“Mom, Dad, Anna it’s me! I’m back!”

I ran towards my parents but it felt like I couldn’t catch up to them. They failed to notice or even look at me.

“Who is that person?” “Leave us alone!” “We don’t want you around here.”

I heard voices around me, but I couldn’t tell where they were coming from. I ignored them and pressed on. I’d catch up to them and we’d be one happy family again! As I got closer they turned to me.

“Who are you?”

No! No! NO!!! They hadn’t forgotten about me! I’ come back and they were just waiting for me.

“Get away from us you creep!”

No not you to Anna. How? How could this be? I felt like I was falling into a pit of despair until I fell into a pool of water. I couldn’t breathe I looked around frantically looking for the surface, but everywhere I turned all I saw was myself. I only saw myself staring back with a look of pity.

I felt my sink further and further into the pool as my lungs burned for air.

I bolted out of bed in a cold sweat. The sun wasn’t up yet and I was still in my bedroom alone.I’d been trying to but on a brave face these past three days. I wouldn’t allow myself to appear weak and defeated in front of him!

I’d embraced being a woman to show that he hadn’t defeated me. But, I couldn’t lie to myself. I was scared. I was at his total mercy and I couldn’t do anything about it.

I stood up and walked to the window looking outside. The moon shined over the city with the stars twinkling in unison above.

I’d killed so many of these people just for the pursuit of getting home. They might have been demons, but I just ruthlessly killed them all for the sole purpose of getting home. It was such a selfish pursuit. I’d forsaked friendship here for fear of not wanting to leave.

What had it all gotten me? Imprisonment as the demon king’s wife for my reckless, foolish, and selfishness.

I sobbed thinking about that dream. They hadn’t forgotten me, had they? I wasn’t all alone was I. I was tired of putting up this false bravado but I didn’t know what else to do. I was playing in the palm of his hand. I couldn’t escape his grasp over me. Tomorrow he’d official sentence me to my final imprisonment as his wife.

I didn’t know what his final plans were. Would he force me to have sex with him and bear him a powerful heir? The thought made me want to vomit. I’d never even considered men as sexual partners, but I was now a prime sheep in their eyes.

I made my way to the door. I’d decided I’d use the cover of night to escape! I couldn’t risk staying here anymore! If I did there was no telling what he'd force me to do next!

I opened the door and looked around the hallway for any signs of the guards. When I had confirmed that the coast was clear I made my way throughout the halls looking for the throne room. From there I’d try to go back to the library and make my escape through the passage I’d used to get here.

For a few minutes, I wandered the halls aimlessly. I couldn’t remember where I was and I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t know how long I had before everyone started to wake. TIme was of the essence, but I couldn’t find the throne room. I didn’t want to open any doors for fear of waking someone up, but I could only navigate so well in these hallways.

After what felt like an hour I knew I was hopelessly lost. I hadn’t found the throne room nevertheless the library and now I didn’t even know where my room was. I rounded a corner but had failed to listen carefully as I walked straight into a wandering guard.

I looked up in fear as he towered over me in his armor. I tried running away but he grabbed me by the back of my nightgown and picked me up by my neck.

“What are you doing here lass? Thought you’d try to escape did ya?”

I was caught! What should I do? If I try to fight him I might alert more guards.

“So you were that hero they were talking about aren’t you. I expected you to more intimidating. Not such a pretty face. Now, what should we do with you I wonder?”

That’s it! I didn’t want to think of what this guy might have in store for me.

I channel mana into my foot and kick the guy in the crotch denting his armor. He crumpled in pain and loosened his grip on me. I then hit him in the back of the head knocking him out before he could scream for help or pain.

I then ran as fast as I could in the opposite direction. I didn’t know where I was going, but I needed to get away fast! After a minute I stopped to see if anyone had followed me. I used my technique from earlier to try and detect anyone around me.

I realized that I must have gone into the more heavily populated part of the citadel as I detected people all around me. I tried making my way to a less populated area of the citadel and used my technique to check rooms to see if they were empty.

My progress was slower than I would have liked, but I had to absolutely sure the rooms I checked were empty. The problem was I couldn’t find anything useful. THe few empty rooms I had found were just bare empty conference rooms, bedroom, or storage closets.

After a couple of minutes, a heard a sharp sound pierce the hall. I winced in pain and fell to the floor. A second later as I tried making my way to a nearby empty room I saw four more guards followed by a very angry Flora make their way towards me. I tried running away but I felt sharp pricks pierce my neck. In a panic, I pulled them out to reveal some thin needles.

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I threw them away and tried to take a step forward only to fall over unable to move. Crap she must have laced the needles with some kind of paralyzing agent. I tried in vain to move as they came closer to me.

“Looks like your escape attempt failed, didn’t it? Pick her up, we’re taking her to see his majesty.”

NO! I had to escape but all I could was grown as they easily picked up my limp body dragging me to Seliph.

I shuddered in fear at what awaited me. I’d tried to escape and had attacked one of his guards. What was he going to do to me! I could only wonder in fear as I was taken to what I presumed was Seliph’s quarters.

Flora knocked on the door before saying. “We’ve brought Diana, your majesty.”

“Bring her in and I wish to speak with her.”

They then opened the dropped me on the floor in front of his desk. Guess he’d decided he’d rather talk to here than in his quarters.

“Thank you gentlemen, you may now leave.”

“As you wish your majesty.”

The soldiers filed out of the room leaving me at the mercy of Flora and Seliph.

