The palace halls were always filled with footsteps—maids in a rush, guards marching, nobles pacing. But lately… Evelyne began to notice the sound of one step too many.
Always behind her.
Always vanishing when she turned.
She stopped in front of a tall window, pretending to fix her earring.
In the reflection—nothing.
But her instincts screamed.
"Someone's watching me."
---
That evening, she summoned her personal knight.
"Double the patrols around my chambers," she ordered calmly.
Sir Rowan, ever loyal, bowed. "Understood. Did something happen?"
"Not yet," Evelyne said, her fingers brushing the hilt of her hidden dagger. "But it will."
---
Across the palace, a shadow slinked through servant passages.
The masked boy stood behind a lattice wall, watching her as she passed.
"She sharpens every day," he murmured. "Good."
In his gloved hand, he held another letter—sealed this time with a black wax rose.
"She must know I'm near."
He pressed the note into a hollow wall just outside her door.
---
That night, Evelyne found it.
Another letter.
> You are not alone, Evelyne.
Even if the world turns on you—
Even if the heroine walks ahead—
I will be the shadow that keeps your crown from falling.
Soon, you will remember me.
Her hands trembled slightly.
Not from fear.
From anger.
"Who are you?"
---
Meanwhile, the heroine Elisse walked through the training fields, completely unaware.
Three male leads crossed paths in the same corridor that day—Caleb, Zayne, and Arven, the aloof swordmaster.
All three paused.
All three looked toward Evelyne's quarters.
And none of them were smiling.
---