One second, Lucille had still been sleeping peacefully, and the next one, a hand covered her face.

When she opened her mouth and wanted to scream, she didn't get a single sound out, even though a man was directly above her. Terror rushed through her veins, and her first instinct was to claw at him to get him off. But then her eyes got used to the dim light, and she recognized Cedar.

What was the prince doing? She would have liked to ask that, but he held her mouth shut. That was enough to show her that he was serious though. He wasn't smiling, which looked so odd that it proved that something horrible was going on.

Cedar only took his hands off her when she had relaxed under him and stopped struggling. “We need to get out now.” He whispered, but that didn't lessen the severity of his words. “Where's your father?”

Lucille's brain barely managed to pierce the information together, and she felt like her response only came after a few seconds of silence. Raymond had gone on a business trip, hadn't he? “He's...staying at a friend's house today.”

“Good.” Cedar didn't waste any time and pulled her up. He made her stand and caught her when she almost tripped. Without waiting for a moment, he grasped her wrist to drag her after him. He brought her to the door and leaned out to scan the hallways.

If Lucille hadn't been in a panic already, she would have lost her composure now. What was going on? Why had Cedar suddenly woken her up in the middle of the night to lead her away? They had to be in danger since he seemed extremely tense. But that didn't make any sense. What would threaten them in the middle of the night?

She was quiet for a moment, in which only her heartbeat filled the silence, before she opened her mouth. She had wanted to complain about Cedar almost crushing her wrist, but she froze when she saw his sleeve.

There was a round stain on the fabric that was darker than the rest. That color wasn't part of Cedar's clothes. That red stain was definitely not water either.

Her mouth opened again, but she didn't say anything as she slowly lowered her gaze to his free hand. Cedar was holding his sword, and it wasn't clean either. A thick, crimson liquid dripped down from it and created a small pool of blood at his feet.

Lucille let out a shaky breath. Her head felt as if it would burst any second. What was going on? “Cedar...” She whispered as quietly as she could but still felt like she was too loud. “Are we being attacked?”

He replied without turning around. “Yes.” He kept watching the hallways and looked to one side before gazing at the other.

Lucille could just watch him as dread rose in her stomach. “Why?” This didn't make any sense. The Valerian family wasn't that powerful. They stayed away from politics, and her father didn't like risky gambling. They didn't have any valuable masterpieces at home either. There should be no reason for anyone to attack them. There was nothing to gain here. The only thing that could make them a target was a specific person.

Cedar didn't turn around to her this time either. “Not now.” He replied curtly before staying quiet again. As if he was waiting for someone to reveal themself while he kept hidden in the dim twilight. But that was all she needed to get her response.

Lucille swallowed as she finally understood. That the prince stayed here was more than enough of a reason to attack the estate. Both factions were upset with Cedar right now and could target him. But the royal guards wouldn't break in at night, so this probably wasn't someone from the emperor's faction.

This had to be someone that the dowager empress had sent. But would that woman really want to kill her own son? That was a stupid question. Of course, she would. She had already aimed to take her eldest son's life away. It was like Cedar had said. This woman didn't know any limits.

That realization made Lucille shiver. She could barely keep her teeth from clattering against each other. She felt cold and hot at the same time and just wanted to hide under her covers, but she knew that this wouldn't help her in the slightest. They needed to run away for now, or they would seriously get hurt. As long as Cedar was here, she should be fine. She told herself that, and a moment later, the prince let go of her. She already wanted to protest but silenced herself.

Cedar rushed to the window and pushed it open soundlessly before returning to her side. He listened near the hallway again before grabbing her arm and pulling her with him. He led her out of her room before opening another door a few steps next to them.

It was a small storage room with seemingly nothing special about it.

Cedar pushed her inside and closed the door behind them. It was almost completely dark inside here now, but apparently, the prince had already looked around before. He had no issue guiding her to the end of the room and carefully directing her toward a specific piece of furniture.

Lucille took a moment to understand that it was a wardrobe. Only a second later, she was pushed inside before Cedar followed her.

The prince closed this door behind them too and wrapped her in his arm while bringing a hand to her mouth. “Still.”

Lucile didn't like the sound of that at all. If he needed to make sure that she was quiet, it probably wouldn't stay as calm as it was now. Her concern was quickly proven to be true.

A loud noise sounded, and it seemed like the door to the room had been slammed open. A person stepped inside before they let out a frustrated growl. “Where is that little whore?”

