Chapter 5
The banquet finally came to an end.
The 108 participants slowly returned to their assigned chambers as the palace became quieter with every passing minute.
Saeroyx and Kyrth walked through the long royal corridors together.
Kyrth, as usual, said nothing.
His expression remained calm, his steps steady, and his eyes quietly observed everything around them.
Saeroyx, however, seemed completely relaxed.
The moment they entered their chamber, he began looking around.
“Hmm.”
Kyrth placed his belongings down.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking the room.”
“For what?”
“Anything interesting.”
Kyrth looked at him.
“It is a royal chamber.”
“Exactly. That is why it might have something interesting.”
Saeroyx checked the windows, the shelves, and even looked behind the curtains.
Kyrth watched silently.
“You are wasting time.”
Saeroyx turned around.
“And you are doing nothing.”
“I am resting.”
“You have been standing in the same place for five minutes.”
“That is resting.”
Saeroyx laughed.
Then he noticed the bed.
A large, luxurious bed placed in the center of the room.
He walked toward it.
“I am taking this side.”
Kyrth looked over.
“There are two sides.”
“Yes. I chose this one.”
“You chose without asking.”
“I arrived first.”
“You entered after me.”
“Then I chose faster.”
Kyrth stared at him.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Saeroyx smiled.
“You are arguing over a bed?”
“I am correcting your unreasonable decision.”
“Sounds like arguing.”
Kyrth sighed quietly.
In the end, neither of them moved.
The two simply lay down on opposite sides of the same bed.
The palace became completely silent.
Saeroyx closed his eyes.
“Good night, Kyrth.”
No answer came.
But after a few seconds, Kyrth replied quietly.
“Good night.”
In another chamber of the palace…
Two participants, Arven and Selia, entered their room.
At first, everything seemed normal.
Until the door closed behind them.
The lights flickered.
Selia stopped.
“Do you feel that?”
Arven looked around.
The walls were covered with paintings.
Hundreds of them.
Every painting showed the same figure.
A bride wearing a beautiful white dress.
But her smile was wrong.
Too wide.
Too unnatural.
Every painted bride was looking directly at them.
Then words slowly appeared beneath the paintings.
“Take our place.”
Selia stepped back.
“What is this?”
The bride in the paintings slowly turned her head.
A sound came from the walls.
A whisper.
“Stay with us…”
Arven immediately reached for his weapon.
“This is some kind of illusion.”
He attacked the nearest painting.
The blade passed through it.
The room changed.
The paintings began appearing everywhere.
The bride was no longer only on the walls.
She was behind them.
Beside them.
Watching them.
They tried to escape, but the door would not open.
Their items became useless against something that was not fighting like a normal enemy.
The last thing the other participants heard from that chamber was a scream.
Then silence.
By morning, the chamber door remained closed.
And the room inside was empty.
Only the paintings remained.
The bride’s smile had become wider.
And beneath the paintings, new words appeared.
“One place has been filled.”
The next morning, the palace woke to an unusual silence.
The 108 participants were called to gather.
Everyone noticed immediately.
Two people were missing.
The attendants stood outside one of the chambers with uneasy expressions.
When the door was finally opened, there was no sign of Arven or Selia.
Only the paintings remained.
The strange bride smiled from every wall.
A few participants stepped closer, trying to understand what had happened.
A girl among them stared at the paintings for a long moment.
Then her expression changed.
“Wait…”
Everyone looked at her.
She slowly pointed at the figure in the paintings.
“That is a bride.”
Someone frowned.
“So?”
Her voice became quieter.
“A bride is not supposed to be alone.”
The others looked confused.
She continued.
“Every bride has a husband.”
Silence fell.
Her eyes remained fixed on the smiling woman.
“If she is a bride…”
A chill passed through the group.
“Then where is her husband?”
Nobody answered.
The girl looked toward the empty chamber.
“Her husband should be dead.”
