The chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves filled the silence in Avy's ear. She slowly walked home, back to the estate all on her own. Wearing the new set of commoner clothes that Emerald owned, she decided to go back before the whole mansion turn everything upside down to know her whereabouts.

The sun was already up and in her calculations, it's probably around eight to nine a.m. and she was certain that Mariel has already entered her bedroom to check on her. Yet she was not fazed even the slightest, the things that happened a couple of hours before still weighed in her mind.

"He's lost too much blood, and it would be too late to find someone he can share blood with."

To Avy's surprise, she found out that Mr. Warde was once the designated doctor during wars hence he is more than capable of aiding Kill but unfortunately, his skills don't automatically guarantee the beast child's safety.

"How about me? I can give him my blood, is there a way of knowing if our blood is compatible with each other?" Avy didn't hesitate to offer herself although she has no idea how they would make it work without proper instruments and things needed to perform those procedures.

"It is almost impossible, Avy. This child is of beast descent and it is known that beast people can only take blood from their kin." the old man shook his head.

"F-father? You're not going to believe this." the voice of Emerald interrupted their little conversation. They turned to look at her and saw her sitting next to the bed, with the bloodied piece of Avy's clothing and the bloody bandages that were used on kill. She had disbelief painted all over her face as the water on a clear glass she washed both pieces of clothes in turned clear.

"I-I was just testing if there is a slim chance they are compatible but look!" she held the clear glass of water in front of her. "I am certain that this is Lady Avy's blood. There is no way I will be mistaken," she added, which made her father take the glass away from her hand and examine the water himself.

"Unbelievable... This is not the first time I have witnessed it but this proves that the last time was not just a mere coincidence." the old man whispered to himself before turning to the lady behind him. "Sit next to the boy, Avy. My daughter is an aqua-type healing mage, she can take care of the blood transfer."

Avy walked back to the mansion with her legs wobbling. Her whole body felt like it has been robbed of energy after she gave her blood to Kill, on the bright side, his life is no longer in danger, and that is enough good news for her to go home. She still hasn't figured out why a human, like her, was able to transfer her blood to a beast. Mr. Warde explained that maybe it was because they have been bonded together by spells that made it possible. She didn't question that any longer. Besides, she was type O in her past life, maybe Avy is also type O? That would make sense.

And about Ares, he still hasn't shown himself. She also didn't hear his voice the whole time, maybe he turned into a woman and it was him who she heard when she was about to die. She obviously doesn't care about his gender, but he would probably be less annoying as a woman.

The problem she has to face now is thinking of an excuse to tell the whole household why she disappeared and showed up the next morning looking like she fought a bear. Well, she did. But she won't be telling them that.

~~~

"Are you sure she's not anywhere inside the garden? "

"She's not in the library!"

"The Young Master said the study is also empty."

Just like what Avy predicted, the whole Mansion was already chaotic that morning. All the knights searched the surroundings of the estate and all of the staff checked every corner of the big house to look for their missing lady who wasn't in bed when her personal maid entered her room. She was nowhere to be seen and Mariel is on the verge of blowing up the whole place just to find her. And also, she's about to cry.

"There are no signs of struggle aside from the book she was reading last night that is on the floor when I arrived," she said to herself.

"But the clothes she used whenever she goes out is also there, the dress she was wearing the last time I saw her is nowhere to be found making it a point that she left the mansion wearing that heavy gown. Miss is not the type to do that."

Everything is honestly too much for her brain to process, the only probability that she doesn't want to entertain are the ones that are believable and possible to happen. That is if the miss was kidnapped by a very skilled person, probably more skilled than Sir Clerivan who is practically on par with the Arkwright's Knight Captain, Sir Luviene. Or someone who can evade the senses of their best fighter, Sir Raux who is literally an assassin who chose to butcher animals instead of people.

The other thing was if the miss ran away.

"It is possible." trembling, she hugged her arms to comfort herself. After the outburst couple of days before, maybe the miss felt really suffocated inside the mansion that she decided to leave.

Mariel internally slapped herself. Focus on finding the lady. Useless thoughts would lead her to nowhere.

"It's our fault. We treated Lady Avy like a monster."

"Yes. We are at fault for acting so weak in front of our Lady."

"Why are you even scared? I can throw knives at you and you can come out with them on your hands."

"I wasn't scared! I just didn't make eye contact because I thought it would upset her."

The maids were also already at their wit's end because of guilt and the disappearance of their lady didn't help a bit to the unsettling feeling that has been bothering all of them for days. It is true that the things that Avy felt were nothing more than the voice inside her head and it was her mindset that made it worse but the maids couldn't deny the fact that they didn't pay attention to their miss' declining state enough.

"All of you be quiet. Blaming each other won't do us any good." Mariel sternly reprimanded her colleagues.

Soon enough, the knights who patrolled the surrounding came back, and they were also empty-handed.

"How did it go, Sir Warde?" Mariel asked the Lady's Guard Knight who lead the search along with the young master who still hasn't come back.

Clerivan shook his head. "We found no trace of the Lady. I'm so sorry, Miss Mariel."

Mariel almost fainted on the spot, the only choice they have is to call the headquarters and inform the former Duke about it but they are for certain that the young miss wouldn't like the idea of them meddling with her affairs. But what can they do? They can't launch a search without alarming everyone in town and that would cause a stir that would shake the whole Empire. They are talking about the only daughter amongst the pillars after all.

"Mariel!! Bad news! Bad news!!"

The voice of another maid named Clara erupted throughout the whole mansion. Mariel and the other looked in her direction in confusion and saw her running with such speech.

"Th-they... They're here," she said, catching her breath.

"Young Master Ashton came home with the Crown Prince!!"

