Time passed like a slow, subtle torture.
It had been half a month since the Crown Prince’s sudden departure back to the capital.
Two weeks without Alexander’s shadow at the Dracox estate honestly felt like the greatest blessing for Elena Rose.
Her once-broken spirit slowly tried to piece together fragments of hope.
She began to settle back into her old routine as a low-ranking servant: waking before dawn, drawing cold water, scrubbing the long hallway floors, and enduring the scolding of senior maids.
All that heavy physical labor was far easier to bear than being in the same room with Alexander.
The ache in her body could be healed with rest, but the Prince’s emotional terror and dark dominance always crushed her soul to its core.
Half a month without that forced touch…
Elena felt her fear gradually begin to fade.
She fooled herself into thinking Alexander had forgotten her, that a busy future ruler of the Empire would not waste time remembering a dull maid like herself.
Yet, that illusion of peace shattered into pieces in mere seconds.
That day, rumors spread like wildfire through the kitchen and the servants’ quarters in the back.
The people of the Dracox estate only learned the sudden news a few hours before the royal entourage arrived: The Crown Prince will return to the Dracox estate this very afternoon.
The news struck Elena like a bolt out of the blue.
Her heart pounded so violently her chest felt tight.
The hands holding her wooden bucket trembled so hard that cold water sloshed over, soaking her dull dress.
The fear she had tried so hard to bury over the past two weeks exploded instantly, turning into a panic that blinded her reason.
‘No…
it can’t be…
Why does he have to come back?’ Elena’s inner monologue screamed hysterically.
‘He can’t find me again.
I can’t take it…
I don’t want to go back to that hell!’
All of Elena’s rationality crumbled.
Her usually cautious logic was overpowered by an overwhelming survival instinct.
She could not stay here and wait for Alexander to drag her back into the darkness.
She had to leave.
Today.
Right now, before the royal carriage entered the main gates of the Dracox estate.
Taking advantage of the chaos as the servants and manor guards scrambled to prepare for the Prince’s grand arrival, Elena slipped into the back hallway.
She carried nothing with her except the thin dress clinging to her body.
Her steps were hurried, half-running through the deserted servant passage toward the side gate—a small wooden door near the back garden that was rarely guarded and bordered directly on the small forest outside the estate walls.
She was panting heavily.
Cold sweat slicked her temples.
In the distance, beyond the high stone walls, she heard the faint sound of herald trumpets and the thundering hooves of thousands of horses.
Alexander’s entourage was extremely close.
The Prince had arrived at the Dracox estate grounds.
Elena’s chest surged with heightened panic.
She quickened her pace, her trembling fingers finally managing to reach the iron handle of the wooden back gate.
She pushed against the old iron hinges, letting the draft of outside air brush against her face.
Freedom.
Just a few more steps toward the lush canopy of the forest, and she would escape.
However, just as her bare feet stepped across the wooden threshold, a tall black shadow moved swiftly and silently from behind the stone wall.
Elena did not even have time to scream.
Before her terrified voice could escape her throat, a muscular arm wrapped in black cloth restrained her from behind with a steel grip.
A thick cloth soaked in a pungent chemical liquid clamped tightly over her nose and mouth.
“Ugh!
Mmgh–!” Elena thrashed hysterically.
Her eyes widened in sheer desperation.
Her fingers clawed at the unfamiliar arm holding her fast; her legs kicked wildly at the air.
Yet the secret spy Alexander had deliberately stationed to watch her remained completely unmoved.
The hooded man held Elena with overwhelming strength.
The pungent stench of the cloth pierced her consciousness instantly.
Elena’s vision began to blur; the green hue of the forest before her spun wildly.
Her clawing hands slowly lost their strength, falling limp at her sides.
‘No…
Please don’t…’ her fading inner voice whispered before total darkness swallowed her consciousness whole.
A piercing chill against her skin was the first thing that brought Elena back to consciousness.
Slowly, her delicate eyelashes fluttered.
Her vision was hazy and shadowed; it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the dim lighting of the room.
The rare, fragrant scent of sandalwood and a deeply familiar masculine cologne immediately invaded her senses.
Elena’s heart leaped into her throat.
She sat up abruptly, looking around with ragged breaths.
This was not the narrow, dusty servant room in the basement.
This was not where she usually slept on a thin layer of straw.
This was the Crown Prince’s master bedroom.
A massive, luxurious chamber filled with expensive wooden furniture, thick velvet carpets, and a four-poster king-size bed draped in magnificent silk canopies.
And right now, Elena was lying on the soft mattress covered in Alexander’s black silk sheets.
“You’re awake?”
A deep, cold baritone voice filled with dangerous authority echoed from a dimly lit corner of the room.
Elena flinched violently, scrambling back until her body hit the headboard, hiding her chest by clutching the silk sheets in her fists.
Her amber eyes widened in absolute terror as she stared at the figure stepping out from the shadows near the window.
Alexander stood there.
He had removed his outer velvet cloak, leaving a white silk shirt with its top buttons undone, revealing his broad, structured chest.
His golden blond hair was slightly disheveled, and his ice-blue eyes fixed on Elena with an intensity capable of crushing bone.
“A-Alexander…” Elena’s voice came out as a fragile, trembling squeak.
Alexander stepped forward slowly.
Every heavy thud of his leather boots against the wooden floor felt like a death knell to Elena.
“Where were you trying to go in such a hurry just now, Elena?” Alexander asked with a dark, tilted smirk.
A terrifying undertone of hidden fury lurked behind his calm voice.
“Did you think the back gate of the Dracox estate was your way out of my grasp?”
Elena could not answer.
Her throat felt blocked by a heavy stone.
Her body trembled uncontrollably as Alexander reached the edge of the bed, dropping one knee onto the soft mattress, leaning his towering frame forward until he eclipsed the light above her.
“Do you hate this place?” Alexander whispered, taking Elena’s chin between his long, cold fingers, forcing her to look straight into his obsession-filled eyes.
“Did you think that because I left you for half a month, you were freed from whom you truly belong to?”
“Let go…
please let go…” Elena whispered softly, tears of terror beginning to trace down her pale cheeks.
“Why won’t you just let me go…
I’m just a servant…
I mean nothing to you…”
Alexander let out a low chuckle—a laugh entirely devoid of warmth.
His fingers holding her chin shifted, wiping the tear from her cheek with his thumb, a movement that seemed deceptively gentle yet carried absolute compulsion.
“You’re wrong, Elena Rose,” Alexander said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper near her ear.
“You are the only thing keeping my sanity intact amid the sickening complexities of that court.”
Alexander pressed his body closer, trapping Elena between his broad arms.
His dominant scent completely invaded her space, leaving the crimson-haired girl feeling utterly helpless.
“Eighteen days,” Alexander continued, his eyes fixed on her trembling lips.
“For eighteen days I endured this thirst.
And when I return, you greet me by trying to run away?”
Alexander’s grip on Elena’s waist tightened sharply, pulling her soft, plump body flush against his chest without leaving a single inch of space.
Elena let out a soft gasp, her stiff hands trying to push against his broad chest, but her efforts were utterly useless against the physical strength of the Crown Prince.
“Starting today, you will never touch that dingy servant room again,” Alexander whispered with absolute finality, his warm breath fanning across the skin of Elena’s neck, sending shivers down her spine.
“You will stay in this room.
Under my supervision.
Within my reach.”
Elena squeezed her eyes shut, letting her tears flow even harder.
Her failed escape attempt had only driven her into a far tighter, more terrifying golden cage.
There was no longer any way out.
The Prince’s shadow had completely encompassed her life.