The Tyrant's Pet

Meanwhile…

The hallway was empty, waltzing through it was none other than the emperor of Haimirich. With his hands interlaced behind, he carried himself as though he was simply roaming the imperial palace of Haimirich when, in fact, he was in a different place.

He was an intruder, to be precise.

After bathing with Aries and imparting his wisdom as a connoisseur of sins, he casually left through the other exit. So far, he hadn't met with anyone despite that the Sapphire palace and the other building connected to it were… full of servants.

Not that Abel purposely tried to avoid them. It was more like he had subconsciously taken the route that no one else used. Silly. When Aries herself, who lived in this place, hadn't taken these routes, Abel was walking through as if he had been there.

'How baffling,' he thought, humming a lovely tune while compassing his hand. "I don't remember walking down this way in the past."

He looked around, glancing at the paintings hung on the walls. It was some scenic paintings, which he deemed tasteless because they were rather simple for his taste. Abel continued his casual walk, heading in a direction where his feet would take him.

It was not like he was lost. It was more like… he knew where this would lead him, but at the same time, the familiarity of the place baffled him in a way it bothered him.

"Did I perhaps come to this place while I was high?" he wondered, thinking that he didn't have many recollections of the recent years since he had constantly searched for the temporary highs in his 'dull' life.

Aries's dream, that particular dream that left a real impression on him when she was inside that cage and made a conversation with him, made this conclusion in his head solid. Still, that was impossible, he thought. If they meet even before their first meeting at the world summit, he would've remembered her if he had seen her.

"Huh?" he cocked his head to the side, walking towards the nearby window and leaning his side against the jamb, eyes on a few knights walking, arms crossed. Abel squinted his eyes as he hummed, splitting his attention to the sudden idea that flashed in his head and his concerns previously.

'Now that I think about it, I only gain a little bit of peace months before the world summit, finding the slight pleasure in women and murder.' He nodded with his lips closed. 'Either way, even if I met her beforehand, changes nothing. She's mine now whether she likes it or not. I'm still going to do it my way, anyway.'

Abel stretched his neck as he kept his eyes on the knights walking outside the castle he intruded on that was just near the Sapphire Palace. His smile widened into a devious smirk before pulling his body away from the window, continuing his stride to his initial destination.

He had done a lot of walking and miraculously didn't meet anyone on the way. Now he was certain this palace was actually deserted.

Who would live near the quarters of the crown prince? It wouldn't be a surprise if Joaquin also owned this castle to extend his personal space. He couldn't let his enemies live near him; it would be a bother to keep dealing with assassins and spies.

Soon, Abel reached a more deserted area of the castle. It was strange that in this broad daylight, only the sound of his footsteps could be heard in the seemingly endless hallway. When he made a left turn at the end, he tilted his head to the side.

Not far away from him were knights guarding a particular door.

'Oh… odd,' he thought, grinning from ear to ear because the more suspicious things appeared to him, the more he wanted to know more. "Let's see if my instinct are correct and Isaiah's worries are valid."

With a bright smile on his face, Abel advanced in the guarding knight's direction. As he came closer, the knight finally noticed him.

"Hey, this is a restricted area! You cannot come in here!" warned the knight to Abel, but the latter didn't stop, nor did he slow down. "I said, you can't come in here!"

Both knights who were guarding the entrance faced the man approaching, standing in an offensive stance, seeing that he wasn't stopping despite their warnings. However, just as they reached for their sword clung to their hip, they froze, unable to move a muscle.

"Excuse me," Abel muttered, casually walking past them without casting them a look. "I'm intrigued, so can I take a look?"

He only set his eyes on them when he was by the door the knights were guarding. Seeing that the knights weren't moving a muscle, Abel smiled politely.

"I'll take that as a yes, then. How nice of you." He chuckled, opening the door only to see an empty study room. But before he closed the door, he looked back and spoke.

"Thank my darling. It's your lucky day since I promised her I will not cause any trouble. So keep it a secret for me, will you?" Abel looked at the two knights until they slowly turned and faced him, eyes blank.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Good." He nodded, pleased at their obedience, and closed the door while the knights systematically returned to their post as if nothing happened. They stood in front of the door, standing still, doing what they ought to do like puppets.

Meanwhile, Abel didn't pay attention to them as he stood still with the door behind him. He looked around, smirking at how this place appeared to look normal.

"What a buffoon," he muttered, approaching the shelf nearby. "If they want to keep something a secret, they shouldn't make it too obvious by stationing knights outside when this place should be empty."

Abel raised a finger, moving it from left to right before it hovered in front of a particular book. Placing a finger on top of it, he tipped the book and smirked when he heard a creak.

"So old-fashion," came out ridicule as he took a few steps back, watching the shelf move and tilting his head only to see a secret passage open up from behind it.

"I hope there's no spider and ghost in there."