Meanwhile, the crown prince had also heard the same rumor. His heart wavered even more, but according to the high priest's prophecy, approaching darkness would bring disaster. He was unwilling to give up the throne that was almost within his grasp. Just as he was struggling greatly, hurried knocking sounded outside the study.
Seeing that the person who came was the knight Ashwin, the crown prince impatiently waved his hand. But in the next second, he heard news that shocked him beyond measure.
"Her Highness Lodi has gone missing."
The man's heart suddenly clenched. A powerful sense of unease instantly surged into his heart, and he suddenly regretted it. The man frantically rummaged through the magic books in the drawer. He vaguely remembered that one of them recorded a locating spell. But after searching for a long time, there was still no sign of that book.
At that moment, the crown prince completely panicked. He crazily ordered people to search for the missing little princess. As for himself, he collapsed weakly into the chair. He had never imagined that one day his sister would completely disappear from his world without even giving him a chance to regret it.
The man painfully recalled the scene from a few days earlier. He had clearly seen Lily snatch the little princess's hairpin, but as her older brother, he had done nothing. If he really had to choose one of the two, he had even said to his sister that he would choose Lily without the slightest hesitation. If only he had turned back and looked once at that time, he would have noticed the girl's tears of despair.
Actually, it was not that the crown prince did not love his sister. It was just that his childhood experiences had blinded his eyes. His mother was a paranoid madwoman. From childhood, she had demanded that he become the perfect heir. Verbal abuse and whipping were nothing more than everyday occurrences. He could only treat inheriting the throne as his sole goal.
Even so, the crown prince still deeply loved this harsh woman. But not long afterward, his mother died. And because of that, the young him became dispirited, until the boy met Lily for the first time. That child who was as beautiful as a lily flower. The tiny girl softly called him brother. In an instant, the high walls around the crown prince's heart were shattered.
Originally, he had not believed at all that there was any such thing as divine prophecy. But at that moment, he regarded his white-haired younger sister as a deity, though he did not know why.
In his memory, Lily's bright and beautiful little face gradually became blurred. Replacing it instead was the smile on little Lodi's face. At this very moment, it felt as if the crown prince's chest had been torn open alive. He clearly did care about the little princess. But why did he always have to hurt her again and again? If heaven could give him one more chance, he would definitely treat this sister well.
Thinking this, the man got up and went to the little princess's side palace. The high priest had repeatedly warned him not to go there, but he could no longer care about so much. Compared with his sister's safety, what did the position of crown prince even matter? But what he had not expected was that the empress's palace where his sister lived was so dilapidated. And he was also about to learn those truths that would leave him in endless regret.
The man walked alone toward the little princess's palace. But the deeper he went, the heavier his heart became. The desolate courtyard seemed to wordlessly accuse his favoritism, and after stepping into the inner hall, he was even more shocked by everything before his eyes. The wooden beams looked as if they might collapse the next second. In such a vast palace, he could not even find a single candle for lighting. This was not a place fit for human habitation at all.
Yet his sister had lived in such an environment for ten years. For a moment, the man's heart was filled with mixed emotions. He asked Lowina to take him to see the little princess's room. However, he had barely stepped onto the stairs when the crown prince nearly missed his footing. Lowering his head, he finally noticed the broken-down staircase under his feet.
The moment he thought that the one who might have been hurt was his sister, his heart trembled violently again. But Lowina seemed as if she had long since grown used to all of this. Helplessly, she said that she also knew the stairs were dangerous, but they simply had no extra money for repairs. On the palace side, they often withheld the little princess's allowance, so even filling their stomachs was already very difficult for them.
The winters here had always been very cold. But even when her hands were covered with sores from the freezing cold, that child had never complained, nor had she ever indulged in wild hopes. At this point, Lowina's gaze suddenly softened.
"Her Highness always fantasized that one day her family would come to take her back. So no matter how hard life was, she still remained like a little sun. Seeing the way she looked so full of hope, I truly could not bear to shatter her dream with my own hands."
Like blade after blade, Lowina mercilessly laid bare the truths the crown prince did not dare face. The man could no longer imagine what could feel worse than this moment. So, was he as a brother really this terrible? It was he who had chosen Lily over and over again. And it was also he who had pushed his sister farther and farther away again and again.
While the crown prince was lost in wild thoughts, the group had already arrived at the door of the room. Even from far away, the man could smell the pungent odor of mold. And after pushing open the door, the scene inside was even worse. The dark and damp environment was not even as good as a servant's woodshed. And in the wardrobe, there were only old and filthy clothes left.
The man suddenly realized something. In pain, he covered his eyes and let the tears keep sliding down. His sister had covered him with the cleanest blanket she had, and he, with the cruelest words, had viciously wounded that heart, which was already shattered. At the thought of the girl's despairing eyes, the crown prince wished he could slap himself to death. He was the worst brother in the world.
Yet from the corner of his eye, he unintentionally caught sight of that cloak in the wardrobe. Its luxurious style was utterly out of place with this dilapidated room. It was as if the crown prince had grabbed the last life-saving straw. Instinctively, he felt that this garment was related to his sister's disappearance.
Unfortunately, Lowina told him that this had been given to the little princess by the second prince. The girl could not bear to wear it, so she had always kept it folded neatly, refusing to put it on. Whenever she missed her family, she would take it out and hold it for a while, but she did not dare hold it for too long either. She was afraid of damaging this only gift she had.
Lowina's voice was choked with sobs. She had once begged the little princess not to keep loving those family members anymore. They were not worth it. But at that time, the girl had only smiled and gently shaken her head. Her eyes were full of helplessness.
"I also wish I could stop liking them, but that is not something I can do just because I wish it."
After hearing Lowina's words, the crown prince was already in floods of tears. Like a trapped beast, he howled helplessly in the darkness. If heaven would give him one more chance, he would definitely spend the rest of his life making up for these more than ten years of neglect. Unfortunately, all the clues had gone cold. Now, the only person who might possibly have taken away the little princess was the assassin who had appeared a few days earlier.