The Princess in the Sack

"Has she still not been found?!"

A middle-aged man roared, his voice echoing through the marble chamber. Dressed in regal robes with jeweled rings adorning every finger, his presence radiated authority and impatience.

He was Raphael Geerk Oriana, the reigning monarch of the Oriana Kingdom.

"We're doing everything we can, my king. She will be brought before you soon," the knight replied, standing straight despite the heavy pressure. He knew well that if he failed, his future was finished.

"Have you confirmed if Baron is behind this?"

"No, Your Majesty. In fact, he was visibly shaken upon hearing the news."

"He should be," Raphael growled. "Something like this happening under his jurisdiction is disgraceful. Still, keep a close eye on him."

"Yes, sire."

As the others bowed and filed out of the room, the king walked slowly toward the tall window. The golden light of the afternoon sun spilled across his face as he stared into the distance.

Softly, to no one in particular, he whispered,

"Rose… where are you?"

His eldest daughter, always playful and clever, had vanished.

She had accompanied him here, and though he knew well how she could outwit guards and slip away unnoticed, this time it didn't feel like one of her games.

He didn't want to believe it was her fault.

Not this time.

Was the cult behind this?

His jaw tightened, and his fists clenched, knuckles whitening with quiet fury.

---

Meanwhile, deep in the shadows…

"You saw how none of them even noticed?"

A man muttered, adjusting the large cloth bag slung over his shoulder. Its mouth was sealed tight with thick rope, and whatever was inside was big. Heavy.

"Those stupid knights thought we were just workers," another man sneered.

"We're lucky," the first one replied. "He didn't play with us."

"I really thought it was a trap," a third added, wiping sweat from his brow. "Thought we'd be the ones getting killed."

"We didn't even have a choice," the second man said grimly. "We just followed orders."

A moment of silence passed before one of them spoke again with a twisted grin.

"But now? Now we have a princess in our hands."

One of the men chuckled, the sound low and twisted.

"Just thinking how much we could get for her makes me giddy."

"Me too," another muttered, eyes gleaming with greed. "She's worth more than any job we've ever pulled."

"But the dealer," the first one said cautiously, "he didn't want anything else, right? Just the princess?"

"Far as I know, yeah," the third replied.

"He just said, 'Bring her to me. Alive.'"

A brief silence followed. The weight of those words lingered.

"I don't like it," one of them finally muttered.

"We're getting into something way out of our hands."

"It's not like we have any other choice," another replied grimly.

As they continued debating their next move, none of them noticed the presence hidden in the shadows—someone silently watching their every step.

A low voice murmured, almost amused, "So the stylish bandit-slayer plot is already underway, huh?"

The boy crouched on a nearby rooftop. The hood of his dark cloak barely stirred in the night breeze. His eyes, sharp and unblinking, locked on the movement below.

That boy was Draco.

Like every day, he had been out for a nightly patrol—his version of hunting. Normally, he would have taken out this kind of scum in seconds. But something about the bag caught his eye.

It moved.

Subtle, but unmistakable. Someone was alive inside.

And after hearing their conversation, he was sure of it.

It was her.

The yellow-haired princess from the Oriana Kingdom.

He wasn't exactly shocked.

In fact, Draco had expected something like this ever since the afternoon, when rumors spread that someone from the Oriana Kingdom had arrived and was staying in the city. He didn't think the princess herself would be reckless enough to walk into a place like this, but here they were.

He narrowed his eyes.

"Will Cid come?" he muttered under his breath, uncertain. "Doubt it…"

In the last few months of his hunts, Draco hadn't found a single clue about Cid Kagenou, the infamous Shadow.

There hadn't even been any rumors about bandits being killed, aside from the ones he personally dealt with.

Not that he minded. In fact, he preferred it that way.

The last thing he wanted was someone else eyeing his prey, his primary source of income.

Still, a part of him wondered who would deal with the Cult of Diablos and other looming threats if Shadow and his Shadow Garden were truly gone.

Forget it. No point thinking about that now.

Shaking his head, he forced his focus back.

He didn't care whether Cid showed up to save the princess or not.

He didn't care about her life either.

What he did care about were the kidnappers.

They were his targets. His hunt.

"Let's do it."

He leapt from the shadows, slipping an ANBU mask onto his face mid-air.

"Let's hunt."

**************

explain timeline which events happened when?