CHAPTER FIVE

They all started at the silently crying Ariella with different emotions swirling in their eyes. It was like that until Juliet rushed forward to hug her shaking body.

"Pardon us, your highness, it's as if the princess isn't feeling too well. With your permission may we take our leave?"

Juliet politely requested, her hands that embrace Ariella was trembling. Even though she had been with him since he was a child, she was still, to an extent, scared of him when he wasn't in a good mood.

Theodore stared at them for a while, the tension in the air getting thicker by the second. Ariella had already stopped crying and was now burning her head in Juliet's shoulder.

"Leave." With permission granted by the king, Juliet let out a sigh of relief and thanked him before leaving the area quickly.

"Your-" Edward wanted to speak but as usual was cut off by Theodore.

"All of you leave." Theodore sat back down in his seat as he said that.

"But-"

"Leave right now!" He yelled, glaring at all of them in the process.

Immediately he yelled, and all of them left the place in a rush. It wasn't long before they had all left, giving him his much-needed space.

*********

"I ruined everything!" Ariella lamented sadly. She clenched the pillow that she was holding tighter as she looked at Juliet from the vanity table mirror.

Juliet was brushing Ariella's long hair as she sighed for the nth time.

"It wasn't your fault Princess." Juliet reassured her calmly.

"If it wasn't my fault then-" Ariella paused what she was saying when she felt Juliet put her hand on her shoulder.

"It wasn't your father's fault either..." She said as she sat down next to her.

"Your father... Your father loved your mother dearly, so much that he made a lot of mistakes after she died." Juliet paused, taking a look at Ariella who was hiding her face in her pillow.

"One of those mistakes caused him to forget about the both of you." Juliet finished what she was saying. She glanced at Ariella again, only to find her looking straight at her.

"Are you still sad?" Juliet asked her.

"Not really, I'll apologize tomorrow."

What Ariella said made a smile form on Juliet's face. Being with Ariella made her feel like a mother again.

*********

-Sometime Later-

"Your Highness." A man in a knight's armor bowed stiffly to the man in front of him.

"Matthew." Theodore nodded his head at him in acknowledgment.

Behind Matthew were ten other people, three of which were women. The ten of them had their heads lowered in respect and they were all dressed in light armor.

Standing right beside Theodore were Edward and Louis. Edward had a nervous look on his face while Louis was just staring blankly at the floor.

They were all standing in front of a very familiar door, a metal door. The door was opened and all the surrounding vines that were around the wall were removed.

"Since it was on such short notice, I could only call ten of them." Matthew briefly explained.

"That's alright, Let's head inside." Theodore said, ordering the ten people who had finally raised their heads.

They all headed inside, Louis being the first and Matthew being the last.

"Pair up and searched around the place." Theodore turned to look at them as he said that.

They all quickly joined into groups of two, Louis with Theodore, Matthew with Edward.

-With Matthew and Edward-

"What's wrong?" Matthew asked Edward as they walked in the direction of a large shed.

Although it was a shed, it was larger than a regular shed. It's walls were made up of plank wood and the door was also made out of wood. It also had no windows and a flat roof. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary with it.

"Nothing, just a little nervous..." Edward shook his head as he brushed whatever was bothering him away.

"What's there to be nervous about?" Matthew asked him another question, his expression morphing into one of confusion.

"When we got here, the door was already unlocked. It's as if they expected us."

"Really?" Matthew asked in a whisper.

"Yes, and since we entered we haven't seen a single person. It's making me uneasy." Edward said as he let out an audible sigh at the end.

"Stop worrying about it it's most likely nothing." And with what Matthew said, Edward finally calmed down.

Before they knew it, they had already reached the shed. They both raised their guard and slowly opened the door.

It was dark since there weren't any windows and the lights were off. After a while of looking, they finally found the light switch.

Once they finally turned on the light and saw what was inside the shed, they were a bit disappointed but not surprised.

"There's nothing there..." Edward let out a relieved sigh.

"Yeah but it looks like a fight happen here." Matthew said as he brushed his fingers around the broken wood of what used to be a shelf.

"And from what I can tell it happened about a month ago." Matthew continued

"Let's head back and report what we found." Matthew turned back and was about to leave when Edward called his attention.

"Hey, there's something there." Edwards said has reached out to the corner of the shed.

"A brooch." Matthew asked confused.

" yeah let's head back. "Edward said as he quickly pocketed the brooch.

*********

-With Theodore and Louis'

" There's nothing here." Lewis ground as he sat down on the sofa.

Both of them were currently in the largest room in the mansion, Vivian's room.

"That can't be, people don't just disappear Louis. She didn't pack anything, there has to be a clue." Theodore said as he paced around the room.

Both of them were lost in their thoughts for a while until Theodore suddenly paused and turned to Louis.

"This room is on the ground floor right?" Theodore asked.

"Yeah...It is." Louis was a bit confused about why he was asking such an obvious question.

"Remove the carpet." Theodore ordered.

Getting up from where he was sitting, Louis quickly went to the carpet. But it was something he could handle.

Louis removed the carpet and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw what was under.

"A hidden passage!" Louis exclaimed in shock.

"Go call the other, quickly!" Theodore commanded Louis, making the latter rush out of the room.