SPELLBOUND

"Oh my… she was totally not fooled one bit by my explanation. And I thought I had given her the most believable reason there is." Zolan murmured. In his eyes, there reflected a look of respect due to how unexpectedly sharp this human princess was. He did not think she had it in her.

"The lady is very perceptive. I honestly think that she could tell if someone's lying or not!" Elias complained. "I had been trying to avoid being caught by her questioning me, but it's nerve-wrecking!"

"Oh, really? So, her intuition is that good, huh?" Zolan grinned and chuckled at Elias' complaints, earning him a dirty look from the butler.

"Saying it is good is putting it lightly." Elias commented with a roll of his eyes. "It's very hard to convince her. I'm certain she'd –" Elias could not continue on with his statement because the princess who was almost about to enter her room suddenly came striding back towards them.

Her eyes were fierce and firm as she stared down at them. She did not look like the little fragile human girl they knew anymore. That moment, there was no trace of the fear she had towards them before. Zolan was silently impressed at how much this princess had grown in such a short time. Was she not afraid of vampires anymore? She could even look at them straight in the eyes now. Back then, she used to only cling onto and hide behind the prince and only look at him.

When she halted before them, Zolan waited in anticipation as to the reason why she came back with such drive and even looking very serious.

"I'll be needing a bow and arrow." She said in a serious tone and Zolan blinked, totally taken aback. Elias almost fainted from shock. What? Bow and arrows? How did it suddenly come to that? What is she planning to do?

"Of course, My Lady. I'll bring them to you immediately." Elias said respectfully and then he was gone.

Curious, Zolan tilted his head slightly and asked Evie with a polite tone. "My Lady, are you intending to go practice archery?"

"Yes. Since you won't let me leave the castle." Her tone held a tinge of assertiveness that just made her sound adorable coming from that small and petite frame.

Zolan forced a laugh as he strengthened his will and scratched the back of his neck again. His Lady might be the death of him yet. "I'm just obeying His Highness' order, Princess. Since I am here, would you like me to join you during your practices? I am quite good at archery."

And thus, Zolan, followed Evie and Elias to the courtyard. The practice zone was already prepared.

Evie did not waste a moment and focused herself on her target. She was upset. She had absolutely no idea why, but she was quite convinced that Gavriel's men were lying to her and she was dying to know why. Why would they need to lie to her? What are they hiding from her? Why? Gavriel told her he would never want another misunderstanding between them again, so why would he send his men to lie to her?

As her emotions intensified, her shots were also becoming increasingly accurate until all her shots ended up hitting the bullseye. Zolan had an impressed look in his eyes. He did not know that the princess was this good.

The prince had boasted to them about her archery skills once but Zolan thought the prince was just exaggerating out of his fondness for her. To be fair, he was talking about his beloved wife after all. But now that he was witnessing it first-hand, Zolan could not help but clap for the princess.

"That was terrific, Princess! Truly eye opening." Zolan praised as Evie paused to take short water break. He walked towards her and stood beside her. "I never thought you're this skilled. In fact, you're amazing. How about we do something much more interesting this time around?"

Zolan walked towards the target and stood there. "Aim at me, Princess." He said, smiling encouragingly.

He saw her swallow her mouthful of water in shock. Hesitation immediately filled her eyes, and he could see uncertainty and hint of fear in them. It seems she was really skilled, but these skills would be utterly useless if all she could do was aim her unerringly accurate arrows at non-living things.

For some reason, Zolan had the urge to help this princess overcome this obstacle. Since he saw the fierce look in her eyes and the way she shot her arrows, Zolan did not know why but he was seeing something in her. He was not certain what it was yet, but he was deeply intrigued. There seemed to be something beyond fascinating about this human princess. Whatever it was… he was going to find out. For now, he would like her to be able to shoot her arrows with ease towards a living creature. Because Zolan had long realized that this human girl would be their empire's future empress. He knew it sounded impossible that a human would be the future empress of a vampire empire. Many would go against it, many would never accept it, and it could cause another chaos but knowing Prince Gavriel and the way things were going on right now, if things stay the way they are, Zolan could bet that this Princess would be the one who will be standing next to their prince.

"Don't be nervous Your Highness. Think of me as your enemy and release your arrow. Do not worry, I can catch your arrow." Zolan said. "Aim at my forehead princess!"

Evie looked at the man with a frown on her face. Was he trying to train her? She had heard that this Zolan was the master tactician among Gavriel's men. Why was he suddenly doing this?

"It's fine, My Lady. You can shoot at him all you want. He can dodge and catch anything you will throw at him." Elias encouraged her with a laugh and Evie looked at the long-haired man again. His loosely braided hair, that one golden earing and that nonchalant smile made him look harmless yet somehow mischievously annoying.

Maybe it was because she was still upset from the earlier snub from wanting to find out about Gavriel, Evie's hesitation quickly dissolved, and she aimed at the smiling man. Because her hands shook minutely, that first shot strayed a little. But to her surprise, Zolan still caught it effortlessly without moving from his spot.

The man grinned at her. Feeling like he was deliberately trying to rile her, Evie took a deep breath and aimed again. Zolan was still talking, encouraging her to keep calm and to focus when Evie suddenly released her second arrow.

It flew straight without warning that even Zolan looked a little surprised as he caught the arrow right before it planted itself in his face. It was a bullseye!