Tears welled from Ingird’s eyes. They sparkled like crystal-clear water as the light of the sun hit them from between the canopies of the trees. They were tears that made the hardest of hearts soften. However, her tears which were always an effective last resort when she found herself incapable of escaping a dire situation, failed to work this time.

“Your tears won’t work on us, my lady,” said one of the men, clothed in black from head to toe with only their eyes visible. “The king has given us a potion to counter your charm before coming to the empire. Now, if your lady could come willingly with us, it would be much appreciated."

Ingrid swallowed. How could this happen? She looked at one of her maids, who was standing beside the black-clad men with her head held high as if she had done nothing wrong. To think that one of her maids would actually betray her.

“Seli, why?” Ingrid asked in a pained voice. This time, her tears weren’t to convince her kidnappers to let her go. They were for the many years of trust that were broken and shattered by an unexpected betrayal.

“I never betrayed you, my lady. I was never on your side in the first place,” Seliphine sneered. She looked at the bag of gold in her hand greedily as the thought of the many things she could buy with it came to mind.

“How can you do this? My family has treated you well!”

“Don’t be so dramatic, my lady. Or should I start addressing you as your grace now?” Seli mocked. “It’s not like I sold you to some brothel or something. Look, I only got this much money,” she said, shaking the pouch she was holding. “And yet, you’ll go off to become the queen of the most powerful kingdom in history. You should be thanking me instead.”

Despair and anger filled Ingrid’s heart. Her eyes darted around the vast forest, looking for a place to escape.

Surrounding them were giant trees. Even if she did manage to run away, it would be impossible for her to run far in the terrible terrain with her heels and layered dress. She’ll easily get caught.

“Give up, my lady. You can never escape."

“Stay away!” Ingrid screamed when Seli started walking towards her, causing the latter to stop.

Ingrid felt so stupid for trusting her. She was bored from waiting for the challengers of the competition to return when Seli told her that she stumbled upon a bed of beautiful flowers behind the hunting lodge. The way Seli cheerfully described how beautiful the flowers were piqued her interest. Therefore, she asked Seli to show her where they were, tagging along a few knights with her.

Who would have thought she would lead them into a trap...

As they entered the dense forest, her knights were ambushed and taken down before they could even draw their swords. A mage was also with them, disrupting the magic around the area so she couldn't send a distress signal using her magic-imbued pendant.

Seli was good at her work. She never did anything unnecessary or out of the ordinary, and she never got in trouble with the other maids. Among the young maids, she is the second-longest-serving maid in their household. So she had never been suspicious of her.

“You don’t need to be afraid, lady Ingrid," Seli assured, a malicious smirk on her face. "I’m sure the king of Serus will treat you well. After all, you will be his queen. You will rule the most powerful kingdom in the world, together with the most powerful man there is! Don’t you want that?”

Ingrid shook her head while taking a step away from her captors. But her foot landed on a root protruding from the ground, causing her to fall butt first. Ingrid winced from the pain.

“Since when did Oliver become the most powerful man in the world?”

The black-cladded men quickly raised their arms at the sudden sound of an unfamiliar yet hatefully familiar voice. They looked around looking for the location of the voice, their eyes on high-alert.

From behind a giant tree, the owner of the voice emerged. There was an arrogant smile on his lips as he casually walked towards their direction.

It was the first time that Ingrid felt relief seeing a man apart from her fateher. The overwhelming feeling made her tears flow down her cheeks as she looked at the man in front of her like a child who was telling on her bullies.

“Crown Prince Aleric!” Seli exclaimed in bewilderment. She looked at Dera, the mage accompanying them, but by the looks of it, it seems that their mage was the most surprised by the sudden appearance of the Crown Prince.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Dera is a senior mage who specializes in detection spells. She is a young genius that King Oliver himself praised for her adept use of detection and tracking spells. To think that the infamous Crown Prince is actually capable of bypassing her magic. Is his strength really equal to that of the king of Serus?

Seli began to fear and worry. She was only supposed to lead Ingrid towards the men of Serus, and then she would be on her merry way. Everything was supposed to work out smoothly, but who would have thought that the crown prince would accidentally stumble upon them?

“Dera, a senior mage from the Magic Association greets your highness.” Dera, the mage and the only one in the group who isn’t wearing a ninja costume, stepped in. “If your highness may, we would like you to leave as we still have some business with the young lady."

Ingrid looked at Aleric, her eyes screaming a silent plea. She was afraid that he would leave, just like that. With the involvement of a powerful kingdom, he might just discard his plan to use her due to the giant risk.

