"It's ridiculous to submit that I murdered Helena. She was my best friend." Diana protested haughtily as Kris accused her to be the murderer.

"Your majesty, everyone knows I wasn't in town the whole week because of my husband's funeral. How should I manage to do it when I wasn't even here?" She added.

"You're lying. You were here. You were in the castle together with Alex and you killed my mother." Amelia said, causing Diana to laugh.

"Oh sweetheart, you're talking nonsense. I hadn't seen your mother for over a week before her death. Instead of accusing me, you should rather show thankfulness. I cared for you for years as if you're my own child. Is this what I get from it?" said the woman, playing the innocent one.

"You—" Amelia tried to protest as Kris cut him off.

"How dare you lie shamelessly in front of the King's family? You cared for her like you own child? You rather treated her like trash." Kris stated, grabbing Amelia's hand, pulling the fragile girl closer.

"My prince, I know you love Cind--, I mean Amelia; but you still shouldn't believe everything she said. Only because she doesn't like me, she still can't claim me to be the murderer without any evidence." Diana replied calmly, being absolutely sure there was nothing that could prove her guilt.

However, she was wrong. She failed the moment she underrated the girl named Amelia Rosewall.

"Enough talk. Kris, show us the evidence or I'm going back to the castle. We still have to find your sister." The King said, and everyone held their breaths.

"Yes, father," replied Kris before turning to Diana. "Please show us your medallion, the one the King gave you as a gift."

Diana was shocked for a second. She didn't know what the young prince was up to, but she knew he wouldn't find anything.

"What is this going to be? What do you want with my medallion?" She asked.

"Just show it to us. You still have it, don't you?" Liam, who accompanied the Prince, questioned back. Knowing she hadn't lost the medallion at the crime scene, Diana felt certain. Without any hesitation, she handed it to Kris.

"Of course, I still have it. It is a crime to lose the king's gift," answered the woman with a smirk. She thought she had won. Yet she was so wrong.

"Amy, is this it?" Kris asked and gave the medallion to her. Taking it, Amelia looked at it carefully as if she was looking for something.

Silence filled the room as everyone looked at her curiously. And then, she found it. The evidence.

"Your highness, on the first sight this looks like every other medallions. But the truth is, even if they are all the exact copies of the others, this one is different." She finally said. By that Diana let out a haughty laugh.

"This is so ridiculous. How is it different?"

"Because... It belonged to my mother, my real mother." Amelia answered, causing the three adults to look confused.

"What are you talking about, my dear?" The Queen asked.

"Your majesty, I'm saying that this medallion belonged to my mother and it was taken away from her the night she died ... by the murderer." The young girl explained, pointing at Diana.

"This is absurd. This is mine unless you can prove the opposite. Is her name written on it?" Diana asked with sarcasm.

"Yes, it is" answered Amelia as she opened the medallion. Everyone looked at it curiously and then they saw it, a gravure. His stepmother paled in fear. There was 'Geroge A.– Helena – Amelia" written on it – or rather in it.

"It can open?" Diana murmured in anger.

"See? This is anything but yours. Mother wanted it to become something more special and decided to make this gravure." Amelia said.

"Diana, can you explain this?" The King questioned with his low voice.

Kris breathed out relief. Finally, it was happening. Finally, the truth came out.

"Of course, I can."

NO, you can't.

"Your highness, this medallion indeed belonged to Helena. The truth is..."

NO, don't lie.

"The truth is she gave it to me."

Liar.

"You're lying," Amelia exclaimed, losing her self-control. This woman, would she ever tell the truth?

"Of course, I am not, sweetheart. Your mom gave it to me." Diana insisted playing the calm mother figure.

"If it were so, where is your own medallion? How did it end up on the library's floor, next to Mrs. Kim's death body?" Kris asked in anger. The thing he wanted the most right now was to punch this woman hardly in her face.

"Of course, it was there. We exchanged the medallions and that's why she had mine. It was like a way to show our friendship." Diana lied once again without flinching.

"And when did you do that? Why didn't mother say anything about it?" Amelia asked in frustration.

"We have exchanged the medallions for months before her death. She must have forgotten to mention it. After all, it wasn't a big deal."

"You disgusted me. How can you tell us one lie after the other?" asked Amelia as her hands clenched.

