The sound of the waves crashing against the mountain and the unique salty scent in the air made it feel as if I was dreaming again.

But unlike the red sky I had been seeing for months, the sky was alone in the absence of the moons leaving behind complete darkness.

The cliff of Mount Zion which was once a known lovers point for the myth surrounding it was now infamous for a different reason. For it was the site of the massacre that killed the young Duchess Frost merely a month after her marriage.

Standing at the edge of the cliff, I could see the sea expand beyond the horizon as far as my eyes could reach.

The sharp boulders that occasionally revealed themselves under the raging ocean appeared dull to the naked eye. It was a death trap of nature. And if one were to fall into it the chances of survival did not exist.

Despite all that, the torn piece of dress in my hand proved otherwise.

After all these months, it was found caught between the hedges of the mountain walls as if to say we can never be separated from the past.

According to Sir Tate, Angelica was thrown over from this exact spot the night of the carriage attack. That was the end of it of the tale as the world knew it.

However, that was not how the story ended.

Under the luminance of the burning tree, I could see the events that unfolded as if I was present in the past.

I could see a figure rise from the bottom of the mountain and walk past me to defend her people from the masked men.

Even in the face of death, Angelica had chosen to protect those surrounding her. Although she could have disappeared then and there, Angelica saved the Knights even if it meant her escape plan could be thwarted for good.

Coming back to the present, I released my clenched hand which I had been holding on to unconsciously.

The piece of darkened fabric drifted in the air as if it was dancing to the tune of the wind.

After the fabric disappeared from sight, I turned around and walked towards my steed.

Just as I was about to climb my house, I felt a gaze on my back. From the corner of my eyes, I could see a dark silhouette standing at the edge of the cliff.

However, when I turned around there was no one there aside the sun that had now risen to the sky.

*NEIGH*

I climbed onto my horse and looked back at the spot one last time before beginning on the journey that took years to complete.









For the next couple of weeks, the Dark Wolfs conducted of what became the most rigorous investigations in the history of the Frost Duchy.

Over a hundred elite Knights spread across the country to collect information in confidence without the knowledge of the world.

As one would predict, searching for a person who no longer existed proved difficult. Despite that, after countless accounts and witnesses, we traced Angelica's steps from Volos all the way to the depts of Vocatus.

Although Vocatus was well within the empire's territories, the jurisdiction was lenient compared to the rest of the land as a necessary evil to maintain peace. For people hiding from the privy eyes of the world, it was the perfect place to disappear.

As in these streets filled with casinos and taverns at every turn was found the last person to have seen Angelica in the flesh, a peddler who sells fake identities to people outside the law.

"There's no way I'm forgetting it in this lifetime!"

When caught the peddler confessed almost immediately to selling fake identities and handed over the ledger he kept in fear for his life.

According to it, Angelica had purchased three distinct identities under a false name. One of an elderly woman, one of a married lady, and that of a young girl almost as if to complete the look of three generations.

Once I get ahold of the information on the identities, it will only be a matter of time before Angelica is caught.

"Do you know where the woman went?"

However in an unexpected turn of events, the peddler appeared clueless and got to his knees in fright.

"Woman? What woman?"

"The women you sold these identities to"

When shown the ledger, the peddler's eyes shuddered as if he had remembered something unpleasant.

"I don't know no women! I'm talking about the horse! That monster chewed my hair right outta my head!" He cried out in anguish, removing the cloth covering his head.

"Boy that was one crazy horse!"

It turned out that after arriving at Vocatus two months after the incident Angelica had contacted the peddler for new identities. But she disappeared before completing the purchase for reasons unknown only leaving behind a bag of coins she had intended to pay with.

After that Angelica had disappeared from the city with not as much as a footprint to trace. And with it had vanished the most prominent lead.

For a moment, it almost seemed like Angelica had anticipated that I would come for her. For her to buy identities and abandon them at the last second seemed out of character.

'Always one step ahead' I let out a dry laugh.

