You scrunched your brows together and groaned. You shifted only to realize you couldn't move because of Kouen's arms wrapped around you. You felt a blush creep onto your cheeks and snuggled closer to his chest, hoping that it could last a bit longer.

Unfortunately, life had other plans which included Kouen waking up. "You're going to be leaving soon," he commented, fixing his messy hair from being asleep. You nodded and got up from the bed to pin up your hair with the hair stick you had angrily thrown.

Kouen's brows raised in surprise at the hair stick in your hair. He opened his mouth to say something until the door opened revealing his siblings. Kouen didn't seem too surprised, but you, however, were.

"What are you all doing here?" You asked, a bright smile on your face.

"We needed to see you one last time!" Said Kougyoku and Kouha. Meanwhile, Koumei shook his head with a sigh.

You giggled at them, "you make it seem like I'm going to die," you said, almost falling back as Kougyoku and Kouha ran from the door to hug you.

You rested a hand on both their heads and sighed, "I can't promise I'll be okay, but I can promise that I will try my hardest to make it out alive for all of you," you said, bringing them in closer. You glanced up at Koumei and grabbed him to also bring him into the hug.

You felt tears in your eyes as the siblings began shaking in your arms, soon enough you felt Kouen's arms wrap around you from behind. You let in a deep breath and let yourself relax in their arms, you hoped that this moment would last as long as you'd want it to. Unfortunately, you knew that it wouldn't.

At some point, all of you let go of the hug and spent the rest of the time you had left spending time together. Kouha did your hair in a dutch braided bun and pinned it with the hair stick. Kougyoku held your hand while Koumei talked to you about several effective strategies. You felt right at home as they spent time with you.

It was then time for them to go and you got in one last, long hug. When they left you went to the bathroom to change into your clothes for the dungeon, you were wearing the dress you wore during your fight with that monster. (A/N: If any of you are confused then I'm talking about the dress from the Royal test chapter)

When you finished Kouen looked down at you sternly and you rose a brow at him. "Are you going to let Kazue see you?" He asked, "I noticed you haven't asked to see him the entire time you were here."

You flinched and looked down at the ground, "I..." You stopped, you didn't know what to say or what to do.

"Well?"

You sighed and gripped your arm tightly. You didn't want to say why. You didn't want Kouen to know why because it seemed so pathetic when you thought of it. You tried turning away from him but you felt him grab your arm and make you look up at him.

"Tell me..." He paused, "please..."

You took in a deep breath, "I... I'm too scared to see him," you whispered. Kouen raised a brow at you, waiting for you to explain this sudden fear.

You took a moment to collect yourself and reached out the grab Kouen's hand. "The last time this happened my father wasn't happy at all, but I didn't care about him..." You trailed off as memories came back, "I knew Kazue didn't want to show it, but I saw how upset he was..."

You stopped and your grip on Kouen's hand tightened causing him to look to your eyes in shock, you were blinking back tears. You quickly wiped them, "Kazue was worried during all those days and disappointed in me for losing control. I don't want to see his face when he catches wind of what happened," you explained, letting go of his hand and turning your back to him.

Kouen grabbed your arm and turned you back to him. "Do you realize where you're going?!" He yelled causing your eyes to widen, "you're to a dungeon with only an ordinary weapon and no one to help you!"

You stayed frozen and said nothing to him, even if you did know he was right. If you left without saying anything to Kazue and possibly died in that dungeon you knew he would find a way to blame himself and be devasted for the rest of his life.

"I..."

You didn't get to finished your thought because Gyokuen's followers came in to bring you to the dungeon. You struggled against their hold on you, "w-wait, I'm not ready yet! I'm not ready yet, please!" You yelled while struggling against them.

They didn't listen to you though, they just took you away with no problem.

*~*~*

You stood expressionless as they read out the reasoning for you going to a dungeon, they seemed to be covering it up. Everyone from the castle seemed to be there, just to further give way to cover it all up. Just imagine how confusing it would be if the first princess suddenly went missing with no trace? Plus no one needed anyone else to know of your misdeeds.

Even Kazue was there, which is why you didn't look up. Just as you were sure they were about to send you away, you took one last look at everyone and that was when your eyes widened.

Funnily enough, your eyes landed a woman you looked exactly like your sister, save for a few differences. But you were too shocked to even look at those differences, you were stuck staring at those eyes that never seemed to change even after all that time. Just as you felt them push you in, you held a hand out to try and stop them.

"Wait!" You yelled.

But it was too late. You were already in and the last thing you saw was her eyes widening when they met yours.

*~*~*

Kouen tried not to look up as they read out your reasoning for going into the dungeon, it was clear they were trying to cover it up as much as possible. He sighed and his head snapped when he heard you call out to wait. His eyes widened and he looked to where your eyes were but couldn't catch who it might've been. He rose a brow and left the moment you were gone.

As of now, he was sitting at his desk staring at your djinn vessels. While he stared at them he didn't know what exactly to feel but he did know that he wanted you to come back safe.

*~*~*

The next time you felt something it was cold and suffocating. You felt like you couldn't breathe and as you opened your mouth you realized how bad of a decision that was, water entered it. You quickly closed it and opened your eyes only to realize you were in water, you tried swimming up to feel something stopping you. You tried banging on it only to realize it was ice and very thick ice at that. 

You almost gave up until you felt something bump into your legs and drag you into the water by the skirt of your dress. You looked to see it was some weird looking fish, you couldn't explain what it looked like if you tried. The first thing you noticed, however, was its glowing eyes and sharp teeth. You might've guessed it looked a bit like an eel. 

You didn't have time to dwell on it as you were starting to feel your vision fade. As it came swimming towards you again you stuck the sword given to you into its head, the fish stopped moving and began to sink. You were about to grab the sword until you realized that you couldn't even take it out. Your eyes widened to see the sword freeze into its head, you almost wanted to groan from frustration but stopped yourself. 

You swam back to the surface and tried breaking the ice open again, only for nothing to happen. You then decided to groan in frustration until an idea struck. You reached to the back of your head and the grabbed hair stick Kouen gave you, you felt some of your hair release from braided bun it was in. You looked at it and only hoped it wouldn't break. 

You then started to stab it into the ice and grew relieved to see it working, after some work you finally made a hole big enough to squeeze through. When you finally made it out you felt like you were about to cough out a lung, you were wheezing and coughing horribly. 

You weakly raised your hand up to see the hair stick Kouen gave you and a weak smile came to your face at how much more useful it was than the sword. You mind drifted off to when Kouen was telling you about it before you left to the dungeon. 

~

Kouen admired the hair stick in your hands and spoke up. "You know at first I was hesitant to give you this," he said, running his thumb over the small butterfly on it.

You rose a brow, "why is that?" You asked. 

Kouen stayed quiet for a moment and felt your hand grab his. "You don't have to tell me yet," you said softly. Kouen nodded and let go of your hand holding the hair stick. 

"I'll just say it belonged to someone special."

~

You gave the hair stick a soft smile and for a small moment, you could've sworn a small rukh was there, sitting on it. You brows scrunched but it soon disappeared, like if it was never there. 

'I wonder...'