Behind the sprawling manor lay a dense forest with towering trees that reached up to the sky. The duo appeared there, Seraphine staying a respectful distance of three steps behind Evan.

The canopy above was thick and lush, casting a dappled shade over the forest floor below and masking Evan's intention. As he came under the shadow, it seemed as if the suppression emanating from him had thickened, quadrupling.

A bewildered glint flashed across Seraphine's sapphire eyes as she narrowed them while looking at his back.

Just a few days ago, it looked like she could read him like an open book, leading her to believe that she had him in the palms of her hand.

However, overnight, everything changed.

Her plans crumbled apart, and now she couldn't see through him at all.

In fact, what happened today made her misunderstand that he had been acting all along, showing weakness to fool not only her but also the entire empire!

'It's not hard to see why he's acting like a big shot all of a sudden. He got power and status, so he can pretty much act however he wants. But what's got me scratching my head is his sudden boost in strength.'

She pulled at her hair in annoyance as if to mean what she thought.

'You can't just become a high-level first-step soul manipulator overnight. Cultivation takes some serious effort and dedication. I don't know how hard it is since I was born with a special physique with all my soul pockets open since birth. Still, I have read in books that even unlocking a single soul pocket takes a good few months of cultivation for talented cultivators who haven't undergone awakening. He is yet to awaken. His soul pockets hadn't been unearthed. It isn't easy to locate them. Even using elixirs has limits. They lose their effects the more you use them, and their effects and side effects vary from person to person. The only possibility left is that he has been letting others undermine him to get a few years of peace.'

A person can change overnight if they have been mentally preparing themselves to turn over a new leaf for a month or a few years, but how can a cultivator considered talentless among his peers suppress geniuses as if he was talking a walk in the park?!

Yet, Evan had done it.

'Three days ago, he was known to be in the induction realm, but now he can best a Frostweaver. Only dogs would believe that he had gained such strength in a few days!'

With a simple act of pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger, he fooled trillions of citizens.

'Despite being humiliated and looked down upon, he never once revealed his true talent - not until today, which is only a day before the ceremony. It's a true testament to how shrewd he is. He was willing to drown in a sea of curses and insults just so he could keep his trump card hidden. That takes real guts. I have been fighting someone like him. It's laughable.'

By just acting like a pig for a few years, he made his enemies lower their guard. Weird events stopped taking place in the Frost Clan. The assassination attempts on his life also stopped.

This was something that not only she but others in the Frost Clan also believed.

Of course, it was all just their delusion, a misunderstanding that they had stumbled upon as Evan had done something so outrageous that it couldn't be explained otherwise.

Seraphine's misunderstanding continued.

'Hiding his strength for years to make his enemies drop their guards and strike when the time is right. To have thought of so far, His Highness Evan is really admirable.'

She thought sarcastically before proceeding to mock herself.

'I am so foolish for not expecting such a thing from a monster like him and believing what he showed.'

Her mind flashed back to the day she first met him after he had taken his brother's place and assumed the role of the Crown Prince of Frost.

By then, as if a ridiculous joke, everyone had forgotten about 'Evan Frost.' Everyone except for her, of course.

She couldn't comprehend how and why everyone forgot that the Imperial Lord of Frost had sired two sons with his Empress, but out of nowhere, as if she had jumped into a different timeline, there was only one left.

She had initially thought that she was being pranked, but her guts twisted, and tears streamed down her eyes like an unstoppable waterfall after she realized that, except for her, no one remembered the older of the twins.

She was certain that the Evan Frost everyone knew wasn't her 'Evan Frost,' but rather his younger twin. After all, the number of moles on their body didn't match. The real Evan Frost had three behind his ears, and this one only had two.

She didn't know what to make of that, but she knew one thing. Her beloved and all the memories that were related to him had dissipated into thin air. Someone was behind it. And she was suspicious that it was the younger twin. After all, he was the one to benefit the most from the disappearance of the real 'Evan Frost.'

To get to the truth, she began targeting him, going as far as to join hands with the minor families.

