Arthur outwardly agreed and pretended to drink with James, but deep inside, he gnashed his teeth. His anger and frustration were now spreading like poison within him.
This clear refusal from James was like a tight slap on his face.
A little while later, when the drinks were over and James had left, citing official business, Arthur walked alone down the corridor. As he reached the dark corner, his friendly facade fell away. His face burned red with anger, and he clenched his fists. He stared at the walls, talking to himself, "What the hell is going on in James's head? He told me such a huge lie? And most importantly... why hasn't he talked to me about the ditch incident yet?"
Arthur murmured, pacing the corridor, "From childhood until today... Whenever James had even a small accident, or an argument with his brothers, he would come running to me. He would tell me his plans, his fears, everything he knew without a trace. But last night there was such a big fight in the trench; he killed my men hiding among Rexon's spies, kidnapped that girl... and today he's acting as if nothing happened? Has James started suspecting me? Or has that girl cast such a spell on him that he's turned his back on his best friend?"
Arthur angrily punched the wall. "No! I can't let James win this game. If he's hiding the truth from me, I have to make this game even more dangerous. I have to provoke Rexon so much that he can raze the Winter Area to the ground."
On the other side, watching Arthur walk away from his room's window, James's face showed a deep doubt. He understood that Arthur's arrival here was no coincidence.
Arthur spent two more days in the palace. He tried every trick in the book. Sometimes he intimidated the maids, sometimes he drank with James's generals, trying to extract the truth from them. But James's strict instructions prevented anyone from speaking up.
Genia's room was guarded 24/7 by James's most ferocious soldiers, where even a bird could not fly. Finally, seeing no news from James and finding no clue about Genia, Arthur became exhausted.
As he rode his white horse to the main entrance of the palace, Arthur looked at James. He had that familiar, false, friendly smile on his face.
"Okay, James, I'm leaving now. There are some important matters to be resolved within the White Tiger Clan. But remember, if there's any truth to the rumours about the valley... then remember this brother of yours."
James looked into his eyes and said softly, "Rumours are just a gust of wind, Arthur. Those who follow them often lose their way. Complete your journey safely."
"Absolutely, brother, absolutely!" Arthur said with a smile, but as he spurred the horse forward, a deadly anger flashed across his face. He muttered to himself, "There's no point in wasting time here. I have to go back to my clan and make a big move."
And he disappeared on the snowy paths. After Arthur's departure, the palace's atmosphere grew a little quieter.
Genia, meanwhile, had no memory of her past. She didn't know whether she was Aditi from the human world or Guardian Andromeda from the animal world. But even after losing her memory, her former playful and lively nature had remained unchanged. Even within the harsh and cold walls of the palace, she had begun to add colour to it with her innocent mischief.
One afternoon, when the snowfall had subsided a little, James was looking down at the garden from his room's window. The view brought a rare smile to his lips.
Genia had removed the silk cloth from her face. She was trying to catch the snowflakes flying in the air. When a large snowflake fell from the tree directly on her nose, she wrinkled her nose and burst out laughing. Her laughter echoed throughout the deserted garden.
"Hey! Why are you so cold?" Genia spoke to the snowflake as if it were a living thing. Even the maids standing nearby couldn't contain their laughter at her innocence. James was watching all this silently.
Gradually, seeing Genia's playful antics, James's stone-like heart, always preoccupied with clan politics, began to melt. The heart that once occupied itself day and night with strategising how to remove his three other brothers—Rexon, Kevin, and Alex—from his path and gain power over the Black Tiger Clan had completely changed.
That evening, when James arrived at Genia's room with hot soup, Genia was sitting by the window, drawing squiggly figures with her fingers on the fog on the glass.
"So, our mate looks really happy today?" James said softly, placing the bowl of soup on the table.
Genia turned back suddenly. A playful smile was on her face. "James! You came? Look what I drew on the window."
James came closer. On the glass was a strange, round-faced cartoon with two big ears. James furrowed his eyebrows. "What is that?"
"It's you!" Genia said with a laugh, placing her finger on his nose. "When you're angry or deep in thought, your nose crinkles up just like that."
