Ingrid froze like a beautifully sculpted statue as she watched the carnage that happened right before her eyes. She wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. She wanted to scream, but her mouth felt like it was glued shut. So she could only watch in horror as torn limbs and flesh scattered everywhere, their blood creating a pool on the uneven ground.
The last of the echos of the shrilling scream of the mage finally ended as Crown Prince Aleric separated her head from her body and aimlessly threw it away. He then stretched his arm, showing off his perfectly toned muscles that, in a different circumstance, would have made even Ingrid blush.
However, at that very moment, all Ingrid could see were arms of death that could easily take her life in a single misstep.
A grin was plastered on Crown Prince Aleric’s lips, amused by how weak his enemies were. The only thing worth noting about them was their superhuman speed. But apart from that, they were as weak as an ant.
However, the smile on his face was soon wiped off when his bloodshot eyes landed on a pale-looking maiden, standing like a block of ice. He was so immersed in his bloodletting that he had momentarily forgotten that a beautiful but extremely fragile lady was with him.
“That must have startled you.” Aleric sighed.
Startled was an understatement. Ingrid looked like she was about to pass out!
Now, this would be difficult. With the young lady of Lennox now traumatized, will he have to cross out his plan of utilizing the grand dukes military?
“You killed them," Ingrid croaked, interrupting Aleric's thought. “With your bare hands.” Her eyes moved towards Aleric’s hands, which were still dripping with blood.
"Scared?" Aleric's eyes probed hers.
Ingrid bit her lip, but her head shook with resolve.
Crown Prince Aleric’s eyes dimmed. He crossed the distance between them in big strides and grabbed Ingrid’s face with his bloody hand. “Then why are you trembling?”
Ingrid gasped. She wanted to puke as she felt the wet and clammy texture of the blood on her skin—its unbearable stench assaulting her nose.
She tried to push Aleric away, but his grip on her jaw only tightened. With her little strength, she was helpless against his hold. So she stopped fighting and closed her eyes, waiting for his verdict.
Will he tear her limbs into pieces like he did with them?
Seeing the pitiful look on Ingrid's face, Aleric squeezed his eyes shut. What was he doing? She's already extremely afraid; why was he scaring her even more?
"I'm sorry," he whispered, gently releasing her jaw. Aleric rested his forehead on hers with his eyes shut to calm himself.
The forest was eerily silent, save for the sound of their heavy breathing. Their heartbeats pounded like two horses chasing each other—one furious, the other afraid. But slowly, the rhythm of their hearts slowed to normal, fusing into one indistinguishable beat.
“Hey, you highness, are you a fan of ruining festivities?” Ingrid suddenly asked.
////\
Chaos erupted in the hunting lodge when Crown Prince Aleric emerged from within the forest bathed in blood. In his arms, he snuggled Ingrid, pale and trembling.
Aleric expected Ingrid to cower away after what she had just witnessed. He expected her to be running and screaming after her initial shock was gone. But much to his astonishment, despite shaking at his mere touch, she chose to use the opportunity to put on a show and further establish the so-called blooming relationship between them.
“Ingrid!” called the grand duke and quickly snatched her daughter from Aleric’s arms. “What happened? Quick call the doctor,” he shouted frantically when he saw the blood on Ingrid’s face and clothes.
“I-its okay, papa, it isn’t my blood!”
However, the grand duke did not listen and still took her to the medical tent. Crown Prince Aleric silently followed behind them, leaving the crowd of spectators wondering what had transpired.
Grand Duke Rasmus was only at ease after Ingrid was thoroughly checked and found without any injury.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
In the middle of her medical inspection, Lily arrived completely hysterical. But Ingrid ended up laughing at her plight. There were small twigs and leaves on top of her messy hair. She ironically had more scratches and wounds than Ingrid, who had just escaped from a very dangerous situation.
“Seli told me that the Grand Duke called me, so I went to meet the Grand Duke. But when I went there, Grand Duke said he didn’t call for me. That’s when I felt that something was amiss, so I quickly headed back. But when I came back, you were no longer there. I sort of panicked, so when someone told me they found you heading towards the forest along with your knights, I went after you. Waaaah! I’m really glad you are fine.” Lily began to sob.
Ingrid wrapped Lily in her embrace. After everything, she was glad to have Lily beside her. Right now, she was the only one left that she could truly trust.
Her eyes dimmed at the thought of Seli. Until now, she still couldn't fathom how she could betray her.
“What exactly happened?” The grand duke asked in a solemn voice. Based on Lily’s account, he could more or less guess what has transpired.