The words made everyone uncomfortable.
Because the thought was worse than the disappearance itself.
The bride was not looking for victims.
She was looking for a replacement.
The palace guards searched the room again, but nothing was found.
No bodies.
No blood.
No trace.
Only the paintings.
And on one newly appeared painting, the bride stood beside a shadowy figure.
The figure’s face was unclear.
But the clothes were familiar.
They belonged to one of the missing participants.
Everyone stepped back.
The first night of the event had passed.
And already, something inside the palace had begun choosing people.
The news of the missing participants spread through the palace.
The strange chamber.
The paintings.
The bride.
The message.
Everyone had their own theory.
But Saeroyx and Kyrth stood quietly in front of the room, observing the paintings from a distance.
Saeroyx tilted his head.
“Interesting.”
Kyrth looked at him.
“Interesting?”
“Something that can take two people without leaving a trace is interesting.”
Kyrth ignored his comment and focused on the room.
“The question is not what happened.”
Saeroyx looked at him.
“It is?”
Kyrth nodded.
“The question is… which rule was broken?”
Saeroyx became silent.
The seven rules were created for the 108 participants.
They were supposed to prevent conflict, betrayal, and danger.
But this incident was different.
A participant had disappeared without breaking any known rule.
Unless…
Kyrth looked at the paintings again.
“Or there are hidden rules.”
Saeroyx smiled slightly.
“Hidden rules?”
“Rules that were never told to us.”
The thought made the situation worse.
Because if there were rules they didn’t know about, then following the known ones meant nothing.
Saeroyx looked at the bride’s painting.
“That girl said something interesting.”
Kyrth looked at him.
“The husband?”
Saeroyx nodded.
“If this thing is a bride, then does it already have a husband?”
Kyrth remained quiet.
“Or…”
He looked at the empty room.
“Was the husband never supposed to survive?”
A cold silence followed.
The participants began questioning everything.
Was the missing pair captured?
Were they dead?
Was the bride searching for a new husband?
Nobody knew.
The day passed.
The palace continued as if nothing had happened.
But nobody felt comfortable anymore.
The participants who had arrived confidently the previous day were now watching every shadow.
Every door.
Every sound.
As evening arrived, all participants were called to gather in the main hall.
The attendants waited.
The participants entered.
One group.
Then another.
But slowly…
Everyone started noticing something wrong.
The hall was not full.
A participant counted silently.
“Wait…”
Another looked around.
“Where are the others?”
The final count was made.
Only 42 teams were present.
The hall became silent.
Out of the original 108 participants…
only 42 pairs remained means 84 participants.
No announcement.
No explanation.
No warning.
Just empty places.
Saeroyx looked around the hall, his expression finally becoming serious.
Kyrth stood beside him.
“Something happened while we were inside.”
Saeroyx looked toward the empty seats.
“Not something.”
A pause.
“Someone.”
The first day had started with a banquet.
But by the end of it…
the event had already changed into something else.
After the evening gathering ended, the remaining participants slowly returned to their chambers.
The atmosphere had changed.
The laughter and excitement from the first day were gone.
Every corridor felt longer.
Every shadow felt like it was hiding something.
Saeroyx and Kyrth walked back silently.
When they reached their chamber, Saeroyx entered first.
But before he could say anything, Kyrth suddenly stopped.
He turned toward the door.
Saeroyx noticed.
“You are leaving?”
Kyrth looked at him.
“I have something to watch.”
Saeroyx raised an eyebrow.
“Watch?”
Kyrth opened the door.
“Don’t follow me.”
The answer was so direct that Saeroyx became more curious.
Usually Kyrth explained nothing.
But this time, he specifically told him not to come.
“That makes me want to follow you even more.”
Kyrth looked back.
“Don’t.”
Then he left.
The door closed.
Saeroyx stood there for a moment.
Then he sighed.
“Kyrth really knows how to make things suspicious.”
