One day transformed into two.
Two became a week.
And to everyone's disbelief and despair, one week became a month.
A month of searching. A month of hoping. A month of slowly, agonizingly losing faith.
The castle had become a place of shadows and silence, its once-bustling corridors now empty and echoing. The laughter that had once filled the halls had faded, replaced by the heavy weight of grief and fear. The guards moved with heavy steps, their eyes downcast, their shoulders slumped. The servants spoke in hushed whispers, their voices trembling with the strain of living in a home that had lost its heart.
Iva was gone.
And no one could find her.
---
Caleb had become a shadow of his former self.
The man who had once been the picture of strength and composure was now a hollow shell,
