The royal palace had never looked so quiet.
That was the first thing Rosy noticed.
Not peaceful.
Quiet.
There was a difference.
The palace gates were still guarded. Servants still hurried through the corridors. Nobles still whispered behind fans and gloved hands.
But something was wrong.
The usual noise surrounding the crown prince had vanished.
No arrogant laughter.
No irritated orders.
No group of attendants desperately trying to keep up with him.
No familiar voice complaining that everyone else was incompetent.
The prince was simply—
gone.
Rosy stood at the bottom of the palace staircase, staring upward.
Kael stood beside her with his arms crossed.
Azrael leaned casually against one of the marble pillars as if they hadn't just walked into the most suspicious place in the entire kingdom.
Sol stood on Rosy's other side.
His golden eyes slowly scanned the palace.
"Something is wrong," he said.
Rosy glanced at him.
"You're only noticing that now?"
Sol looked at her.
"I was being polite."
Kael snorted.
Azrael's mouth twitched.
Rosy sighed.
"Wonderful. My family has developed sarcasm as a survival mechanism."
A royal guard approached them.
The man looked pale.
"Grand Duke Blackwell."
Rosy raised an eyebrow.
"Yes?"
"The King requests your presence."
"Of course he does."
The guard swallowed.
"He also requested that you come alone."
Silence.
Kael immediately said, "No."
Rosy looked at him.
"I didn't even answer."
"You don't have to."
Sol nodded seriously.
"Absolutely not."
Azrael smiled.
"I would have said something much less polite."
Rosy rubbed her forehead.
"You're all terrible."
"We're family," Sol replied.
That stopped her for half a second.
Then she smiled faintly.
"Fine."
She looked back at the guard.
"I'm going inside."
The guard hesitated.
"Alone?"
Rosy smiled.
"No."
The guard looked terrified.
Rosy walked past him.
---
The throne room was almost empty.
The king stood beside the throne rather than sitting upon it.
That alone told Rosy enough.
The queen was there too.
The general stood near the windows.
And beside them—
the heroine.
The same woman who had once played the perfect fragile girl.
The same woman who had smiled sweetly while the court whispered about Isle Blackwell.
Rosy's eyes narrowed.
"Well."
"Look who survived."
The heroine looked at her.
For the first time, she didn't smile.
Rosy stopped several steps away.
"Where is the prince?"
The king's expression hardened.
"We don't know."
"That's unfortunate."
The general frowned.
"You don't seem surprised."
"I've been surprised enough for several lifetimes."
The queen stepped forward.
"The prince disappeared three nights ago."
Rosy stared at her.
"Three?"
"Yes."
"And you're telling me now?"
The king looked away.
Rosy laughed once.
Not loudly.
Just enough to make the room uncomfortable.
"So the crown prince disappeared three days ago, a strange mark appeared over the palace, and nobody thought to inform the Grand Duke whose family has been blamed for half the disasters in this kingdom?"
Nobody answered.
Rosy nodded slowly.
"Interesting."
The heroine finally spoke.
"It isn't what you think."
Rosy's eyes moved toward her.
"Then explain."
The heroine's fingers tightened around her dress.
"I saw him that night."
Everyone became silent.
Rosy took one step forward.
"What happened?"
"He came to my room."
The general immediately looked at her.
"You didn't tell us that."
"I was afraid."
Rosy tilted her head.
"Afraid of him?"
The heroine shook her head.
"No."
Her voice became quieter.
"Afraid of what was following him."
The room seemed colder.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
Azrael stopped leaning against the wall.
Sol's golden eyes turned toward the ceiling.
Rosy noticed.
"What did you see?"
The heroine looked directly at her.
"A shadow."
Rosy waited.
"It wasn't human," the heroine continued. "It stood behind him, but it didn't have a body. It looked like the darkness itself was moving."
Rosy's expression changed.
"Did it have eyes?"
The heroine hesitated.
"Yes."
"What color?"
"White."
Rosy's blood ran cold.
Not because of fear.
Because she knew that description.
The Dreamer didn't need a body.
It didn't need a face.
It only needed someone to dream through.