That was followed by a noise that sounded like a person hitting someone. Then a second voice chimed in. “Shut up. We're supposed to be quiet, you moron.”

The first man replied again. “Why do we need to be quiet when everyone's dead? We only need the girl, and she knows already. She wouldn't have run away otherwise. What are we going to do now?”

The second person walked around for a moment before kicking something heavy, which made the sound resonate in the entire room. “I don't know. Search the whole floor? She used the window, but she couldn't have jumped off the roof. You'll check every corner here, and I'll go down to tell the others. Before that, we have to get rid of that annoying woman here though.”

A short silence followed, and a person walked around with quick steps before a loud yelp sounded. Someone crashed against some piece of furniture so that even the wardrobe vibrated.

Seconds later, a third person, a woman, yelled. “Please don't hurt me! I sold you the information you needed. I was helpful the whole time. Please! I won't tell anyone about you. I won't tell! I swear that I won't!” That voice was unmistakably Mathilda's.

Lucille felt a shiver run down her spine as she pressed herself against Cedar. What was going on here? Everyone was dead? There was no way. And her maid had sold information to someone? So, the dowager empress had planned this for a while now? It seemed like Mathilda would not get treated kindly for this despite having helped, which painted a grim picture of the chances for everyone here.

One of the men spoke up in a loud volume that already made him seem more than aggressive with just a few words. “Tell us where your lady is then. She ran away, and you surely know where she would hide. Tell us!”

Yelling didn't change the fact that Mathilda was clueless though. The maid was bawling by now. “I don't know where she is! We never hide from attacks! Maybe she's in the annex with His Royal Highness. Please...”

That was followed by silence.

Then the second man spoke up again. “We should have thought about that sooner. He knows. That won't be pretty, will it? We're supposed to avoid him until we get rid of the target. Do you think we have to knock him out? I heard that he is a good fighter.”

The first man clicked his tongue. “Are you kidding me? We're a dozen people, and he is alone. What's he going to do?”

“He did kill two of us already, or have you forgotten? I doubt that the girl did that, so he is the only other option. He is probably bringing her to the entrance now. So, I guess we are sticking to the plan. We can just attack them there, right? Let's go.” With that, one of the men left the room while yelling back at the other one. “Take care of her.”

A few seconds passed before sounds came from the outside. It seemed like someone was scrambling around on the floor, and Mathilda yelled again. “Don't! Stay away from me! I wouldn't have told you anything if I knew that you'd attack us! You dirty-”

“I don't have any time for nagging. Stop moving around and shut up. You'll see your friends in a moment.” The spiteful tone of this man made it obvious that he didn't have any good intentions.

Lucille didn't hear the rest of this conversation to find out though. Cedar moved his hands to her ears and held them shut. That was all she needed to understand what was going on. She closed her eyes and pressed her own hands onto her mouth. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't make a single sound, or they would lose. Even if she hated sitting here while someone was hurt only a few steps away from her, she had no choice.

That man would kill Mathilda, wouldn't he? And she would just sit here?

It felt like a nightmare. But moving would alert everyone in this house and make Lucille and Cedar the next target. So, they didn't move.

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She didn't know how much time passed. It had to have taken a few minutes. She wasn't sure about how many, but at some point, Cedar slowly took his hands off her ears.

But the prince didn't even give her a moment to get over all of this. He pushed open the wardrobe and stepped out into the room, which was now dimly illuminated due to the open door leading to the hallway. Then he took her hand and pulled her with him while bringing his other hand to her face to shield the area to her left. “Don't look. We're going out now. I will protect you.”

Lucille felt like the air was being sucked out of her lungs. She could barely focus on their surroundings out of fear that she would see something horrible even though she could only make out silhouettes. “Mathilda, is she-”

Cedar guided her to the other wall. “I'm sorry. But you won't get hurt. We will get you downstairs first.” He carefully reached over and opened some sort of small cabinet.

In the dim light, it took Lucille a moment to identify what this was. It was a service elevator.

Cedar slowly brought his hands to her hips and helped her up so that she could sit on the edge of the opened crate. “I will get you down with this. You need to stay quiet inside this for a few minutes to make sure that no one is there. Then you have to hide in the kitchen in one of the counters and be quiet again. I will follow you in a moment. Understand?”