“Unparalyze her Flora. We can’t have a conversation if she can’t talk.”

Flora stabbed my arm with another needle before taking it out after a minute. I could finally move but I dared not stand up I didn’t want to face him.

“Stand up and look me in the eyes, Diana.”

Not wanting to incur further wrath I stood up doing as he asked. When I looked at him I was surprised at his face. He didn’t look angry if anything he looked disappointed in me.

“Why did you try to escape Diana. You do realize your situation don’t you?”

I had a hard time looking him in the eyes and looked at the floor in shame.

“I wanted to escape from here. As I’ve said previously I don’t want to be your wife.”

“Look me in the eyes and say that Diana.”

I did my best repeating what I’d said while making eye contact.

“Your lucky my guards caught you. If it had been one of the nobles it would have hurt both of us. I can’t have them saying my wife tried to escape right before I proposed to her. It would have hurt both of our positions. I’m not surprised but I’m quite disappointed. I haven’t been restricting your movements so far because I trusted you to act reasonably. So, for now, I’m going to post a guard at you door at all times. If you show me that I can trust you again I will remove this guard. Do you think this is a fair punishment?”

I didn’t want to risk further punishment. This wouldn’t be that bad of a punishment to be honest. I thought he was going to whip me or something. Not just give me a light slap on the wrist.

“Yes, that sounds fair.”

“Have I done anything to warrant this? I’ve been treating you perfectly well so far haven’t I? I’ve facilitated your transformation and have devoted a lot of my time and effort into you. I know this isn’t what you wanted. You’ve made that abundantly clear. But from what I’ve seen you’ve been making this work. So what pushed you over the edge?”

“I felt trapped. I wanted some form of freedom from this whole thing.”

I feel to my knees crying. I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t do this, but I couldn’t hide it anymore from him.

“I didn’t want to be stuck as your wife and the announcement is tomorrow isn’t it? I’d recovered enough and thought this was my best chance to escape before you made this official.”

I barely was able to get out the words as I lay crying on the floor.

“I see. Would you leave us Flora. I wish to speak with Diana alone right now.”

“As you wish your majesty.”

After Flora left he stood up and walked towards me. I flinched back in fear but was wrapped in his embrace before I could properly react. It felt warm and comforting surprisingly. Wait! Why am I letting him do this!

I try to push him off but he doesn’t budge as I try to escape his grasp.

“You don’t have to hide it from me, Diana. I know you’ve been trying to hide this from. It’s why I had Flora leave. You can confide in me all you want. You're my wife after all and I’ll always be there for you.”

“I don’t want you! I want my family and friends!”

“Like I’ve said I’m not even going to try and replace them. All I’m saying is I want you to open up to me and allow me to be at the very least your friend. I just want you to open up your heart allow yourself to accept my feelings of friendship. I know this has been hard. But, you’ve been handling this magnificently. I doubt I would even be able to hold a candle to the way you’ve handled this, and I can think of no one else I would rather have as my wife.”

I didn’t want to accept him! But, he was being so kind to me. No one here had seen me as a friend. I was only a pawn to defend humanity. I couldn’t open up to anyone and was forced to wear the bravado of a hero. I led an army of people that looked to me as their shining beacon.

So I never showed them my weaknesses. I always showed them my best and always encouraged everyone while my heart ached for real companionship. Someone to comfort me in my times of bad decisions. Someone to always be there for me when I needed them.

Could I really allow Seliph to be that person? He has treated me well ever since I met him. Never forcing himself on me and even apologizing when he took things too far. Was he really looking at me not as a pawn but as a possible companion or wife? At the very least I could accept him as a friend I guess.

“Thank you Seliph. I won’t accept you as my husband, but I can at least accept you as a friend for now.”

He chuckled as he held me close to him. I could feel the warmth in his laughter flow into me.

“That is perfectly acceptable Diana. I did say I’d let you take this at your own pace. So will you be my friend Diana?”

He let me go and stretched out his hand to me. I hesitated before shaking it with my own.

I didn’t know how far I’d let this go, but I felt like I could at least trust this man a little bit.

“Now how about we go back to bed. We’ve both got a long day ahead of us to properly prepare for tomorrow, don’t we? I’ll have Flora escort you back to your room. I’ll see you at breakfast Diana.”

We both walked out of the office and Flora escorted me back to my room as Seliph ordered. There a guard stood showing that my punishment was indeed in effect. So I wouldn’t be able to escape at night anymore.

After I made my way inside Flora bid herself goodbye and left me alone in the room. But, the place didn’t feel as lonely as before for some reason.

I wouldn’t say I had developed romantic feelings for Seliph, but I could at least accept him as a friend. He might be the demon king, but that didn’t have to mean that he was an evil ruler.

I’d let him inside my heart (as a friend). But, if he betrayed this trust that had started to bud between us. I was definitely going to make him pay for it twofold someway or another.

For today I just had to prepare for tomorrow when Seliph would officially proclaim our engagement to the whole kingdom.

I still had questions about his plans for the future. But, for now, I would go along with his plans. My position would probably grant me access to certain privileges. So if I played my cards right. I might still be able to protect humanity here.

They might see me as a traitor or a turncoat, but I wouldn’t let him destroy humanity at the least. I could protect them from the other side even if they ridiculed me for it.

For now though, I needed some sleep. I had a long day tomorrow. So after climbing into bed and pulling up the covers. I fell into a deep peaceful sleep.