If only I had risen sooner, I would have been able to catch her right here in this very place. The more I thought about it the more I could feel my muscles tense.

It was just as Master Gilbert had said if I ever plan on finding Angelica I need to be ahead of the game before she recognizes the play.

Not knowing the danger he was in, the peddler whispered to the Knight who was handcuffing him,

"Are you people perhaps looking for the horse's owner?"

"No"

I answered his question instead with honesty, as the peddler began to tremble as if he had seen a monster.

"We are hunting her"













Once news broke that the curse was broken, it spread faster than a wildfire. It was then I realized that if the world knew, it meant wherever she was Angelica would too.

Would she be happy? Or would she not care in the least? Whatever the answer was could only be known if I succeed in my mission to find her.

Returning back to the estate the first task was to weed out the leaches in the estate that dared to harm Angelica.

If Angelica were to return one day, it should be to a place where her life is not in constant danger. Rather be a place that she never leaves again.

Unsurprisingly most of the weeds were connected to either Vesser or the Esdels in one way or another.

With the information Angelica provided me in my cursed days, the Frost estate was purged in less than a day. As for the puppeteers at the top, I left them for the time being since their time had yet to come.

Hours became days, days became months and months turned to years. Still, not a single lead was found.

The world enamored by the new presence in the capital had long forgotten about the tragedies of the past.

As expected Count Clive Ashford refused an audience, stating that he did not want to disgrace the memory of his late sister by partaking in any of the Frost's affairs that led to her demise.

Aside from that the county of Ashford had declared a mourning period that forbid other houses from entering the land without the approval of the lord of the land.

In short, a full-blown cover-up to an elaborate ruse.

While the seasons changed my search for Angelica persisted. Despite the infinite failures that occurred along the path, the goal remained unchanged.

As for me, I came to realize that the days I had been cursed were nothing compared to what I was experiencing now.

Wherever I go, I could feel that I was not alone.

In the streets, in an empty hall, when I'm alone... I could feel a shadow amongst the darkness chasing after me.

Like a phantom waiting to pull me into an abyss, every time I reached out, it faded away into endless nothing before I could hold it in my grasp.

Every time I close my eyes, my dreamless existence was overcome by the sense of longing as a charming yet cruel voice whispered into my ears with sweet nothings.

As a man who lived all his life looking over his shoulder, for the first time in my life, I felt a sense of comfort from being haunted.

Before I knew it, I found myself standing at the cliff of Mount Zion staring at the endless sea, where I found her presence the closest. It was a strange yet familiar feeling that was driving me to madness with each passing day.

Even when I began to paint as a means of escape, my thoughts unconsciously found their way toward her. Due to that, I was unable to finish painting a canvas I started despite my best efforts.

"Your Grace, would you like some herbal tea?"

It was to the point my own aides began to suspect if Angelica had really survived or if she was just a fragment of conscience in a guilty man's heart.

"I have brought Camellia tea that the Duchess used to drink. Every time she took a sip there was always a peaceful smile on her face"

Hearing Nathaniel, I could not help but think of the times Angelica spent on the estate.

"It did"

To put my suffering to an end, all I needed was a piece of string that led to her. Because I knew the longer it took, the slimmer the chances of finding her.

Then one day, the string I had been searching for came from the most unlikeliest of places in the form of a wandering merchant obsessed with stones all the way from the Deserts of Agrichia.

"A little bird told me that the Archduke of Frost was looking for someone. And I thought, why not give it a go?"

Elijah Sehra, the recently crowned head of the Sehra merchants, who had passed by Volos as a part of the Sehra merchants' yearly attendance to the capital markets, paid a visit to the Frost estate having heard of the search through confidential lines.

Much like others before him, he claimed to have valuable information that could lead us to Angelica.

In the years that went by, there were multiple accounts of people who had seen Angelica in one form or another. It was either a scheme to make money or a misconception that led to no means.

In the end, the result was the same, disappointment.

