_Alina's POV_
I was determined to find Juliet. My worry grew with every passing moment she remained missing. She wasn’t in the restroom; where could she be? It seemed like Juliet had disappeared, nowhere to be found. As I moved through the banquet hall, I asked several guests if they had seen her, but no one had any useful information.
"Juliet couldn’t have gone far," I muttered to myself, scanning the crowd again.
After what felt like hours of searching, I spotted a guard standing near the entrance to the palace gardens. His presence struck me as unusual, so I decided to approach him.
"Excuse me," I said, my voice urgent. "Have you seen Juliet? She’s wearing a green dress, dark hair, about this tall?" I gestured to approximate her height.
The guard hesitated for a moment