"Amelia sweetheart, you're being really rude. You can't call me a liar, if you don't --," said Diana who was cut off by her own son, Alex.

"Mother," exclaimed the boy as he walked down the stairways.

"Stop this, please. Tell them the truth. Do the right thing for one time, please." He begged. Even if she was his mother, she was disgusting him too. He was ashamed for her.

"Alex, be quiet. This is not a discussion for kids," warned his mother.

"Mother," called Alex once again.

"Be quiet, Alex"

"Your majesty, this is nothing but a misunderstanding. The prince and my stepson must have this wrong suspicion because of the medallion." The woman stated and turned to Amelia. "And sweetheart, I don't know how you could think of me that bad, if I did something wrong in the past, please forgive me. I love you."

The four boys felt like throwing up everything they had eaten in the last three years. How was it possible for a human to be that fake?

"It was a waste of time. I'm going back to the castle now. And you, children, should apologize to Mrs. Rosewall." The King stated and headed to the door, together with his wife.

"I wish you a nice day, your Majesty." Diana bowed, smiling in victory.

"No, father, please wait. She is the murderer. I swear to God she is it." Kris stopped his dad.

"Son, I know you want to save Rory, but you can't expect me to believe this nonsense only because you think it is true. I can't do anything, if there isn't any proof," said the King and was about to leave again as something unexpected happened.

"There is a proof," said a voice as the door opened and a tall man walked in, surprising everyone in the room. He was a middle age, strong and good-looking man who was wearing a military uniform.

"Your Highness, please give a second and I will present the proof that Diana, my own wife is the murderer of my first wife," he said.

"Dad?" called Amelia in shock. She didn't expect to see her father here and now, but here he was. Her father was home.

"George, I hope you're telling the truth because I have wasted enough time in this house," said the King.

"Of course, I am, your Majesty. The proof is..." and everybody held their breath.

Please god, let the truth come out.

"...waiting outside." George said. "Actually, it's someone, the man who did the gravure on the medallion. He told me about the night my wife came to him to make the gravure."

Now everyone couldn't wait to hear the truth anymore.

"What did he tell you?" The Queen asked curiously.

"He told me it was... the night before she was murdered." George explained.

"I remembered her because she was an extraordinary beautiful woman and when I heard about her death 2 days after, I was very shocked." The witness said, and Diana's eyes widened in fear. Her face was paler than ever before.

"That means the gravure was made the night before mother's death?" Amelia asked with hope.

"Yes, it was," answered the man.

"Kris, do you know what that means?" Amelia questioned, beaming, while the Prince nodded with a smile on his lips.

"That means mother couldn't have given the medallion to you," said Amelia, turning to her stepmother. "So how did you get her medallion when you were out of town the whole week? How did your medallion end up next to my mother's death body? How?" She bombed the woman with questions.

"If you have any explanation for this, now is the right time to say it." The Queen warned. She couldn't believe it. The woman in front of her was once a good friend, just like Helena, and now one of them was dead and the other was the murderer. This world was such a scary place.

Diana was speechless. Her heart raced in panic. Her hands and her legs were shaking. Fear took over her body. And then she felt on her knees as the King yelled loudly.

"Intolerable! You killed an innocent woman and flat-out one lie after the other to the King without flinching. Even if you die ten times, you can't get rid of your guilt."

Kris drank off the wine glass in his left hand with one gulp as his right one searched for the bottle. All he wanted now was getting so drunk that he could forget everything. He needed to forget that girl with the name Amelia. Even if he knew the alcohol only worked for a short time, he still needed to get that girl out of his mind for one second or else he would go crazy. Throwing away the glass, he drank from the bottle as if the wine were water until a strong hand pulled away the bottle.

"Give it back, Rory." The prince protested.

"No, tell me what happened? Why are you like this?" The older boy asked worriedly.

"Nothing, ok? Nothing happened. Now give me back the wine," said Kris with his drunken voice.

"Don't you lie to me, Kris. The last time you're drunk, you did terrible things to Amelia and you promised yourself you would never drink again."

"For someone who was in jail for years, you know a lot of things. That's so scary," said Kris, grabbing Rory's shirt while leaning on the older boy. "Don't you have anything better to do now that you're free? How about visiting some women?" He asked with his hand on his chin and a thoughtful expression as if he were Socrates.

