VI
The next day during Y/N's break, she decided to make another visit to the training room since she really enjoyed her time there yesterday before a certain someone came and ruined it.
She would tell herself that she just wanted to check up on how Kent's wound was healing and if this batch of salve was successful or not, but she knew deep down she also just wanted to see him.
And the view from yesterday wasn't so bad after all.
Sneaking her head in to take a peek, she quickly scanned the room only to notice a certain black-haired man was missing.
There were plenty of men in there sparring but she couldn't spot that figure that had become all to familiar to her.
She did however notice Laurence standing not too far from where she was and approached him.
"Hey Y/N! Didn't expect to see you again so soon. How are you doing?" Laurence asked when he spotted her.
"Hey. Yeah, here I am again. I'm doing well, just wanted to stop in and say hello. I was actually looking for Kent but I don't see him here, do you know where he is? I want to make sure the medicine I gave him was working properly." She explained.
Laurence nodded his head in understanding, "No, I haven't seen him all day today. He's never been late or missed a day of practice so I'm actually surprised. I heard something about him being summoned to the throne room late last night but I don't know much more than that, sorry."
Last night? Was it right after the two had gone their separate ways to turn in?
"Oh I see, well if you see him at all can you let him know that I'd like for him to check in with me to see how he's progressing?" She asked.
"Yeah, for sure. I know he'll come running straight for you if he knows you came here specially for him." Laurence smirked and winked at the girl.
Y/N brushed off his comment, although a small part of her felt joy at that possibility.
She thanked him again for his help and left the training room disappointed.
The fact that none of the guards seemed to know where he was surprised her and left her feeling a little worried.
But she had to trust that he was safe and was probably just doing some work that nobody else knew about.
For what reason, she didn't know, but there had to be a logical explanation for his absence.
She quickly walks into the dining hall and grabs herself some fresh cut fruit as a snack before heading back to the workroom where the twins were working on removing the petals from a Heart Mint plant, which they were going to use to create potions that helped with indigestion.
Y/N leaned against the doorframe, admiring the way the two guys who were always causing a ruckus were so focused on their work and were making sure to get every last usable part of the plant to ensure no waste.
She could tell that although they loved to mess around and have a good time, being Healer's was something they were very passionate about and took very seriously.
They were the exact kind of people she looked up to.
She walked back to her table and continued her reading on the different recipes she could use to brew the potion that would have slightly different effects and could really be tailored to the person who needed it.
It was these quiet moments in her life that she enjoyed a lot.
The feeling of the sun shining through the window right onto her face, quiet snipping sounds, the feel of the pages under her fingertips, the light sweetness of the dragonfruit on her tongue.
But in the back of her head, she still wondered about Kent.
Surely she would at least see him in the garden tonight, right?
And they could continue with where they were in the book they were reading.
Her hands paused their movements as a thought struck her.
She didn't remember taking the book back with her last night.
She knew for sure that she had brought it with her when she was waiting for him, but she didn't remember putting it back on her desk when she went back to her room.
A small pit formed in her stomach at the idea of her gift being lost.
But maybe she was just misremembering and it actually was on her table.
Her break was almost over so she would have to wait until after work to check. She really, really hoped she was wrong.
——— ??ˋ ? ?ˊ? ———
Unfortunately, she had been correct. Once she was free to go, she quickly rushed to her room and felt her stomach sink at the fact that the book was not where she usually put it.
She practically tore apart her room looking for it, in denial that she had lost a gift given to her so quickly.
Even if it was a small used book, it was more important to her than she realized.
After throwing the sheets off her bed, rummaging through her wardrobe, and looking in every nook and cranny of her small room, she came to the untimely realization that the book was indeed missing.
She began retracing her steps from the night before.
She returned back to the workroom that was now empty and quickly started searching the bookshelves.
Maybe she had left the book in here when she was helping Kent and somebody mistook it for a book that belonged on the shelves.
When that didn't turn up anything she began searching the salves shelf as she might have accidentally put it on there and moved around the jars and forgotten it.
It seemed very unlikely but she had to try.
Finding nothing but glass jars, she let out a defeated sigh.
She knew it wasn't under any of the tables or chairs since someone would have noticed it if it was.
That left her with only one more place to search. The garden.
Walking into the cool evening air, she took in a deep breath. If she didn't find it here then she had no idea what to do. It wasn't in any of the hallways, nobody had returned it back to the royal archives, and it wasn't in any of the other places she had been last night. This was her only hope.
Walking into the hedge maze, she stared down at the ground, hoping to spot it, but her hope slowly started dimming as she recognized the opening of the maze leading her to the centre with the fountain. Looking up, her heart skipped a beat at the figure of a man sitting on the bench. Their bench.
A small smile began to form on her face but it quickly disappeared as she recognized a head of blond hair. Then her eyes flitted down to the shoulders that were not nearly broad enough and covered in a white blouse, an unfamiliar choice for Kent. Because it wasn't him.
Her feet froze in their place. What was the Prince doing outside in the evening?
Shouldn't he have been sharing dinner with the rest of the royal family?
A pit formed in her stomach. With his back facing her, he hadn't noticed her just yet.
She was already dealing with so much worry over Kent and finding his gift that the absolute last thing she wanted to deal with was a confrontation with him.
She slowly began to retract her steps, and once he was almost completely out of her view, a branch snapped beneath her shoe, cracking through the silence that surrounded them.