~~~

Avy finally arrived at the estate and it took all of her strength to crawl back in. She was actually given an offer to be sent back home with a company by the kind father and daughter pair, the Wardes, but she declined, saying that she can go home by herself. She has troubled them enough and would continue doing so because they will be the ones taking care of Kill for the time being and doesn't want to add more on her lists of debts.

When she was sure that no one would be able to touch her vulnerable state, she collapsed on the ground just a couple of meters away from the hole that she covered with a plant. Life is so hard. She just silently hoped that they still haven't reported anything to the Duke or the Lord, because if they did, that would be really big of a mess.

She was just about to stand up when she felt sudden suffocation. It was just for a second, but it was enough for her to stop for a while and put a hand on her chest. Like a burst of energy making its way to her body. The presence of someone also made itself known. She looked up and saw a blurry image of a man standing not so far away from her.

When her vision cleared, she was able to see the pair of lackluster golden eyes staring back at her. They weren't lively, and as if dead, she felt like those eyes pierce through her skull, seeing even the deepest part of her soul. His snow-white hair shone because of the light coming from the sun, and it gave her a clear sight of his tired face.

They had the same amount of exhaustion painted on their faces as the both of them dumbfoundedly stared at each other for God knows how long. Not in a romantic way of course. It was more like an awkward scene from a movie. The man who was wondering why there was this disheveled-looking girl sitting on the ground as if the whole world just shut her out, and the girl who was just figuring out who the hell was the man who looked like he hadn't slept for a whole year standing in front of her.

The pang of realization hit Avy on the face. And that moment, she knew exactly who that man was.

"Oh my goodness. My Lady!!" a shout coming from a maid pulled her out of her thoughts.

A couple of maids and butlers ran towards her from afar, looking somewhat relieved and surprised by her state. One of them ran back to the mansion, maybe to tell the others that they have found the lady that they had been searching the whole morning.

"Where were you, My Lady? Are you hurt somewhere? Oh, my word. Where did these clothes come from?" the maid who was the first to help her said in worry looking at her from head to toe. It was as if all of them didn't see the man standing meters away from the girl.

Not too long after, Mariel and the other arrived, along with the second prince and her younger brother who looked too restless. And to her surprise, Ashton was there too.

"My Lady... Where did you go?? We've been searching for you when I couldn't find you in your room this morning..." Mariel held her hands and whispered words of thanks to the Goddess. She was pretty sure that Clerivan would start apologizing again and again, but he just shut his mouth and lowered his head. Maybe in shame? But it was definitely evident in his face that he too was relieved that the Miss came back.

She didn't answer any question, knowing that Ashton would probably grill her alive later. She just followed her maid and the servant back inside the mansion. With one last glance, she saw the white-haired man just watching her from afar as she was being taken by the servants.

She had no hard feelings that he didn't help her to stand up even after seeing her on the ground. She's aware that he had a valid reason for that. And besides...

He's the Crown Prince. Her fiance.

~~~

Hey. I had fun seeing you cry about Kill lmao. I actually didn't think of killing him from the start. He has a bright future ahead of him so rest assured. Here goes another chapter of dumbass writing coming from yours truly.

And by the way, if you have time, please check out the story of aispecx, Death's Solace. It would be a great help to them, and to me. Thanks. Happy weekend;-;