Frozen with fear, Leni clutched the pass around her neck and groped the ground with her hands.
Shadows of her arms stretched across the hard, earthy floor.
She walked like a lantern, or rather, crawled with her arms and knees, like a beast.
She had no idea what was in the pitch-black space around her.
The darkness was a monster.
It was fear itself.
Creak.
Creak.
An ominous sound scraped at her ears.
How long had she been crawling?
Just as she felt like she had fallen into a devil’s world and was trapped, a voice suddenly broke through the darkness.
Murmuring.
A soft, muffled sound.
Leni moved toward the noise.
“There might be a marriage.”
The voice came from beyond a wall.
Leni pressed herself flat against it.
Between the bricks, she could hear it clearly.
“A marriage?”
A young man, his hands clasped behind his back, paced the room with measured footsteps.
Leni recognized him.
The man had rich black hair, delicate features, and bright gray eyes.
His tall frame was draped in a cloak bearing the eagle insignia.
He was the prince of Akeelium, the one she had seen in the victory procession.
“Yes. It seems His Majesty has chosen Sir Lehart to serve as the princess’s advisor when Princess Kiaebel becomes Queen.”
“Queen? Who decided that?”
“It is His Majesty’s will.”
“Has he already told the administrator?”
“It wasn’t to me directly, but it has come to my ears.”
Leni’s body trembled uncontrollably.
So, after my father and I left the king’s chambers, this conversation took place.
The red wolf is marrying the princess?
But how does that administrator know about it?
They must have eavesdropped.
I’ve been spying on them, just as they’ve been spying on me.
As Lenny’s heartbeat quickened, the prince asked quietly, “Is there a way to stop the marriage?”
The administrator was silent for a moment.
“If there’s no way, we’ll make one.”
The prince muttered to himself, his words drowned out by footsteps.
A young servant entered and glanced back and forth between the prince and the administrator before speaking.
“Your Highness, the princess’s nursemaid, requests an audience. She says it’s urgent.”
Moments later, a frail, old woman with white hair, pinned up in a tight bun, entered.
Her sharp, wiry frame gave her an austere, severe look.
She stopped before the prince, bowed, and hesitated before speaking.
“Your Highness, I must apologize for the interruption, but there are signs that Princess Kiaebel may be pregnant.”
The prince, who had been frowning, suddenly let out a chuckle.
“Looks like the solution has come to me on its own.”
The nursemaid, watching the prince’s reaction, added,
“Among the women who returned from enemy territory, many of them seem to be carrying children.”
“They’re using our customs against us. They’ve planted the seed of Verden in Akeelium.”
The prince scratched his chin thoughtfully, his face contorting in concentration as he walked.
“Your Highness, should I report this to His Majesty?”
The nursemaid, who had been watching him, extended her words.
The prince gave a slight shake of his head and smiled coldly.
“Keep your mouth shut until further orders. I’ll pay dearly for your silence.”
“By ‘dearly,’ do you mean…?”
“Will the weight of gold equal to your worth suffice?”
The nursemaid widened her dark eyes in alarm, flustered.
“Your Highness, I am most honored. You are most merciful.”
With a dismissive gesture from the prince, the administrator ordered the nursemaid to leave.
Soon after, only the prince and the administrator remained in the room.
“What should we do, Your Highness?” the administrator asked.
“Use poison.”
Leni gasped and quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.
“We cannot just kill a royal. Make sure it’s clean, so she can leave gracefully.”
“But there’s no need to sacrifice the princess herself…”
“She must be sacrificed because she’s the princess. She must set an example. Kiaebel will gladly give her life for the honor of Akeelium.”
The prince’s voice was cold and resolute.
The administrator clasped his hands and bowed his head.
“There’s a banquet tonight. I’ll make sure to tamper with the princess’s food.”
Lenny pressed her pounding chest with her hand.
Did she hear that right?
The prince plans to kill the princess?
How could he say such a thing?
She remembered the image of the princess and prince laughing and talking at the head of the victory procession.
They had seemed so affectionate in front of the people—was it all an act?
Footsteps sounded again, and a servant entered, different from the one who had accompanied the nursemaid.
“What is it?” the prince asked sharply.
“Your Highness, His Majesty has collapsed.”
“What!”
“He’s unconscious. It happened just after the leader of the Skalson Troupe left.”
What?!
Her father collapsed too?
What in the world is happening?
A pregnant princess.
A prince planning to poison her.
The king collapsed.
And my father…
“Who else knows about this?” The prince lowered his voice and asked.
The servant answered.
“After confirming His Majesty’s condition, I had a physician called discreetly. Afterward, I came straight here.”
“Make sure the physician keeps quiet.”
“I’ve already informed him to be discreet. Is there any other instruction, Your Highness?”
