The dark passage seemed endless.
Selene had lost track of how long she'd been walking—one step, then another—as if each footfall drew her closer to a secret powerful enough to destroy her… or the entire kingdom.
Clutching a small lamp she had found in an old cabinet back in her room, she pressed deeper into the forgotten parts of the palace—down corridors long swallowed by shadows and stories left untold. The stone walls were damp and cold, etched with carvings nearly erased by time—symbols of the old Arvenian tongue, silent whispers of the past that seemed to yearn to be awakened.
Then she stopped.
She heard voices.
Not footsteps. Not the wind. Voices. Someone was speaking in the dark.
She extinguished her lamp in an instant.
Cautiously—slowly—she crept toward the crack in the wall where the murmurs bled through. Pressing her hand against the chilled stone, she held her breath, straining to catch every word.
And from the farthest recesses of her mind, an old saying she used to whisper to her reflection came flooding back.
Trust is the most dangerous weapon.
And tonight, she finally understood why.
The people she had long believed were allies of her mother—people she had trusted, leaned on—were nothing but traitors.
And the pain didn't just come from the betrayal itself. It came from the realization that those she once called allies… would be the very ones to tear her down from the throne.
In the dark—they were the true enemy.
"She's nothing but a puppet draped in silk—pretty, pampered, and profoundly useless."
"Too gentle. Too gullible. She lacks the spine to lead, much less to survive."
"Let her play her little games. She's not the real heir."
"It's time. The public won't even notice she's gone. We'll control the crown behind closed doors."
"No need to kill her… yet. Just remove her. Quietly. Discredit her. Break her."
Selene froze.
Her hands gripped the wall, but even the cold stone couldn't steady the weight collapsing in her chest.
Each word she heard—like knives sharpened by betrayal. They didn't just stab. They carved. And they did so without mercy.
She couldn't move.
She couldn't cry.
Her heart beat like it was pleading with the darkness.
Please… don't hear me. Don't feel me.
Even the sound of her own heartbeat felt like a threat—a giveaway that could cost her everything.
"I'm not the rightful heir?"
"I'm the one who needs to disappear?"
"And you—you have the audacity to decide my fate?"
In that exact moment, something inside her died.
And from the ashes of betrayal, the queen was born.
She was not the one to wait for a crown. Instead, she was one to seize it—from the hands of the shadows that had betrayed her.
Suddenly, something stirred. A man. Approaching the passage.
Selene stepped back, breath caught in her throat. She pressed against the wall, forcing herself to stay calm—like a child hiding in a game of treachery she never asked to join.
Then she turned and ran.
She didn't know where she was going. But one thing was certain, she was no longer the Selene who entered that hidden path.
Because every corner of this palace…
wasn't just filled with secrets.
It was built on them.
There was something deeper still—a lie rooted in the very heart of the kingdom.
And as she walked back into the shadows, something within her began to shift, reshaping itself into something new.
It wasn't just her heart that was wounded.
The fragile princess she once was… was slowly turning into steel—hardened, sharpened, ready to fight.
And she whispered to herself only one thing:
If I'm the obstacle to the throne, then I'll become the storm that takes them all down—a force they can't escape, can't fight... one they won't survive.
Suddenly, footsteps thundered closer. Someone was coming.
Selene shut her eyes. Held her breath.
Don't hear me. Don't see me.
One more step—and a shadow appeared through the sliver in the corridor.
Three broad-shouldered men entered, torches in hand. They looked like they were searching for something.
"They said they heard something here earlier," one of them muttered. "We can't let anyone follow us."
The second man was about to speak when a shadow dropped from the ceiling. Swift. Silent. Like air.
In an instant, the man holding the torch collapsed. Unconscious.
Then the second one—dragged into the dark with a sharp pull.
"What the—?!"
The question never finished.
An arm coiled around his neck. A sound. The torch hit the floor.
And then—silence.
From the dark, a voice emerged. Quiet, but resolute: "They're gone."
Selene turned her head. That's when she saw him.
Kael.
Dressed in black tactical gear, a smear of blood on his arm, and a blade in his hand etched with strange markings.
"Kael?!" Her voice cracked—a mix of shock, fear, and a breath of relief she didn't even know she'd been holding.
He didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward another passageway—one only he seemed to know.
"How do you even know this path?!"
As they ran, every footstep echoed like truth crumbling behind them.
Kael glanced at her, his eyes heavy with tension—and something else, something buried deep for far too long.
"I'm not just your bodyguard, Selene."
Selene froze mid-step.
"What are you saying?"
Kael stopped in front of her. Took a deep breath. Reached for her arm—gentle, but firm, and full of weight.
"It's no accident that I was assigned this mission. I'm not just here to protect you. I'm here to uncover the truth—about you, about the palace... and about the throne."
Selene's mind was in chaos.
"So... you're a spy?"