One hour passed.
Then two.
The chamber remained silent.
Saeroyx looked toward the door.
Kyrth was not someone who disappeared without a reason.
He trusted his abilities that was his instinct .
But the palace was no longer normal.
The missing participants had already proven that.
Finally, Saeroyx stood up.
“Two hours is enough.”
He opened the door and stepped outside.
The palace corridors were almost empty.
Only the dim lights along the walls illuminated the path.
He walked through the long, luxurious hallways.
Golden decorations.
Ancient paintings.
Silent statues watching from the corners.
After nearly ten minutes of wandering, he stopped.
Something felt different.
A small movement.
Saeroyx turned his head.
Nothing.
He continued forward.
Then he noticed a shadow behind one of the large pillars.
Someone was there.
Hidden.
Waiting.
Saeroyx approached slowly.
“Kyrth.”
The figure became still.
After a moment, Kyrth stepped out from the darkness.
Saeroyx looked at him.
“You told me not to follow you.”
“I know.”
“And yet here I am.”
Kyrth sighed quietly.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Saeroyx looked around.
“Why?”
Kyrth glanced toward the end of the hallway.
“Because something is moving inside this palace.”
Saeroyx followed his gaze.
The hallway ahead was empty.
Too empty.
“How long have you been here?”
“Since I left.”
“Two hours?”
Kyrth nodded.
Saeroyx looked at him carefully.
“You were watching this hallway for two hours?”
“Yes.”
“Waiting for what?”
Kyrth’s expression remained serious.
“To confirm whether my suspicion was wrong.”
A cold silence filled the corridor.
Saeroyx smiled slightly.
“And?”
Kyrth looked toward the darkness.
“My suspicion was right.”
At that moment…
A faint sound echoed from the far end of the hallway.
A slow footstep.
Neither of them moved.
Because whatever was there…
was not supposed to be walking inside the palace.
The slow footsteps echoed through the empty hallway.
Saeroyx and Kyrth prepared themselves.
But what appeared from the darkness was not a monster.
It was the second prince.
His royal clothes were torn.
Blood stained his shoulder and arm.
He was barely standing.
Behind him stood the royal family.
The king.
The queen.
The first prince.
And several royal guards.
But none of them looked calm.
For the first time, the royal family looked afraid.
Kyrth immediately noticed.
“The prince is injured.”
Saeroyx looked at the second prince.
The same person who had smiled and joked during the banquet was now pale and exhausted.
The king stepped forward.
His voice was filled with anger and fear.
“You have to marry.”
The second prince lowered his head.
“Father…”
“No more excuses.”
The king grabbed his shoulder.
“You should have found your bride years ago.”
The prince remained silent.
The king’s voice became colder.
“Who told you to skin your bride and abuse her every day?”
The hallway became completely silent.
Saeroyx’s expression changed.
Kyrth’s eyes narrowed.
The king continued.
“You thought destroying her would make her disappear?”
“She was your wife.”
“You humiliated her.”
“You tortured her.”
“And now she has returned.”
A chill passed through everyone.
The second prince looked away.
The king looked toward the dark corridors of the palace.
“The couples in the hallways…”
His voice lowered.
“They are barely enough.”
Saeroyx felt the atmosphere change.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered.
The queen spoke quietly.
“She is taking them.”
“The missing participants…”
Kyrth understood.
“The bride.”
The queen nodded.
“She is not choosing randomly.”
A guard nearby trembled.
“She is searching for replacements.”
The king looked at all of them.
“Do not sleep at night.”
The words sounded like a warning.
“Not even for a moment.”
“Because when the palace becomes silent…”
“She walks.”
A cold wind passed through the hallway.
The lights flickered.
Somewhere far away in the palace…
a woman’s laughter echoed.
Soft.
Beautiful.
Wrong.
Saeroyx looked toward the darkness.
“So the event was never just a gathering.”
