The tower looked the same when the two arrived except for one small difference.

The door was missing and there were only black chars on the wall. The bowl that was placed before they had left was nowhere to be seen as well. The only upside to the situation was that food wasn’t piling up like the last time they had returned and instead, there was no sign of food at all.

“What happened here?” Pranee was alarmed with the state of the room but Shashi on the other hand looked satisfied.

“Looks like the potion worked while we were away.”

“What exactly was done?!”

“The potion I used was actually an explosive. Luckily we were away so nobody got harmed in the process.” Shashi explained it so calmly that if Pranee wasn’t paying attention, she wouldn’t have been as alarmed.

“What?!”

“Calm down, we can repair the door.”

“How?”

There was a pause. “We can replace the door.”

“That was not what you said a moment ago.”

“There’s another issue we need to focus on. Wipa said something about the property belonging to the king.” Shashi turned to Pranee with a concerned frown on their face and Pranee nodded to the statement absentmindedly.

“Well, yeah. That’s why I was placed in this tower.”

“Have you ever wondered why I’m residing in this tower?” Shashi asked her.

She bit the inside of her cheek as she thought for a second. “You broke in with magic.”

Shashi didn’t seem amused. “I said it was my tower when I met you right?”

“Yeah, I sort of remember that.” She could only remember she was terrified for her life and only vaguely remember what they had said at the time.

“That’s because I really thought I owned this tower.”

“So then…”

"Whoever sold this tower to me was a con artist. When I get my hands on them, they're dead."

Pranee looked at their torso. “Hands…?”

“You know what I mean.”

Pranee didn’t know whether to be concerned or to laugh at the choice of words but she kept quiet.

“Stay here, I have to go search the second floor for the contract I had signed when I had supposedly bought this place.”

“Okay, hope you can find them.” Pranee awkwardly sat on the chair to reassure Shashi.

Before Shashi could even leave the room, there was a loud crackling sound. Pranee turned her head to the window and she saw a familiar face. She didn’t realize she stood from her seat at the moment but she couldn’t contain her surprise.

“P’Tanet?”

“Pranee!”

The prince greeted the princess with a smile and opened his arms for a hug. She hesitantly went into his embrace, knowing that Shashi was watching them.

“How did you get here?” Pranee whispered in his ear.

“Magic, of course!” Tanet beamed only for Pranee to stare at him blankly. He never liked giving specifics, maybe because he was older than her or maybe it was because he was bad at explaining.

“But why?” She looked out the window again to see that there were two magicians with staffs in their hands floating outside the window.

“The moment we noticed that the seal wasn’t working anymore we came as soon as possible. One of my wizards went through so much effort to put the seal here so it was scary when it just suddenly vanished.” Tanet pulled away from Pranee and examined her face. “Did you get all the food I sent you? It doesn’t seem like you’ve been eating enough.”

“You were the one sending all that food?” She could feel the blood drain from her face as the realization hit her.

“Yes.” He looked too proud of that fact.

“What were you thinking?! I don’t eat that much!”

“I was only making sure you got fed! I’m sure your friend was helping you.”

Pranee let go of Tanet and turned to Shashi. They did not look pleased.

“Who is this guy?” Shashi asked.

“Shashi, this is my brother P’Tanet. P’Tanet, this is Shashi, the wizard of the tower.” Pranee’s voice was shaky but the two didn’t seem to notice her nervousness.

Tanet quickly pressed his hands together and bowed to greet Shashi. “I’m grateful that my sister had a friend during this horrifying time. I hope you continue to treat her well.”

“Ah yes,” Shashi bowed. “Thank you. If you don’t mind me asking, why did you put a damn seal on that door.”

“Oh, the king wanted it there anyways. We just modified it so that we would be able to take care of Pranee.”

“So, you knew she was here the whole time?”

“Yes.” Pranee’s brother had a way with words where it would increasingly annoy the person he was talking to. Pranee only felt bad for Shashi as this was the second time that someone has angered them today.

“If you knew it would be easy to rescue her, why didn’t you rescue her?”

“We’re… nomads at the moment. The travel is too dangerous for my little sister so I thought leaving her here while supplying her with some necessities would be easier for the both of us.”

Pranee could only stare at her brother, trying to contain her own anger. Tanet glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, questioning her stare but she only responded with a pout.

“That’s strange.” Shashi took a step closer to Tanet with their eyes in a squint. “It sounds like all of you are hiding something.”

“We sure are!” Tanet slapped Shashi on the back with a laugh.

Shashi sighed and glanced at the door. “Well, I have some business to do so you’re welcome to stay in this room and catch up.”

“Is it alright if I take my little sister out for some time?” Tanet roped his arm around Pranee’s shoulders and she attempted to push it off. He wouldn’t budge.

Shashi scrunched their eyebrows together. “Mm, I gu–”

“Thanks a bunch, we’ll be back in no time!”

Tanet grabbed Pranee’s arm and jumped out the window with her in tow. At moments like this, she wished she was an only child.