Away ⥃ Nishimura Riki

.Fifty-Four.

SEULHYUN'S hair swayed in the air as she took big steps across the open corridor. She was late! She had fallen asleep and only had five minutes left to prepare herself. Thank goodness she could change her clothes fast enough. She managed to find all black clothing in her wardrobe and hoped it would be enough to conceal herself later on.

She huffed, exhausted by the night run. Her eyes scanned the place to search for the three princes who had promised to gather here, in the back corridor, at this time. Where were they?

Then, she felt her should being gently grabbed and pulled her body to the side. It was fortunate she could recognize those pair of eyes quickly, If not she might have screamed on top of her lungs.

Niki spun her around and placed his point finger over his lips, telling her to keep it calm. Seulhyun nodded her head and Niki eyes her clothes up and down, digging into his cloak to pull out a thick clothing. "Here, wear this."

The heavy cloak unraveled itself as Niki swung it over her shoulders. Seulhyun blushed and appreciated his attentive gesture, gripping the hem of the cloak as she muttered a silent thank you.

Prince Daehil and Sunoo watched the sweet interaction play, and Daehil tittered at the hilarious appearance of the girl. "You look like a dwarf." He remarked, earning a pressed look from Seulhyun while the prince shrugged. Niki had a very tall build, towering over almost everyone, thus in his clothes, Seulhyun looked a lot like a toddler to Daehil.

Niki stared at him pointedly, warning him without uttering anything. Daehil immediately zipped his lips while it was Sunoo's turn to hold back his laughter.

"So, where are we going?" Seulhyun brought up, snapping everyone back to their mission. "I don't see the imposters anywhere."
"We're going to be waiting here." Daehil answered.

"The last time they escaped the castle, they used the back door, so they are more likely to use it again this time. There is only two ways to reach the back door, either you use this open corridor-" Daehil referred to the corridors they were at, "-or underground."
Sunoo's brows slightly twitched, "But none of us are on standby underground?"

Suddenly the sound of metal clicking against each other resounded the corridor. Everyone's eyes widened and froze in their actions, fully alerting themselves about the new presences.

Murmurs travelled in the air as multiple vampires talked with each other—from the tone of their voices, it sounded a lot like girls. Niki glanced at Seulhyun and wrapped an arm in front of her, pulling her towards him protectively as his eyes moved back towards the silhouettes.

Seulhyun smiled slightly and placed her hand on his arm, assuring him of her wellbeing. "Come on!" Daehil whispered towards them after the imposters had left the castle.

Everyone followed Daehil's movements, from the way he moves, it looks like he excelled in combat. His moves were light and sneaky; he barely made any sound as he moved, and Seulhyun found it hard to follow. The grounds were slippery from the constant rain, and she could barely see anything from the thin rays of moonlight. It was a parkour for her but a normal path for the princes.

She stepped on a rock that she saw Sunoo stepped on however it wobbled when she stepped on it, causing her to almost lose her balance. She stabilized herself with the help of her core muscles and Niki's hand placed on her back. "Careful." He breathed out.
"Yeah, I'll try."

Finally, they stepped on proper ground where it was less slippery. The wispy grass tickled their legs as they ventured outside the castle's grounds. The four of them kept walking, following the imposters until they stopped near a river. They watched the silhouettes as they jumped onto the boat slowly, the strong water currents causing them balancing issues.

One of them shrieked in surprise when the boat shook as if it was about to flip, thankfully, it didn't. Once everyone was on the boat, one of them reached towards the ground and grabbed a worn-out pouch. From the looks of it, it looked full. Then, that's when they saw it.

The flash of a glimmering object. Coins. She saw it. It was filled with gold coins. The others seemed to saw it as well as a crippling silence took over them. 

Once the group of imposters fled, Sunoo was to speak first. "So, they are exploiting the kingdom's gold coins. That's soothing." The last sentence was supposed to liven up the mood, however everyone, specifically Daehil, couldn't respond to his jester. The same question kept rolling in his head, why would his sister do this?

He didn't understand, and he thinks he will never understand. 

A gust of wind hit the four vampires and it sent shivers down Seulhyun's spine. Goodness, the night was immensely cold, she thought as she covered herself more with her cloak. "It's rather chilly here." Niki took note of her, hinting to the other princes to head back. 
"Yeah, uh, shall we?" Daehil spoke stiffly.

They walked back to the castle—this time with whirlwind of questions for them to solve. 
The brunette sighed, tired from the unending incidents in the past few months of her life. Since when did living became so complicated? She was never destined to deal with these kinds of manners, so why all of the sudden? 

An arm wrapped around her shoulder, the huge hand cupping her arm as if it was an act of comfort. She looked at Niki and blinked her eyes sleepily, "What?"
Niki shook his head softly, "You were thinking." His voice was gentle to the ears on that windy night. Seulhyun hummed, leaning on him as they matched their steps. "It's going to be okay." Niki whispered on top of her head and placed a sugary kiss on her forehead.  

That had done the trick as Seulhyun simply nodded, erasing the worrisome thoughts out of her head. Besides, if she thought about it, it wasn't exactly her problem, she was only helping. 

look who decided to update 🥰
I don't think I'll be able to update so frequently now because it's quite busy on my side right now
but I'm not abandoning this book

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