"Seren?" King Armen called as he moved the curtains to one side.
The delicately curled figure flinched upon hearing the familiar voice, but instead of looking back at her father, her body shrank even more.
King Armen took a step forward, only to see her shivering figure trying to move away. King Armen paused from reaching out to her and said with a hoarse voice, "Seren, Father is here. Don't be scared, my child."
His eyes were full of anticipation that she would at least look at him, but she didn't pay attention to the plea in his voice.
The strained silence inside the chamber was broken as soon as Cian arrived.
"Seren? I heard my sister is awake—"
But like with King Armen, there was no response to his words too. Cian approached the bed and shifted the curtains to one side, moving the entire thing to expose the bed as seeing her behind those long curtains made him feel like she was a prisoner. Her entire life, she had spent like a prisoner, but he would make sure that would not be the case anymore.
He would let the entire kingdom know that Seren was not an unholy thing for others to stay away from, that there was no need to view her from a distance as if she was not a human being but a thing of amusement.
"Seren? It's me, Brother Cian," Cian spoke softly, looking at the visibly scared girl.
However, despite his efforts, the fragile girl did not even move to look at him, and it hurt Cian to think that even his presence couldn't make her feel better and safe.
Both the Ilven father and son tried to talk to Seren, but there was still no response coming from her. Going closer to her only worsened her situation, causing her to cry, as if the two were not family but strangers to her, and she needed to stay away from them.
-----
On the other hand, after some considerations, Arlan had rushed towards his friend's chamber.
Initially, he had been in discussion with Cian when a royal knight brought news that the Third Princess had woken up, and he too hurried to excuse himself, feeling worried that one stubborn king Might do something that would trouble the Abethan Royal Family. Little did he know that his friend had already done what he had to.
Cian entered Seren's bedchamber while Arlan opted to stay outside and listen in, feeling worried that his stubborn friend would get into an argument with the Crown Prince of Abetha. He waited with bated breath.
Thankfully, after Cian entered Seren's bedchamber, everything seemed calm inside. Arlan finally let out a sigh of relief, assured that his friend was not there, or else he would have gotten to see the two young and stubborn royals pulling out their swords.
'Dray may have awful manners, but at least he knows how to show basic courtesy and respect the other royal family.' He wanted to sob, feeling like a proud mother seeing his son all grown up.
When he entered the chamber next door, he saw Drayce standing by the window, and as usual, he was not alone. Dusk was there as if this master and the pet duo had no other things to do but show affection to each other.
"Glad to see you didn't run to the Third Princess," Arlan commented as he added, "I thought you would have surely created troubles for King Armen with your stubbornness."
"I have done my fair share of it already," Drayce replied.
"Huh?" Arlan looked questioningly towards his friend and asked as a terrible thought came into his mind, "What did you do?"
"You will know soon," Drayce answered as he continued to do his favorite thing??—moving his fingers along Dusk's tough but soft feathery wings.
"I can never expect less from you," Arlan sighed. "I just need to leave you alone for a while, and you can turn the entire world upside down."
Drayce pretended to play deaf to Arlan's comment. Although it seemed that he was playing with his pet, in fact, he was focused on listening to what was going on inside Seren's chamber.
He caressed Dusk's head and said, "I wish we could accompany her and make her feel safe just like how you did for me in the past."
Arlan heard it and turned silent. He had nothing to say whenever there was a talk about Drayce's childhood.
The next moment, Dusk flew away, and Drayce turned to look at Arlan. "You better not carry that sympathetic look on your face. You look better as a shameless one."
Arlan's face changed from serious to playful in a blink of an eye as he said, "I have long known you like my shamelessness, but you love to act coy."
As usual, Drayce ignored his remark, but Arlan knew his cold friend liked him exactly as he was.
-------
When everyone almost gave up on how to get Seren to at least respond, there was a loud noise coming from the window of her chamber. Everyone heard a screech of a bird of prey, and when they turned to the source of the sound, they saw a majestic eagle sit on the window sill.
The people were surprised to see this majestic bird, as it was not a species of eagle that was found in this part of the continent. Before they could understand and react to the presence of this bird, the least expected person beat them to it.
The unresponsive Third Princess Seren, who still had her arms encircled around her knees, finally lifted her head up to take a small peek at the newcomer. A pair of beautiful purple eyes sneakily looked at the eagle.
Thanks to this bird, the father, and a brother could finally see her face. Though half of her face had a veil as cover, seeing emotions in her eyes was enough for them, thousands of times better than her not opening them due to fear.
Those gem-like purple eyes looked dazed and puffy due to the continuous crying and the long sleep she had. However, her eyes were focused on the eagle, as if she knew the majestic bird.