War of Hearts

Chapter 6: The Trap Opens

When Ingrid woke up the next morning, a single thought filled her mind: she couldn't waste any more time just playing games with Isaac. Her father expected a full report by the end of the week, and she had barely anything to share. She lay in bed for a moment, staring hard at the ceiling, trying to devise a whole new plan. 

It came to her soon enough: what better excuse to explore the castle than an expedition? She then sent a message to Isaac through a messenger that she was just going to take a private tour around the castle. "Tell him that I can handle it by myself," she added. She quickly got dressed, had breakfast, and started walking around the heavily-decorated, carpeted halls. 

She walked all around the north wing, searching through the many rooms there, and then to the east wing, then west wing, then finally to the south wing by noon. She had looked at every corner, looked behind every portrait, searched nearly every room, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

"Come on, come on, there has to be something," she muttered under her breath as she looked through what felt like the millionth room.

She had been so engrossed in searching every nook in cranny that she didn't notice that Isaac had just turned the corner and found a door to a sitting room open. Peeking in, he found Ingrid crouching down, looking underneath drawers and chairs, her face deep in concentration. "Interesting," Isaac whispered underneath his breath. 

As soon as he saw her stand up, he moved away and hid by a corner. He watched her as she walked out of the room, closed the doors as quietly as she could, and then walk over to a pair of closed doors adjacent to her. "That room," Isaac thought. She grabbed the door handles, gave it a pull--nothing. She pulled again, and it wouldn't budge. "Huh?" she said. 

"What in the world is she trying to do?" Isaac asked himself softly, shaking his head. He stepped out of his hiding spot, walking softly and lightly so she wouldn't hear him coming. When he was a couple of steps away, he cleared his throat, and relished the sight of her freezing up in shock. 

"Ingrid?" he asked calmly, though his chest swelled with the feeling of catching her unawares. "Is there something that you need from the minister's office?" 

Ingrid immediately felt flustered and quickly let go of the door handles. "O-oh uh, nothing! I'm just you know, curious as ever, and I didn't know it was the minister's office, well then what do you know?" she spoke fast and laughed nervously, slowly walking away. She wished more than ever that she could stop her face from turning as red as fast as it did. 

Isaac stared at her with his arms crossed, and she hated every second of it. It reminded her too much of when her mother would scold her for spending too much time riding, instead of hugging and kissing her like any other mother would after a long trip away.

"W-what are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be in the library doing some other scientific things that aren't really important to anyone else other than you?" she added snarkily, countering his glare with her own. 

"I was just feeling bored from it and wanted to take a walk. I can do that in my own castle, right?" Isaac responded testily. 

"Bored? I mean, who wouldn't feel that here, right? At least back home I could talk with the knights and go hunting for as long as I please. Here it's just all so stifling, which is why I just went out for fresh air too," Ingrid replied, nodding her head to show she was being serious, though she still felt finicky around him. The way he looked at her, like he was scanning her every thought, unnerved her completely. 

"I remember wandering around the castle as well when I was a kid, and I used to escape through a...secret passage," he let the words fill the air, speaking it as nonchalantly as he could, though he watched her reaction from the corner of his eye. Immediately he caught the spark that filled her bright blue eyes at the very mention of it. Ah, caught you.