Hearing his loud beating heart, never had he felt so unsettled. As he flew around the corridors of the castle, his wings being restrained by the space but it could not amount to the tightness his chest was feeling. He did not know what to expect. He did not know what to hope for. The only thing he could hold on to was that feeling they shared. But would it be enough?

He slammed the door to Seol’s room and he found his heart stopped beating for a while. Instantly, their stares were locked at each other. His was filled with relief and longing, hers were nothing but an empty stare in return. There was something telling Jaejin that he had just lost her.

“Seol,” He whispered.

No response.

For some reason, the wind from the open window blew, as if to add to the dull moment. There was no background music. No touching reconciliation. No tears. No words of love, just the sound of their beating hearts.

“Seol? Who is Seol? Who are you?” She finally spoke.

He let out air and that was when he noticed he was holding his breathe. He slowly went to her and he suddenly stopped when he was just a few feet from her. He melted her with his gaze, as if questioning her of what she had done. She, however, looked blankly at him. She was not moving away even though the man in front of him was a stranger.

“You’re Seol and I’m Jaejin.” He replied simply and he slowly reached for the locket and opened it to show her. “See. This is you, this is me.” He smiled sweetly at her.

She just stared at the picture of the two of them and just accepted what he said. “When I woke up, I found myself holding to this.” She said as she took the locket in her hands. “I guess you are telling the truth. But why can’t I remember anything?” Then there was silence and she moved away from him and sat on the bed, waiting for an answer from him.

He looked at her for a while, examining her memories but he was left with nothing but blank. She did not have even the slightest form of defense. He sighed. At that moment, he had an idea what she had done.

He slowly sat next to her and looked for the words that can help her understand but he himself was having a hard time accepting it.

xx--xx

“I don’t get it, what happened?” Adriel asked in between the confusion.

Seol was lying on the bed with familiars floating around and magic symbols surrounding her entire body. Jaejin was currently in his fifth investigation of what really happened to Seol.

“If I knew then I would have done something to change her back already.” Jaejin said impatiently.

“No need to snap hyung.” Minhwan reminded him who he was talking to. The maknae let out a sigh. But of course he couldn’t blame his worried hyung. “Maybe lord Loki was saying the truth after all?”

“That what? That Seol sacrificed being demon so his uncle would stop chasing her?” Jaejin cut him.

“..well, yeah.” Minhwan replied hesitantly.

“It actually makes sense somehow.” The prince added.

“I don’t know. I’m not convinced.” Jaejin then stopped and looked at her unconscious body and picked up the locket surrounding her neck, his face indescribable. “She knew what it means to be human. I don’t believe she would give up on us easily.” He said it convincingly but no one knew if he was convincing them or his self.

The discussion was then followed by silence. No one wanted to trample on the little hope their friend had. They were all too afraid to hurt him more than he already was feeling. Then there was a blinking light coming out from Seol’s chest.

“Hyung,” Seunghyun pointed to her causing everyone to look at what he called out for. “Doesn’t that blinking light tells us something?”

“It does. My spell will react to anything demon related even if it’s just a strand of hair. That’s why I confined Seol so only her presence would be left. Right now, that blinking light is telling us that there is something demon.” Jaejin explained but he did not look very hopeful.

“Then that means there is hope right?” Seunghyun asked again but Jaejin didn’t react.

“The signal just now came from the locket I gave her. Of course my spell would react because that locket shared the demon powers of my clan that was passed down. I take it away and I’ll come up with nothing.”

Jaejin dropped his self on the couch in frustration. He waved his hand and all the familiars and barrier around Seol disappeared. It took a few minutes before Seol woke up. When she sat up, Jaejin walked out of the room and the others watched him in silence. Seol noticed this and she could not help but feel gloomy.

“He did not find anything did he?” Seol asked in a soft manner and no one answered her. There was an awkward silence again. It was frustrating her. She retreated in silence and walked back to her room. She stared at the unfamiliar wall and lied down on the unknown bed. She could not help but ask herself, “If there is still a place she belongs to.” She found herself, tearing up and she let herself cry. She cried of loneliness, of sadness. Where does she go from here?

xx—xx

“Is the sentence for lord Loki out already?” Hongki asked as he chewed on his breakfast.