Kael glanced at her for a moment. Tension was in his eyes—along with a secret he had kept buried for so long.
Kael's jaw clenched. "I'm something else. Something in between. You don't need to know everything—not yet. But one thing's for sure... Someone wants you dead. And I won't let that happen."
Footsteps echoed in the dark corridor. The darkness was complete. One more step, one more moment, and everything would change.
Kael's eyes sharpened. "We're not safe yet. Let's move."
Under the dim light, they quickly navigated the dark underground maze of the palace. Kael was behind Selene, his gaze never leaving her, his hands unwilling to let go. It felt like he never wanted to let her go. Even though she didn't fully know him yet, one thing was clear in her mind: she couldn't trust anyone, except Kael.
As the night deepened, there was one thing they both knew now—the palace held a hidden secret. A secret that Kael was willing to fight for, not just to protect Selene's body, but to uncover a truth buried beneath the palace walls for so long.
Until their final turn in the passage, one thing was clear:
There was something waiting for them in the dark room.
In an abandoned room, deep in the heart of the palace—once the king's classroom during his youth—they found temporary shelter. The walls were cracked, as if holding secrets long kept hidden. The floor was covered in thick dust, and even the windows seemed to close off the light of the past, as if time itself wanted to lock it all away.
The cold breeze from the broken window brushed against Selene's skin, but the warmth of the oil lamp she held offered a small comfort. The dim silence continued, only the shadows created by the fire moving around them, like ghosts of the past dancing with the present.
Selene paced the room, her thoughts spiraling.
"I'm not just your bodyguard, Selene."
Those words echoed in her mind, relentlessly repeating, like palaces of truth she wasn't yet ready to face.
Stop it, Selene. Don't make things more complicated. But why?
With every step, Selene felt her heart burn. She couldn't hold back.
"Kael…" she started, her voice trembling slightly, yet firm in every word. "I've been holding back for a while. But I want an answer."
Kael stopped, continuing to tend to the wound on his arm, but this time, his eyes weren't cold. They weren't gentle either. They were warm, filled with words he had been avoiding. Selene felt the weight of every look Kael gave her.
"I've been ordered to watch over you," he said, each word slow, like thorns slowly piercing her heart.
"I know that," Selene replied, her lips trying to steady her voice, hiding the overwhelming nervousness in her chest. "But the question is, why?"
Kael stood up, and with each step he took towards her, the distance between them began to blur. Not just physically. Emotionally. It was as if with every step, he was drawing closer to Selene—not just in the physical sense, but to the heart that was lost in questions it wasn't yet ready to answer.
"It's not to protect you…" those words hung in the air. "But to watch every move you make."
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy. The sound of the lamp's flame pulsed, in rhythm with the beat of Selene's heart. The noise around her faded, even the clamor in her mind, as if the world had opened a new door just for her, but she wasn't ready to accept it all.
"What…?" Selene whispered, her voice barely audible. "What do you mean?"
Kael clenched his fists, his hands filled with a tension he couldn't hide. "You were suspected of being the liability. The weak link. The potential traitor."
Selene's eyes widened. "What, me?"
"There are people who believe you shouldn't be the next leader." Those words struck Selene like lightning. "That maybe... you're the one who'll bring down the palace."
Betrayal.
That word pierced her chest like a dagger. Me? I'm the reason?
She thought the pain of the advisors' doubt, the cold stares of the royal court, was enough. But this—this was the deepest cut. It was something her heart, struggling to forgive, couldn't swallow.
"That's why I'm here. To show you the truth."
Kael nodded. There was no regret, but the weight of those words hung in the air. It was like he was paying off a debt long neglected.
"I didn't choose this... to be with you." His voice was soft, carrying a sense of failure that wouldn't go away. "At first, I believed it was right to observe you—no emotions, no attachments."
Selene took a step back.
Her eyes, filled with pain, filled with anger, couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"So all this time… I thought you were my only ally. But now… you're one of those who doubt me?"
Kael remained silent. But instead of backing away, he stepped closer. Until their foreheads almost touched.
"But then I saw you."
Selene's breath caught. His voice was low, raw, as if ripping apart her very thoughts. This wasn't what she dreamed of.
"I saw how you smiled even when you didn't want to. How you stood tall even when you were scared. How you forced yourself to respect a world that never learned to respect you."
Before she could speak, a tear, one she couldn't hide, fell down Selene's cheek. She didn't wipe it away. It felt like waves crashing against her heart—waves she couldn't hold back.
"And that's when I realized," Kael whispered, "They were wrong."
They exchanged glances. Long. Silent.
Then, Kael spoke again, his words almost a whisper, but heavy with meaning
"But because of the truth I now know... I might not make it out alive."
Selene's eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Because when I choose to stand by your side, I become a traitor."
They locked eyes once more. And between their gazes—full of tension, fear, and an emotion neither of them could yet voice—that's when the true struggle began.