Chapter 11

As soon as Xenia stepped into the long hallway, she heaved a sigh of relief, noticing that no one was guarding the place. Seems to her like an overconfident king thought no one would dare attack him anyways. And so she began her daring escape plan.

Looking back at her mental map of the castle, she could probably retrace her steps all the way out to the front gates.

Granted, she didn’t know what to do after she got out of the palace walls, but it was at least going to be better than being a so-called warrior-servant of a king that she didn’t even recognize as her sovereign.

“Just have to be careful,” the incognito princess whispered to herself, her sword at the ready as she peeked outside her room. “No guards, at least. That makes things easier…”

Keeping her silence, Xenia tiptoed her way out of her room for the night. Her injuries made it harder to move in a relatively quiet way, but she soldiered through the pain, her determination fueling her actions as she kept her guard up.

“So far so good…” she muttered to herself as she navigated the dimly lit hallways of the palace. “The security’s pretty lax for a king…”

Xenia almost wanted to laugh when a sharp pain shot through her ribs, reminding her that she really shouldn’t push herself too hard. Instead, she should focus more on finding her way out of this foreign death trap.

Slinking through the halls of the palace, Xenia could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on its end as she felt another presence near her. Quickly moving to the nearest corner, she held her breath as a guard passed her by.

Each step echoed throughout the hallway, the guard’s heavy boots made a clacking sound on the stone floor as he slowly passed her by.

Soon enough, the danger passed, and she breathed out a sigh of relief as she took a brief glance at the now empty hallway.

“That was close…” she gasped out, her hands still clutching her sword tightly to her chest.

She shook her head at her situation. A part of her knew that what she was doing was futile, that there was simply no way that a king would have security as lax as what she was going through right now.

Sooner or later, she’ll get caught, and she didn’t know what would become of her then. Maybe she’d get thrown back into the pit to die? Or worse, maybe her identity will come out, and this king could use her as a bargaining chip against her own home.

But all those risks were worth it even if she had a one percent chance of succeeding at this plan.

Xenia hissed through her teeth as she tried her best to clear her thoughts. Thinking about the worst case scenario now would only make her lose focus. Even if it was useless, at least she could say that she tried if she got caught.

“Right…”

Nodding to herself, Xenia continued with her daring escape, stealthily walking through each and every open door that she came across.

The darkness of the night helped her immensely, shielding her from the few guards that she came across. However, a sneaking suspicion suddenly dawned on her just as she reached the palace gardens.

“Wait… aren’t they werewolves?”

The question almost made her quit her plans right then and there.

Supposedly, werewolves had a heightened sense of smell and hearing. And with her tendency to whisper to herself, as well as with the amount of blood still seeping through what meager bandages she had wrapped around herself, it was more than likely that they could see her coming from even miles away.

Xenia’s eyes widened at the revelation. Leaning on the closest wall, it seemed as if the wind was abruptly taken off her sails, her body letting its protests known as pain radiated from her injuries. Still, she already got this far. There was no way she wouldn’t try to move forward.

“I can do this…”

Psyching herself up, she took her next step forward, only to trip as the pain became too much. Stabbing her sword on the ground, she used her weapon for support as the night sky above illuminated the area. There were no guards, but she still felt as if somebody was watching her.

“D-dammit…” she cursed to herself. She really thought that her body would at least give her its cooperation today.

“I can’t become a slave…” She hissed through gritted teeth as the pain became almost unbearable but the thoughts of her sister urged her to move on, be brave and live through this just for now.

Dragging herself forward, Xenia forced her body to move despite its injuries. Pain echoed from her body, humming with every step she took forward, her vision blurring as the moon above seemingly mocked her for even thinking of trying to escape.

“Ughh…”

As she took another step, Xenia tripped on her own foot, her body landing unceremoniously on the ground with a light thud. Her consciousness was still there, but it was quickly fading despite her own protests.

“G-Get up…” she growled to herself, her heart pumping madly inside her chest. “Get up, damn it…”

Grabbing onto her sword, she used it for support as she barely managed to stand. Her hearing was starting to fail her now, and she was about to take another step forward again when an imposing figure suddenly blocked her way.

“Xen.”

She flinched at the familiar tone. Her injuries might be far too extensive for her to fight, but she didn’t want to go down without even trying. If he was going to throw her in the pit to die, she might as well die fighting him.

“Stop this foolishness.”

Ignoring his words, Xenia weakly drew her sword up to her shoulder, her knees buckling as she attempted a weak strike at the king in front of her.

Predictably, she missed.

“You’re still injured,” the King droned out.

She didn’t care. If this was her last chance at life, she could at least maybe land a small blow at her captor. Maybe even a small wound would suffice. It didn’t matter. At least she managed to spite him for killing her.

With a growl, Xenia heaved her sword once more, hoping to at least take a glance out of the man that took away her freedom. Unfortunately, she missed once again, the tip of her sword unceremoniously hitting the ground as she panted.

“Enough of this.”

Before she could even move, the King had already moved behind her. His arms then scooped her up from the ground, her weak body barely giving resistance as he carried her back into the palace.

With a sigh, Xenia made her peace. She thought that she was going back to the pit to die. And why shouldn’t she? She tried to escape, after all. But when she was suddenly back in her room once again, she couldn’t help but ask herself as the king left her to herself.

“Why…”

Why not just kill her? What was the point of stalling the inevitable and giving her hope?