SPELLBOUND

"The late empress hid her son in such a place because she knew that the emperor would kill His Highness the moment he sees his appearance. That's why nobody had ever seen His Highness for the first 16 years of his life except the late empress herself," Elias continued. "When the late empress revealed the existence of Prince Gavriel, the imperial palace was shaken since they never thought the empress had ever conceived the emperor's child. That time, Prince Gavriel's eyes were scarlet red, and his hair was dark brown. Nobody knew that the late empress had purposely starved His Highness so his eyes could remain red all the time and had dyed his hair as well. She had told everyone the reason why she had hidden His Highness' existence for so many years was due to the prince's unusual red eyes and she was just trying to protect her child from any harm.

Everyone knew that the empress and the emperor's relationship was not one that was on good terms with each other as the emperor blatantly showed his dislike towards the empress and favoured as well as loved his mistress excessively instead of his wife. They understood the reason why the empress had to hide her son. It was all because the emperor's first-born heir was from his mistress and not the empress. They all knew that a power struggle would definitely occur between the two princes. Since the law of the vampires always requires the first born to inherit the throne, the mistress' son had a big advantage but with Prince Gavriel as the legitimate son, his right to the throne is also undeniable. So, the officials had accepted the empress' explanation on why she had hidden her son for so long."

"H-how about the emperor? Did he buy the empress' explanation?" Evie asked, her eyes filled with interest and concern and curiosity.

"Unfortunately, he didn't. He had secretly sent his elite men to investigate deeper into the matter. The empress had told everyone that Prince Gavriel grew up in Dacria but the emperor's men found out that nobody in Dacria ever knew about the prince, much less saw him, in the last sixteen years. No matter what he did, there was no information at all. It was as if the prince had just appeared out of nowhere. And his suspicions never stopped there. He began to mentally harass the empress to tell him the truth, telling her that he did not believe that Gavriel belonged to him. But the empress endured everything and stood her ground against the emperor.

The empress wanted Prince Gavriel to grow stronger before she could finally reveal the full truth of his lineage and real appearance to the empire. She wanted him to grow so strong that he could stand against the emperor in his own right. She had Prince Gavriel enrolled into the top and elite military school as soon as she revealed him. To her and everyone's surprise, the prince didn't even need the help of any school to hone his strength because the prince was already extraordinarily strong in everything." Elias began to puff up in pride as he continued his story. "When I first watched His Highness' fight, I got goosebumps. He was only seventeen, but it felt as though he had been born a warrior, as if he had been through hell since he was a small child, which was impossible because we knew there had been no major wars that happened during the last sixteen years. His skills and aura were something a vampire could never hone from fighting against humans. The truth is… I am actually quite doubtful myself about the fact whether or not His Highness truly grew up in a dungeon. Haha."

Evie creased her brows as Elias rubbed the back of his head as he laughed awkwardly. "But according to His Highness himself, he indeed grew up in a dungeon. He had never revealed any details about his life growing up in there, though. That fact that he did was the only thing he confirmed. And…" Elias trailed off, finally realizing that he had been saying too much already. "Uhm… I think we should go back now, Your Highness." He changed the topic and Evie bit her lower lip in utter disappointment. But Elias already had his back turned on her and headed back where they came from.

Realizing that the butler was not going to continue anymore, Evie could only follow. She suppressed the intense urge to ask more because she knew that the butler had realized he was exposing too many details to her. Evie knew the strict rules for servants in talking about their masters, so she understood why Elias had stopped. But she thought that maybe, she can make him talk again in the following days. She must not pry too hard and come at him too obviously.

"Where do you want to spend the rest of the night, My Lady?" Elias asked as they slowly descended the grand stairs.

"Am I allowed to go out and visit the city?"

Elias halted.

"Apologies Milady but I need to ask for His Highness' permission first. I'll definitely let you know once I receive his answer."

"Oh… understood…"

"How about the library, My Lady? Would you like to spend the rest of the night there? Or perhaps you might like me to take you to the gardens? But I guess, you're already tired from roaming the castle for hours now."

"Alright," Evie could only smile awkwardly because this butler was worrying too much again. "I'll go to the library then."

The butler escorted her to the library in an instant and Evie was surprised and fascinated at the gothic looking and large library. She never expected she could find a library this huge and elegant inside a vampire's castle and she could not help but wonder what topics could be found written in all the countless books that were stored here about.

"You can leave me here now Elias and go do your thing. You don't need to watch over me every minute of the day. I think I can spend the rest of the night in here peacefully." She said, smiling. Evie didn't know why but she suddenly felt excited at the sight of this place and the myriads of books held on those ancient shelves, as if different adventures were awaiting her within those time-worn pages.

Thankfully, the butler nodded. "Levy is on stand-by just outside the doors. So, if you need anything, please don't hesitate to call for him."

"Mm. I will."

"Also… uhm…" Elias hesitantly leaned a little closer. "Please don't ask His Highness about the dungeon and his childhood." He said, causing Evie to frown a little.

"Why not?"

"Because… His Highness seemed to really hate talking about anything related to dungeons or his childhood. The truth is that with the mere mention of the word 'dungeon' could drastically change his mood entirely. So please keep what I told you earlier just between us, okay? Milady?"

She nodded. "Don't worry, I understand."

"Thank you, Milady." Elias flashed her a relieved smile.