Kyrth stood beside him.
“No.”
His eyes remained fixed on the corridor.
“It was a hunting ground.”
Another laugh echoed.
Closer this time.
And from one of the paintings hanging on the wall…
the bride slowly opened her eyes.
Kyrth did not waste another second.
He grabbed Saeroyx’s hand and pulled him away from the hallway.
“Wait,” Saeroyx said, surprised. “You are actually holding my hand?”
“Move.”
“That is not an answer.”
Kyrth ignored him and continued walking.
The distant footsteps behind them became louder.
Whatever was in the palace was moving.
And it was searching.
After a few minutes, they reached their chamber.
Kyrth immediately opened the door, pulled Saeroyx inside, and locked it.
For a moment, both of them remained silent.
Then Saeroyx looked around.
The smile on his face slowly disappeared.
The room had changed.
The walls.
The ceiling.
Every corner.
Paintings covered everything.
Hundreds of them.
The same bride.
The same unnatural smile.
The same empty eyes watching them.
It was the same room where the two participants had disappeared.
Saeroyx looked at Kyrth.
“Looks like she came here before us.”
Kyrth’s expression remained calm, but his hand moved closer to his weapon.
Then—
The paintings moved.
The bride’s smile widened.
A hand suddenly came out from one of the paintings.
The room twisted.
The bride stepped forward, her white dress dragging across the floor.
Her voice echoed through the chamber.
“Which one of you…”
She tilted her head.
“…is the bride?”
Silence.
The bride looked between them.
Waiting.
Saeroyx immediately pointed at Kyrth.
“He is.”
Kyrth slowly turned his head.
“What?”
Saeroyx remained completely serious.
“She asked. I answered.”
“You answered incorrectly.”
“How do you know?”
Kyrth stared at him.
“Because I am clearly not a bride.”
Saeroyx looked at him.
“Are you sure? You are controlling, beautiful, and you always act like you are managing me.”
Kyrth’s expression became colder.
“That does not make me a bride.”
The bride watched them silently, almost confused by their argument which one of them is bride as they both are men.
Saeroyx continued.
“Actually, think about it. You would make a perfect wife.”
Kyrth looked at him.
Kyrth frowned. “You are also like a wife. I have to look after you and bear with your annoying behaviour. That is so like a wife.”
Kyrth’s gaze remained fixed on him.
Saeroyx blinked.
A pause followed and kyrth says
“Stubborn.”
Another pause.
“Reckless.”
Kyrth stepped closer.
“Too curious for your own good.”
Saeroyx frowned slightly.
“That is not an explanation.”
Kyrth’s voice stayed calm.
“It is enough.”
He looked at Saeroyx from head to toe, as if measuring him against some invisible standard.
“Bright-eyed.”
“Annoying.”
“Impossible.”
Saeroyx crossed his arms.
“You are insulting me.”
“I am describing you.”
The bride’s head tilted slowly, watching them with growing confusion.
Kyrth did not look away from Saeroyx.
“You smile too easily.”
“You provoke danger and call it confidence.”
“You act like nothing can touch you.”
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“And yet you are always the first one I have to protect.”
Saeroyx opened his mouth, but Kyrth moved before he could speak.
He caught Saeroyx by the wrist and pulled him forward, then pressed him back onto the bed with controlled force, pinning him there long enough to make the point clear.
Saeroyx stared up at him.
“What are you doing?”
Kyrth leaned down, his expression unreadable.
“I will show you that you are the bride.”
The bride’s smile twitched.
Kyrth lowered his voice until only Saeroyx could hear him.
“Act with me.”
Saeroyx’s eyes widened slightly.
Kyrth’s hand remained steady on his wrist.
“Do not let the ghost know which one of us is husband or wife.”
His breath brushed Saeroyx’s ear as he whispered the final warning.
“Or we will die.”
Saeroyx went still.
Then, slowly, he understood.