Lucille weakly nodded while trying to keep herself from collapsing. She was shaking and could barely breathe. Yet, she allowed Cedar to push her into the elevator. As she forced herself into this tight space, she wanted to say so much but could say so little. When the prince attempted to close the door from the outside, she finally found her voice. “Be careful.”

It was just a small whisper, but Cedar understood. “I will. Just hold on for a bit. I'll be with you in a moment. Don't be scared if it gets loud. I'm getting us out of here.” With that, he shut the door and left her in complete darkness.

It took a short moment before the elevator began descending.

Lucille would have had enough room to sit upright, but she didn't do that. She pulled her legs against her body and rested her forehead on her knees while trying to keep herself from shaking. Why was this happening? How could the dowager empress be vile enough to target her own son? And why did that woman have to kill so many innocent people in the process? Lucille would have sobbed at the thought of Mathilda, but she was too tense to do that. So, she just sat there and waited until the elevator stopped moving. She even waited a while longer after that, like she had been instructed to.

When a few minutes had passed without a single sound, she put her trembling hands onto the handle and slowly opened the small door. She felt like she was signing her own death sentence by revealing herself like this.

But the kitchen was empty.

Lucille almost fell out of the elevator due to her weak legs and barely managed to keep herself upright by using her arms. She closed the elevator door behind her and did what Cedar had told her to. She opened a few cabinets before she found an empty space under one of the counters. Lucille sat there and hid herself while being rolled up in a little ball. She should be more composed and try to think logically, but she had never experienced anything like this. No one should ever get used to something like this, so that made sense.

And yet, Cedar was so calm even though he knew that his own mother wanted him dead. It was ridiculous.

But this didn't help Lucille much either. She had no way to support him now when she might just get him killed by moving. So, she would wait right here until he came to pick her up. She was lost in thoughts and wallowed in self-pity the whole time until she heard a noise.

At first, it was just a quiet sound, but then numerous louder ones followed. And then someone began yelling loudly. It was a man, and it sounded like he was in a lot of pain. After that, it only got louder.

Lucille let her head hang forward and hugged herself while praying. She would be forever grateful to anyone who would be able to get Cedar and her out of here safely. She was scared. So scared of anyone finding her here. She begged all the gods she knew for their protection.

And then noises came from the kitchen.

Lucille immediately tensed and held her mouth shut. This had to be Cedar. Please. If it was someone else, she wouldn't know what to do. But no matter how much she prayed, she couldn't be sure. Why didn't that person say anything? Just when she had given up on it being the prince, she heard a silent voice.

“Lucille?”

She almost threw herself against the door and just barely managed to force herself to go slow. She climbed out of the counter and nearly sobbed out of relief when she saw him. “Cedar...” Lucille rushed the last few steps toward him and threw her arms around him. She held onto him with no intention of letting go, even though she knew that they had to leave in a short moment. Still, she pressed her face against his chest and clung to him while sniffling quietly.

Cedar put his arms around her as well and gave her a few seconds to calm down. But this was over way too quickly when he pulled back again. “I'm alright. We need to leave now.” He took her hand in his and guided her toward the side entrance. “They will wait at the main entrance. We need to climb over the wall in the back.”

Lucille doubted that she would be able to do that. She had always been weak, and now she was trembling even more. But she had no choice.

Cedar dragged her with him and brought them out of the kitchen. Lucille's bare feet were burning due to the dirty ground, but she barely noticed it when all she could think about was running away while being quiet as the prince slowly opened a door to lead her out of the building.

When they reached the garden, Cedar crouched down and hid behind a bush to scan their surroundings. He did this after every few steps, so it took a while until they arrived at the back of the estate near the river and went over the bridge. They ran the last steps until they reached the wall.

Cedar didn't waste a single second before interlinking his fingers and bowing down to help her. “Go up. I can come on my own.”

Lucille hated everything about this, but she hurried to obey. She stepped onto the prince's hands and gave her best to climb up. She hadn't believed that it would work out, but Cedar gave her a lift so that she could roll up on the wall. Lucille wanted to stay there to help him, but he quickly gestured for her to go down on the other side. She nodded at that and turned around, only to freeze.

This wasn't too high up, but the fall could still be pretty painful. Especially if she collided with some stones or tripped on her way down.

But that was much better than being killed. So, Lucille swallowed and forced herself to jump.

It hurt.

Her feet hadn't landed on even ground, and she was sure that her soles were bleeding now as some fallen branches dug into her skin, but she didn't care. She could only step away from the wall and stare at it while waiting for Cedar to follow her.