“The decision will be out this afternoon.” Jonghun replied.

“But you’re the prince of course you know these kind of things in advance.” Hongki retorted.

“You are so impatient.” He sighed but nevertheless, he gave in from his nagging. “He’ll be kept in the demon prison for life in maximum security.”

“Oh. That .”

“To make it worse, his powers will be removed.”

This then got everyone’s attention. Ever since they got Seol back, they stayed in the human world since humans cannot survive in the underworld because of the intensity of miasma. It is too much for a human. They only had to rely on their servants and the royal messenger for news about what was going on in the underworld.

“It’s a surprise they did not remove his memories.” Seunghyun commented.

“There was a debate about that but apparently the council said that it will be better to retain his memories so he would remember what it’s like to be a demon.” Jonghun explained.

“To make it simpler, it’s like a mental torture.” Jaejin concluded and Jonghun just agreed while the others were filled by fear.

“But does anyone of you know the reason why he was after the keeper’s power?” Minhwan wondered out loud and this got everyone’s attention.

They all waited for someone to speak up. Jonghun was looking at Jaejin and this caused everyone to look at him as well. He sighed.

“My prince, you also know the story. Why look at me and pass on the responsibility?” Jaejin protested.

“Exactly. I’m the prince.” He snickered and Jaejin just shook his head. “And he’s not my uncle-in-law to begin with.”

“Point taken.” Jaejin gave up and began telling the story. “Lord Loki fell in love with a human.”

His beginning statement however made everyone froze; eyes unblinking, breathes were held. Suddenly, they were not sure if their minds registered it correctly.

“No way in hell.” Hongki let out in disbelief.

“Apparently it is true. It happened when he was assigned to do a mission above ground and there he met the love of his life.” Jaejin continued.

“But isn’t he married?”

“He was but just like any other elites, it was just a political marriage. Lord Loki was above everyone when it comes to skills, knowledge and power even the palace would agree to that. He had it all, wealth, status, the looks of a great demon, he had everything. Well, at least he thought he had until he met and fell in love with a human. To make it more unfortunate, the human was sick and was bound to die soon. So lord Loki tried to find a way to make her—“

“To make her demon?! NO WAY?!” Seunghyun jumped, not believing what he was learning now.

“Yes. Exactly that was the case. However, as we all know, that is a taboo and would require a vast amount of power. It not impossible if it’s the keeper.”

Then there was silence and they waited for him to continue.

“So when the human died, lord Loki did not give up but instead it cost his family’s life. That was when the entire clan died because he went on a rampage and wanted Seol in order to revive the human, which is of course again a taboo.”

They all fell silent, unsure of what to say. They suddenly remembered the horrific tragedy. The clan was annihilated in order to protect Seol. It was such a tragedy that everyone chose to forget instead because of the pain it brought to everyone.

“Love is scary.” Hongki blurted out.

“Out of everything we’ve talked about that is your conclusion?” Sophia butted in. “Speaking of Seol, where is she? She did not even eat dinner last night.”

Before anyone could even answer, Seunghyun stood up all of a sudden. “Oh .” They all looked suddenly at Seunghyun and that was when all of them realized what’s wrong. “I think Seol ran away.”

xx--xx

uhm... hi...? >< omg im sorry for neglecting this..actually im sorry for neglecting writing..my life right now is too muc for me to handle.. >< but summer will be up soon so i think i can continue..i'll not make any promises but yes..im really sorry and im thankful to everyone who still reads this..im sorry if i disappoint you but im gonna try my best to finish this and the other story.. >< so yes..see you guys soon.. ><

@anne_shiny- im glad you like the cassanova jonghun xD i think it fits him tbh xD yes jae-seol ftw! ^^

@jaceBlue-i can assure you thaat i will not make this a sad story xD

@NinaNoDevilNa- wow thank you.. :) <3 im glad you enjoyed this ^^

@rachelxzoe-xD glad we talked again :* <3 idk if you are still here though xD

@ilovejinnie- did you guess it right? xD

@loves_jkspsh- im sorry for the late update ;__;

/SOBS THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS AND ENCOURAGEMENT EVERYONE..<3