Alara woke up just after dawn. The house was silent, everyone still lost in sleep. A faint chill crept through her body as last night's memories stirred in her mind. The cold morning breeze slipped through the net curtains, brushing softly against her hair.
She stood up and walked toward the hall. Something inside her urged her to see what lay behind that door, the one that seemed to call her closer with every heartbeat. Following that quiet pull, she stepped closer until she was right before it. Just as her hand reached for the handle, a voice echoed from behind.
Startled, she turned around. The old master stood at the end of the corridor, watching her.
"What are you doing here so early?" he asked, his tone calm yet firm.
"Ohh! You scared me!" Alara let out a small laugh. "I was just wondering what's behind this door and why it's locked?" she asked, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.
He immediately changed the subject of their conversation, as if he were trying to avoid the curiosity Alara had toward that locked door.
Then Alara walked toward him, and they both walked together through the hall to the kitchen. The old master then told her to sit on a chair at the dining table that was set in their wide, open kitchen.
"What would you like to have for breakfast?" the old master asked Alara.
"It's okay! You don't have to serve me a feast. Treat me like a common being, because I'm already tired of playing a princess," Alara said while taking a look around the kitchen.
"Where's Abrum? I haven't seen him since I woke up," Alara asked curiously.
"Abrum is out on a hunt again. It's been a while since he last went, so today he might come back late," the old master told Alara while preparing breakfast.
"Hunt? For what? Who is he out on a hunt for?" Alara questioned him with confusion and disbelief.
"I see Abrum didn't tell her…" the old master muttered to himself. Then he let out a sigh and said, "He was just fifteen when his father, mother, and six-year-old sister were brutally murdered by their enemies, leaving him all alone with his hidden identity. I found him in this castle's secret basement starved, petrified and desolate. After some time, he discovered that he's an Alpha werewolf, the only one in the Lycan's bloodline."
"Ever since that day, he's been on the hunt for those who ripped away his loved ones from him," the old master said to Alara as he served her warm pancakes.
Alara was so shocked, confused, and saddened to hear Abrum's story. It felt as though her tongue had been tied by the heaviness of Abrum's unspoken pain, as if there were no words left to express what she felt...so she simply stayed silent, absorbing his sorrow in every word that reached her.
Later in the evening,
when Abrum returned from the hunt, Alara asked him to explore the forest with her. And Abrum! how could he ever say no to his princess?
Alara was admiring the forest, while someone else was quietly busy admiring her.
"This forest is so beautiful, isn't it?" Alara said, lovingly taking in the view around her.
"Yes, it is," Abrum replied, though his gaze was completely lost in her beauty.
When the sunlight filtered through the wide trees and fell across her face, her presence felt almost ethereal, like a fairy descended from the heavens. Her long, light-brown wavy hair flowed behind her, making her even more the center of his attention. And to him, it felt almost cruel not to admire someone so breathtakingly unreal.
For Alara, she finally got to explore the natural beauty, the world outside, that she had always longed to see. She felt truly free from those wide castle walls… but the castle had not forgotten her.
As for Abrum, he finally got a companion he had always wished for. The forest used to haunt him whenever he wandered through it alone, but now, with her
by his side, the forest felt like home.