“You mean the business of abducting her.”

“The young lady’s hand has already been promised to our king a long time ago. It is now time for her to fulfill the marriage.”

“You liar! I never promised to marry that ugly fart!” She shouted.

Dera clenched her fist. She wanted so much to slap that beautiful face for daring to disrespect her king. If only Crown Prince Aleric wasn’t here, she would have already done so.

The Crown Prince of Arahdya is a complicated person. No one knows what he wants or what his true goal is in his conquests. So even the kingdom of Serus tiptoes when dealing with him. They don’t necessarily fear the Crown Prince or his so-called might. However, they also don’t want to recklessly wage war against such a strong empire when there is an option to avoid it.

“We’ll, the maiden has spoken—she doesn’t want your ugly king." Aleric chuckled and walked towards where Ingrid is.

“Crown Prince Aleric! Can you really afford the hostility of the kingdom of Serus?”

Aleric did not respond and instead offered his hand towards the beautiful maiden slumped on the ground.

“What? Is the ground that comfortable?” He asked Ingrid, who was looking at his hand seemingly in disbelief.

The kingdom of Serus is known as the home of magicians. Though its size is not comparable to an empire, its strength is. It lies in a mana-rich region in the south. As such, the place was a paradise for for those who pursue magic.

Magicians from all over the world would brave all kinds of danger just to learn magic from them. Obviously, the only school for magic in the entire world can only be found in that place.

That is why no one dares act hostilely against the Kingdom of Serus. Apart from the fact that their strength is great, the only way to hire magicians is through them. It could be said that the kingdom of Serus holds a monopoly over the magicians in the land. Anyone would be stupid to go against them.

Previously, one of the reasons why her father was helpless when she was abducted was because, when they found out who her father was fighting against, everyone abandoned him, afraid. The grand duke wanted to march to the south really badly, but even the emperor dissuaded him from doing so, fearing that the empire of Learia would be implicated.

So though she was happy to have found help, at the same time she was baffled. No one is that crazy to go against the kingdom of Serus. But it seems that she has found someone who is.

Ingrid took Crown Prince Aleric’s hand and allowed him to lift her off the ground.

“Stop right there, your highness! She is our future queen. It would greatly displease our king if you recklessly touched her!” Dera warned.

Aleric's brow furrowed. "That's strange. As far as I know, I haven't conquered that kingdom... yet." His voice dripped with arrogance and mockery. "And my future title is emperor, not king. So how are you a future queen?" He turned to Ingrid, his expression genuinely puzzled.

Dera's heart sank, a sense of foreboding creeping over her. As far as she knew, the Crown Prince and Ingrid had no connection other than their dance at the ball. Could something have happened between them that she didn't know about? Impossible! The spy they sent to ensure that the young lady of Lennox was behaving appropriately would have reported if they had seen anything suspicious.

“Did you mistake her for someone else?” The Crown Prince eyed everyone around them, his eyes warning them to choose their words correctly.

Deli looked at his fellowmen, an understanding passing among them. There were ten of them, excluding Seli, who now looked like a useless decoration at the very corner. Though her magic isn’t that suitable for combat, she can be a very good support. Meanwhile, there is only the crown prince, and he is even without a sword.

If they could kill the crown prince today, they would be eliminating a future threat to their kingdom and would surely be rewarded by their king. It would be killing two birds with one stone.

“Uhm, your highness, I think it’s time to take out your weapon,” Ingrid said, sensing the danger in their eyes.

“Weapon?” Aleric looked at Ingrid, confused. “What weapon?”

“Your weapon!” Ingrid’s hand gripped Aleric’s hand as Dera and her companions moved towards them.

“Well, I don’t have a weapon.”

“Hah?” Ingrid looked at Aleric’s apathetic face in disbelief. “Did you join the hunt without a weapon?”

Come to think of it, before the hunt started, she did notice that Aleric was the only one without a weapon. But she assumed that he has some sort of artifact that he uses to hide it. Who would actually think he truly, literally did not bring any weapons?

Ingrid felt a headache coming. It looks like life of her only hope would be cut short.

Ingrid felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw the crown prince smiling at her without any care, as if their lives weren’t in imminent danger.

Crown Prince Aleric unhurriedly kissed the back of her pearly white hands. “Don’t worry, there is a thing we call primitive hunting.”

That’s when Ingrid saw it—the traces of dried blood on his fingertips. A shiver ran through her spine.