I'm Trapped Inside a Prince as the Most Powerful Entity-Chapter 63: Secrets and Uncertain Steps

He decided to try and explain, though he wasn’t even sure he understood it all himself. He chose his words carefully, trying to make it sound less terrifying, less like he was possessed by some unknown entity.

"Actually," Eric began slowly, looking down at his hands, then back up at Alina, his golden eyes filled with a mixture of honesty and apprehension, "it’s... it’s a kind of hidden power I have. A part of me, I think." He fumbled for the right words.

"It... it seems to take control of my body whenever I’m in extreme danger, whenever I’m unable to protect myself, or... or others."

He thought back to the moment at the Baron’s, the overwhelming rage and helplessness he had felt when he saw Alina captured and heard the Baron’s cruel threats.

"Back there," he continued, his voice heavy with guilt, "at the Baron’s palace... when I saw I couldn’t save you, when I thought they were going to hurt you... I... I think I instructed this inner power to protect you, at any cost."

He hesitated, the next words tasting like ash in his mouth. "And... and I also... I also instructed it to... to eliminate all the soldiers who were there."

He couldn’t meet her eyes now, shame and regret washing over him.

"From what you said just now, about me bringing you here... and seeing all these bodies... it sounds like... it sounds like my power actually did it. All those soldiers... they were really killed, weren’t they?" The weight of that thought was immense.

Alina listened quietly, her expression unreadable. She was taken aback slightly by his open admission, by his attempt to explain the unexplainable. She silently pondered his words.

’His inner power?’ she thought, a flicker of confusion in her mind. ’Does he really not know about Adam? Does he not realize it’s a separate consciousness, a different person taking control? Why is he calling Adam ’his inner power’?’

A part of her wanted to question him further, to ask about Adam, about the name he had spoken just before Eric ’returned’. But she quickly pushed those thoughts aside.

It was clear Eric himself was confused and terrified by what was happening to him.

Questioning him about Adam now, revealing what Adam had told her, might just scare him more, or worse, somehow interfere with Adam’s ability to help.

And Alina knew, with a certainty that chilled her to the bone, that without Adam, she had absolutely no hope of finding her parents.

Adam, with his terrifying power, had shown her the only genuine glimpse of hope she’d had since her world fell apart.

If she had to rely solely on this current version of Eric – the kind, but clearly overwhelmed and guilt-ridden Third Prince – she knew deep in her heart that her parents would remain lost forever, if they were even still alive. Adam was her only real chance.

So, she decided to keep Adam’s secret. It was the least she could do for the being who had, for whatever reason, decided to help her. Protecting Adam’s identity, at least from Eric himself for now, felt like a small price to pay.

Finally, Alina took a deep breath and looked at Eric, her expression softening slightly. She could see the genuine distress, the guilt, in his eyes. He looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. She offered him a gentle, reassuring look.

"Don’t worry so much, Your Highness," she said softly. "You didn’t... just kill everyone." She paused, choosing her words carefully. "You actually did something very good back there too. Something important."

Eric looked up at her, surprised by her gentle tone.

"That inner power of yours," Alina continued, carefully avoiding Adam’s name, "it also made the Baron’s son, Lucas, the new acting mayor of the city. And... and it even gave him your royal crest, your emblem, to show he has your authority."

She remembered the golden lion emblem Adam had given Lucas. "That was a smart move. It will help restore order."

Eric stared at her, completely astonished by this news. He pointed to himself incredulously, his eyes wide.

"I did that?" he asked, his voice filled with disbelief. "I made Lucas the mayor? I gave him my royal crest? But... I don’t remember any of that!" He only remembered the rage, the command to the System, and then waking up here in this horrible place.

Alina looked at him steadily, her tone firm yet kind, trying to ease some of his guilt. "Whether you did it yourself, Your Highness," she said, "whether your ’inner power’ did it through you... the credit still goes to you. It was your decision to act, your will that made it happen, even if you don’t remember the details. It was a good thing."

With that, Alina turned away, her body language clearly indicating she wasn’t going to discuss what happened at the Baron’s mansion any further. She started walking cautiously down the corridor again.

Protecting Adam’s identity, keeping Eric from understanding the full truth about who – or what – was sometimes controlling him, felt important. Adam had helped her. This was how she could, in a small way, help him.

Seeing Alina walk away, Eric quickly shook off his surprise and hurried to catch up. He fell into step beside her, matching her cautious pace.

The silence stretched between them for a few moments, filled only with the drip of water from the stone ceiling and the distant, unsettling scuttling sounds that seemed to echo from deeper within the hidden base.

Finally, Eric broke the silence, his voice still laced with uncertainty.

"Alina," he asked, "can you at least tell me where we are now? And what’s going on here? Why are there Roland Kingdom knights dead alongside... these other people?" He gestured towards the bodies they were carefully stepping around.

Alina released another sigh, a sound of weary frustration. She finally decided to give him some answers, though she still kept them brief. "We’re somewhere in the Roland Kingdom, Your Highness," she replied, not looking at him.

"I don’t know the exact location, not really. But your... ’inner power’... it seemed to know where this place was. It found it, and it brought me here because... because it said my parents might be here."

"But... you told me your parents were in Crestport City, that the Baron had them," Eric questioned, still confused by the rapid shifts in location and information. "What are they doing here, in a hidden base in the Roland Kingdom?"

Frustration flashed briefly in Alina’s eyes again. She stopped and turned to face him, her patience clearly wearing thin. "My parents were kidnapped by the Spider Syndicate!" she snapped, her voice sharp. "The Baron was working for them! He captured my mother and brother and was going to hand them over! Didn’t I already tell you that part?!" Her voice was louder now, echoing slightly.

Seeing Alina’s anger, seeing the pain and frustration in her eyes, Eric immediately felt a pang of regret for his scattered memory and his persistent questions. He raised his hands defensively, taking a small step back.

"I’m sorry," he apologized quickly, his own voice soft again. "I... I must have forgotten that detail. There’s just... so much happening. So much I don’t understand." He felt like a fool.

Alina took a deep, calming breath, letting it out slowly. She knew he was confused, probably just as scared as she was, if not more so, given that he apparently didn’t remember large chunks of what had happened. She shouldn’t snap at him. He was, despite everything, still a Prince, and now, her only ally.

She turned and started walking again. Eric followed quietly beside her this time, still gripping the wooden sword he had somehow reacquired or been given by Adam before Eric regained consciousness. He looked down at the bodies they passed, a grim expression on his face.

"So," he asked cautiously after a few more moments of silence, "does that mean... I’ll have to fight more people? Here?" The thought filled him with a familiar dread.

He didn’t want to fight. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. And he certainly didn’t feel capable of fighting powerful, dangerous criminals like the ones who had clearly died here in such brutal ways.

Alina glanced at Eric, then quickly turned her face forward again, her expression unreadable. She didn’t answer his question immediately.

She was silently thinking, ’I sincerely, truly hope you won’t have to fight anyone else, Your Highness. I really hope Adam has already... handled... whatever needed to be done before he left. I hope his actions will safely lead me to my parents without any more trouble, for both our sakes.’ She didn’t voice these thoughts.

She didn’t want to give Eric false hope, nor did she want to discuss Adam any further.

They continued deeper into the dark, silent corridors of the Spider Syndicate’s main base, moving forward into the unknown, two unlikely companions bound together by circumstance and secrets.