SPELLBOUND

Evie's eyes widened and she rushed towards him, but he had once again very quickly erected that invisible barrier that blocked her within, not allowing her to reach out to touch him. He smirked before disappearing without even giving himself a chance to listen to what she was saying.

Biting on her lower lip hard, Evie clenched her fists tight as she looked helplessly at the closed door. He was driving her mad with so much frustration. Only this time, she could not possibly muster up any hatred towards him nor get angry with him anymore, despite what he had just did. The story she had heard from that man was still stuck vividly in her head. Claudius had told her he had suffered too much, and that pain had changed him, hardened his heart, and made both his heart and mind corrupted by the darkness. Evie knew that it is true, that pain changes people somehow. And that was why it pained her even more. How much pain he had to go through to turn into such a cynical, harsh, and cruel person like he is right now? Only Gavrael himself knows. But she wanted to know as well, very badly.

She desperately wanted to reach out and soothe his troubled soul, but she felt it. The barrier that he seemed to have put up around himself. It was as if he was trying to make himself develop some sort of tolerance against her.

Moreover, she could not help but think about his words when he said earlier where, 'your words are no longer my law'. What did he even mean by that?

Evie was anxious now. She needed to do something as soon as possible. She felt that if she did nothing, it seemed as though he was going to drift away from her without warning and completely get swallowed up by that deep darkness that was within himself. She kept feeling it every time she looked into his eyes. Evie also could not help but fear that he might slowly harden his heart to the point that she would not be able to thaw it anymore. She also feared that he was going to become too cruel and villainous, that one day, he might not be able to recognise any good in anything or anyone anymore.

What must she do? First things first. She must think of a way to keep him with her and make him listen to her! She must find that opportunity to explain to him about everything that had happened to him… to them, and most specially about Gavriel!

…

In the throne hall, the atmosphere was freezing cold. There were only a few men with Gavrael and these few men who were not under his spell were rigid with fear. The look currently on their Lord's face was so severe and solemn that they knew that something had happened which had extremely displeased him. Even if they could not see his expression, the heavy aura that was pressing down on everyone in the throne hall was clear enough that no one dared lift their eyes to look at the person sitting on the dais.

All of them feared this person. When he first appeared in Kirzan, they all knew that he was the infamous second prince of the vampire empire named Gavriel, the man they all thought was already dead. But none of them could say a thing because apart from the fact that he never gave them the chance to speak, they were also too scared to say anything.

They had seen how cruel he was in his dealings with those he deemed his enemies, and his absolute mastery of that magic none of them had seen before, as well as the immense power he wields within himself. They had seen how he went around slaying people as though he were just killing off some ants. So, none of them dared say a word to him unless being spoken to or ordered to. Then he had told them that his name was Gavrael and not Gavriel. He also did not seem to be aware of anything related to the emperor and the crown prince or the battle that happened in Dacria. All these had raised questions and doubts within themselves. It was obvious he was Prince Gavriel. All of them recognised him at one glance. Also, they have heard of how he had battled the imperial army that had attacked Dacria. So, why was he behaving like this now? However, none of them dared to verbalise them out to him as they valued their lives too much! If those questions irritated him, that would be the end of their miserable little lives.

The people were confused because his appearance was definitely the Prince Gavriel that they had seen previously in person, but in the end, all they could come up with was that he might be some imposter or the prince's doppelganger. A very powerful and wicked one at that. There was no way they would ask to confirm it – if they still wanted their lives.

When he had asked them to look for a silvery-haired woman, they had asked him if he was talking about a Princess named Evielyn. And then when he heard someone said the words 'isn't she the prince' wife?' he had gone on a rampage. They nearly died from that one-time raging temper of their lord. They feared him so much that none of them even dared to open their mouths again after that incident and comment on the fact that the prince they were talking about was the man who looked exactly like him.

And now that he had found the girl he was looking for, he ordered them to find this Prince Gavriel. When they told him they could not find the man's whereabouts, he had asked for that man's portrait, and they all knew why he wanted it. It was obvious he was going to hunt for that man himself.

Because Prince Gavriel had already been cast out of the royal family portraits, it was very hard to find his portrait anywhere. So, they had to travel to the imperial capital and search in Prince Gavriel's own castle for one.

Thankfully, they had found a portrait of him and his wife.

"My lord, we still couldn't spot the whereabouts of Prince Gavriel," one of the men reported. "But as you ordered, we took his portrait with us." He added and approached the throne before kneeling and handing to him, the large portrait they had stolen from the prince's castle.

"We took this straight from Prince Gavriel's castle –"

"Remove the cover now." Gavrael's cold and impatient voice echoed out and everyone flinched, especially the person who was holding the portrait.

Hurriedly, the man then removed the cover of the portrait and held up Prince Gavriel and Princess Evielyn's portrait for him to see.

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A/N: Thank you so much guys for all the support this month. We are #1 in golden ranking thanks to all your votes, i am trully thankful i have amazing and loyal readers like you. <3

So as promised there will be a mass release tomorrow. Please note that the mass release will come around my usual update time. I will be releasing 4 chapters this reset but that's not an update, its just for the new tier i added in privilege.

So again, please note the mass release will come around 6pm (GMT+8) tomorrow. I will notify you guys on instagram @kazzenlx.x or in our FB group once the mass release is up.

Again, thank you so much and love ya'll spellbounders! Muah!

~Kazzen