“It’s rewarding to have people placed in the king’s chambers. Leave now. I will not forget this favor.”
Leni breathed heavily, turning around.
Everywhere was dark, but one thing was clear—she was still inside the palace, just outside the prince’s quarters.
Father!
She needed to find her father.
She had to return to where she had been earlier.
Recalling the direction she had crawled from, Leni moved forward.
She groped the darkness with trembling legs and hands.
The light from her hands had vanished.
All she could see now was pitch-black darkness.
In the thick, oppressive darkness, her anxious breathing echoed.
“Father…”
Leni murmured desperately.
As if in response to her plea, a gust of wind blew in, and a figure with precise footsteps appeared ahead, the flickering torchlight revealing a shape.
Then, thud!
Leni, moving forward, collided with something—someone cloaked in darkness.
Stumbling back, Lenny lifted her head, and the torchlight illuminated her face.
Steel Rose
A red wolf!
Leni froze as she recognized the face beneath the torchlight.
“How… how did you… get here?”
The shock seemed mutual.
The man slightly parted his lips, letting out a sound that could have been a sigh or a gasp, before gruffly asking.
“Who are you?”
“Pardon?”
Blayden lowered the torch toward her face and grabbed her arm.
“You’re no ordinary brat. How did you know this place?”
His grip tightened on her arm, and Lenny couldn’t help but let out a whimper.
Yet, the man didn’t even blink.
He wasn’t the same person who had slithered around the king’s chambers.
His eyes reflected the torchlight with a sharp, dangerous glint.
What is this place for him to be so angry?
Blayden’s gaze flickered with intensity, and Leni felt a wave of fear.
She felt as if she were facing a wild beast in the dark forest.
The forest keeper—or rather, the knight known as the Red Wolf—was glaring at her like an enemy.
“I asked how you knew about this place,” Blayden repeated.
Glancing at the sword hanging at Blayden’s waist, Leni instinctively shrunk her shoulders.
She needed to say something or she might get hurt.
“I… I don’t know where this place is,” Leni stammered.
“How did you get in?”
“I didn’t get in… I… after seeing His Highness, I was on my way out… when my father collapsed. He gave me a pass… you saw it earlier, right? The pass His Highness gave me. My father gave it to me… and then my body was… it was strange, like floating… and when I came to, I was here…”
The words slipped out, but there was one thing Lenny left unsaid: the prince’s plan to poison the princess.
She had a gut feeling that speaking it aloud would only make things worse.
Blayden loosened his grip on her arm, then leaned in closer.
“Skalson’s daughter… Are you a spy?”
“What?”
The harshness in Blayden’s eyes made Leni shiver.
A spy?
What kind of horrible accusation was that?
“You’ll know after an interrogation.”
An interrogation?
Is he going to question me?
What is going on here?!
A chill ran down Leni’s spine as her mind raced.
“Do you know where my father is? Have you seen him? The one who collapsed?”
If he’s interrogating me, that means he’ll take me to my father to confirm the truth.
Leni felt a flicker of hope in the darkness.
“Do you know the way out of here? Can you take me to my father?”
Her rapid-fire questions were met with silence.
Blayden placed the torch into a holder on the wall, then roughly spun Leni around.
“Why—”
Before she could finish, a rough hand grabbed her braided hair, pulling her back.
When Leni turned to face him again, Blayden held a white ribbon in his hand.
“What are you—!”
Before Lenny could speak, his solid body pressed against hers, pinning her slender shoulders to the wall.
Blayden wrapped the ribbon around her eyes.
“What are you doing?!” Leni shouted, shaking her head, but she was swiftly subdued.
With one hand gripping her neck, Blayden leaned in, his voice low and threatening.
“If you want to see your father, behave.”
So, he knows where my father is.
The image of her collapsing father resurfaced in Leni’s mind, and she let out a sigh of relief.
For a brief moment, she felt weak, but then the fear returned.
How does he know where my father is?
Could he be working with the prince?
The prince who plans to kill the princess and the father who is protecting her couldn’t be on the same side.
If Blayden is a subordinate of the prince, this could be a far more dangerous situation.
What if he’s using my father as bait to lure me?
I was the one who mentioned my father collapsing.
He might be lying, pretending to know my father’s whereabouts to trick me.
But what if he really did help my father, just like he saved me from the wasp in the forest?
Conflicting thoughts fought in Leni’s mind, but she couldn’t ask him about any of it.
Speaking out of turn would only put her in more danger.
Should she try to escape now?
She couldn’t defeat him by force.
Leni gave up resisting and lowered her head in submission.
“The time for treating you like a child is over.”
Blayden muttered something incomprehensible, tightening the ribbon around her eyes.
Darkness closed in once again.