wouldn't hurt herself."
Demian nodded as his thoughts raced in his head. "Alonzo?" He asked, "What do you think about this Felis?"
Alonzo shrugged and said, "Other than Irwin, no one can say anything about him. So, it could be a made up appearance by Irwin."
A small smile lingered on his Highness's lips as he said, "Well, that's what this Felis wants us to believe."
"What do you mean, Your Highness?"
"Only three people knew about Felis; Lord Heartstone, his wife and Irwin. As Irwin was a goblin, I'm certain Felis's powers didn't work on him but for Lord Heartstone and his wife, it worked." Demian looked at Alonzo as dots were starting to connect in the old steward's mind.
"They went insane so nobody would say anything about him but for Irwin, Felis must haven't known about his identity. But he thought if there wouldn't be anyone to prove his statement, then no one would believe him." Demian said as Alonzo nodded.
"But let's assume, he exists, what would be his reasons for doing all sort of this?" Alonzo asked.
"That I don't know, Alonzo." Demian released a sigh as he said, "But whatever he wanted he could not get it and it could mean only one thing."
"What is it?"
"He would come back for it."
Alonzo's eyes widened as he said, "Then, what should we do, Your Highness?"
Demian smiled, "We will fight, of course! Because what Felis didn't know was when this city had fallen under my supervision, Rockdelia became mine."
Demian turned over to Alonzo, "Alonzo, I want you to take this task very seriously. After the distribution of the lands, I will ask a few of the surrounding countries to start trading here while the citizens here will have to open a grand market. Take how much time you need."
Alonzo kneeled on his one leg and he said, "Your wish is my command, your Highness."
"And also," Demian looked at him with a worried glance, "don't tell Seraphina about Lady Cathride. She seemed to like her a lot."
Alonzo nodded as he stood up, "Yes Your Highness."
*****
Seraphina flopped on her bed and released a breath of relief but opened her eyes as she recalled something odd in the stone. The Eye of The Devil. What a weird name it was. She still could not believe in herself if she had heard someone chuckling or not. Besides, why would a stone chuckle at her?
Nonetheless, she wanted to take a bath and sleep. Then she recalled, she hadn't met Lady Cathride in days. Her heart sank as Lord Heartstone had abandoned her and now she must be very lonely.
She thought before taking a bath, she needed to check Lady Cathride. She went out and neared the great hall and saw it was as crowded as before but her eyes fell on Lord Heartstone's two daughters, Lady Diana and Fiona who were weeping and the rest of the people had been maintaining a distance from them. It seemed odd to Seraphina as she approached them and she could not find their mother.
"Where is Lady Cathride? And what happened to you?" Seraphina asked as they looked up at her, tears pouring down on their cheeks.
"They took her away," Lady Diana cried as Lady Fiona said, "Everyone said that mother had been possessed."
Seraphina's brows knitted together as she asked, "What?"
"The guards took her to the dungeons because she had been possessed." Lady Diana said and started to cry.
Dungeon! How dare they take her to the dungeons! Seraphina fumed with anger as she took the route of the dungeons and a guard stopped her, "Princess Seraphina, You are not allowed to go before this."
"And who said that?" She asked with a rage-filled voice.
"Prince Demian."
Seraphina's palms fisted and she said, "Then why did you capture Lady Cathride?"
The guard didn't answer, instead he stayed between her and her destination as a pillar of stone, blocking her path. It was certain he would not move from his position. She wanted to punch him but knew it would be fatal since they only took orders from Demian.
She said determinedly, "I demand to see Lady Cathride!"
"Your Highness." She heard her name called and as she turned back she saw it was Alonzo.
"Alonzo! What am I hearing? Lady Cathride got captured?"
Alonzo pursed his lips and looked at the ground which made Seraphina look dumbfounded. Why would they capture her because her sin was, she was the wife of Lord Heartstone?
"So it is true..." Seraphina muttered as she could never expect Demian or Alonzo to do this.
"Your Highness, before you go into any conclusion, you should know, i'm not allowed to let you go see her."
Seraphina's eyes intensified as she struggled to form what she would say. "Why is that?"
"Because of her circumstances..."
Seraphina could not understand a thing as she said, "let me go to see her. I'm sure there must have been some mistakes."
"There's no mistakes."
"She isn't in the dungeons, is she?" She tried to read Alonzo's face as his moustache twitched, "That only meant, she was in one of the guest chambers or her own chamber."
She dashed from there so Alonzo or the guards could not reach her and went to Lady Cathride's master chamber. She opened the door and saw the poor lady was tied to a chair and a big wound stayed open on her head. A physician was tending the wound but seeing an uninvited guest, he got startled.
Seraphina's heart howled as she came closer, the poor lady's eyes were distant and tears rolling down from them. Seraphina kneeled down as she grabbed her knees and asked the physician, "What happened? Why did it happen?"
"She had been trying to kill herself so she banged her own head against the walls."
Tears poured out of Seraphina's eyes as she could not see the dreadful side of Lady Cathride who had managed to make her feel at home. She was a lovely lady and she felt like her distant mother. Why did she have to suffer like this?
As thoughts raced in her mind, she heard a footstep stopped behind her and she knew who it was. She tilted her head and immediately broke down into tears as she saw it was Demian.
Demian embraced her in a tight hug as she cried on his chest, "Why? Why did it have to happen to her?"
He patted her hair and said, "I'm sure it's only for a certain period. After that, she will be fine."
Seraphina sniffed, "But she's heavily injured!"
"I know, that's why I have asked the best physician to look after her."
The old physician nodded and said, "Yes, Princess, I have worked on many Bizarre illnesses, and I'm certain I can cure this as well."
Seraphina nodded, still crying under the cocoon of Demian. She seemed to have felt her as her mother and seeing her like this made her heart shattered into pieces. But what was more painful, Lady Cathride didn't deserve this. She was a lady who would do anything even her husband opposed. She had always acted on her conscience and Seraphina loved her. It might be a few days, she had met a wonderful lady but she felt it from her heart that Lady Cathride was an exceptional woman.
Seeing Seraphina breaking down in tears in his arms, Demian felt his heart was poked with a thousand needles. He had always seen her in her wild nature, cheery and goofy nature but never seen her crying like this. So weak and shivering in his arms, he had never seen her like this. He tightened his hold as it seemed to comfort her and he felt furious at Felis.
Whoever this was, he had done very bad with his people and he could not get the information from the crew members of Captain Roover as they seemed to be tight tongued. It would be a matter of time when he had his hands on him and when he did, he would make sure to carve his name on his skin.
"Seraphina," Demian hissed, "I promise, whoever had done this to your Lady Cathride, I will put them through hell."