SPELLBOUND

"Princess!" Zolan called out and Evie immediately ran forward to approach the bars.

"What are we going to do?" Evie asked. Now that the man was gone, all the tenseness and panic in Evie burst out like a dam. "I don't know what is even going on. I don't even know if I should act like I do not know him! I am so confused, Zolan. You guys heard all the things he had said right? I don't know what to do… he's… he's Gavriel but… but he's not. Tell me, what should I do? He even knows that I can call a dragon!" Evie was unable to stay calm now that she had let loose on her worries. Seeing the princess so distraught, Zanya reached out her hands from behind the bars to touch the princess' hands.

The light fae had released her powers and her body returned to normal, causing Evie to look at her in shock. When had Zanya reversed her lockdown on her powers? She was curious and slightly worried as to why the light fae suddenly revealed herself and used magic. As Zanya had mentioned that she would keep herself looking human while travelling with them and would keep her powers locked up.

"W-what are you doing Zanya! You Can't –"

"It's okay, Princess." Zanya told her gently, "he already knows that I am a light fae." A delicate and warm light came from Zanya's body and wrapped around Evie's, stopping her from arguing with her more.

Evie started to feel all the tenseness and panic slowly subside and she closed her eyes as she took a slow and deep breath under the influence of the calming magic that Zanya had casted on her. That was right, back on the walls, that Gavriel had already known that Zanya was a light fae.

Slowly, Evie relaxed. Zanya's magic had finally calmed her down. When the light finally dimmed and dispersed, Evie's panic was gone, and her mind and body did not feel as exhausted and utterly overwhelmed anymore. She felt like the chaos in her mind and heart had somewhat settled down for now and the feeling of relief was incredible. It had been a while since she had felt this relaxed.

"Thank you," she said to Zanya and the light fae smiled.

"Princess," Zolan then spoke, "I know this doesn't seem to make sense, but I don't think Prince Gavriel is possessed." Zolan spoke of his observations to Evie softly.

Evie creased her brows after hearing that.

"I also think the same, princess." Zanya agreed. "He's not possessed by any dark fae. It is easy for us faes to identify a possessed person because we can basically see the soul that does not originally belong to a person. If a person is not possessed, we would not be able to see anything but if they are possessed, we can see the soul that had forcefully taken over the host and it would be painted in pure black. That man… I could not see someone else's soul present inside of him. That's why I don't think he is being possessed."

Evie stayed still for a while longer, lost in her thoughts as the men and Zanya kept silent, allowing her to deal with her own thoughts. Then she started to pace back and forth before the bars.

"So, if he's not possessed. What's going on with him? Does this mean… he had just forgotten about us?" Evie asked as she halted and looked at them in dismay.

"Seems like it, since he could not recognize any of us anymore." Samuel was the one who replied.

"Except for you, Princess." Reed butted in. "When he caught me, the first thing he asked me was about you. He asked about a woman with hair as silver as the moonlight and amber eyes. He was looking for you and he also called you by your nickname."

"No…" Evie shook her head. "He does not remember me. He doesn't even know I'm already his wife. That's why I kept on thinking he's possessed. I don't know what he is talking about…"

"Princess…" Zolan cut her off. "What if you and prince Gavriel had met each other before? What I'm saying is… way before you two got married, could you have already met with each other, and you just had forgotten about him?"

Evie was speechless. Her eyes rounded and blinked a few times at Zolan's suggestion.

"That's the only explanation I could come up with on His Hihgness' behaviour towards you. It's obvious he knows you and remembers you but not as the Evie that he had married. I believe what he knows and remember was the you that he met before… long before you both got married." Zolan continued and Evie felt like her head was starting to spin again.

Thankfully, Zanya reached out and laid her hands on her again, calming her as the magic of her lights covered her again.

"I don't know. I am certain I have never met him before our wedding." Evie uttered when Elias joined in the talk as well.

"So, if the prince is not possessed and had just forgotten about us, how can you explain his powers and those eyes and his cruel and merciless character? We all know our prince does not have such abilities before and he's not a cruel man. Our prince is always such a reasonable man… that person he is now, is the complete opposite of our prince except for his behaviour towards the princess." The butler burst out, looking heartbroken that Gavriel had nearly killed him and even went to the extent of calling him useless.

"My theory is…" Zolan started, "that monster within our prince had taken over his body. That explains why his eyes is permanently blue right now. The reason why Zanya can't see someone else's soul within him might be because of the fact that the monster within our prince could very well be our prince himself."

"H-huh?!" Levy immediately voiced out his frustration, "I don't get it. Are you saying that our prince and that man is the same person and that the prince somehow has two uh... whatever it is called within him… and the other one had taken over his body right now?"

____

A/N: If we stay rank 1 in golden ranking until an hour before weekly reset, i will give bunos chapters again next monday. So don't forget to cast your Golden Tickets for our Evie and Gav. ^^