1 CHAPTER 1 : LOST

At the midnight the castle was in a state of alarm,

groups of hundreds of soldiers were being organized for a search mission as The Crown Princess has gone missing.

"What is the status? how is the search going on?" questioned the King in a tensed tone.

"We have searched the whole castle but the princess is nowhere to be found. Now the soldiers are headed towards the town for the search" replied the Royal Messenger.

"She mustn't have gone, the weather also seems bad...tell them to find my daughter at once!" said the King.

"Yes! My Majesty" Said the Royal Messenger and left the throne room.

"Where did she go?"Said The King with a sigh.

Many thoughts were running into the king's head while worrying about the princess. He couldn't stop stroll from one corner to another of the throne room.

"I told you to keep an eye on our daughter... I really thought that something did really seemed off about her lately. But who could have known that she would run away!" Said The Queen.

"Oh! I didn't see u there standing dear...i am more worried about thinking why did she run away?" confused The King questioned

"The question is why..." signed the queen but suddenly something came across her mind and asked curiously. "Ohh! do you think...umm what if... perhaps she got to know about one of your secrets?"

"No! That can't be all my life I have made sure that she never found out about any of it." Said The King in a raised voice and turns his back

"Then..." before The Queen completed her sentence the king interrupted "We will have to see...I will ask her myself!"

Turns and looks towards the queen with red eyes filled with anger and continues "After she is found!" and walks grumpily out of the throne room. While The Queen watches him go.

Meanwhile during the stormy night on the order side near the secret tunnel which connects the castle and the forest

"Are you sure, you really wanna do this Princess?"Shouted Taehyung.

"Yeah! I have to this might be my last chance." The Princess shouted back.

"The weather is pretty bad the rain might not stop till morning."Said Taehyung.

seeing his concerned eyes Elizabeth Said "I will be fine! don't worry."

'How can I not worry... I do worry about you' Taehyung thought "I better go the soldiers are about to leave for the search mission, I am the captain I have to be there or else they might suspect me"He Said.

"Yeah! you should go" She Said.

"Okay, ill come back to find you, be save until then"He nodded while running towards the tunnel.

"I know that I trust you taehyung" She whispered and smiled.

The Princess started to travel towards the west through the forest. She was having trouble walking as the ground was slippery and the winds were too strong so she had to take small and steady steps one at a time also small twigs and branches of the trees were too falling which made even hard for The Princess.

For a long time, she traveled straight on the same path.

'why it had to be me...the weather had to be like this only when I am trying to run away huh?' various types of thoughts came across her mind, therefore, she continues walking with cursing about everything she could.After a long walk she saw faded lights they were so dim that she hardly noticed it, she figured out that there might be some sort of a village up ahead hence she decided to walk towards the light.

After she reached the place she saw it was a completely isolated village and that might be because of the storm.

She started to roam in the village with every step she felt like someone was watching her and yes it was true people watching from inside there houses but no one came forward to help her. But then someone shouted it sounded like an Odd Lady's voice "What are you doing child out in this storm? quick come inside."

The princess turned around and spotted an Old Lady waving her hand asking her to come in.

"Thank you so much!" Said Elizabeth with a smile when she entered the lady's house.

"Oh my look at you, you're soaking wet!here take this towel and dry yourself up." Said The Lady "Oh you're so pretty! By the way, what's your name child?"

"Oh um..." there was no way Elizabeth could tell her own name. But The Lady was so kind to her she deserved to know her name. So Elizabeth decided to tell the lady her real name which only people close to her knew "My name is ...Hae In."

"Hae In! What a beautiful name dear." Said The Lady

While talking to the lady Elizabeth noticed freshly baked bread kept on the table across the room and it smelled so good, Elizabeth did not notice that her eyes were fixed only at one thing which was the bread and soon she started drooling. Seeing her like this the lady figured out that she was indeed hungry "Dear, do you like to eat some bread?"

'God how embarrassing! was I drooling?' Elizabeth thought"Huh? oh! yes please.."She Replies

"Okay then I will also bring to a glass of warm milk" smiled The Lady

After eating Elizabeth felt like that she had got all her energy back and thought of continuing her journey where she was headed but then she realized she herself didn't know where she was going, she had nowhere to go and also the storm still didn't stop. The Old Lady too seemed nice so she decided to stay.

But then suddenly she heard the sound of heavy footsteps and when she looked out of the window there were soldiers heading towards the village "Have anyone see our princess? please cooperate with us, anyone who reports us about the princess will be given a reward."

"Oh.. I see some from the palace has gone missing..isn't it child," Said The Lady but when she turned around Elizabeth had already left from the back door."Where did she go?"

Elizabeth started running. Tried to find a route but it seemed that she lost her route as she wasn't able to see properly in the storm.Soon the soldiers started catching up her pace and were only a few meters away. Elizabeth ran as fast as she could. But suddenly due to a strong lightning strike a tree fell drown and it almost missed her see the tree fall Elizabeth screamed.

"Hey did you hear that? it came from there let's go and check." Said The Guards.

Elizabeth heard that they were coming in her direction. She was desperate to find a place to hide and while doing that she lost her balance and slips she didn't realize that the where she was standing was near a slop and due to the wet ground she falls rolling down and ends up behind the bushes "ouch...." She said to Herself.

"I don't think there is anyone let's go, "Said The Guards.

Even though Elizabeth was injured she was glad that she fell because the guards did not notice her. But then she suddenly feels an intense pain like something bite her she was about to scream but constraints herself as couldn't afford the guard to find out where she was hiding.When she looked at her feet she saw a snake. She wasn't able to move and collapsed on the ground. Her vision started to become blurred. But then she saw someone approaching her, but she was only able to see the person's legs "Help please save m...."She mourned and became unconscious.