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Well, to put it crudely, she was chained but with all things considered, she was being taken care of really, really well by the crown prince himself.

Except when night falls, then it was a different kind of being taken care of. Her arms and legs were tied to the bed in a type of cloth that wouldn't leave any marks on her. And Vance would try his best to make the experience as comfortable as he could.

At first, she was angry. Who wouldn't? In such a situation. After that, she became rather numb to the whole thing and tried to think of it from his perspective.

Honestly, what did he get out of this? She couldn't shake away those icky thoughts or people being chained up as slaves and she felt like she should be angrier but it was hard when he would hug her to calm her down despite her thrashing about.

He truly treated her as though she were a cat that needed to be taken care of and was willing to withstand her scratches and bites so long as he could be the one taking care of her.

She sighed loudly. She should be mad, she should be angry. And she was, but she was also tired from the whole situation. In the end, she decided to just go with it.

Also, her wedding. She wondered what happened to it. She seemed to have lost track of time and it anguished her even more that she was so close to nailing this and heading home. Her real home. Her real world.

What would happen to Sam? Surely he would try his best to search for her.

"Are you still thinking about him," Vance asked in a dangerously low voice. Whenever he did that, it meant that she would not have any sleep that night.

Vance sighed before sinking his lips onto her neck and then it went further down and even further more, "Stop thinking about him. It's impossible between the two of you." He said in between kisses.

Scarlet shivered and sighed. It was going to be a long, long night.

-

Sam stood at the altar. They were planning on holding the ceremony in a traditional manner with just them and a few other close ones. Lei was there. Vance wasn't.

Sam waited till they said the auspicious hour was there and he finally had a semblance of how happiness felt like, only to have his residence's servants rushing in while shaking their heads in a tight frown.

He glanced at his Uncle who waved his hand, "Don't look at me, it wasn't me. I didn't do anything to your fiance."

Sam looked at Lei who was trying her best to remain calm, "She was still fine yesterday, I tucked her into her bed. She couldn't just disappear!"

"Do we have our people at his residence?" Sam asked Reyes who was pulled into the conversation unwillingly. With difficulty, Reyes nodded his head as he had to reveal their secret services ops and the fact that they were monitoring the royalty's every move, especially Vance's.

"He doesn't seem to be doing anything odd. He still goes about his daily routines as per usual."

"She can't possibly disappear from plain sight, can she?" Sam frowned and Reyes looked at him. Well, isn't this the first that Sam had burst as well. He was usually so calm, collected and gentle.

What was up with this girl?

Sam rubbed his temples. He imagined Scarlet alone, possibly ill-treated and bullied and he could feel himself growing absolutely cold.

"Find her at all costs..." He gave an order, "and I'll do whatever you need me to." He looked at his Uncle who was about to protest. He paused when Sam said that. With a delightful look on his face, his lips arched up. His pet was finally listening to him.

-