~ Nathan’s POVI quickly wiped away my tears and stayed rooted on my knees, acting as if I was comforting Bella.“I’m sorry about your loss, Mrs Bella,” I said.“What’s going on here?” Conan said.It’s Conan.I sighed in relief when I heard his voice as I already thought it was Damien who had come in. I stood up and turned to him. “Mrs Bella had woken up and won’t stop crying. I was only trying to comfort her,” I said, calmly. “Oh…” He said as he walked closer to me.“Was that why you were crying?” He asked, peering at my face while he was smiling.“What?” I asked, feeling surprised, barely able to hold back myself from reaching up to my face to touch my cheeks.“C’mon, Brad. You are a man. You claimed you were comforting Bella and yet you cried alongside her, how did you expect her to react?” He said, still smiling.“I'm just a bit sensitive, is that all right?” I asked him, smiling awkwardly.“Yes," he said.I felt silent and I watched Conan as he walked over to Bella’s bedside. Sh

~ Nathan’s POV “I’m not dying, Jones,” I said to him, angrily.He laughed out loud. I could tell her covered his mouth with his hands by how his laughter vibrated.“Relax, Nathan. I didn’t mean it that way,” he said, still laughing.I rolled my eyes, asking him why he asked me if I was dying. “The dialogue was from a movie scene I just watched, it was so hilarious as you had just the same tone as the actor,” he said.“I know you can’t just die like that, Nathan,” he added.Just then, I remembered that Jones doesn’t like watching movies, and because of that he never bought a television. “Where are you?” I asked him.“Hmm, you noticed that I wasn’t in my room despite how much I tried to hide the fact that I was in the palace,” he said playfully.“And why are you in the palace?” I asked again.“Didn’t you ask me to cover up for you? I’m in the palace to fill in for your absence,” he said.“I did ask you to cover up for me but I didn’t approve that you can stay in my room, Jones. Get

~ Nathan's pov I racked my brain to come up with a reasonable excuse, one that would not blow my cover, but at the same time, would not require me to give the boy up and expose him. However, as hard as I tried to come up with one, my brain chose to fail me at that moment. I did not expect Damien and some of the soldiers to have seen where I had been hiding with Albert. I turned back to look at Albert who was hiding behind me and I could see that he was scared, his body was trembling and his eyes were pleading for me to save him."Are you deaf?" Damien yelled at me again when I stayed silent as though I was indeed deaf.I returned my gaze to Damien and just as I was about to get down on my knees to apologize and plead for mercy, as I couldn't come up with any excuse, Albert came forward. He confidently greeted Damien with a bow and introduced himself, wisely leaving out his last name. Damien, who was still in an angry mood, gave the boy a condescending look.I subtly inched forward. At

~ Nathan’s POVEverything slowed down and my heart began to throb, each beat sending out jolts of pain through my body. I was distressed and hated myself at that moment for not being able to save Albert’s sister. Another jolt of pain lanced through me as I watched Albert scream out in pain, still holding on tightly to his little sister's body. My hand went to my chest, as I tried to hold back my wince of pain, still staring down at his trembling frame around his sister's body.His people also joined him. I only stared at them as I didn't know what to do or say at that moment. After some minutes, they all stopped crying, Albert still panting as he held his sister’s dead body.In that somber tableau, the little girl's presence lingered—an innocent soul lost to the unforgiving hands of fate. Her stillness painted a poignant picture of life's fragility, a stark reminder that even the purest souls could be engulfed by the darkness that sometimes shadows our path. As I stood there, a sil

~ Nathan’s POVWe both walked back to return to our post as it was already morning. As we got to the entrance to where the captives were and just then we met two soldiers who were already guarding the door. “Where the hell were you?” One of them yelled out immediately after he set his eyes on us.Albert and I quickly moved closer to them, bowing to them, and apologizing.“Why did you leave your duty post?” The other one asked. “We are sorry, we went to ease ourselves,” I said, still bowing.“Both of you?” He asked again.“Yes. I’m sorry I should have waited behind and allowed Albert to go first,” I said to him.They were silent for a few minutes and then finally broke the silence and yelled at us never to leave our duty post again.Albert and I nodded and then we moved closer to them to stay on guard but they told us that it was their time to stand guard and instructed us to go back to sleep. We bowed to greet them and then turned to leave. Albert turned to look back at his people