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When he realized his mistake, Everard had gone to look for Ruby in her room. However, he didn’t find Ruby there. He didn’t think much of it that day; he simply thought that she was somewhere around the castle and then came to find her another day. But then the same things happened. He couldn’t find Ruby no matter where he looked.

After mobilizing guards to find her, he finally realized that Ruby was gone from the castle for good.

He kept on recalling everything that he said to the poor thing. And he hated himself for it. He hated himself even more when the guards couldn’t find Ruby outside of the castle as well.

All he could do was apologize countless times in his head, hoping that his voice could reach her just like how it did on the full moon night. However, his voice never reached her, and nor did his soldiers and guards.

—

When the guards searched for Ruby inside the castle, it didn’t strike even one of them that she could have been hiding somewhere dark and gloomy – the dungeon.

Since the dungeon wasn’t exactly a happy place to hide, and since Ruby wasn’t some criminal for her to desperately avoid being caught, they overlooked the very place where Ruby was.

For all these days, she had been living in one of the rooms of the dungeon that was supposed to be used during the full moon.

.....

In one corner of that dark room, Ruby had stored a few food items that had relatively longer shelf life, like bread, cookies, and also water. In another corner, she had spread out a few of her clothes to use as the bed.

Just like that, she had been confining herself. She would sneak out to use the bathroom. She would sneak back to her room at night to take a bath. Then she would go back to hiding herself.

She had no idea why she was doing this to herself. The only explanation that she had was, “I felt like doing it.”

However, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t hurting herself even more by keeping herself away from Everard.

When it would all quiet down, she would occasionally go to the cell where she had transformed. She would recall how Everard had cuddled with her when they both were in their wolf forms. She would recall how gently Everard had treated her since their time in Lavinya.

But then, all of a sudden, the harsh words that Everard said to her would come knocking into her mind. And she would feel her heart getting crushed. Every muscle in her body would go limp thinking how much Everard despised her for no apparent reason at all.

At such times, she would think to herself, ‘Shouldn’t I stop living here in the castle and stop leeching off of him? Should I run away for real?’

But then she would tame those thoughts by thinking, ‘But what if he desperately needs me like the night of the full moon? Like the first half of the full moon?’

Then she would be all sad when another thought would cross her mind. ‘It looks like he is doing fine without me though. He has already moved on, hasn’t he? The guards aren’t looking for me anymore.’

After giving it a lot of thought, Ruby decided to meet Everard for one last time and then disappear from his life for good.

‘He just thinks of me as someone who tricked him by using some kind of black magic. He doesn’t even think that those moments that we shared with each other were real. So, there’s no point in sticking around, hoping to be found, is there? I should say my goodbyes and leave.’

With that thought in mind, Ruby had snuck out of the dungeon a day before the coronation day. However, she couldn’t quite gather up the courage to actually go to Everard’s chambers and then see him.

In the end, she returned back to the dungeon.

[A few hours before the ball]

Ruby was pacing around in the dungeon cell, wondering if it was the right time to run away from there.

‘It’s not like he needs me anymore, right? After all, he is now the King. He has countless people serving him and running around him.’

Her eyes became moist when she recalled all those fond memories that she had shared with him. She sat down on the floor and rested her head on her knees. A few drops of tears rolled down her eyes and her heart ached like crazy when she recalled how he had come running to her when she had her first transformation.

She suddenly wiped her tears and scoffed at herself. ‘Why did you raise my expectations, Everard? Why did you treat me so gently? Why did you make me feel that you actually had some feelings for me?’

‘Maybe all that Everard showed me was pity and not... love.’

‘Wait... I am not even allowed to take his name...’ Ruby chuckled to herself while the tears rolled down her eyes uncontrollably.

She buried her head in between her knees and thought while sniffling, ‘I am the daughter of farmers! Why did I even think for a second that I could actually develop feelings toward the Crown Prince? Now, he is even further away from my reach... He is the King! I should not even be allowed to breathe the same air that touched him!’

After crying and hiccupping for an hour or so, Ruby finally calmed down. She then wiped her tears and got up on her feet with determination.

‘Yes. Everybody must be busy with the ceremonies, right? Nobody will care about a bottom feeder like me even if I walk out now.’

She took a deep breath before opening the door of the dungeon cell. She nodded to herself and then thought while clenching her fists, ‘Let’s get out of this castle for good.’