James was stunned. Until now, no one in this entire area had dared to touch his nose or make fun of him. But Genia's frankness had such a magic that instead of getting angry, James felt a deeper attraction towards her. He gently removed Genia's hand from his nose and looked into her deep, innocent eyes.
At this moment, he had no desire for the throne of the Black Tiger Clan. He thought to himself, "I don't want any clan; I don't want this Black Tiger Empire. If this girl were mine, if her laughter echoed forever in my palace, I would feel as if I had gained all the wealth of the universe. If Kevin and Alex were suffering over her loss, let them suffer. I would never let her go away from me."
Genia craned her neck, noticing a strange pause in his eyes. "What's wrong, Alex? Are you serious again? Did I say something wrong?"
James took a deep breath and, speaking the most emotional words of his life, said, "No, Genia. You didn't say anything wrong. I was just thinking that as long as you're in front of me, I don't even feel the cold of this icy palace. You remain just the way you are. Don't ever try to remember anything else."
Genia looked at him intently. She felt the love in James's words, but the green crystal hidden in the corner of her heart beat softly once again, as if warning Genia that behind this love lurked a huge lie.
Fresh sunlight from the snow-covered garden filtered through the window panes into the room, where an unspoken, delicate relationship was taking shape between Genia and James.
Genia's memory may have deserted her, but her soul hadn't forgotten her innate playfulness.
The next morning, when James entered Genia's room, he couldn't believe his eyes. Genia was sitting on the floor, wearing a strange hat-like structure made from a piece of the area's most expensive silk curtains.
"Genia! What are you doing?" James asked, startled, though his voice held more surprise than anger.
Genia looked up at him and, biting her tongue, said, "Oh, James! Why are you always so serious? Look, your maids say it's very cold here, so I made myself a warm crown. How do you like it?"
With that, she gracefully straightened her oddly cut silk cap. James patted his forehead. "Those were the clan's most expensive curtains, Genia. The clan's weavers took three months to make them." "So what?"
Genia got up, came closer to him, and touching his cheek with her cool fingers, said playfully, "The curtains can be remade, Prince. But if your mate caught a cold, would she be found again?"
Her bold and assertive manner melted all the hardness within James in an instant. James took her hands in his. His eyes fixed on Genia's face. He realized that without this girl, his palace was now just a cold pile of stones. The same thought echoed in his mind, "Kevin and Alex may search the entire world, Rexon may raise his army... but I will never let this innocence go away from me. With her arrival, the bitterness within me and the hatred for my brothers seem to have vanished somewhere."
Genia saw a deep pause in James's eyes. Her playfulness suddenly subsided, and she held James's hand a little tighter.
"James... you love me very much, don't you?"
"More than your life, Genia," James said, completely truthfully, without missing a beat, even though the foundation of this love was based on a lie. "Then... whenever you come close to me, or talk to me like that, I feel good..."
James lowered her eyes, an unexplained confusion in her voice. "But something strange happens inside my heart. It's as if there's an invisible wall preventing me from fully accepting what you say. Why do I feel like I had another name? Why do I feel like there was someone else who was searching for me just as frantically?"
James's face turned pale as he heard Genia's words. His grip on her hand involuntarily loosened. This playful play of memory was frightening him. He knew that Genia's memories hadn't completely gone to sleep; they were just waiting for the right moment.
James quickly concealed his nervousness and, placing a hand on Genia's shoulder, led her to the window. "Genia, I told you, this is just the effect of that magical attack. When the mind is deeply hurt, one experiences such vague and false memories of the past. The restlessness in your heart is just an illusion. Don't you trust me?"
Genia looked out the window at the snow falling. Gia's crystal thumped softly in her chest once again, as if screaming, "This trust is a betrayal."
But Genia had no proof. She looked at James and, taking a deep breath, said, "I trust you, James. But I pray this illusion fades away soon."
James hugged her, but his own eyes were closed, and his heart trembled with fear. He knew this hide-and-seek couldn't last long. If Genia recalled even a shred of her memory, his golden palace would collapse like a house of cards.