"Yeah yeah, just tell me what happened." Rory replied, pulling the young prince away from him.

"I'm fiancée-less. That's what happened." The Prince told his cousin the story with a sad voice.

"So," said Amelia awkwardly as Kris and she went back to their room after the long celebration of Rory's release.

"So," replied the prince. Awkwardness was filling the night air.

"So, what now?" He asked.

"Now that we're not engaged anymore, I can't stay in the castle anymore, right?" Amelia asked, forced a laugh to make it sounded funny. Yet, it was rather a statement then a question. She knew she had to leave.

"I can just tell father I broke the engagement because I thought it wasn't the right time to marry when Cathy was missing. But now that she is back from her 'secret trip', everything can be back like they were before. Father and mother love you. They would definitely accept that." Kris explained determined. He needed Amelia to stay. He knew he couldn't let this girl go. Amelia was beautiful, warm hearted, caring and smart. Where should Kris go to find someone like her?

"Right, secret trip and the accident that restrained her from coming home in time," repeated Amelia, laughing nervously. "How did she make it to weave such a story? And your parents even believe her."

"She had done a lot for our family. She is the perfect daughter and they 'll believe everything she says. But that's not what I want to talk about right now. You're changing the subject, Amy."

"Fine, Kris, let's talk about the engagement. We said as soon as we found the murderer and freed Rory I'll leave. So, I guess it's about time." She finally said what Kris had feared for a long time.

"No, you said you'll leave, Amy. What I said was 'I won't force you to stay', but it would break my heart if you go, so please stay." The prince begged. Yes, he had never begged anyone, not even his father, the King. However, when it came to Amelia, he could do anything to hinder her from leaving.

"You know I can't," answered Amelia, sighed.

"No, it's not that you can't. It's that you don't want to." Kris argued.

"We had this discussion already. You wanted to marry Cinderella, the girl you met at the ball, not Amy, your first love. And I don't want to be Cinderella ever again." Amelia explained.

"I know I did something wrong, but you know I love you and I want to be with you. Can't you look at that instead of my mistake? Or is it because I'm the only one in love?" The prince's question froze Amelia. That was the question she was afraid of. Was she in love with Kris? She wasn't sure how love felt like. It felt right when the prince was around, wonderful when their hands accidentally brushed and incredible when their lips touched. But was it enough to say she was in love with him?

"I don't know, Kris. I'm scared. I just don't think I belong to this place." Amelia answered honestly. Yes, she was afraid. If the prince had given up on Amy once, how could she know he wouldn't do that again? Did the prince love her enough? Did she love the prince enough? Was their love for the other strong enough to last forever?

The Prince looked at his ex-fiancée sadly as he asked for one last chance. "Can't I do anything to make you change your mind?"

"No, Kris, I have decided." Amelia answered and the next second, she felt a blade of guilt cutting every part of her body as the prince nodded slowly, looking like a lost puppy.

"Fine, if that's what you want, I will accept it." He replied after a short silence.

And that was the end of their conversation. That night they went to sleep without saying another word to each other, because deep down they both knew this was the end of their story. When the sun rose, Amelia would leave and that was it. Happy-ever-after was something that didn't exist in this world, wasn't it?

However, in the middle of the night, Kris sat up after hours trying to fall asleep but failed. Looked at the sleeping face of the pretty girl next to him, he knew he couldn't make it to let this wonderful person go. He promised he wouldn't force her to stay. That was true but the selfish monster in him was commanded him to do stupid things he knew he would regret.

'Do it, Kris. You know she belonged to you.'

The Prince stroked Amelia's soft hair, leaned over and kissed her gently. As a reaction she let out an annoyed moan, pouted with her lips and slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the prince's back which was turned to him.

Kris turned his head to his ex-fiancée as he heard she cried in pain and shock.

"Ouch, what the hell is this?" Amelia yelled all of sudden as she noticed the rope on her wrists that was hindering her from sitting up. She couldn't believe she was being chained to the bed.

"You're awake," said Kris with an emotionless voice and the prince even seemed scarier with the moon light shined on only half of his face.

"Kris, what is this? Release me, now," commanded Amelia in anger.

The prince smirked while his eyes were filled with sadness. Leaning closer to the young girl, he stated.

"You're not leaving, Amelia. I'm not letting you go anywhere."