“Where are we, mommy?” Shadow rubbed her eyes, but Aulia gently pushed them away.“We are at the east coast of the forest.”“Ah, at the Darkest Woodland.” Darkest Woodland was the property of the king’s family. Only family members or anyone that qualified could enter this part of the forest. Naturally, Shadow had a pass to enter whenever she liked. Shadow yawned big, eyes filled with tears.“Are you sleepy, my baby?” She rocked her a few more times.Aidan guided her head on Aulia’s shoulder and forcefully closed her eyes with his fingers.“What are you doing, brother?”“Sleep.” Shadow felt the warm hand rubbing her cheek a few times before she giggled low.“Oh wait a minute,” the voice of their father arose right after the entrance portal had been disabled. “Shadow! You told us that the wolf crown prince is crushing on you. But you told me that he is the hyena’s husband-to-be?”“When did it become so complicated?” Aidan said in awe.‘Oh shit.’To avoid answering the question, Shado
Their walk was fairly short, considering the house was just only a few miles away from the palace. Excitedly, the lodging was located at the peak of the mountain - as psycho as it sounds - the road of the mountain filled with nothing but venomous beings that Shadow would love to study in her free time.Both of them stopped right at the small cabin at the peak. The cabin had nothing but grass everywhere.Climbing down King, she stood next to the door with her brother’s gruesome expression. Taking a peek at her brother, she had to ask him. “What with the face?”“I need to create a mood.”Shadow tilted her head. “For what?”“So that he won’t disrespect you, my little angel.” He stroked his sister’s head.With her straight, she gave a simple nod to her brother. “As you wish.” She turned her neck at two lions. “Go play.”Their tails wagged excitedly. With big stretches, they immediately dashed back into the forest that they were coming from. Tok tok tok.Aidan knocked on the door while S
Albert bent his body and stretched his arm to the ground and picked a stack of files just next to the table and placed several of them on the table. Amongst them, a ray-blue file was pushed forward toward Shadow wordlessly.“And this is?” Shadow grabbed it and promptly opened it. “Ah, all the activity in The Unknown.”“Roughly, yeah.”Shadow gestured at the other files. “What about those?”“Same, but much more detail.”“Can I read all of it?”“Read?” Albert asked for affirmation.The files in front of him were more than five, and all of them by all means were thicker than usual. It exceeded 500 pages each and she wished to read it. Everything.“Yeah, I want to read it.”“When?”“Now.”“Now? Here?” Again, he was taken aback. “You can bring it home, but of course, you must burn all of it once you’re done.”“Why should I? This is the perfect evidence. We can keep it at your house.” She flipped to the next page after two seconds of skimming through the whole page.“And risk my life becaus
Albert scratched his chin, kind of pissed when the girl seemed cool with everything. Her eyes had no ounce of agitation or any negative feeling. It seemed like she was there, just wanting to absorb the knowledge.And it wasn't good. He needed to know exactly who she was. “I don’t believe a king would send an ordinary peasant girl to handle business this sensitive.”Shadow was astonished at the level of his proficiency. The man certainly knew what he was doing. Pushing down his fear and interrogating her like one of those high-profile criminals. Tried to seize her every second he got.The man was certainly a great scholar and also an expert profiler. Now she knew all the hype around him. Aidan’s admiration was pretty much spot on, though, he couldn’t offer much to make her like him. The man was decent, but that’s all. He was a genius, alright but there’s plenty of this kind of genius in where she was coming from. Hisoka was on par with him in that sense. Therefore, he was becoming the
Albert lifted the corner of his lips and scowled at her. “No one seems to understand me.”“Don’t act like you're a victim, please.” She smirked on the page.“But I am.”Pap!She closed the fourth file dramatically and took the last file. “Remind me once again.”“Yes?”“What species are you?”“The wolf– I see. I am from the wolf tribe.” At first, he was quite curious as to why she asked about his species but now he understands. “Doesn’t mean I can’t be a victim.”“I concur. And to my understanding, you’re weaker than your king? You? The ex-duke heir from the wolf tribe?” Shadow flickered at one of the pages as her eyes sparkled in excitement.“Yes, I am.”Shadow shook her head. “Let me rephrase my sentence. Are you weaker than the current prince of the wolf tribe?”Albert opened his mouth only to close it. His eyes were asking her the question's meaning because it was hella confusing even for him. Yes, he was weaker than the king, though he couldn’t say the same thing to the crown prin
She twisted the door with a calm feeling, watching the window from the corner of her eyes. The sun shone through the crevice of the curtains in one of the small windows just near the door. She pushed the door from inside and stepped out of the house. Her black eyelashes, which stretched downwards, glowed softly under the light. Her lips parted slightly and a weak breath flowed out.Albert smiled unconsciously. He looked completely defenseless even when his body felt the threat that surrounded them. When he looked at her again, he saw that she had trouble fighting her intrusive thoughts. There was a slight crease between her brows and fidgeting that looked uncomfortable. Her fingers were curled and uncurled a few times.“Albert…” Shadow said.“Yes, m’lord.” He lowered his massive body, bending slightly. His tall figure had already completely hidden Shadow from the eyes of the enemies. The average height of the people in the underworld was higher than 5’10 feet.Well… Shadow was only
“I know, hence, this proposal.”Shadow looked around, her eyes seemed to pierce everything around her. “I think… I need to take a look for a while. Albert.” She said after a beat of silence as her eyes shifted from left to right.“As you wish,” Albert answered her confidently and drew his gun.“Wait what–” Lily’s body abruptly coiled defensively as her instinct kicked off. “That–” She was breathless.That was because Shadow had vanished in a blink of an eye. Even their raw eyes nor their senses could pick up her movement.“Where, where is she?” Lily drew her gun as well and pointed at Albert nervously.“Don’t do anything funny, Crown Princess. I can’t promise your well-being after this.” Albert bit his words, his veins bulging along the line of his neck.“Where is your little princess?” Lily was already frantic. She swore that she smelled her around, yet she couldn’t pinpoint which area. The air was thick with tension. Both parties couldn’t carelessly make their moves and strangely,
“So… what do we get here?” King Ibrahim was surprised by the sudden visit of his second daughter. Much to his surprise, a few enemies trudged behind her, and if he didn’t know better, it felt like they were hiding from him.And he was right. They were indeed hiding from him behind Shadow’s small statue.“Crown Princess…” Ibrahim drummed his index finger on the expensive armchairs, greeting Lily with his condescending tone.The chair he was sitting on was actually the throne. He was actually entertaining a few kingdom’s problems before Shadow senselessly intruded on his working place as she liked. Proudly, she strode toward him, smirking dangerously evil at him. Honestly, he hated that smirk so much.But his eyes were directed at Lily who was behind her. “Surprisingly, you are still alive.” It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.Shadow and Lily were coming together. It was clear that Lily tried to attack Shadow but failed miserably. It was no doubt that she underestimated Shado