Javien hardened his expression once more, forcing himself to focus on guarding Lady Ophilia’s chamber door.

He had absolutely no idea that at the exact moment he was forcing himself to ignore that mysterious pain, Olivia had already been dragged past the back perimeter fence, spirited away into the dark, deep woods.

Yet, the ache in his right wrist did not subside. In fact, with every passing minute, the throbbing only grew more extreme.

Throb! Throb!

Javien clenched his teeth tightly. Cold sweat began to bead on his forehead. What had been a dull ache earlier had now morphed into an agonizing pain, as if his veins were being forcefully pulled and shredded from beneath his skin.

Something deep within his soul thrashed violently, sending out a distress signal that made his chest feel suffocatingly tight.

He knew this was no longer just overthinking. This excruciating pain was undeniable proof that something terrible had happened to Olivia.

Right then, the door to Lady Ophilia’s chamber opened from the inside. Celine stepped out, holding an empty tray.

The moment Celine saw Javien leaning against the wall, clutching his own wrist with a tense, strained face, her brows furrowed.

"Javien? Are you alright?" Celine asked, bewildered.

Javien did not answer. He lifted his head, his violet eyes piercing into Celine with an incredibly sharp, serious gaze that made her flinch slightly.

"Where is Olivia?" Javien asked, his voice sounding deeper and heavier than usual.

Celine blinked, completely thrown off by the knight’s abrupt question.

"Huh? Olivia? She said she was going to deliver clean linens to the outdoor laundry house. But... that was an hour ago. She should have been back in Lady Ophilia’s room by now to help me change the curtains. Why do you ask?"

Hearing Celine’s answer, the phase of denial in Javien’s mind instantly shattered to pieces.

An hour ago? The laundry house?

The painful throbbing in his wrist grew wilder, as if warning him that Olivia’s distance from the estate was now far too great.

Javien completely ignored Celine. Without a word, he took long, heavy strides, walking rapidly away from the corridor of Lady Ophilia’s chamber and heading straight toward the path to the back laundry house.

"Hey, Javien! Where are you going?!" Celine yelled from behind, but the knight did not even look back.

Javien followed the remnants of his intuition and his growing unease. His swift footsteps finally brought him past the laundry area, until he arrived at a secluded path near the old storage warehouse.

His sharp vision caught something amiss on the ground.

Javien stopped dead in his tracks.

On the dusty ground in front of the slightly ajar warehouse door, a large basket lay overturned. The white linens that Olivia was supposed to deliver were now scattered, soiled upon the earth.

Javien stepped closer to the scene. He dropped to his knees, reaching out to pick up a discarded piece of linen.

The moment his hand touched the fabric, his sharp demon scent caught the faint trace of a foreign herb the strong odor of a sleeping potion.

Javien’s jaw clenched to its absolute limit. The veins in his neck bulged, holding back a sudden surge of explosive rage.

The scattered linen. The pain in his wrist. The scent of the sleeping potion.

Everything was clear now. Olivia had been attacked and abducted right under his watch.

A furious wrath began to burn through Javien’s chest.

However, just as his violet eyes were about to bleed into a crimson red, Olivia’s last words in that quiet corridor suddenly echoed in his mind again.

Don’t act recklessly... I don’t want both of your positions to be jeopardized because of me.

Javien shut his eyes tight, drawing a deep breath and exhaling slowly.

He forced himself to calm down. He could not make reckless decisions now. Javien stood in silence for a moment, straightening his posture as his eyes scanned the surroundings of the old warehouse, analyzing every corner, footprint, and the direction of the wind.

He knew the impact if he lost control here. If he went on a rampage and let his demon blood take over right now, not a single soul within this Duke’s estate would survive his destruction. He needed to think with a cold, detached head for Olivia’s safety as well.

Javien ground his teeth so hard the muscles in his jaw twitched, suppressing the dark turbulence that desperately clawed to break free from inside his body.

"Javien!!"

A frantic scream shattered the silence. Celine, who had apparently followed him from behind all this while, finally arrived at the old warehouse.

The moment Celine saw the overturned basket, the dirty linens scattered around, and Javien’s incredibly tense expression, her mouth fell open. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth, her eyes widening in sheer shock.

"T-This... this is Olivia’s basket, right?!"

Celine’s voice began to tremble, panicked tears welling up in her eyes.

