But he truly hoped the prince would fall for it—and he did—leading to his current state. He had returned later, after ensuring the prince had gone to Babu to carry out his father's orders, as he had made him believe. Without delay, he moved to the dorms, searching every room for anything that could be linked to Prince Andreas.
He had just finished searching the first and second dorms, still disguised in his illusion as the prince. He was about to move to the third when he sensed the prince's presence there in Nerwin.
Did he not stay as long as he thought? Or was he the one who lost track of time? He glanced at the sun and realized it was already past midday in Triven.
Dammit, he must have spent far too much time searching the other dorms.
Immediately, he took the form of one of the flags there to fool the prince, even though he knew he was the only one who could see him and that the prince would definitely notice something was off with the environment. But this was just to pass.
As the flag, he remained steady while the Trivenians in the institute— as many as he could see—trooped into a certain hall. He ignored them, keeping his senses focused on the prince as he entered the third and final dorm.
'That must be where he is hiding his secret,' he thought, shifting into the form of an ordinary person—likely one of the aspirants at the institute. He trailed the prince quietly, careful not to act suspicious, occasionally pausing to convince him he was real, just in case the prince turned around, as his instincts warned.
He followed until the prince stopped before a door boldly inscribed with a name and number: **LILITH AMNELL 099**.
Standing far away, he watched the prince enter the room casually, as if it were his own. 'That must be it,' he thought, now pondering how to get the prince out so he could uncover what was hidden inside.
Not long after the prince entered, as he stood in the middle of the hall, he changed his form to a young ranger, still pondering how to get inside before sundown. Suddenly, a girl bumped into him accidentally.
"Oh my god! I am so, so sorry," she quickly apologized.
'What was going on?' Lord Varnaak wondered, suspecting maybe this was an illusion in his mind. 'Why was this happening?'
"Besides, why were you standing in the middle of the hallway?" she asked, her purple eyes locking into his brown ones, regarding the form he had taken.
"You… you can see me?" he asked, confused.
"What do you think I am? Blind? Of course, dummy, I can see you." She smiled, thinking he was joking.
"You can see me!" he exclaimed more to himself than to her.
"So…" Lilith trailed off, no longer sure he was joking.
"No, never mind," he quickly cut her off. "Who are you?"
"I'm Lilith, a level one aspirant," she answered boldly. "What about you?" She gestured toward him.
"I… um… I'm Richard," he said after a quick thought for an undercover name.
"Oh, okay. I can see I'm not the only one who decided to skip lunch," she smiled.
"What?"
"Wait, you don't know?"
"Know what?" He furrowed his brows.
"It's lunch time already, and the dining hall is definitely full now. I can see you didn't hear the alarm."
"Oh, really." That explained why everyone outside had been walking into a particular hall earlier. "I guess I just came to grab something like you did."
"Of course," Lilith nodded. "I'll head to my room now." She walked toward her door. "Bye Richard, it was nice meeting you." She waved before finally entering her room.
"Same here, Lilith," he waved back, totally amazed by her. He found her special for being able to see him. He was even more certain she was not ordinary when she walked into the same room Prince Andreas had entered.
"Such a cute soul. So this is the prince's secret," he muttered to himself as she went inside. Now he had uncovered what the prince was hiding. The only thing left was to find a way to bring her before the king before dusk.
However, he couldn't help but wonder who she was and how she could see and feel him. Could she be one of them? No! He was sure she was not. She lacked their aura and did not recognize him. Plus, she had ears, not their symbol. He however felt a very tiny sense of familiarity with her. She seemed like a normal Trivenian, but he was very certain she was far from normal.
Moreover, he was sure she could see the prince as well, since she could see him. What might their relationship be? Was the prince just in her room to cause trouble, or had his search led him there? No! He doubted that.
He was sure she knew very well that the prince was in her room—or at least would be there about 75% of the time.
He could tell from the fact that it was lunchtime, but instead of going to eat, she had come to her room. And from the way she bumped into him, he could tell she was not in her right mind.
Maybe she was distracted, occupied with something, or in a hurry to meet someone. 'The prince!' Now he was 95% sure she expected to meet him in her room. But why?
Well, that would be his later thought. For now, he needed to report immediately that he had unveiled the prince's secret, and then figure out how to get answers to his questions. This was getting interesting...