Her heart stopped. The Prince was half covered by the hedges from her view, and it didn't seem like he noticed the sound at all.
He didn't flinch or make any sort of movement.
Y/N stood there for a couple of seconds, trying to calm herself down while also watching him for any signs of having heard that.
Once she realized that he hadn't, she turned her back towards his direction and began to speed walk away while intently watching the ground, refusing to have a repeat of that situation. She didn't know if her heart could handle a scare like that again.
"I know you're there, Healer."
The sound of his voice reverberating through the maze made her legs feel weak. It sounded far too ominous for her liking. So she did what any ordinary person would do. She ran.
The hedges flew by her vision in a blur of green.
The smooth cobblestone beneath her feet made her stumble and slip a little bit and she would throw her arms in front of her to help maintain her balance and not fall flat on her face.
The girl hadn't had any reason to run in years so she quickly felt herself get winded by the exertion on her body.
Her ears quickly picked up on a second pair of footsteps behind her. Her breathing became harsher as she realized they seemed to be gaining on her.
The maze felt like it was going on forever.
It had never felt nearly this long when she would walk it.
Surely she hadn't gotten herself lost in it, had she?
She might not have been here for a long time but she felt like she understood the layout of the first half.
Then again, anxiety wasn't known to help people focus.
The maze felt foreign to her. The turns and winds felt like they were leading her on a wild goose chase.
Fear and frustration began to bubble up inside of her as she realized she really didn't know where she was going.
Her fight or flight instincts had failed her.
She quickly began looking around for somewhere to hide.
She knew she wouldn't be able to outrun him for much longer.
He had trained alongside the guards, and in most cases seemed to actually be better than them.
And she was the type to get winded going up a flight of stairs.
Hiding couldn't be so hard right? All she had to do was be quiet.
Like the universe wanted apologize for putting her in such an awful situation, the maze in front of her split into two different directions.
This was it. She had a 50/50 chance of choosing a different direction from him.
While the odds weren't exactly in her favour, she felt like the universe owed it to her to let it go her way, so taking in a deep breath, she chose the right.
This path had a hedge that stuck out and covered half of the entrance, obscuring the rest of it from view.
Y/N ran behind it and pressed her back against the wall, finally catching her breath.
The adrenaline pumping through her system hadn't allowed her to fully comprehend how tired she was, but now that she wasn't running, her brain was finally able to catch up.
The footsteps continued to grow louder and louder and Y/N found a tiny gap in the hedge that allowed her to view down the path.
So when Lennox appeared in her field of view, she threw a hand over her mouth to muffle her breathing.
He stopped right at the fork and allowed himself time to breathe while pondering his next move.
He stared down the path leading to Y/N and the girl almost thought he had spotted her.
His gaze felt like it was piercing her. She quickly turned away from him and pressed her back as far into the hedge as possible, praying he hadn't spotted her.
So when she heard him taking a step towards her direction, she felt her lunch ready to come back out.
But, like the Gods were throwing her a bone, a crunching sound came from the other direction that made the man pause.
He stared down the other path. Something in his heart was telling him to go right.
He couldn't explain what, but he felt an invisible tug towards that direction.
He looked back right and almost swore he saw something move behind the gaps in the hedge.
His mind was conflicted. But the more logical choice was to follow the sound he had heard.
He heard Y/N stumbling while trying to escape him, so it made sense for her to be sloppy and accidentally make a sound while running.
So following his mind instead of his heart, he retracted and began running left.
Y/N stood there not breathing for a good 30 seconds.
It was only when the sound of his footsteps were completely gone did she let out the breath she was holding.
She sank down into a sitting position, her head hanging between her legs as she filled her lungs.
She really needed to work on her stamina.
She vowed that if she ever made it out of here alive, she would begin taking morning runs every day.
Leaning her head back, she stared up at the evening sky.
It was a fantastic mix of orange and purple and she couldn't help but admire it.
She thought of all the families that were currently sharing dinner together, all the students bent over their desks studying, all the stores closing up shop for the day.
All the people living completely normal lives.
And here she was, running like her life depended on it from the prince of their kingdom. Her life couldn't get any stranger.
A cold chill ran through her body and she realized she needed to get inside fast.
She wasn't dressed warm enough to be out here for long.
Getting back to her feet, she dusted off her clothing and carefully peeked her head around the corner.
Clear. She took a hesitant step out of the path and headed in the opposite direction of Lennox.
Eventually, she managed to find her way out of the labyrinth of greenery and found herself in the hallway leading to her room.
Her whole body felt heavy from the weight of exhaustion she had been carrying.
The girl wanted nothing more than to take a hot bath and curl up in her bed.
Her search for the book had been a complete failure.
She didn't know how she was supposed to face Kent after losing his gift.
It wasn't like she could just go and buy a new copy.
This one had his annotations and the wear and tear of multiple people having read from it.
That book had the scars of all the people it had taken on a journey.
And that was something that couldn't be replicated.
Unlocking her door and stepping in, Y/N almost slipped from something smooth underneath her shoe.
Steadying herself with the doorknob, she looked down at her feet to catch the culprit that almost made her fall flat on her back.
And what greeted her was an image of two people.
Something about it looked so familiar. It was only when she crouched down to get a better look at it that she realized it wasn't just any two people. It was a guard and a maid.
The book cover.
It had been torn off.
Confusion flooded her mind as she stared at the tattered paper. She flipped it over and her heart stopped at the writing scrawled across it.
Looks like you didn't want it back.
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