"Javien... what happened? Was Olivia kidnapped?!"

Javien did not reply, he merely stood frozen, his gaze sweeping sharply toward the forest beyond the back fence. The remaining scent of the sleeping potion was thinning, carried away by the wind.

Celine, already bursting into tears, grabbed the sleeve of Javien’s armor, trying to pull him.

"Javien! We can’t just stand here! Let’s go back inside right now, we have to report this to Lady Ophilia and the Duke! Olivia is in danger! The other guards must be deployed to find her!" Celine urged through her tears, desperate to follow the palace’s official protocol.

Celine had no idea that reporting this to the upper echelons would take too much time. They would have to fill out the guard logs, secure Duke Herold’s permission, and map out a guard strategy.

Every single second that slipped by was a matter of life and death for Olivia, who was currently being carried deep into the forest.

Javien looked at Celine.

His expression reverted to a cold mask, as if his emotions had been locked tightly away behind the facade of a dutiful knight. He loosened Celine’s grip on his armor gently, yet firmly. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"Go inside now, Celine. Report everything to Lady Ophilia," Javien commanded, his voice flat but carrying an undeniable weight of authority.

"B-But you? Aren’t you coming?" Celine asked while wiping her tears, confused to see that Javien had no intention of moving from the spot.

"I will inspect the perimeter of the back fence first. There might be some clues left behind. Go now, Celine. Don’t waste time," Javien lied, purely to appease the girl.

Still consumed by fear, Celine could only nod frantically. She turned around and ran with all her might back toward the estate building to make the report as ordered.

The moment Celine’s figure vanished from sight, Javien’s calm facade instantly warped into a deadly chill. He turned to face the dense forest situated just beyond the perimeter fence.

The piercing pain in his wrist was growing more intense a spiritual signal from an Olivia who was drifting further and further away.

I am not acting recklessly, Olivia. I am just... going to bring you back

Javien whispered in his heart, answering the promise he made to her.

Javien took a deep breath. He looked down, spotting a pair of faint footprints in the muddy soil hidden behind the bushes near the fence. The scent of the herbal sleeping potion left by the kidnapper still lingered in the air, moving toward the northern part of the forest.

Swoosh!

Without wasting another second, Javien vaulted over the three-meter-high stone wall of the Duke’s estate with absolute ease. The moment his feet touched the forest floor, he bolted forward, blurring through the thick trees like a black shadow.

Even though he did not unleash the full extent of his demon power to preserve his sanity, his physical speed as an elite knight was more than enough to make his form vanish into thin air, swallowed by the forest wind.

Meanwhile, in an abandoned shack deep within the forest...

Splash!!!

A mouthful of cold water was harshly splashed onto Olivia’s face, causing the maid to gasp and open her eyes, her breath catching in her throat. The lingering effects of the sleeping potion still made her head feel incredibly heavy and dizzy.

As her vision began to clear, Olivia realized she was sitting on a decrepit wooden chair, with both her hands and feet bound tightly to the shack’s pillar with rough hemp rope.

The surroundings looked dilapidated, resembling a hunter’s cabin that had long been abandoned.

Standing in front of her was the man in the black hood who had attacked her at the warehouse earlier. He was holding a small dagger, twirling the sharp weapon with a sinister smirk.

"Ah, My darling is finally awake," the man hired by Delia sneered, his voice raspy and grating.

Olivia bit her lip, trying to pull at her hands, but the bindings were far too tight, chafing her wrists painfully.

At that exact moment, she could feel the magical thread visible only to her own eyes wrapped around her wrist throbbing with a shattered, dull red glow, indicating that her distance from Javien was now far too great.

Javien...

Olivia whispered in her heart, a pang of regret washing over her for not listening to the knight’s warning earlier.

"Who... are you? Who hired you?!" Olivia questioned, trying to muster up her courage despite her chest hammering wildly at the sight of the blade in the man’s hand.

The black-hooded man let out a low chuckle, stepping closer to Olivia, one pace at a time. The cold tip of the dagger was placed right under Olivia’s chin, forcing her to look up.

"Dead people don’t need to know who sent me, Darling," the man whispered with a clear intent to kill.

"My above said she never wants to see your pretty face in that house again. So... how about we start by ruining this beautiful face of yours first?"

That how Olivia realize her life became to end