The atmosphere of the palace was charged with terror, and the shadows moved through the lavish corridors as she ran quickly, her heart pounding with fear. The long hallways were thickening with darkness with every step she took. Everything around her whispered death, and her sense of suffocation grew with each passing moment.

"I can't let them catch me! I have to find a way out!" she whispered to herself, but every time she looked back, she heard a sound getting closer. There was no escape.

As she rushed down a long corridor, she suddenly collided with something massive, falling directly into the arms of a stranger. She quickly lifted her head, her eyes meeting his in a moment of shattered silence. It was him—the leader behind the attack—smiling with a calm expression, but his tone held something provocative and domineering.

"Wouldn't it have been better for you to surrender before you found yourself here?" he said in a low voice, but filled with challenge, as he wrapped his hand around her forcefully, as though she were nothing more than a puppet in his grasp.

He smiled mockingly as he watched her fear, making her feel as though she were in the grip of her worst nightmare.

"You really think you can escape?" he continued, raising her chin with his hand firmly, leaving her with no way to escape his hold. "Don't run. There's no safe place here."