Chapter 108: That girl that looks familiar
Night slowly fell, covering the palace in a heavy, suffocating darkness.
However, the calmness that usually accompanied Avelvion was nowhere to be found that night.
The official documents on his desk were still open, but not a single word could enter his mind. Instead, the image of the new black-haired servant kept bothering him.
The way she spoke, the way she bowed with respect, even the way she held the cleaning cloth in the gallery earlier everything felt too familiar. It was too painful, as if her every movement was waking up old memories he had tried so hard to bury.
Avelvion slammed the file shut, the sound echoing sharply in the quiet room.
"It makes no sense," he whispered, his voice full of frustration and confusion that made his chest feel tight.
That person was gone. He had seen how the whole world mourned her loss years ago. So why did his heart refuse to accept the truth? Why did the sight of just one strand of black hair make his soul so restless?
Unable to bear the feeling anymore, he stood up. Without a clear plan, he walked deeper into the dark parts of the palace.
He walked past cold stone hallways, heavy iron doors, and rows of guards and mages. Finally, he arrived at the quietest and scariest place in the entire empire: the dungeon.
The mages on duty immediately bowed when they saw him.
"Prince Avelvion."
Avelvion just nodded, his eyes fixed on the darkness at the end of the hall.
"I want to talk to the prisoner."
One mage looked unsure, glancing at the deepest cell.
"Him? You mean that man?"
"Yes," Avelvion answered firmly.
The iron door of the cell opened slowly with a loud, painful metal sound. Avelvion walked inside without looking at the mages following him.
The sound of his shoes echoed in the damp stone hallway. At the end of the cell, Javien was sitting against the wall. His long silver hair covered his eyes, making him look like a dead statue.
Seeing Javien like that was enough to make Avelvion annoyed. Two years. It had been two years, but the man was still sitting there like a living corpse.
"It seems you still aren’t dead," Avelvion said, his voice echoing in the small cell.
Javien opened his eyes slowly. No reaction, no anger, no emotion. Just a blank look that made Avelvion even more irritated.
Javien quiet. He gazed at Avelvion slightly as he not interested.
Avelvion gritted his teeth. He hated the way Javien looked as him as if nothing in the world could touch his feelings anymore.
"I met someone," Avelvion said, watching the prisoner’s face closely.
Javien only looked at him blankly.
"A new servant," Avelvion added.
Still, there was no reaction. Avelvion started to lose his patience.
"I am talking to you!"
"And?" Javien replied shortly.
A vein throbbed on Avelvion’s forehead. If not because of the magic chains binding the man, he probably would have already punched that expressionless face.
"She has black hair."
Silence. The dungeon became very quiet, as if time had stopped. For the first time, Javien’s look changed a little just a tiny bit, a small twitch in his eyes that maybe other people wouldn’t notice. But Avelvion saw it.
"I said, she has black hair," Avelvion repeated, stressing every word.
Javien’s fingers moved slowly. The iron chains on his wrists made a small sound.
Clink
Only once, but the sound was very loud in the silence.
"Impossible," Javien whispered. His voice was very soft, as if he was denying something he was very afraid to believe.
Avelvion narrowed his eyes.
"I know."
Javien went quiet again, returning to his dark world.
"I didn’t come here to watch you act like a statue," Avelvion’s voice grew louder, full of held-back anger.
"If you know something, tell me!"
Javien looked down at the dirty floor.
"There is nothing to say."
Avelvion laughed coldly.
"You are really annoying."
...
"You hear about black hair and you change right away. What are you thinking about right now?"
A few moments passed, and the tension in the cell felt very heavy. Then, Javien spoke. His voice was raspy, very slow, and almost impossible to hear.
"...it isn’t her."
Avelvion froze where he stood. His heart beat very fast. He had never mentioned any name; he had never told him who "she" was. But Javien already knew.
Avelvion was stunned. The words "it isn’t her" kept playing in his mind, with a tone that was very suspicious. But when he looked back at Javien, he saw something that made his skin crawl.
Javien’s face, while still calm, had changed a bit.
The man slowly lifted his hands, which were tied with magic chains. He stared at his own wrists with a blank, distant look as if he was looking at something invisible. His fingers shook as he touched his wrists, tracing old scars hidden under the iron bands.
"Javien?" Avelvion’s voice softened, now mixed with deep suspicion.
"What do you mean ’it isn’t her’?"
Javien did not answer. He was still staring at his wrists, his dull violet eyes looking glassy, though no tears fell.
He looked confused, like someone struggling with his own memory. He had just denied the girl existed, but his actions the sudden nervousness showed that deep down, he was holding onto a hope he didn’t want to admit.
"You aren’t sure, are you?" Avelvion took a step forward, his shadow covering Javien who was huddled in the corner.
"You yourself aren’t sure if she is dead or just hiding."
"Black hair?" Javien whispered. His voice was no longer cold, but brittle, like glass about to break.
"Why keep it a secret?" Avelvion grabbed the prison bars, his hands turning white.
"That girl in Avvion’s office... she is nobody. She is just a servant. But something tell me that she’s not?"
Javien finally looked up. His eyes met Avelvion’s.
Javien, who had been looking at his wrists, suddenly went stiff. His whole weak body went tense, as if he had just been shocked by lightning.
He no longer looked at the floor. He slowly raised his head, and this time, a strange light appeared in his dull, voilet eyes.
No longer a blank look. No longer the look of a living corpse.
It was the look of a hunter who had just caught the scent of its prey.
Javien looked straight into Avelvion’s eyes. His voice was no longer raspy or slow; instead, it sounded sharp, cold, and full of heavy pressure.
"What do you mean... Avvion’s servant?"
Avelvion was silent. He was shocked by the sudden change in the man. Javien, who for two years had not cared about anything as if he had become numb to the world now looked like someone who had just found the only reason to keep living.
"She... she is the new servant my brother hired," Avelvion answered, his voice shaking a little.
"Why? What do you know?"
Javien did not answer that question. Instead, he started to move close to the bars, getting near Avelvion. The magic chains made a loud noise, but Javien seemed not to feel the pain of the magic burning his wrists.
"Avvion’s servant," Javien repeated again, this time in a tone that was almost a growl.
He stared at his tied wrists, then looked back at Avelvion with an expression that was very hard to understand. He looked confused, like someone struggling with a truth that was too bitter to accept.
"Her hair is black," Javien whispered. His voice was shaking, not because of fear, but because of an emotion Avelvion couldn’t name.
"Under Avvion’s direct supervision?"
"Yes," Avelvion answered, feeling more and more uneasy with the man’s reaction.
"Why? Do you know her?"
Javien did not reply at all. Instead, he kept saying those words over and over.
"Black hair... under Avvion," Javien said slowly while shaking his head.
He pulled his hands back into the shadows of the cell, looking at his wrists blankly again like he himself wasn’t sure what he was thinking.
He looked as if he had just realized that every hope he had built for two years might just be a cruel illusion.
"If it really is her..."
Javien muttered slowly, almost inaudible. Avelvion frowned.
"Hey... what do you mean by that?" Avelvion asked with curiosity.
"Avvion didn’t just hire a servant," Javien murmured, his voice full of hidden horror.
He did not finish his sentence. He went quiet again, leaving Avelvion standing there with a thousand questions poisoning his mind.
Avelvion watched how Javien’s tied hands shook violently, even though the man’s face was calm again like a still lake.