The Crown's Entrapment

“It wasn’t a simple berry. I was able to identify it, and it’s actually a poisonous variant,” Darius explained with a dead tone. “Because of its smell, humans aren’t able to distinguish the difference unless they use some magic to do it for them.”

Hearing him speak, Xenia could no longer take how he was acting so weird for some reason.

So she blatantly asked, “My King, did I somehow do something to offend you last night? You seem so annoyed and irritated.” She then noticed the dark circles under his eyes, and how his face looked so haggard. “Did you not rest?”

Looking around it was only then that she realized that they were now in a completely different spot from where they were last night. It was dark at the time, but she could still vaguely remember the position of the trees around them where they stopped to rest at.

“I didn’t rest at all, Xen. We needed to continue moving forward, so I traveled whilst you slept,” Darius plainly scoffed.

Xenia’s mouth twitched. She could sense that the King was indeed not in a good mood. Maybe because he carried her all night as he continued on with their journey and moved them to safety? But how come he didn’t answer her question of if she did something to offend him last night?

Thinking further, Xenia unconsciously bit her lower lip as she fell into a deep stupor about the last thing she could at least remember from last night. What exactly was it that she did?

“Here’s your sword.”

Before she could even begin to gather her thoughts, Darius suddenly handed her a double-edged sword. Grabbing it from the air, she also noticed that his sword was back. She had thought they lost it for good while they were being chased.

“How?” she murmured as she secured her sword back to the side of her hip.

“The wolves…” he nonchalantly replied. “I instructed them to bring them back to me. Now can you finally get back to your feet?”

“Yes, I’m feeling better now,” Xenia commented.

Watching her get up, Darius looked on outward as he spoke. “We’ll be walking the rest of the way now. We have almost reached the border.”

“That fast?” she burst out. “You mean you carried me in your wolf-man form since last night?”

“Yes,” Darius plainly answered, but Xenia could feel that there was more to it than he was letting on.

‘Maybe I’m just thinking too much,’ Xenia mused as she quickly dismissed the unnecessary thought. But somehow, she still felt bothered by the current situation. She was almost sure that she did something…

“We’ll rest for the night once we reach the border,” Darius informed.

“But it’ll be better if we don’t stop during our journey,” Xenia suggested. “We can reach the castle by morning if we keep moving.” The earlier they arrived, the better. She had no intention of resting at all.

If he heard her words, Darius didn’t comment on them as he continued walking beside her.

Meanwhile, Xenia didn’t like how slow they were currently moving. And so, she moved to walk ahead of him only for her knees to suddenly wobble. The sudden sensation caused her to lose balance, almost making her slump on the ground before Darius managed to catch her in his arms.

Seeing her compromised position, the King let out a sigh as he frowned, “This is why we need to rest for the night. Your body is still adjusting and purging the toxins in your body. You won’t even manage to run in your current state, Xen.”

There was a pause, then Darius continued, “This won’t do at all. I will have to carry you throughout the journey. It won’t be advisable for me to shift in my wolf, nor wolf-man form anyway.”

She clicked her tongue. Right… The soldiers securing their border wouldn’t allow Darius to enter unless he was in his human form. It would be awkward for him to shift before them.

Xenia’s eyes widened when Darius suddenly moved. She could already tell that his plan was to carry her like how a husband would carry his woman, with one arm on her back while the other scooped up her legs from the back of her knees.

At the prospect of being carried bridal style, she immediately exclaimed, “No way! How could you carry me like a woman, my King!? That’s so absurd!”

The King raised an eyebrow at her as he questioned, “Aren’t we in a hurry?”

“Yeah, but… it’s okay since we’re almost near the border anyway,” Xenia shakily justified with an awkward smile.

“You’re acting weird, Xen. What’s the big deal if I carry you?” he dubiously asked. “Stop complaining and debating with me. I don’t have all the time in the world to wait while you walk like a snail. So I hope you won’t complain about me carrying you like this.”

Before Xenia could protest further, she felt her body float as Darius carried her small frame like a sack of grain over his shoulder.

Seeing the shift in position, she no longer protested the situation since they were already in a way better position than before. She really just didn’t want him carrying her in his arms like a lover, or even on his back where he could feel her bosoms!

A few moments later, they arrived at a clearing, the border of the Kingdom of Ebodia could be seen nearby.

Xenia felt her heart thumping loudly against her chest upon seeing the villagers of her kingdom. She also noticed that their troops were currently deployed near the border.

“I believe that Gideon has already informed the King about the situation, seeing as Ebodia is currently preparing for war,” King Darius informed.

Xenia found herself nodding in understanding. It was no wonder then that troops were already stationed at the border. And seeing their current numbers, she was sure that more were already deployed to block all possible passages that the enemy could use to invade their kingdom.

Crossing the border, Xenia bit her lower lip as she hid her face, hoping that no official would recognize her. It would be a shame for the kingdom if she was suddenly discovered in such a humiliating situation.

It was just hilarious. She was to marry the Vampire King, and yet here she was being carried like a sack of grain by the Werewolf King.

She could already picture her mother’s mortified look, with her father’s wrath aimed directly at her as he prepared to scold her.

But then again, she was almost sure that no one outside her family and the council members knew that she was missing anyway.

Surely, no one would recognize her as the Princess. Maybe they would think that she was someone that bore a great resemblance with their Princess, but they’ll quickly dismiss the notion since she was still technically disguised as a man.

Soon enough, Darius finally stopped carrying her around and put her down in front of an inn of some sort.

He then bought a single horse for the two of them… again. She could only shake her head. There was no room for argument here, so Xenia didn’t even bother to complain. The King had already made his point that he didn’t trust her well enough for the fear of her fleeing from him.

Well, he had good instincts then. She would absolutely flee at the first opportunity she saw, and that opportunity was looking to be coming true tonight!