“It seems that one of your servants turned wolf, your grace,” Crown Prince Aleric, who had been watching them silently, said. He has now changed from his earth-colored garb that was covered with blood to a clean white shirt and simple trousers.
The grand duke shifted his attention to the crown prince of Aradhya. He was so engulfed in his worry for his child that he hadn’t even noticed the crown prince or the person who was standing beside him.
“Ah, this is my right hand, Vernon. He came here after hearing the commotion,” Aleric introduced, after seeing where the grand duke was looking.
The man beside Aleric stepped forward and bowed towards the grand duke. “Greetings, your grace, my ladies. I am Vernon Elsher, the right-hand man of the Crown Prince of Aradhya.”
Grand Duke Rasmus couldn’t hide the surprise in his eyes when he heard his name. Within the ranks of Crown Prince Aleric’s subordinates was a person whose name resounds within the continent, not because of his monstrous power but because of his great intelligence.
“I never thought the great tactician of the west would be this young,” Grand Duke Rasmus marveled. The man in front of him looked to be of the same age as the crown prince. Yet he heard that Vernon had been with the prince ever since the beginning of his conquest. So there is another monster within the Crown Prince’s rank apart from himself.
What the Grand Duke doesn’t know is that there is more than one monster among the crown prince’s subordinates. Most of them are.
“It seems that the King of Serus is pretty determined to get your daughter,” said Aleric when he noticed the grand duke had momentarily forgotten the issue at hand.
Grand Duke Rasmus’ eyes darkened. “That bastard! I will never rest until I have his head on a spike!” He bellowed. The people inside the tent shook in fear at the sound of his voice.
There is a reason why the grand duke is feared in their empire. When it comes to his daughter, he tends to become irrational.
“I heard what happened!” The emperor entered at the wrongest possible time, with the empress and their entourage following behind them.
The room chilled as the grand duke glared at the emperor. “Cecil, I pray that you don’t have a hand on this or else!”
“Papa!” Ingrid grabbed her father’s arm.
Tension filled the air as the people inside the tent shifted their eyes back and forth between the grand duke and the emperor.
“Grand Duke, you may be my brother, but I am still your emperor! I will not tolerate such disrespect, even from you!” The emperor growled.
Ingrid grew even more anxious and tightened her grip on her father's arm. Even with the ongoing tension between them, her father and the emperor had never fought this openly before. If word gets out, who knows what kind of mess will follow?
At that moment, her eyes shifted toward the only person in the room who might have the power to break the tension. She looked at him, begging him with her eyes.
Aleric raised his brow at Ingrid’s silent plea. It was as though she had forgotten her fear of him. He found that quite amusing.
With a playful grin on his lips, he put his hand on the grand duke's shoulder. "Grand duke." A series of gasps could be heard inside the tent. Out of all the people in the room, he’s probably the only one who has the guts to do that. “You’re scaring your daughter.”
The grand duke’s eyes shifted toward his daughter's pale face, and his heart ached.
He glared at the emperor one last time. “We will settle this some other time.” With that, he gently collected his daughter in his arm and left the tent with Lily trailing behind them.
The people inside the tent sighed in relief once the grand duke was gone. They really thought it would be the end of them.
Emperor Cecil didn’t linger either and stormed out furiously. Meanwhile, the empress, who couldn’t hide the joy in her eyes, took her time to leave.
“What are we supposed to do now, your grace? It seems that their plan has failed,” Duchess Camilla asked when there was no longer anyone around.
“What of it?” The empress smirked. “Regardless of their failure, we still got what we wanted.”
“But won’t the grand duke grow suspicious of us? He knew that the hunting lodge was heavily guarded, even doubled thanks to the sudden appearance of Lady Ingrid. He’ll surely think that an insider helped those men enter.”
“Suspicions are mere suspicions unless they can bring forth solid proof. That brainless crown prince did not even think of keeping one of them alive for interrogation. Not that he can get any important information from them,” she mocked.
“Grand Duke Rasmus tends to become irrational when it comes to her daughter. He even publicly disrespected the emperor this time. My husband would surely not let that slide.” The Empress paused when they reached her own tent.
Duchess Camilla quickly opened the tent’s door for the empress. “But is the emperor capable of making his brother submit?”
The empress smiled. “Not on his own, no. But in this vast empire, there are countless people who would want nothing else but to see the grand dukes downfall. Now that the relationship between the grand duke and the emperor has turned hostile, I’d expect to see them emerge one by one in the coming days.”