The Crown's Entrapment

At Cordon Castle, the news about what happened between the borders of South Cordon and North Ebodia had finally reached the King and Queen. It was when Gilas, along with the King and Gideon were discussing the set-up to be done for Pinra's relocation when the report came.

"I will leave now with the rest of the knights!" Gideon quickly responded.

"I need to go there myself…" King Darius remarked with a clenched jaw. "I need to make sure that Osman and everyone is safe." Looking at Gilas, he instructed, "Take over while I'm gone."

"I will go with you!" the Queen, who had suddenly appeared inside the hall, quickly followed.

"No, this is dangerous," Darius retorted with a frown. "We're not sure if the place is already secured. Stay here…"

"You can't just expect me to stay idle here doing nothing! Osman's safety is at risk, and I'm more than capable of giving assistance," Xenia firmly replied. "I know enough spells and magic to fight dark magic anyway… In fact, we're wasting our time debating about this right now. We should go and rescue them."

Left standing alone, Gilas simply watched as the Queen rushed out of the hall with the King and Gideon following right behind her.

[Seems like Cordon is getting way more busy than expected,] Ham commented. [So many things happening in just one season alone…]

[Hopefully everything becomes peaceful now that winter is ending…] Gilas hummed with a sigh.

He dragged his gaze back to the prospective place they planned on detaining Pinra in, and it was none other than a sacred place once used by Nasser inside the Keen Manor. They only needed to make a few renovations to secure it so that Pinra wouldn't be able to escape.

From what he recalled, it was a building separate from the main mansion. The good thing about it was that it wasn't a dungeon, meaning that Pinra could at least enjoy the sight of the sun and have some fresh air during her captivity. It was already well-built as well, and they only needed to put up a silver cage covering the entire chamber to make it usable.

[Do you think it's a good idea to let her use the chamber that her father would often use while painting?] Ham inquired.

[Maybe she'll appreciate it since she loves Nasser so much that she did everything he said just to gain his recognition and approval…] Gilas shrugged. [Besides, it's the best place we can find on short notice, and I refuse to let her go into house arrest inside the mansion. Like Clara said, we can't fully trust Pinra. Knowing her long enough, there's still a possibility that she's simply acting.]

Really, he wouldn't have even bothered to take the risk of letting Pinra near his manor if not for his mother's persuasion. His mother strongly believed that Pinra deserved to be treated properly despite everything she did, and who he was to debate this matter with her? She who seemed to be determined in believing that Pinra deserved to be redeemed?

******

At the borders between Cordon and Ebodia

As soon as Bartos left with Bella, Jayra began her task of checking on all of the casualties around her. All the while, she couldn't help but take glances at the cliff. From its sheer height alone, no man would ever survive such a fall. It was a shallow and rocky cliff face as well which was on top of a dangerous and fierce flowing river beneath. From what she could see, the river would also change course every so often, its strongest and worst currents turning into a deadly blender with all of the ice chunks floating across it.

It was no use. No matter how optimistic her character was, she knew that Osman wouldn't survive unless he somehow had wings.

Jayra let out another sigh. This wasn't how she expected things would turn out upon returning to her new home. Bella had been so happy that the last time they were together she told her of how much she was already willing to gamble and be with Osman. But this…

"Oh, Bella…" she trailed off with a regretful sigh.

Soon, Gideon and the rest of the search party arrived. While that was expected, Jayra was surprised to see that the King and Queen were also there.

"Xe- Your Grace!" Jayra beamed.

Xenia hugged her tightly."You're finally back and well," she greeted before releasing her. "I'm here to participate in the search for Osman. How is Sephiro?"

"He's alive. His body is back to normal, and the Demon's Bloodthread had already left his body," Jayra reported. "It's a miracle that he's even still alive after that…"

Honestly, she was rather curious of how the boy even survived. Well, there were so many questions in her mind right now, but she had to wait for Sephiro to wake up to find said answers.

"Alright, I'll have my men escort the boy back to the castle," the King interrupted.

Jayra gave him a curt bow. "I will stay here then…" she offered.

Absently, Jayra turned back to the cliff and hoped. What if a miracle did happen? She still had to be present to check Osman's body for all that was worth, and maybe there was something to be done there?

Turning back, Xenia gave Jayra a nod of approval and, she watched as her friend show her wings and started her search. It was a majestic sight, seeing her queen flying like an eagle down the cliff.

From there, the search lasted all throughout the night. But try as they might, they were unlucky enough to not find Osman's body.

"You and Xenia should go back first. My wife isn't allowed to get exhausted," the King remarked. "She's done more than enough for the search. Our only hope now is to at least find Osman's body downstream where it slowsuntil it reaches the plains. Make no mistake, we will not stop sea-"

"Your Majesty! We found a body, but it's a body of a woman!"

The King's words were interrupted by the sudden report. Moving quickly, Jayra and the Queen rushed to the soldiers to see that they had a woman carried on a stretcher.

Xenia's eyes widened as she covered her mouth and gasped, "Helena?"

********

AN: This is just a snippet scene for the upcoming new volume. Don't angst… *wink* Just stay and find out how things will unfold especially once we reach to Bella's side story.