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Chapter 7: Alone

I soon learned that the room I’m staying at is near the King’s room.

Maybe it’s because the palace I was staying at before, isn’t a suitable place for living in anymore or simply it’s for my protection.

Either way everything in this place felt ‘suffocating’ it’s like I’m being constantly watched and monitored… Although I can only feel the gazes when I go out of my room.

As I ponder about inside the room, I recently have been noticing strange patterns on the windows or any possible entrances to the palace.

It’s similar to the patterns on the doors of the throne room that I have been to when my coming of age ceremony was held.

Just that these patterns tend to glow rather.... differently.

I would've liked to investigate further but...

Spending my time reading inside and playing with the toys that I have been given, I started to get bored of it all.

So I went out that night and took a stroll in the hallways, while I'm at it I also decided to memorize the layout of this palace.

As I have successfully copied the breathing and walking of the assassins, nobody would’ve noticed me.

Making my way down several hallways and stairs, I noticed that the palace is shaped like a labyrinth and the room of the King and the room where I am staying at now is the hardest to reach.

I also noticed how escalators and elevators back in my world were very convenient.

Lost in my thoughts I belatedly realised that the moon have been peering down at me….

Its gaze different from the ones I feel when I roam around the hallways in the day time, that it felt almost comforting.

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Snapping out of my daze and thus making my way towards the open hallways of the palace, the rustling of the wind blew my hair and clothes as the chirps of the nighttime bugs and animals created a choir.

Stepping towards the garden my bare foot could feel the soft grass and cold soil.

Lying down on a nearby tree I looked at the stars and began counting the seconds away…

….

..

As I was making my way towards the room I was staying in, I encountered a maid.

She passed by me seemingly unable to pick up my presence, I then looked behind and stared as she slowly disappears in the dark hallway.

‘She wasn’t making a single sound in any of her footsteps….. And it is already passed curfew hours.’ I then looked ahead again as I wait in front of my door.

No servant should be awake by now except for the patrolling guards and the shadows that keep an eye on me.

Though, the shadows do take shifts....

Furthermore it was strange that that maid knew exactly what time the shadows would be changing shifts.

I know about this since I already memorized the shift rotations.

They offset each rotation every day by 5 minutes so that the shifts don’t stay constant.

Basically it means that when they change shifts the next person comes in at (12:00am), the next day the shift change is moved by 5 mins so the next person comes in at (12:05am).

They do change patterns sometime, like last week the shift change was moved by 1 hour.

I used that flaw to my advantage and managed to sneak out of my room while nobody was watching, I also have to get back in my room using that again.

Although I didn’t think that the assassins would also figure out how the shadows do shift rotations.

‘Or maybe, there’s a rat among them… haha interesting’

I smile at the thought and finally noticed the gaze at the room disappearing, it means it was time for a shift change.

Briskly stepping inside the room and closing the door I made it to my bed and the sight further cemented my theory. Some of my books were moved, while the carpet had a slight smudge.

‘I deliberately left all those cluttered things on the floor just for this purpose. The first assassin though… was far skillful than this.’

The scene started to replay inside my head again as I still couldn’t let go of the frustration and helplessness I felt from the first assassin that I encountered.

‘Though the movements of that bastard that were engraved inside my mind is helpful, I am enraged of the fact that I wasn’t able to confirm its death.’

Noticing my change in behavior, I calmed myself down by humming the melody inside my head.

Another day had come to pass....