It took a few seconds before the prince climbed up a tree directly next to the wall. He jumped off, landed and then came to her. “We're following the main street now until we find royal guards. They need to take care of this immediately. Can you run?”

Lucille's legs felt like they were about to give in, but she refused to stay close to those assassins. “Yes.” Even her voice was shaky, but she couldn't do anything about that. “Let's hurry.” She took Cedar's hand and then pulled him behind her as she tried to run toward the capital.

But she didn't get far since he didn't follow her.

Panic welled up inside her. Lucille spun around and was about to ask him what was wrong when she noticed too.

From here, one could see the annex. There was a man standing on the balcony. He pointed toward the couple while yelling. Then he reached behind his back and lifted a bow with the other hand. He put the arrow into his hands and then combined the items before drawing the bow. He was clearly aiming at them, or rather at Cedar, who was standing in front of Lucille.

Lucille felt terror rise in her stomach as she tried to pull Cedar back again. Why weren't they running away? Going just a few steps would make it harder to target them, right? Or did this not matter to an assassin?

Or did Cedar intend to let himself be hit with an arrow so that she wouldn't be the target? No way. But it truly looked like that.

Cedar didn't move, even though jumping from side to side would have made it harder for that man to hit him.

And it seemed like that assassin didn't have an intention of waiting for them to run away. He pulled the arrow back a bit before letting go of it.

Time seemed to slow down as the arrow came toward them. They were far enough away, weren't they? Maybe it would hit the ground a few steps away from them. That would be nice, but that wouldn't happen.

Lucille was almost sure that the arrow would hit the target perfectly. But she couldn't stand by while a tragedy unfolded in front of her. She knew that it was stupid and foolish, but every fiber in her being wanted to protect Cedar.

He had regained his freedom only a few days ago. He couldn't lose it already. But that wasn't everything. He was important to her too, so she couldn't stay still while he was getting hurt.

It had just been an impulse. Granted, it had been a very stupid one.

But Lucille hadn't been able to hold herself back. So, she just did what her whole body told her to do. She jumped in front of Cedar in an attempt to push him out of harm's way while spreading her arms as if she could shield the arrow with this.

The result was like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, she had been able to save Cedar. The arrow definitely hadn't hit him. But at the same time, she had messed up.

After all, she only knew that the arrow couldn't have hit him because it pierced her stomach.

The stinging pain set in a moment later and almost knocked Lucille off her feet. She stumbled back and collided with the prince, who kept her upright when her legs gave in. Her stomach burned, and she felt how her muscles convulsed around the foreign object that had sliced into her organs. She let out a pathetic cough and tasted something metallic on her tongue. Did she have internal bleeding? Her head fell back, and she felt how her body sank to the floor.

Cedar still held her, and his face came into view as she looked up at him. She had never seen so much terror on his features. It was really bad, wasn't it? “That wasn't...” His voice was so weak that it barely reached her ears. “Supposed to...” His fingers dug into her skin, but she noticed that she felt less of that with every second.

Lucille's consciousness was drifting away, and she could do nothing but hope that she would wake up again. Her stomach hurt so much that she wasn't sure whether it would ever get better though. Could she even eat if she survived this? This injury certainly wasn't a light one.

Cedar desperately shuffled around her and put a hand on her cheek while making her look at him. “Don't close your eyes! Keep them open. You can't fall asleep!” He was much louder now.

Lucille would have liked to reassure him that she was fine, but she really wasn't. Everything hurt, and she just wanted to sleep until it was better. Her stomach felt warm and cold at the same. But more than that, it felt wet. Her blood was probably leaking out and colored the street in a bright red.

Would she die here? That would be pathetic. But at least she had done one useful thing in her life. She had saved a person, right? That was one accomplishment she could be proud of.

But she couldn't even brag about that or tell Cedar about how she liked him more than she had ever liked anyone. This might have developed into more than admiration if she had been granted just a bit more time, so it was sad to end it here.

The prince still moved around her, and it felt like he tore something off her nightgown. Was he trying to stop the bleeding? That would probably be hard. Whether he would succeed was questionable here. “Lucille!” This time, he was yelling, but it didn't help her much.

The world around her was growing darker as the numbing pain got worse. She could only catch glimpses of light blue hair from the corner of her eyes.

Cedar's face became blurrier and blurrier until she could barely make out his expression. He was saying something, but she couldn't even hear him anymore.

She was so tired.

She wanted to go to bed.