Chapter 3 - THE SECRET BENEATH THE CHAPELSaint Aurelia's Chapel stood beyond the eastern wall of the castle.
It was older than the kingdom itself.
Its stone arches were covered in strange symbols that no priest could fully explain.
For generations, the royal family used the chapel for private ceremonies.
Weddings.
Funerals.
Coronations.
But Princess Eleanor had always been fascinated by the building for another reason.
She believed something was hidden beneath it.
King Edward remembered her questions.
Why were certain passages sealed?
Why did the oldest stones contain symbols resembling stars?
Why did the royal archives forbid anyone from examining the chapel's foundations?
Edward had dismissed her curiosity.
He told her to focus on her duties.
Eleanor never stopped investigating.
Then, on her twentieth birthday, she disappeared.
Now Ethan claimed that a portal beneath the same chapel had transported him through time.
Edward looked toward Roland.
"What do you know?"
The knight hesitated.
"Your Majesty..."
"Speak."
Roland lowered his head.
"On the night before the princess vanished, I saw her entering the chapel."
Edward stared.
"You never told me that."
Roland swallowed.
"She ordered me not to follow."
The king stepped forward.
"And you obeyed?"
Roland nodded.
"She said she had discovered something about the royal bloodline."
Edward's expression darkened.
"What?"
Roland hesitated.
"She believed the chapel contained a doorway."
Ethan stepped closer.
"A doorway through time?"
Roland looked at him.
"She called it the Sun Gate."
Ethan felt a chill.
The name was familiar.
He had seen it in the notes of a modern historian.
A mysterious medieval legend described a gate that appeared only when the sun and moon aligned.
The legend claimed that those who passed through it could enter another century.
Most historians dismissed the story as mythology.
Ethan had believed the same.
Until the portal swallowed him.
Edward stared at Roland.
"Why did you keep this secret?"
The knight lowered his eyes.
"Because I failed her."
The king's face hardened.
"Explain."
Roland took a slow breath.
"She asked me to meet her at dawn."
Edward listened.
"But when I arrived, the chapel was empty."
Roland's voice trembled.
"I found the broken necklace chain beside the altar."
Edward stared.
"And?"
Roland looked toward Ethan.
"There was something else."
Ethan frowned.
"What?"
"A circle of blue light."
The hall fell silent.
Roland continued.
"It disappeared before I could reach it."
Ethan felt his heart pounding.
"That's the portal."
Roland nodded.
"I believed the princess had stepped through it."
Edward looked devastated.
"And you said nothing?"
Roland lowered his head.
"Who would have believed me?"
The king turned away.
For seven years, he had searched the kingdom.
His daughter had not been in another village.
Or another country.
She had been in another century.
Ethan approached the throne.
"Your Majesty, I think the Sun Gate is still active."
Edward looked up.
"Then we will find it."
Roland stepped forward.
"There is something you should know."
The king frowned.
"What now?"
Roland hesitated.
"The princess did not enter the chapel alone."
Ethan froze.
Edward stared.
"Who was with her?"
Roland looked toward the floor.
"A man wearing a black cloak."
The king's expression changed.
"Did you see his face?"
Roland nodded.
"Yes."
Edward stepped closer.
"Who?"
Roland swallowed.
Then answered:
"Your brother."
The king went completely still.
"Prince Adrian?"
Roland nodded.
Edward stared.
"Impossible."
Ethan frowned.
"Why?"
May you like
The king looked toward him.
"Because Adrian died fifteen years before Eleanor was born."
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