Prince Avery was running through hoops, and dead ends. He had gone through so much to get evidences, but they hadn't proven anything related to the case nor Raine’s innocence.
He laid down on his bed, stuck, staring at the ceiling. It had all the embroidery and culture, in one ceiling; It was beautifully painted. He then rolled to the other part of his wide bed. No matter how long he'd stay there, it wouldn't solve his problem and he knew that.
"Uhm, Avery?" someone started to knock, their voice sounded sad and worried, "Come in." Avery said as he buried his face in his pillows.
It was Portia and Kyriel, Kyriel held Portia's dress as they both entered the room slowly.
"What is it?" He sounded annoyed, "Regina is missing again." Kyriel said, Avery got up from his moment of resting and turned to both of them, "Again!?!".

It was a common thing for royals to disappear, either for the cause of death or just running away. For Regina, it was either of the two or, possibly, more. Though, she had the habit of going places and coming back as a whole new person. She is what you’d call, careless, as she never worries about what could happen to her whenever she makes decisions.
The last time she went missing was the night of Kyriel's birth, she was found sealing a deal with a witch to make sure Kyriel wouldn't be born that night.
However, this time, it was utter chaos.

"So, let me get this straight. She convinced you guys to play hide and seek with her…Outside of the kingdom!?!" Avery continued.
"Yes, and she'd promise to never tease us if we found her… And well..."
"Well? what?".
"It's been four hours since, she went to go hide." Portia finished Kyriel's sentence.
Avery had officially lost it and he didn't even want to go find her but the King and Queen were busy convincing the council of Haisendale. Thus, leaving but just the three of them and one other missing.
Avery calmed down for a bit, since he was the older brother, he had to go find Regina, as usual. If she had went outside the kingdom, it would mean she'd be in disguise. He had to set aside the Assassination Case and focus on his sister instead.

Avery dressed up in a black vest, white polo, and black pants with a hat that most young boys would wear. He assured that he'd find Regina as soon as possible. He ordered guards to watch every inch of the palace, to make sure if Regina could be hiding somewhere in the palace. But, he didn't tell them that he'd go out.
The city changed after the assassination, there were barely any people around, fortunately, this meant they wouldn’t crowd around Avery, it just proved how good he was at disguises.
He found himself looking at a couple, laughing and talking as they seemed really sweet, he shrugged it off but something caught his eye with the lady sitting in front of the man. The lady looked like Tara! He thought, as he proceeded going a bit closer to them to actually make sure. As he got close, he could hear her voice, her laugh and he saw her smile as well. He stared intently but he wondered who the man was. He wanted to approach them, forgetting about the plan he had, despite not actually having a plan in the first place.

He approached the two.
"Uh, Hi!" Avery interrupted them, when Tara turned to him, she immediately recognized him.
“Sorry, I'm Alfonso, a friend of hers." He turned to the man in front of her. He was rather young, and seemed to be the complete opposite of Avery. "Uh, nice to meet you…" Avery soon noticed the man’s hand was on Tara's.
"Uhm, Hyde, my apologies. Will you excuse us for a moment?" Tara stood up and dragged Avery somewhere private.

"Your highness, what do you think you're doing?" She placed her hands on her hips, Avery took his hat off "Enough with the formalities. I'm not even Avery outside of the palace?".
"You're still Prince Avery, inside and out. Now, what are you doing here? Dressed up?" Avery shrugged and kept looking at Tara, it had been a day since he last saw her but it felt like an eternity.
"Regina is missing again." He broke his gaze from her alluring eyes, "Oh, that girl... For how long has she been missing?" Tara crossed her arms, in worry "A few hours, but I don't want my parents to stress too much about it, so I’m out here searching for her. Until... I bumped into you flirting with that man. Hyde, was it?" He raised a brow, his voice sounding jealous and angry.
"I wasn't flirting." She didn't look at him.
"I saw you two hold hands, laughing and smiling." He said mockingly.
"It's none of your business. You should just get back to the castle. I'll find Regina myself." Tara held her ground, "No, I'm not letting you. Either she's still roaming around or she's been kidnapped."
They stood there for a moment to think about what to do and where to find her. Tara kept stealing glances at Avery, and so did he.
Avery cleared his throat, "So, Hyde… Who's he…?" he broke the silence, "A merchant, he's been traveling the regions. My father just happened to babysit him when he was young."
"So... He's, how old...?" Avery kept asking questions about Hyde and it began annoying Tara.
"He's 20, Avery." Tara sighed, "And you're 18. Isn't that just weird?" Avery, pointing out that they had an age gap, "Does he know that you're 18?" He looked at her.
"Why are you even asking about this?" She crossed her arms and sighed "If you're talking about me marrying him, I'm not." She looked away and Avery slowly turned to her "You aren't going to marry him…?".
"No."
"So, you aren't getting married? Like, to anyone at all?"
"I still am, it just isn't him." Tara chuckled; Avery let out a sigh. He fixed his posture and hair a bit before turning around, facing away from Tara, "I'll be on my way then" he smiled but his brows furrowed, "You should get back too." He walked away as Tara was still looking at him as he lowered his gaze. ‘That idiot.’ She thought while walking over to Hyde, once again, they parted ways.

Hours passed and the sun started to set. Avery was still looking for Regina, but with no luck whatsoever. He started to feel cold, so he looked around to find a place he could rest and warm himself up at, he saw a sewer pipe that was big enough for him to fit in.
He couldn't go back to the palace without Regina so he took a deep breath before sitting inside the sewer pipe, it wasn't like he was used to sitting in a place, mostly a sewer pipe. It stank too.
A few moments passed and the moon had risen from it's slumber, Avery was still inside the pipe, trying to keep himself warm. He wanted to get out but he knew that out there, it was colder since winter was near. He hugged himself tightly, hoping that he'd stay alive to save Regina. He breathed heavily as he tried to calm down, he didn't know what to do. He closed his eyes and just hoped someone would get him.