Demian gave a brief nod.
Then without knowing why he turned his head.
The seat beside the campfire was empty.
He frowned, scanning the area. Familiar faces were there. Servants moved back and forth. But one presence was missing.
"Valerie?" he called.
No answer.
Demian stood. His gaze swept the campsite more carefully now, his heartbeat quickening as an unpleasant premonition surfaced sharp and sudden.
"Where is Valerie?" he asked one of the guards.
The guard hesitated. "We assud she was with another group, Your Grace."
Demian turned to Ivanka. "She was with you earlier, wasn’t she?"
Ivanka blinked, looking surprised. "Only for a short while," she said. "I left her on the sa path as the others. I thought she had already returned."
Her tone was calm too calm.
Demian didn’t like it.
"How long ago?" he asked sharply.
Ivanka offered a small smile, trying to ease the tension. "Quite so ti. Perhaps she just—"
"No," Demian cut in.
He turned away, grabbing his coat and sword. The relaxed atmosphere shattered instantly. The guards stiffened.
"Prepare the torches," Demian ordered. "Now."
Ivanka rose from her seat. "Demian, wait," she said quickly. "It’s already night. This forest is dangerous. We can search for her at dawn more safely."
Demian looked at her.
His gaze was cold.
"She’s alone in the Emperor’s forest," he said quietly, dangerously. "I’m not waiting until morning."
Ivanka stepped closer, trying to catch his arm. "Perhaps she’s only slightly lost. There’s no need to panic everyone—"
Demian shook her off not roughly, but firmly. "Step away."
Elena stood as well. "Demian, let the guards—"
"I’m going," Demian said shortly. "Now."
He walked off, issuing commands for several n to spread out. Torches were lit one by one, their yellow light trembling among the dark trees.
Ivanka remained where she stood, her smile slowly fading.
"Demian," she called once more, more softly.
He didn’t turn back.
Inside the forest, the sounds of night grew louder. Leaves rustled, branches snapped, sothing moved deep within the darkness. Demian walked quickly, calling Valerie’s na again and again, his voice growing harsher, more urgent.
"Valerie!"
No answer.
And for the first ti that night within the forest that belonged to the Empire, surrounded by danger and encroaching darkness Demian felt sothing he rarely allowed himself to acknowledge Fear.
Not of the forest. Not of wild beasts.
But of the possibility that this ti he had realized her absence far too late.
Dawn arrived slowly in the Emperor’s forest.
A thin mist hung low among the trees, dampening the ground and chilling the air. Guards moved along the rocky paths with tense expressions, their torches still burning even as the sun began to rise. Demian was at the front, his steps heavy, his jaw clenched since the night before since Valerie vanished.
He hadn’t slept.
Not for a single mont.
"There are tracks over there," one of the guards called out.
Demian turned imdiately, his chest tightening as his pulse quickened. Beyond the bushes and scattered rocks, a wide crevice ca into view the mouth of a cave, hidden, nearly impossible to notice unless one was truly searching.
"Inside," Demian ordered curtly.
They entered.
And that was when he saw her.
Valerie.
She lay deeper inside the cave, her body resting against the stone wall. Her hair was slightly disheveled, her face pale yet calm, too calm. Beside her sat Kaiser, leaning close, his cloak draped over Valerie’s body. The Crown Prince.
Demian’s eyes widened.
It felt as though the blood in his veins had stopped flowing.
They were sleeping close. Too close. Kaiser’s cloak clearly shielded Valerie from the night cold, his arm stretched behind her back as if instinctively guarding her.
Sothing inside Demian exploded.
"What the hell is this...?"
His voice was low, trembling not from the cold, but from rage barely held in check.
Kaiser was the first to open his eyes. He stood imdiately upon seeing Demian, his expression sharpening with caution.
"Demian," he said calmly, firmly. "Control yourself."
Valerie woke monts later. When her eyes opened and t Demian’s, her face tensed at once. She pushed herself halfway upright, instinctively pulling away not toward him.
That small movent cut deeper than anything else.
"You," Demian pointed at Kaiser, his finger trembling, "you slept with her?"
"She was lost," Kaiser replied without hesitation. "Night had fallen. It was too dangerous to leave her alone. This is the Emperor’s forest, Demian. You know what lives here."
"SHUT UP!" Demian roared.
The cave fell instantly silent.
The guards lowered their heads, not daring to look up. The air grew heavy, as if the stone walls themselves were pressing in.
Demian stepped closer, his eyes burning with fury and sothing far darker jealousy, fear, loss of control.
"You had no right to touch her," he said coldly. "She is mine."
Valerie was fully standing now. Her body trembled slightly not from the cold.
She looked at Demian, and her gaze was no longer the sa as before.
"If you had looked for her last night," Kaiser said quietly but sharply, "you would have found her before I did."
The words landed like a hard slap.
Demian froze for a mont. Then his jaw tightened.
He let out a short laugh humorless. "So now you’re blaming ?"
"I’m stating a fact," Kaiser replied.
Demian turned to Valerie. "Did you sleep with him?"
She didn’t answer right away.
And that silence Nearly drove Demian out of his mind.
"I survived because of him," Valerie said at last. Her voice was soft, but unmistakably clear. "Not because of you."
That was enough.
Demian turned away abruptly, his breathing heavy, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"Get her out of here," he ordered coldly to the guards. "Now."
He didn’t look at Valerie again.
Because if he did, He knew this rage might turn into sothing he could never take back.
Demian’s anger did not subside even after they left the cave.
The cold morning air did nothing to quell the heat burning in his chest. The mont they reached open ground, Demian seized Valerie’s wrist and dragged her away without a word. His grip was hard too hard as if he feared she would disappear again the instant he let go.
"Demian—!" Kaiser hurried after them. "Let her go. You’re hurting her."
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