The Cursed King

So far, the man had been nothing more than gracious and kind to her. Elise didn\'t think that it\'d be possible in this day and age to have such a caring man, she was very appreciative of this fact.

A smile curled up on Loriel\'s lips. "Thank you."

It was a small gesture that made Elise\'s heart pound slightly. It was probably because she had never seen such a handsome man like him before.

Loriel paid the server of the ramen shop, tipped, and then offered his hand to Elise. "Shall we get going?"

"A-ah, yes. Let\'s go. It\'s this way." Elise quickly spun to her feet and pointed towards the exit.

While she had realized her instinctive tendency to reach out and grab his hand as if it was always meant for her to touch, she couldn\'t do this with a man she had only met.

The two of them left the Haruka Ramen Shop.

It was in good timing because the shop owner received a certain call from a woman named Alexandra who had sudden news for them. She wanted to buy the shop for whatever price they had in mind.

***

The moment the two had arrived at the hostel, Elise already saw that something was wrong. She squinted her eyes at the gaudy neon signage outside of the building and rubbed her eyes.

"There\'s a lot of people leaving the hostel and it\'s entirely dark… I hope nothing bad has happened." There was a sense of worry that gnawed at her throat.

"We must check then," Loriel said. The man furrowed his brows and motioned to the hostel\'s entrance. "I don\'t feel comfortable leaving you when there seems to be a sudden emergency at where you\'re currently staying."

Elise looked up at him and anxiously waved her hands. "You\'ve already done far enough. I can\'t expect you to do this much for me."

"Please, I\'d like to be of help if the situation allows it," the man insisted. Inwardly, he was happy to see his great-nephew must have done what he asked him to do.

Elise rubbed the back of her neck, but finally gave in. "Alright, there\'s no stopping you if you insist this much. Please follow me."

She didn\'t think that there\'d be that much of a problem, right?

The woman realized that she had spoken far too soon.

"Ah, we\'re really sorry, Miss." the man at the hostel\'s counter apologized. "I\'d have to ask that you vacate this hostel. But don\'t worry, we\'ll compensate you for the bother."

Elise\'s forehead creased. "What\'s the matter?"

"A terrible blackout occurred within the hostel. Faulty electricity problems that we can\'t have our guests staying here any longer."

The woman bit her lip. The idea of finding another hostel at this time already made her stomach churn. "Can\'t it be possible for me to stay the night and leave in the morning?"

"Oh, we can\'t risk that, Miss." The man explained as he carefully counted out crisp bills from a briefcase hidden from their view. "If there is faulty wiring and electrical surges here, then it\'d be too dangerous for any person to stay and jeopardize anybody. Please accept this instead."

Loriel bit back a smile. It seemed like Marc had done his job correctly.

When he gazed at the cheap hostel that Elise afforded, he couldn\'t help but feel his heart ache.

That was no place for a wife of his and he couldn\'t help but grow more curious--wait, he wasn\'t exactly sure if this was the real Elise.

It was easy to forget about it when he saw this woman\'s beautiful face, she was an exact replica of his wife. But if she was, the idea that she was staying at such a place almost reduced him to tears.

If it weren\'t for him, then Elise would have lived happily and comfortably in their kingdom. There would have been no need to search and wait for her throughout the past fifteen centuries. But most importantly, she wouldn\'t have had to suffer.

Elise reluctantly accepted the money from the man at the counter. She understood the situation well enough, and even sympathized with the hostel paying good money as compensation… but it currently meant that she had nowhere else to go at this point in time.

Loriel cleared his throat.