After a few years of spying on him, She thought she had it in the bag. The time when she would be able to interrogate him using the nastiest and the cruelest of means wasn't far away. But she was slapped with a checkmate!

'I know what he is, a monster that didn't hesitate to take the place of his brother. But I still fell for his act. I deserve this loss.' She scoffed, feeling a surge of anger and frustration at herself for underestimating him.

'All my efforts were in vain.' Seraphine seemed to see a thick veil of mystery surrounding Evan as she squinted her eyes at him. 'There's no telling when l will get the chance to rip apart the facade.'

Seraphine was lost in thought as she trailed behind Evan, her mind preoccupied with the desire to find the truth no matter what the cost. She wouldn't mind turning into a monster if it meant finding out what happened to her Evan Frost.

Without warning, Evan came to an abrupt stop, causing her to bump into his back with a jolt.

Ouch!

She let out a small gasp as her hands instinctively flew up to her nose, which was now throbbing with pain. The impact had caught her off guard, and for a moment, she felt a surge of anger and frustration at Evan for not warning her.

"I can feel your frustration from here. Do you dislike being my escort so much?"

She lowered her hands and felt a bead of sweat form on her brow as Evan turned to her with a sharp glint in his blue eyes. It made him look all the more handsome. He was so similar to the real Evan Frost that she couldn't help but find her beloved in him, and her heart skipped a beat.

A momentary silence took over as their gaze met.

But it was quickly broken by Seraphine.

She knew better than to let her guard down around him, even for a second.

"Of course not, Your Highness," she replied quickly, her voice steady despite the nervous flutter in her chest. "This humble slave is honored to serve as your escort," she added, careful to keep her tone respectful and deferential.

She didn't dare let her true feelings show - after all, she was just a mere eunuch serving Evan, and getting on his bad side could mean the end of her career, or worse.

"You are bleeding from your nose. How careless of you."

Evan reached out a hand to wipe the blood trailing down her nose using the handkerchief he had just pulled out from his inter-spatial ring.

His touch was gentle and reassuring, falling on Seraphine's heart like feathers.

She couldn't help but feel a strange sense of warmth spread through her at his touch.

'Why did he have to look so much like him?'

As she looked at him, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness - Evan was so much like his older twin brother, the one who had been taken away from her all too soon.

He didn't just die. He was forgotten by the universe itself.

She had loved him deeply, and at moments like this, she couldn't help but project those feelings onto his younger twin, who was a perfect replica of him, but she was clear about one thing, and it was that she didn't love this imposter. She hated him as she believed he had a hand in his brother's disappearance.

As for now, she was just clinging to the memory of her beloved, trying to find a way to fill the void that his absence had left in her heart through the sight of his replica.

It was a disgusting realization.

She abhorred herself for being like this.

'I can't waver. I need to be resolute.' she strengthened her resolve, vowing to dissect him to know the truth if she ever got the opportunity.

'What am I doing? And why am I doing this?' Evan couldn't help but ask himself as he meticulously wiped the blood off Seraphine's face.

It was a strange sensation, one that he wasn't quite sure how to interpret.

On one hand, he knew that he instinctively reached out to help her as he didn't like the sight of blood as he had developed a trauma when his beloved pet died drinking the poison meant for him, something he hadn't entirely recovered from even after regaining the memories of his past life, but on the other hand, there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, one that whispered that there was something more to his actions.

"Is it because I am a sadist that gets a kick out of teasing her?" Evan wondered, his brow furrowing in concentration.

He didn't know if he enjoyed pushing people's buttons, seeing how far he could push them before they broke or lashed out.

After all, he had died without exploring his preference, sexuality, and the world of pleasure in his past life.

Wolfie was dedicated to finding his omega, wanting to mate with her and no one else.

He died, of course, before that could happen.

It was a lifetime regret, but he did what he had to do and believed was right.

"Maybe I'm overthinking things, or maybe I hate her so much for betraying me after I put my trust in her that I want to take revenge.'

Evan's gaze was intense and unrelenting, his eyes boring into her.

'I wonder what it is.'