4. Must Be A Magic Door

Grace jumped a little when she realized the man was looking at her suddenly, along with a burst of questions. It was so embarrassing that he caught her staring at his handsome face, which became much prettier because of the outdoor lighting. However, Grace couldn't even tell whether she was admiring his good looks or being dumbfounded at his strangeness.

"Eum... that..." Grace stammered.

"I don't understand. This place is supposed to be a dense forest. This kingdom is far away from the ocean. The road, the building, and the things are strange here. You are also strange ... Everything is strange. What is happening here?" The man said, Then he looked again at the house he had just left. It was different from the house he had entered before. Now, the house looked damaged, as if it had been abandoned for decades. This must be magic.

"Sir, you have to calm down. But first, can you tell me what your name is and where you come from?" Grace asked slowly.

The man stared at her for a second, narrowing his eyes. "You really don't recognize me, do you?" He asked only to receive an innocent head shake from the girl.

"God, what is happening here? How could I have been hit by magic?" The man clucked.

"I am Prince Adro Aylmer Groendez, the eldest son of King Archer Elex Groendez of Groendez a Lend kingdom. My mother is Nathania Gratinty Groendez." He explained while placing his hand on his lower chest.

"Ow, I see," Grace muttered. It felt like she was watching an actor play his role as an ancient royal prince.

'Okay, he's confirmed crazy,' She thought.

Then, Grace looked for the number of a psychiatric hospital on the internet. She put the cell phone back against her ear and heard the dial tone.

Adro looked confusedly at Grace. He didn't understand why she had to put a shining rectangle object in her ear. However, he didn't want to ask further because this was all magic. Questioning the strangeness caused by magic would only waste his time like a fool.

"What about you, Ms? If you're not a witch, are you also trapped in this magic? I'm sure the door was a witch's door," Adro asked.

Grace narrowed her eyes and raised her brow. “Wha-”. At the same time, her call to the psychiatric hospital was answered.

"Rose Psychiatric Hospital. How can we help you?" Greet a woman from across the line.

Grace blinked but kept staring at the face of the man in front of her. Then she remembered an odd incident that had just happened. Come to think of it, there was no way she was still hallucinating now. So, how did this man get through the intact wall? How could the door be knocked on from outside? Why was this man wearing clothes like a prince's costume in the fictional film?

'Is he turning out to be sane?' Grace thought.

"Hello... Hello, are you there-"

Grace hung up the call. She continued to stare at the man named Adro. "You ... you're not joking, are you?"

"The royal family will not joke with ordinary people. We are from different castes." Adro answered firmly.

"Oh, my..." Grace muttered as she snorted. Should he be that boastful in his situation?

"Wait a minute," Grace raised her gaze. "Can you take me around the mansion? Let's check at the outside of the door you entered."

"That’s a good idea; of course I can. Will you allow me to carry you so we can get there faster?"

"Sure-" Grace stopped and widened her eyes. "W-what? Carry me?"

Adro nodded. "We don't have much time. If we can find out what's behind the wall, at least I can find out what really happened. Will you let me?"

"Well… um, S-sure, if you don't mind." She answered with a low voice and looked away so that Adro wouldn't notice the color change on her face.

"Excuse me," Adro said before carefully holding Grace in front of him like a baby.

"We have to hurry. Maybe the ambulance will come in a moment," Grace said as Adro started walking around the mansion that stood alone on the large plot of land.

Adro's tall, athletic body was not just for show. He could run easily over uneven grassy hills with quite steep descents while carrying Grace as if she were a weightless feather.

Adro slowed down when he arrived at the back of the mansion. He put Grace down slowly while continuing to hold her upper arm when they seemed to have found what they were looking for: the wall.

"This is the wall," Grace said, feeling the uneven brick of the wall with her palm.

Trying to peek into the cracks in the wooden walls around the brick walls, Grace found the exact room where she fell earlier. Then she pulled her head back and muttered. “This is so strange. It’s impossible. And this wall … it's made of brick, while the other walls are wooden. It looks like it was intentionally made different."

"It should be a forest outside this house. And the door is not the back of the house, but the front." Adro added.

Grace turned to face Adro. "You're … a human, aren’t you?"

"Do I look like a ghost to you?" He hissed and narrowed his eyes.

Instead of being terrifying, he was even more charming to Grace by doing that. She felt like slapping her own cheek so that she could regain her sanity and not give a thirsty expression when she saw Adro’s face.

"I’m sorry. You came out of a door that just had an empty wall with no space behind it. Even a puppy wouldn't fit between the door and the wall. Yet you could even knock from behind it. Gosh! I'm going crazy!" Grace said while staring blankly at the bright blue sky.

Faintly, they heard the sound of an ambulance siren getting closer. Grace looked back at Adro. "That's the ambulance! Please take me back to the street."

"But what about the door? I have to go back to my palace," Adro complained, but strangely still agreed to carry her again.

"I'm still figuring out all this. But we should go to the hospital first. After that, we can think about this together with a clearer mind. Please … my leg hurts so much," Grace winced.

'I intend to die here, not become disabled after this. This all didn't go according to my plan.' She said inwardly.

Adro looked at Grace for a moment. He never liked seeing a woman hurt. If this girl became disabled, she would not be able to marry. “Please hold on a little longer. I will take you there,"

“Thank you so much,” Grace said.

In Adro’s arm, Grace was thinking about the absurd things that had happened. This man didn't look like a crazy person. It was just that he kept talking about nonsense. However, his appearance alone made no sense at all from the start.

"What's that?" Adro stopped in his tracks when he saw another iron carriage that had a bright red light like fire on its top.

"That's the ambulance. It will take us to the hospital," Grace pointed to the moving white car. "Please take me there, Mr. Adro. We'll be fine,"

Even though doubt was filling his head, Adro was not afraid of anything, so he approached the strange carriage without hesitation.

Two male paramedics in white clothes came out of the ambulance and took out a stretcher bed.

"Ms. Grace Menken?" Asked one of them.

Grace nodded. "That’s me. I think my ankle is broken,"

"I see,” He answered, then turned to Adro. “Sir, put her on this bed, please."

"What are you going to do to her?" Adro asked firmly.