Madeline's POV

“What did he say?” the prince asked me.

“That we can’t be together,” I whispered in the wind, but the softness of my voice was already enough for him to hear me clearly, “because our kinds are different. That he is a werewolf, while I am… a vampire?”

I cringed at just what I said and remembered what that werewolf said to me. In my dreams, I am waiting for him in a foreign lake in the middle of a special night, and if he approaches me, he is in his wolf skin. He would only transform into a human when he held me by his hands.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I closed my eyes. “I know. It’s crazy,” I commented and turned to him again. “That is why I have to find this weird mystery, Arthur. But I don’t know how.”

He pursed his lips and stepped forward. “I thought that you were just having this odd series of dreams caused by your longing for your parents or something. A psychological factor could be a sensible reason, but right now? Just by the mention of your encounter with the creature you are talking about and the conversation you had with the werewolf in your recent dream? I think we are getting somewhere here…”

The concern was across his face, and as if our minds were talking silently. We are just thinking the same thing. And we would like to investigate this case further. My gaze fell to the cloak, and I saw a small red mark on it.

“What is this?” I asked out of breath, and placed my index finger on the mark just by the side of the cloak.

“Hmmm, that looks like a symbol,” the prince stated.

"Maybe I have books in my private library or in the royal library.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Your Highness.”

They said that secrets are always dangerous weapons. Curiosity kills the cats. The world is full of dark secrets that black cats love to find out, and I am one of them. Death is the last thing I am afraid of.

“Where have you been?”

My stepmother was already at the front door of our house, coldly gazing down at me. I placed both of my hands behind my back and tried to smile.

“I’m sorry. I was looking for vegetables in the garden and when I found out that there were none --- Ah!”

I was cut off in speaking when she suddenly flew her hand to my cheek, which I half did not expect.

“No matter what your reason is, I won’t accept it. I was looking for you for the whole thirty minutes to cook lunch. Ariana and I are already hungry, and you are nowhere to be found.”

I can make both of you nowhere to be found, dead and buried, without people knowing, and I could act like a miserable daughter if you two keep doing this to me. I stopped myself from blurting out those words before I could lose my respect. I have to remember that I will get into trouble if I do something bad to them. If it were not for the memory of my father and that he’d always told me all the time before that he loved my stepmother, I would have probably killed her and her stupid daughter.

“I am sorry, Mom,” I said deadpan and nodded forcefully. “I won’t do it again.”

I prepared lunch for both of them silently in the kitchen. Meanwhile, I kept thinking about my dream and the encounter I had with the creature. Prince Arthur must also be in the palace, reading about the symbol we just found out from the cloak. I hope he finds something.

Throughout the day, I was busy buying vegetables and fruits from the market. Oh, and I also sell fish there that is owned by a friend of my stepmother.

"How is your day, Madeline?" Lady Perry asked me when I arrived at her fish store.

"Good afternoon, Lady Perry," I greeted, which was followed by a heavy sigh. "Well, I must say that I was preached to by my stepmother all day long."

She cackled while arranging the fish in the store. I helped her immediately when I went beside her. I was wiping the counter while she organized the sizes of the fish, putting them into ice buckets and slicing their meat using a sharp knife as we talked. The town's market was loud as it always has been.

Lady Perry's store is popular with customers, but besides the fact that her fish is tender and affordable, her enthusiasm and kindness are reputable by the townspeople. And of course, I am her apprentice. I like her more than my stepmother, and she feels the same way, too, towards me. That is why she is the only person I am fond of.

"Today is my husband's birthday. Do you have any free time tonight to attend our house?" she asked me.

I thought for a while and then slowly nodded when I remembered something.

"I have to hard pass on that, Lady Perry. You know that, ummm, I'm always busy at night," I explained and averted my gaze, trying to busy myself with the fish I am currently arranging.

What I said is true. I have a consolidated agenda every night. And if anyone is thinking that I have a boyfriend to spend my nights with, it is beyond impossible, because I have a dark secret no one knows about that people must never know.

Oh, it would be dangerous.

I slit the throat of my target with the dagger I was holding. Blood was spilled from his neck as I forcefully lifted his head and deadpanned at it. My tongue caressed the bottom of my front teeth before I pushed his head for him to fall to the ground. Prince Arthur whistled.