Rosy whispered,
"Where did the prince go?"
The heroine shook her head.
"He walked toward the old royal library."
Kael frowned.
"The forbidden wing?"
She nodded.
Rosy looked at the king.
"You have a forbidden library beneath your palace?"
The king didn't answer.
Rosy's expression became dangerously calm.
"Of course you do."
She turned toward the doors.
The king called after her.
"Grand Duke."
Rosy stopped.
"Do not go there."
She slowly looked over her shoulder.
"Why?"
The king's face had gone pale.
"Because that's where Isle Blackwell disappeared."
Silence.
Rosy's eyes widened slightly.
For the first time since entering the palace—
she had no sarcastic answer.
The general looked confused.
"The old records say the Grand Duke disappeared after the final royal conflict."
Rosy stared at him.
"I know."
The king shook his head.
"No."
His voice trembled.
"You don't."
He looked directly at her.
"The records are false."
Rosy's heart seemed to stop.
"What?"
The king pointed toward the floor.
"The woman who disappeared wasn't killed."
A pause.
"She wasn't imprisoned."
Another pause.
"She was erased."
Rosy's fingers curled.
"By whom?"
The king looked upward.
At the strange symbol hovering faintly above the throne room.
"The same thing that's coming back now."
---
The palace shook.
A deep sound rolled through the walls.
THUM.
The windows rattled.
THUM.
The candles went out.
THUM.
Sol immediately stepped in front of Rosy.
"Mom."
"I'm fine."
"You always say that."
"Because I usually am."
Azrael's gaze remained fixed on the ceiling.
"No."
Rosy looked at him.
He wasn't joking anymore.
"Something is waking."
The symbol above the palace began to glow.
A thin crack appeared across the marble floor.
The general drew his sword.
The heroine stepped backward.
Kael raised one hand.
Ice spread across the floor, forming a protective barrier around them.
Rosy's eyes turned purple.
Darkness gathered around her fingers.
Then—
the crack stopped.
Everything became still.
A voice whispered through the palace.
Not from the walls.
Not from the ceiling.
Not from anywhere.
Inside their minds.
"You came back."
Rosy froze.
The voice continued.
"Little creation."
Sol looked at Rosy.
"Mom?"
Rosy's eyes slowly lifted toward the palace ceiling.
She whispered,
"That's not the Dreamer."
Azrael's expression darkened.
"Then what is it?"
Rosy stared at the glowing mark.
Something inside her recognized that voice.
Something ancient.
Something buried so deeply that even Nyx had forgotten it.
She suddenly remembered—
A door.
A black door floating in endless white space.
A small girl standing before it.
And someone on the other side saying—
"One day, you will open this door for me."
Rosy's breathing stopped.
The memory vanished.
She grabbed her head.
"Rosy!"
Azrael caught her before she fell.
Sol immediately came closer.
"Mom!"
"I'm okay."
But her voice was shaking.
Azrael looked into her eyes.
"You remembered something."
Rosy slowly nodded.
"The palace."
"What about it?"
She looked toward the forbidden wing.
"The palace wasn't built over the old library."
Her eyes darkened.
"It was built over a prison."
The king went completely pale.
Rosy turned toward him.
"What did your ancestors imprison beneath this palace?"
The king's lips parted.
But before he could answer—
a child's voice came from the corridor.
Soft.
Almost cheerful.
"Nothing."
Everyone turned.
A small figure stood at the end of the hallway.
Silver hair.
Golden eyes.
Rosy's heart dropped.
For one terrifying second—
she thought it was Sol.
Then she noticed the smile.
It wasn't Sol.
The child tilted his head.
"The royal family didn't imprison anything."
His smile widened.
"They imprisoned someone."
Rosy's darkness erupted around her.
Azrael stepped forward.
Kael froze.
Sol stared at the child.
And somewhere deep beneath the palace—
something knocked three times against a locked door.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Rosy's eyes narrowed.
The child smiled at her.
"Hello, Nyx."
And for the first time in thousands of years—
Rosy heard someone speak her true name who absolutely shouldn't have known it.
To be continued.