👑 The Prince's Heart ❤

☆The Aftermath of Loss☆

(Izana's POV)

The world felt quiet, unnaturally so, as if even the wind had stilled in response to what had just happened. The chief's lifeless body lay in a pool of his own blood, but his death did nothing to calm the storm raging inside me. I stared at his corpse, my chest heaving, the silence pressing down on me, filling the space between the last echoes of violence.

I had killed him. I had avenged my mother, but it felt like nothing. A hollow victory.

"Izana..." Kakucho's voice was soft, almost hesitant. He knew better than anyone what this moment meant to me, but even he couldn't find the words to soothe the burning emptiness.

I shook my head, unable to meet his gaze. "It's over," I muttered. "I killed him, but it's too late. Evelyn's gone."

Kakucho knelt beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "We don't know that for sure. He might have been lying about her. There's still a chance."

I scoffed bitterly, not believing his words for a second. "Did you see the look in his eyes when he said it? He wasn't lying. He said she's gone, and that means she's dead. All of this—everything we've done—was for nothing."

The weight of it was suffocating. I had fought so hard to save her, to bring her back, and yet every step had only led me further into the darkness. My mother's murder, the gruesome box they had sent me, the weeks of searching for Evelyn...it all felt like a cruel game played by the gods. One I had lost, again and again.

Kakucho sighed and stood, his hand falling from my shoulder as he looked down at the body. "He's gone now, Izana. We should leave before his men regroup. This place...it's done."

I clenched my jaw, staring at the bloodied remains of the man who had destroyed everything. Kakucho was right; there was nothing left for us here. Nothing except grief and despair.

But even as I stood, I felt a sudden, gnawing unease. The chief had said Evelyn was "most likely" dead, not that he had killed her himself. There was still a small chance—a thread of hope, however thin—that he had been bluffing. That he had hidden her away somewhere else.

I turned to Kakucho, desperation flickering in my eyes. "We have to find her," I said, my voice hoarse. "We have to keep searching."

Kakucho nodded without hesitation. "I never said we were stopping. Let's go."

♡♡♡♡♡

As we left the forest, the sinking realization that Evelyn might truly be gone hung over me like a shadow. Each step back toward the kingdom felt heavier than the last, weighed down by failure, loss, and guilt. I had lost everything, and the one thing that had given me any sense of peace—of hope—had been ripped from my hands.

We reached the edge of the woods where our horses waited. The men were quiet, solemn, their expressions mirroring my own. They had fought for me, followed me through every battle, every skirmish. But now, we all shared the same crushing defeat.

"Izana." Kakucho spoke softly as we mounted our horses. "We need to regroup. There are still places we haven't checked. Leads we haven't followed up on. The chief's men could know where she is."

I nodded, though the fight inside me felt all but extinguished. "We'll keep looking," I agreed, though the words felt hollow.

As we rode through the dense trees, the weight of what had happened began to sink in deeper. My mother's death, Evelyn's disappearance—it was too much, too fast. I had been carrying it all with a sense of purpose before, driven by vengeance, but now that the chief was dead, that drive was crumbling.

What was I even fighting for anymore?

I glanced at Kakucho, who rode silently beside me. He had been my rock through all of this, pushing me forward even when I had doubted myself. But even now, I could see the strain in his eyes, the weariness that matched my own. He had suffered just as much as I had, and yet he had kept going. Kept believing.

"Kakucho," I said quietly, breaking the heavy silence between us. "Do you think...there's still hope? That we might actually find her alive?"

He hesitated for a moment before answering. "Hope is all we have left, Izana. Until we know for sure, we can't give up. Evelyn might still be out there, and we owe it to her to keep trying."

His words stirred something in me—a small flicker of resolve, a reminder of why I had started this fight in the first place. I had promised to protect Evelyn, to save her from the darkness that had consumed our lives. And even now, with the odds stacked against us, I couldn't give up on that promise.

♡♡♡♡♡

Days passed, each one blending into the next as we scoured the kingdom for any sign of Evelyn or the men who had taken her. We questioned townspeople, travelers, and even interrogated some of the chief's remaining men, but every lead came to a dead end.

Frustration gnawed at me, the weight of failure pressing down harder with each passing hour. I had never felt so powerless, so utterly helpless in all my life.

Then, one evening, as we were preparing to ride out once more, a messenger arrived at the castle.

He was ragged, his clothes torn and bloodied, and his face pale with fear as he approached me. In his hands, he held a small wooden box.

My heart lurched in my chest as I recognized the size and shape of the box—it was just like the one that had contained my mother's head.

"What is this?" I demanded, my voice sharp as I took the box from him. "Where did this come from?"

The messenger trembled, his voice barely a whisper as he spoke. "It was left outside the gates, Your Highness. No one saw who left it."

My hands shook as I opened the box, dreading what I might find inside. And there, lying on a bed of dark velvet, was Evelyn's pendant—the one Matthias had given her, the one she had lost the night of the ball.

Beside it was a single piece of parchment, with just two words scrawled in blood-red ink:

_One left._

A cold, suffocating fear gripped my heart, and I stumbled back, the box slipping from my hands and clattering to the ground. The words echoed in my mind, taunting me, mocking me.

"One left."

Evelyn was still alive—but for how much longer?

I didn't hesitate. I turned to Kakucho, my voice hard and determined. "We leave now. Find whoever's left of the chief's men and drag them here if you have to. We're going to find her."

He nodded, his expression grim but resolute. We had come too far to stop now, and if there was even a chance that Evelyn was still alive, I would tear the kingdom apart to save her.

As I mounted my horse and prepared to ride out, the weight of my resolve settled over me like a mantle. I had already lost too much. I wouldn't lose her too.

No matter what it took, no matter how long it took, I would find Evelyn.

And I would make them pay for what they had done.

(1250 Words)