Coming over to Jennie's castle for the third time no longer became hard or even took longer, like her second visit.
On the third visit, Jennie only had to wait for two weeks to see Lisa again. And so it did on her fourth time, the fifth time, and so on.
Ever since that day- ever since Lisa's second visit to Jennie's castle, visiting them had become a regular thing for her. Before, she was worried because she didn't have a good enough reason to come, but right now, she no longer cares about that. Even if she didn't have a reason, even if she just wanted to see them, she never hesitated again about going there.
Her father had never stopped her. He was now supporting Lisa in whatever she wanted to do.
That is why she grew closer and closer to everyone who was living there, especially to the dryad twins and the pixies. And of course, to Jennie. She was still being self-conscious around the beast, but it was not as bad as before.
Ever since she met Jennie and the more times that she spent with them, her weird dreams and that blurred woman had never left her nights alone.
At first, she kept dreaming the same dream for three months straight, in which she was in a kitchen and a woman had her arms wrapped around her waist.
But ever since she had visited Jennie's castle the second time, it changed to her lying on the same bed as the woman. They had their clothes on and seemed like they were just talking about random things.
Lisa still couldn't hear her voice. She still couldn't get a glimpse of any part of her face. She still couldn't find any clues that would help her determine who that person was.
Then, when she gets home and sleeps after visiting Jennie's castle, she will dream of a different scene but with the same woman.
Lisa knew that it wasn't normal. She knew that it wasn't just a simple thing that she could just shrug her shoulders, but she still had never opened it up to anyone despite dreaming about that woman for months.
Lisa had never told those dreams to her father or to her friends. She was just silently thinking about it over and over when she was alone.
She was wondering what those dreams were and who that person was.
Lisa just proceeded with her life as if everything was normal. As if she wasn't bothered by her dreams. As if she wasn't bothered by the existence of the woman in her dreams.
Lisa snapped out of her thoughts when she heard someone calling her name. She lifted her chin and saw the prince, staring and looking so worried about her. She had finally remembered that she was in a market and supposed to be selling their crops, but she had barely sold anything yet because she was spacing out for G-d knows how long already.
Lisa shook her head as she smiled at the prince and straightened herself. "Your Highness."
"Are you okay? Is there something that is bothering you? I've been calling and trying to get your attention for two whole minutes already."
Lisa lightly shook her head, refusing to tell the truth. Even though the prince was treating her kindly, Lisa didn't have any plan of opening up her weird dreams with him. She felt like doing it would raise a red flag.
"I'm okay, Your Highness. I just remembered something but it wasn't that important."
The prince just slightly nodded his head and smiled.
"I came here last week but I didn't find you, so I checked on you at your house but your father said that you weren't home and won't be at home until the next day. If it's okay to ask, where were you last week?"
Lisa shyly scratched her cheek, "Oh, last week I visited some friends of mine."
"Friends?" The prince asked, arching his brow in confusion.
"Yeah. Just seven months ago, I met new people that immediately became friends of mine. They were living outside and far from this kingdom, so visiting them and going home would usually take less than 2 days."
The smile on the prince's lips disappeared at the mention of living outside and far from this kingdom. He only knew one place that was perfect with the description. He got a bad feeling about it, so the prince decided to ask another question.
"Does one of your friends have the name Jennie?"
Lisa's eyes widened as she eagerly nodded her head.
"Yes, Your Highness. Do you know her?" Lisa asked, now looking so interested in the topic.
The prince didn't say anything and just stared at Lisa's face with a straight face for several seconds. He didn't know how he would react to the information. He didn't know that Lisa had been in contact with Jennie again for seven months already.
Jungkook had never suspected that something like that was happening. He didn't see Jennie make a move, but it seemed like fate was already the one who was moving for both Lisa and Jennie by using Lisa's innocence.
Last week wasn't the first time that he hadn't seen Lisa in the market. He had already lost count of the times that he hadn't seen Lisa on the market for the past months.
But last week was the first time that he went straight to Lisa's house and learned that she wasn't at home. Now that he already knew what was the reason why Lisa wasn't around during those days, Jungkook couldn't help but be worried that he had already lost his chance before he could ever realize it.
"Your Highness, is there any problem?" Lisa asked. She's now the one who was looking worriedly at the prince.
This was the first time that Lisa had ever seen the prince look this serious. This was the first time that she suddenly became uncomfortable with his presence and his stares. This was the first time that he saw the prince looking unhappy at the sight of her.
The prince immediately smiled while shaking his head when he went back to his senses. "No, it was nothing. Anyway, how is it? I mean, how are your newfound friends?"
The prince wasn't sure what answers he wanted to hear from Lisa. Even the prince was confused by his question. He just wanted to shift the spotlight from him to Lisa.
He just didn't want Lisa to notice the change in his mood and sense the sadness and disappointment that enveloped him.
Lisa seemed like she didn't sense it as she smiled and looked down for a moment. "It was nice. They were all nice to me."
The prince just nodded his head, still plastering a fake smile while still watching Lisa.
It's not like he was planning something again, now that he learned that the other side was also taking action. It's not like he could even do anything against the beast if he really wanted. His father had warned him.
It happened several months ago, a day after he went to see Jennie, himself. His father said he would no longer tolerate his actions if he did something awful to Jennie again.
That had never crossed his mind, not even after hearing this new information from Lisa.
He was still calm and just chose to ignore it because, from what he could see, Lisa still hadn't recalled any of her memories. And as long as Lisa still hasn't retrieved them, then he still has a chance.
He can still win Lisa's heart and make her fall for him. He just needs to do better. He just needed to exert more effort and make Lisa see that he was the one who could make her happy.
"Right, I remember that I have something to tell you." Jungkook uttered, straightening his body and holding the scabbard of his sword that was tied to his side for no reason.
Lisa didn't respond and just stared back at him, waiting for the prince to tell her whatever it was that he wanted to say. She had completely forgotten the question that she asked earlier, about whether the prince knew Jennie, and the prince was grateful for that. He didn't know how he would slip from the question if Lisa insisted that he should answer the question.
"Two weeks from now, on Saturday, the queen of the Kingdom of X will have a birthday celebration. My father will attend and so will I. I asked my father if I could invite you and he said yes, so will you come with us?" The prince asked, silently praying that Lisa would say yes.
Lisa avoided the prince's gaze as she looked down, biting her lower lip, thinking of what she would say. But after two seconds, she looked back at the prince as she took a deep breath.
"I apologize, Your Highness, but I don't think I can come with you. I was supposed to go there on that day. So I can't come along. Maybe next time?"
The prince no longer masked the disappointment in his face and voice as he uttered, "Yeah. I do understand. Next time, then."
After uttering those words, he bid goodbye already, reasoning that he had something to do.
When he finally had his back turned against Lisa and had made a good enough distance, he gripped the scabbard of his sword until his knuckles turned pale. He clenched his jaw hard as he looked up at the sky.
I just can't win over you. I was still the one who was just meant for next time.