The bride was watching them.
Waiting.
Trying to decide.
And Kyrth, with one cold glance and one deliberate move, had turned the confusion back against her.
The ghost was not searching for a person.
She was searching for a role.
A bride.
A husband.
A relationship that matched the one she remembered.
So they had to give her something she could not understand.
Chaos.
Saeroyx suddenly pushed Kyrth back.
“Wait.”
Kyrth looked at him.
“What?”
“You are deciding too much.”
The ghost watched.
Her expression changed.
Saeroyx grabbed the blanket and pulled it over both of them, then deliberately shifted positions, making it impossible for the ghost to understand who was supposed to be leading and who was supposed to be following.
The paintings shook.
The bride stared.
“Stop.”
Neither of them listened.
The ghost’s smile slowly disappeared.
She had watched countless couples.
She knew how husbands acted.
She knew how wives acted.
But these two…
They argued like enemies.
The bride stepped closer.
“Enough!”
The entire room shook.
The paintings cracked.
“I cannot decide.”
Her voice echoed through the chamber.
“One of you is supposed to be the bride.”
Kyrth looked directly at her.
“That is your problem.”
The bride froze.
“You cannot decide?”
Kyrth’s eyes remained cold.
The paintings around the room began shaking.
The ghost’s anger grew.
“I know what a bride is.”
Kyrth replied calmly.
“No.”
A pause.
“You know what kind of bride you were mine is quite unique”
The room became silent.
For the first time, the ghost hesitated.
She had expected fear.
She had expected people to obey.
She had never expected someone to challenge the very idea behind her curse.
Saeroyx looked at Kyrth.
“You really thought this through.”
“I observed.”
“That is your way of saying yes.”
Kyrth ignored him.
The bride’s expression twisted.
“You mock me.”
“No.”
Two people who did not fit her rules.
Two people she could not place.
Her anger grew.
“Decide.”
Her voice shook the entire chamber.
“Decide which one is the bride.”
A pause.
“I will return.”
The paintings slowly returned to normal.
The room became silent after the bride disappeared.
Only the faint sound of the palace wind remained.
Saeroyx sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Kyrth.
“You knew that would work.”
Kyrth did not answer immediately.
His eyes remained on the paintings.
“I had a theory.”
“A theory that involved making yourself look like my wife?”
Kyrth finally looked at him.
“It involved making the ghost uncertain.”
Saeroyx smiled.
“But you chose me.”
A brief silence followed.
Kyrth’s expression remained calm.
“You were the easiest person to use.”
The answer was logical.
Too logical.
Yet Saeroyx noticed the slight pause before it.
“Use?”
He leaned closer.
“Is that all I am?”
Kyrth looked away.
“You are asking unnecessary questions.”
A few seconds passed.
Saeroyx noticed Kyrth’s hand still holding the weapon tightly.
“You were worried.”
Kyrth’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“No.”
“You were.”
“I was observing.”
“You were standing outside for two hours.”
“Because I was observing.”
Saeroyx laughed softly.
“You really have an excuse for everything.”
Kyrth turned toward him.
“And you have a question for everything.”
Their eyes met.
For a moment, the teasing disappeared.
There was only silence.
Then Kyrth looked away first.
“Sleep.”
Saeroyx raised an eyebrow.
“After a ghost entered our room?”
“Yes.”
“You are unbelievable.”
“You need rest.”
Saeroyx stared at him.
There it was again.
Not an order.
Not a command.
Concern hidden behind a cold voice.
Saeroyx smiled slightly.
“You know, for someone who claims not to care, you spend a lot of time making sure I am alive.”
Kyrth walked toward the other side of the bed.
“Sleep, Saeroyx.”
No denial.
No argument.
Just his name.
And somehow, that answer felt more interesting than any explanation.
Outside the chamber, the palace remained silent.
But inside, something between them had shifted.
Neither of them understood it yet.
