15 I Don't Need the Prince! 12

Prince George was excited to see Ariel. For once in the engagement, he was willing to step forward and become close to her. Now, right through these doors was going to be Ariel sitting patiently awaiting his arrival. The moment he opened these doors, he will be the only witness to her beauty and receive her kind and gentle smile; what a beautiful scene it will be. Although his facial expression was stiff and expressionless, in his eyes, there was a fluttering light twinkling with childlike excitement.

Once he was standing in front of the doors, his footsteps slowed and his movements too became stiff. He nervously reached out for the handle before retracting it to his mouth. He cleared his throat and gathered his courage and finally pushed the handle opening the doors.

His eyes scanned excitedly left and right before coming to the slow realization that there was no one in the room. The pile of pastries and tea were left untouched and cold and clearly abandoned. His eyes dimmed with disappointment before filling up with rage. He swerved his head back staring at his attendants before his thundering voice boomed in the hallway.

"Where is she!" His hands clenched together and his body tightened. In his mind, Ariel could not have been the one to step out of the room voluntarily; she loved him too greatly, her eyes betrayed her affections. The only possible event was that someone took her out of this room, and somewhere in the palace, she was waiting for his rescue helplessly.

The guards soon dragged a maid assumed to have last seen Lady Devera. The maid slowly walked towards the Prince shivering from fright. Never had anyone in the palace seen the Prince enraged before; although cold, he was benevolent to his servants. But now, his entire being had an aura of anger and violence ready to take it out on someone - someone like her. She whimpered in fear, but a nearby attendant pushed her urging her to give the Prince an answer, a satisfying one.

Trembling, her voice shaking, "The lady, she was here. I promise you! I saw her in here waiting!" She gushed out pleading hoping he would take mercy on her poor life. "I don't know where she could have gone, I asked her to wait for you, Your Highness!" In a desperate attempt to save her own life, she kneeled directly on the floor. The moment her knees hit the cold ground, she began banging her head begging for mercy. Her figure was piteous and miserable, but George paid her no mind. He immediately ordered a palace search for Ariel. Determined, no matter where she was, he was going to find her.

Behind the pillar, Avina continued watching the monitors. When she witnessed the event in the room happening, she couldn't help but have her stomach churn uncomfortably. She may have been pampered her whole life, but she had her own fair share of scolding. The only difference was that her father was not as scary as Prince George. He had always appeared cold and untouchable to those around him, but this scene made it very clear he was more than cold - he was terrifying!

When she saw the maid crying from fear, she felt as if she was the one begging for mercy! Even through the monitor, he terrified her enough to bring her shivers. He was the nightmare you did not know was a nightmare until you had one. He was the boogeyman your children despise! The cold wind you feel when entering an empty room! The abandoned house sitting on top of the hill! Your worst nightmare!

'That... Host, I don't think he is *that* terrifying," 5025 couldn't help but defend the prince. After all, he was only searching for the Host. It couldn't help but sympathize with him. His fiance just suddenly vanished, and how was he supposed to react calmly to that.

Okay, 5025 had a point. He was not entirely a bad and scary guy, I just happened to witness him when he was angry. Avina's thinking gears turned, and she had a plan! A brilliant one too!

Slowly, Avina shifted herself off the ground. Hopping slowly on one foot, she made her way towards the garden. She couldn't go to the lounge in a mess like this, but it was more believable to be a mess in the garden.

Hobbling, she slowly hopped being careful to maintain her balance. She called out to 5025 asking for it to put navigation on Rey. Confused, 5025 still did as it was told. Soon, a screen appeared on the right side of her mind with a red dot moving slowly towards a green dot. The green dot was moving left and right repeatedly. Puzzled, she looked over at Rey's monitor to see him pacing back and forth.

Her eyes were soon drawn to Jane's monitor and realized she was close to Rey's position. Worried that this plan would fail as well, Avina could only hop faster. As she was making a turning hop, a guard appeared right at the corner making Avina lose her balance.

She reached out to grab hold of a nearby pillar quickly stabilizing herself. The guard, hearing a noise close by, looked around him but found nothing. Avina held her breath stilling her body until the guard walked away. Luckily, she was invisible.

'How long does this last?' unwilling to be exposed unexpectantly, Avina had to prepare herself just in case she appeared out of nowhere in front of others.

'Senior said that it will last for 30 minutes. When you want to be visible again, just think of yourself appearing visible,' 5025 answered flying around Avina twinkling with its blue light. It looked at the script again to see the timer and told Avina her remaining time, 'You still have a good 15 minutes left.'

Avina, relieved, continued hopping past corridors and halls towards the garden. 15 minutes was just about enough time for her to appear in the garden. Determined, she hopped faster grabbing pillar to pillar moving faster and faster. Finally, she saw the entrance to the garden.

Compared to the Mary Garden, the palace garden was 100 times better. It was as large as a mansion with a variety of flowers blossoming throughout the whole garden. There was a hedge maze near the left and gazebos at every passing turn. Each flower glimmered in the sunlight showing the soft petals of each flower. Every fairy princess's dreams started in this garden, and she couldn't help but stare at it a little longer.

The overhanging hedge arc was the entrance to the mystifying garden and wasn't far off from her pillar. With each hop, she was finally coming closer. Just a little more and she would be in the garden! Avina, you got this! You got this, Princess!

Finally grabbing a hold of the arc, her next destination was to Rey. Luckily, he was not far away from the entrance. Thinking it was time to become visible again, Avina imagined herself becoming visible.

She imagined her hands with her pretty nails slowly appearing, then her delicate arms, and then torso. From there, her legs would gradually appear as well as her head. Her dress would sparkle as it clothed her and finally, she was visible. When Avina opened her eyes, she was once more a being of visibility.

Instead of hopping to Rey, Avina limped but her face grew even paler with each step compared to hopping. When she was but a few meters away, she fell directly on the ground drawing Rey's attention.

Rey looked over wondering what was that sound. Soon stunned, he grew concerned once he saw it was Ariel. He raced towards her, and she looked pitifully as she could only lay on the ground.

Inwardly, Avina sneered proudly. Perfect planning.