Princess Annabelle angrily tore her room apart, looking for her special, purple book."What could I have possibly done with it?" Princess Annabelle whispered to herself. She made so much noise that some of her servants outside of the room began to worry. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door."Your Highness," began the voice outside of the door, "It's me, Alexiel."Looking around her room in dismay, Princess Annabelle was stuck for a moment, wondering whether or not to allow Alexiel into her room. A split second later, she decided to allow him in, and no sooner than when Alexiel entered, a look of concern immediately appeared on his face at the disarray of the room."What...happened here?" asked Alexiel, "Is everything ok, Your Highness?""...Yes, everything is fine," said Princess Annabelle, "I'm just looking for something.""What are you looking for, Your Highness? Maybe I can help you find it.""...No, that won't be necessary...What I'm looking for is very precious to me. So, I prefer to look for it myself."Alexiel stood in thought for a moment before he knew the most likely thing the princess was looking for."Very well, Your Highness," Alexiel said."So...is there a reason you've come to see me?" asked Princess Annabelle."Yes...I wanted to ask your permission to leave the castle for a bit.""You want to leave again? Alexiel, you've just returned to the castle from a trip I allowed you to take a few days ago. Why do you wish to leave again so soon?""Don't worry, Your Highness. I won't be taking another trip, and I'll only be gone for a day...I just have some personal business to take care of, Your Highness."Princess Annabelle stared at Alexiel with a blank face for a few seconds before she spoke."Very well. You may leave the castle for the day," Princess Annabelle said."Thank you, Your Highness," said Alexiel before turning to leave, with Princess Annabelle commanding him to summon her most favorite maid, Seraphine, to her room on his way out. Seraphine appeared soon after Alexiel's departure."Do you need anything, Your Highness?" asked Seraphine."Yes, I do," answered Princess Annabelle, "I have a task for you. I want you to follow Alexiel for the day and report back to me his activity. Please hurry and catch up to him before he gets too far away.""Yes, Your Highness."Seraphine then left the princess's room immediately. But soon after she left, there was another knock at the door. It was one of Princess Annabelle's ministers."I've come to report back on the situation in Friedens," said the minister."Oh, do tell," said Princess Annabelle."Although none of the women there confessed to being the lover of the prince of Casadell'arte, it is confirmed that all of the women in the country have been annihilated.""Hmm...Interesting.""...So, is it time to remove our troops from Friedens?""Actually...no. Keep them there for a while longer. While I'm at it, I may as well have Friedens under my control. I would love to expand my territory a bit.""But...Your Highness.""Do as I say!""...Of course, Your Highness. I will take my leave, then."With that, the minister left Princess Annabelle's room, leaving the princess standing alone, a peculiar grin on her face.Alexiel eventually made his way towards the outskirts of the capital, thinking hard about his search."If I were a mage, scared for her life to be discovered, where would I hide?" Alexiel asked himself. He knew that there weren't many good hiding places in the capital besides the woods that served as a natural border between Terresaine and Friedens, and that if he really wanted to thoroughly search for Bernadette, he would have to search the entire country of Terresaine. But for now, he decided to just try his luck and search in the woods. After all, he did tell the princess that he would only be absent from the castle for a day.For what felt like hours, Alexiel walked and walked through the woods, no sign of any clues in his sight. Eventually, Alexiel's feet began to hurt from the long walk, so feeling hopeless, he found a place to sit and take a break."*sigh* What am I doing?" Alexiel asked himself, "There's probably no mage hiding in these woods at all. There's also a possibility that Bernadette is no longer even alive. Her death was probably just never recorded. The mass execution of mages did take place a long time ago, anyway. I'm probably just wasting my time...That book Princess Annabelle has...maybe it's just a really old book that a mage created long ago...That still wouldn't explain how the princess has it in her possession, though."After a few minutes of thinking and moping, Alexiel resolved to leave the woods and return to the castle. But before he could do that, a bright light accompanied by a loud noise caught his attention in the distance. Frightened, yet curious, Alexiel ran in the direction of the sight to discover its source. After running a short distance through trees and bushes, Alexiel came upon what looked like a young woman, who was crouched on the ground, gathering what looked like severed tree branches. After hesitating a bit, Alexiel decided to get her attention."Um, excuse me," Alexiel said, startling the woman, who quickly stood up in fear, dropping the tree branches she was gathering back onto the ground."Wh-who are you?!" asked the woman, "Why are you here?!""...My name is Alexiel. There's no need to be afraid. I won't hurt you."Despite Alexiel's comforting words, the woman kept stepping back in fear, and eventually tripped over the pile of tree branches she dropped, falling on her bottom. And when Alexiel walked closer to her with the intention of helping her up, the woman screamed."No!" the woman yelled, "Please don't come any closer! Please! I don't want to die!""Please calm down," said Alexiel, "I really mean you no harm. It's just that...I heard a loud noise and saw a bright light moments earlier, so I came to see where the source was.""*gasp* You saw it!""Yes, I did! Do you know what happened?"",,,Oh, dear. I'm really going to die, now."Suddenly, the woman started sobbing, and all a confused Alexiel could do was hand her a handkerchief."Please, young lady. Try to calm down," said Alexiel, "Why are you saying that you're going to die?""I...I can't tell you," said the woman, "Anyway, why are you even in these woods in the first place?""...Well...I came here to search for someone.""...Really? Did someone get lost here in these woods?""Well, no. But...well...I was doing a little research on the history of Terresaine's mages one day. I read that, unfortunately, they were all executed when magic was first banished from the country. However, I eventually learned about one particular mage whose death was never recorded, so I assumed that she was possibly still alive somewhere here in Terresaine...So, I came to the woods to find her.""...is that so?""Yes...Um, you wouldn't happen to have seen where that bright light I saw earlier came from, would you?"Suddenly, the woman stood up from the ground, turned her back to Alexiel, and began to walk a short distance away from him."I...think it's time for you go home now," the woman said."But...No, what about my search?" said Alexiel."Just go home and forget that you saw anything!...I'll be leaving, now.""But, no. I...Wait a minute. You're her, aren't you? You're Bernadette!""What?! That's absurd! How could I possibly be a mage?!""...I never said Bernadette was a mage."Alexiel and the woman stared at each other, a daunting silence between them.