SPELLBOUND

"So does this mean an unknown invisible creature is spying on us right now?" Samuel, who was leaning against the door asked, his brows raised.

Everyone went quiet until the duchess answered him.

"I believe whatever this invisible thing is, it isn't here right now. Based on my observations, I find that it is quite obvious whenever that presence was around. Because it's presence is quite strong." Aurora explained.

Elias nodded in agreement. "I support the duchess' claim. I think it could hide its body completely but not its presence. It has been more than three times that I have felt this strong presence. Its presence was so obvious that it was as though someone was standing just outside the princess' door. So, I often peeked out to check but only to find no one there."

"Why have you not said anything about it before?" Gavriel's voice was controlled but the look in his eyes made Elias felt goosebumps. "What if this thing has been after my wife all these times?"

"I… forgive me Your Highness. I was not certain of what I had noticed, and this was the first time I've ever experienced something this strange. I thought it was just... I always hear the humans always talk about ghosts and stuffs. And since some of them actually even believe they really exist, so I thought that maybe, there is a ghost wandering around in Dacria." The butler frantically explained. "I actually tried to observe and investigate but the presence has a tendency of suddenly disappearing when the princess steps out of her chambers. Also, I have never felt its presence inside the princess' room as well. It's like it only stays outside of her door. That was why I thought it was probably just a harmless little ghost wandering about in the hallway. There never were any other disturbances."

Zolan pinched the skin between his brows. Somehow, the talk was getting more and more weird and almost nonsensical. However, they needed to take this very seriously because even Zolan felt that whatever this thing was, smelled like big trouble. He sighed before turning to Evie. "Princess," he looked at Evie and asked. "Have you been feeling anything unusual lately? Or did you feel this presence hovering about or observing you too?"

Evie blinked and she creased her brows before she opened her mouth and spoke. "I do sometimes feel as though someone was just outside my door… especially when Gavriel is not with me. But I always thought it's a vampire that was ordered to be stationed by my door guarding me. So, I never did pay much attention to it."

"During the war with Caius, when you were alone in the castle… did you feel someone by the door all those times too?" Elias asked Evie.

Evie blinked and thought for a while. "I did feel like someone was standing guard by my door. But didn't I have someone guarding me during those times? Especially during the battle?" Evie asked, assuming that it was so.

Elias's eyes widened. "No princess. No one was guarding your door those entire time. All the soldiers were called out to join in the battle. There were still a few guards left, but they were stationed around the castle… not on the inside. I was the only one left to guard you, but I wasn't by your door!"

Evie did not know this but the vampires guarding her were stationed quite far from her door. They usually stand by the far end of the hallway where they could still see the princess' chamber's door. The reason was because of the vampire's strong hearing sense. They needed to stay away to give her privacy. However, even from that distance, the vampires could hear loud noises like screams and loud thuds very clearly.

The room fell silent. Gavriel's face was now getting darker. It was as though a storm cloud had come and decided to live over his head.

Evie tried to recall everything that had happened, and she always thought that someone was guarding by her door every time and would leave in a flash the moment she heads out. "But… if this invisible being was always there, why didn't it do anything to me? There have been many times that opportunity would have presented itself, but it never did do anything, and I don't think I felt any danger." Evie explained thoughtfully.

"Well, this is getting more intriguing and suspicious." Zolan sighed, massaging his temples. "I guess our best choice now is to get the answers from the emperor. However, I need to just confirm one last thing." The man looked at the four people who had already felt this presence before one by one. "Are you certain that right now, no one is spying on us here?"

Evie stared at the door, before she looked at Zolan. "Now that I am paying attention to it, the presence is really very different. I can tell that someone is by the door right now but it's not that presence I always felt in the castle."

Samuel opened the door and Luc craned his head sideways to show himself. The man was by the door to watch in case someone was eavesdropping on this very sensitive topic they were discussing.

Zolan heaved a deep sigh of relief. "Alright. The most important matter right now is that this thing hasn't heard anything from this discussion. We are going to take extra precautions from here on." He said before facing Gavriel. "I'll go immediately and start the interrogation now, Your Highness. We need to find out what this thing actually is as soon as possible."

Gavriel stood from his chair, but Zolan stopped him. "No, Your Highness, leave the emperor to me. I'm afraid you'll kill him accidentally if you get involved in this. Leave this to me. For now, please go and get some rest. I don't think Caius will be here any time soon anyway."