The Crown's Entrapment

Author's Important Note: Remember that this is Xenia's POV so in her POV, Darius is Darius while Devas is Devas. Again please don't get confused *wink*

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[Fifth night inside the Element Forest]

"Are you alright?" Devas asked her.

[I want to make sure that I keep an eye on what is mine...]

'Those words...' she pondered as she stared at Devas. Her gaze then shifted to Darius as she frowned. Those words sounded so familiar to her... It was like she had heard them from Darius before.

"Xen?!" Devas called to her.

Hearing his call, she looked back up at him and thought, 'This Devas has been calling me Xen ever since I woke up.' It was like Darius was the one calling out to her, only it was being done using the voice of a different man.

"I'm alright, Lord Devas," she whispered. Still, the frown on her face deepened as she tried hard to recall just when she heard those words from Darius before.

A few seconds later, her eyes widened upon recalling such a scene. It was back when Darius would always insist they traveled on one horse while she was still disguised as a lad. He kept on telling her that her life was his... and that was something only he knew...

'Something is definitely going on in here,' Xen continued to ponder as she suspiciously looked at Devas and Darius.

"The sun will set soon. We need to find a safer place to rest," Darius suddenly said just as the acid rain stopped pouring. Almost immediately, the barrier promptly disappeared.

Curious, she looked at Devas and asked, "How did you create the barrier without chanting a spell or moving a thing?"

"Xenia, he's a powerful guardian, so he could probably just chant the spell in his head and use his power using his mind," Darius preemptively explained. "He's quite different from wizards and mages..."

Xenia raised a brow at the explanation coming from Darius when he was not the one she questioned, but she remained silent regardless.

Wordlessly, the three of them started walking with Darius leading the way. It was highly unusual, and Xenia had a mind to point it out.

"Stop," she suddenly said, making Darius stop in front of her. "Let Lord Devas lead the way. I'm sure he's more familiar with this place than you are."

Devas only blinked at her. He then looked at Darius, the latter scratching his head as he then said with an awkward smile to Devas, "You lead the way."

Xenia frowned as she clenched her jaw, staring at Darius suspiciously.

'My husband never scratches his head like that!' she inwardly retorted. Darius's main expression had always been to frown at everything he saw. He never scratched his head ever. He always had this intimidating look to him, and he showed it to everyone except for her. It was different for her, only having smiles for her whenever they spoke.

But now, he was awkwardly smiling and scratching his head in front of Lord Devas? There was no way her Darius would do that. At this revelation, Xenia could feel her heart thumping in deep thought.

"Alright, I'll lead the way to find a good shelter for us," Devas commanded, almost hesitantly despite his stature."It's also best that we hunt food. I'll hunt for meat, while you can start picking fruits with Xen. We also need water."

Xenia remained quiet throughout their journey. After a while, she said, "Since the two of you are here to help me out, then I'll let you two do all the work. I'm still not feeling well."

"Yes, Xen. Go ahead and do so," Devas commented. "There's no need for you to move too much. Just follow our lead."

Sitting down, Xenia allowed herself to simply observe the two men from the sidelines. Every little detail about them... The way each of them talked along with every little gesture they made.

"This hair needs a cut!" Darius suddenly grunted when his long silver strands tangled up against the thin branches of the trees that he was grabbing onto for some fruits. Xenia tilted her head to the left, watching his annoyed expression before she then shifted her gaze back to Devas who was currently busy hunting a boar.

'These two can't fool me for long, but I'll have to observe them a bit more and think carefully about how to address this situation,' she murmured to herself before glaring at one of the many ravens lurking around near them.

She was sure that this was Polo watching her right at the moment. This was probably a part of her trial, so she should be more careful before doing any drastic moves.

"I got it!" Devas burst out as he held the wild boar.

Hearing the guardian cheer, Xenia simply watched the two act out their respective roles. In her head, she thought of how awkward these two men looked. Darius was busy picking up fruits, while Devas was busy preparing the boar he hunted down for a roast... The latter was something that Darius should've been the one to do, seeing as he was a werewolf and hunting was his forte. He was even more familiar with the wilderness to not rely on foraging for fruit.

Soon enough, the moon quickly replaced the sun, and Xenia found a safer place for them to rest inside a cave that also had clean water running through it. So far, things were moving rather smoothly with her not talking to any of the two men she was with.

She was in deep thought. She couldn't afford to speak to them. Instead, she merely observed the two men in her own subtle way.

Staring at the fire before her where Devas was roasting the boar, she kept up her watch when the guardian suddenly roared and barked, "What are you doing!?"

Xenia followed his gaze, and there he saw Darius cutting off his long silver hair with a sharp stone knife Devas had improvised a while ago.

Darius glared at Devas and said, "I'm cutting my hair since I found it uncomfortable. Why? Are you complaining about me having short hair, huh?" Darius then looked at her and asked, "You don't mind me having shorter hair, right?"

Devas froze in his strides towards Darius as he looked at her as if waiting for her response. Seeing that, Xenia turned her gaze back to the fire as she said, "I don't mind it. It doesn't matter what you look like to me as long as it's still you, Darius."

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AN: Let's refresh your memory. That scene with Darius's dialogue of 'I want to make sure that I keep an eye on what is mine...' is in Chapter 19. *wink*