Still owing to the merchant's reputation as a wanderer, Nathaniel had brought him in to weigh his credibility.

"I come across strange people on a daily basis. People with fangs, people with one eye, people who control trees, people back from the dead... the usual unusual stuff"

"This is a portrait of Her Grace drawn three years ago"

Not wanting to waste much time on idle chat, Nathaniel passed the portrait to the merchant who had been speaking non-stop from the moment he had arrived.

"Do you recognize her?"

"Hmmm..."

The merchant peered into the picture at hand.

"She is beautiful..."

For a split second, the merchant's eyes widened as if he had seen the woman in the picture, only for it to be broken down in the next instant.

"But no... I have never seen this woman before"

The disappointment was evident in the faces of the people around the room.

However, what had initially appeared to be a random day turned out to be the turning point of years of goose chase of a ghost that once lived within these walls.

Right when Nathaniel tried to take back the portrait, the merchant stopped him.

"But... If I may..."

With a slight wave of my hand, Nathaniel paused and took a step back leaving the merchant to his own devices.

Although it was the only portrait of Angelica that existed in the capital, I watched as the merchants reached for the quill placed on the table.

"As I said, this woman I have never seen in my life. However, if I were to add a pitch of sharpness, a tinge of compassion, and a whole lot of sarcasm..."

The merchant put down the quill and passed over the portrait back to Nathaniel.

"!"

Seeing the surprise on Nathaniel's face the merchant added with a satisfied smile,

"That's Antarctica Leveret. A member of the Nero mercenaries"

"That's... the Duchess. At least it looks like her-..." Nathaniel was unable to finish his sentence when the portrait in his hand was snatched by Mikhael.

"Of course, it looks like her. It's her portrait. But... I kinda get what you're trying to say"

I turned towards the merchant. For the first time in a long while, it felt like I was one step closer to finding her.

"Where is this?"

My question only made the merchant's smile grow wider.

"A small beastmen village just outside the plains of Calvan, Your Grace"

"Velven?" My brows creased.

Although the search for Angelica was spread wide across the continent, a small village of beastmen on the borders of Velven was something that could easily go unnoticed even under a magnifying glass.

Especially with it being a former warzone, any sort of foreign activity could sore international relations.

From what the merchant said, the villagers didn't seem like they were exactly welcoming to outsiders. It would take the building of trust to gain access to them.

"Velven it is"

After that, it was only a matter of days till everything else came together. With the merchant as the front, I set off to Velven with my path set before me.

And finally, after what seemed like an eternity, in a tavern thousands of miles away...

"Nobody's paying today! All drinks on me!"

In the midst of strangers in an unknown land...

"Wooohoo!"

'I found you'

The strand of hair that brushed against her dimple cheek. The emerald eyes that curved like a crescent moon at the gentle smile on her lips.

At that moment, I knew by instinct.

The shadows my every waking hour, the fantom that had been haunting my dreams, as if the veil had been lifted... everything became as vivid as the morning sky.

'It was you all along'

I had thousands of questions I wanted to ask Angelica. Now that the moment has arrived, my mind had turned blank.

As if I had turned into stone, I couldn't move an inch.

With the rest of the world vanishing out of existence, my eyes were fixated on one person and one person only.

Right from the moment Angelica signed the marriage documents till now, our journey had all led us to where we were at this instant.

"Is that her?"

"That's her"

"So how are we going to bring Her Grace back to Orion?" Ezra asked as the crowd erupted into cheers at the sound of Angelica's voice.

Suddenly, I remembered the parting words of Master Gilbert that almost sounded like a warning.

'I know that child. You can't bring her back by force'

"We won't" I smirked as a smile crept to my face.

One of the things I learned about Angelica was that once she had committed a mistake. She would learn from her actions and would never repeat the same again.

Now she was about to learn a new lesson she was never going to forget for life.

Because once you've become mine, Angelica.

"She will come on her own accord"

There was no going back.