The Alpha Prince's Purchased Maid
Chapter 316: Endless Search

Chapter 316: Endless Search

Darius had already heard the ruckus in front of the room even before Asana opened the door. He already knew that she was there and why she had come to see him. Unfortunately, he had to meet up with Salena for her regular report and didn’t think that there was a need for him to avoid the Sacred Chambers even if that meant encountering Asana. When he ordered Madame Sand to send her away, he already knew that she wouldn’t be so willing to leave peacefully, and he wasn’t wrong.

“Welcome, Asana. It’s good to see you again,” Darius said passively.

Asana stood in the doorway with her chest heaving up and down. With a slight nod of her head, she slowly closed the door before locking it firmly behind her. A mere honorable maiden having an audience with one of the princes was unimaginable unless the invitation was extended by the prince himself. Asana knew this very well and understood that this was a rare chance for her to see the prince again. She may get punished severely for this, but she didn’t feel like there was anything that she wouldn’t dare risk for the sake of uncovering some truth regarding her missing sister.

“Prince Darius...” she whispered as she closed the distance between them.

“You should take a seat before you speak,” the prince said invitingly as he gestured to an empty sofa opposite to where he was seated.

“Thank you, Your Highness...” she replied emotionlessly before seating herself down.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she felt like she was ready to face the prince again to ask him what she had in mind. She could feel Darius staring at her in silence and knew that he was waiting for her to start their conversation.

“Why are you trying so hard to send me away?” she asked without beating around the bush.

Darius’ eyes widened a little before the calm expression that he usually had on returned to his face. Although he knew that this was what she wanted to talk to him about, he had not expected her to be so direct with him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just thought that you served me well and that you deserve to be set free. Isn’t that what you want?” he replied with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

“What I really want is to find my sister so that we can return home together,” Asana said with clear conviction.

“I can’t help you look for her. It’s time for you to give up and go home. I’m sure that your sister would rather you live a peaceful life away from here,” he replied a little dismissively.

“How can you be so sure?” she asked without backing down.

“I’m not. However, I’m sure that it’s a reasonable assumption to make,” Darius replied while meeting her intense glare.

“Prince Darius...” she whispered before pausing to let out a long sigh.

“What is it?” he inquired passively.

Asana pursed her lips together as she wondered how she could get the prince to talk and tell her what she truly wanted to know. He was a very difficult case to crack, and she wasn’t really in a position to negotiate with him. Any negotiating power that she had was what he allowed her to have. She bit down on her lower lip hard in frustration as she continued glaring at the prince.

“You know something, don’t you? You know something about my sister...” she said accusingly.

“Nothing that will benefit you and your search for her,” Darius replied smoothly.

“Tell me...is my sister...dead?” Asana managed to ask as raw fear crept up on her.

During her search for her sister, she had not been foolish enough not to realize that that wasn’t a possible outcome. Her sister might have already perished and is no longer in this world. However, if that was the case, she needed to find her for sure or see it for herself.

Once again, her direct question surprised Darius. The truth was much more complicated than he would have liked. Things would have been a lot simply had her sister been dead so all he had to tell her was that she was dead and gone and that would be the end of it all. No explanations would be necessary.

“You should just leave, Asana,” the prince repeated his assessment of the situation once again without answering her question.

“I will not leave. I refuse to leave until I learn the truth. Prince Darius, you know where my sister is, don’t you? Please tell me, I beg you...” Asana pleaded as she stood up from her seat.

“If I tell you, will you promise to leave this place?” the prince asked as he cocked his head to the side.

“Fine. If you tell me the truth about my sister, I will leave this place...” Asana promised without any hesitation.

Darius watched the small woman approach him before she knelt down on the floor beside his feet and stared up into his face with pleading eyes.

“Your sister isn’t dead but she’s not in a condition that she can see you either,” he replied in short.

“What does that even mean?” Asana asked before her mouth dropped opened.

...

**The day of the trip**

Finally, the day of the trip had arrived. If things had been as they were before the night of the previous full moon, I could have said with full confidence that I had been looking forward to the start of the trip. The way my two dear friends rushed around to make sure that everything had been prepared for my departure with Prince Leonard told me that they were way more excited than I was about the trip.

“Salena, can you check that we have all items on this list packed again? I’ll take a final check on these,” Jessie said excitedly.

“Of course. I’ll do that now,” Salena replied just as enthusiastically.

“The trip is just for a few days. I honestly don’t know why you two packed so much stuff...” I said as I stared at the pile of luggage that they had prepared.

--To be continued...