I couldn't believe I had actually blurted out the first thing that came to mind. In moments of despair, my brain worked in a chaotic manner. And now that I had uttered what even seemed to me absolute nonsense, all that was left was to hope for the best.
I was trembling, and it felt like my heart was about to burst. I was scared. Very, very scared. And yet, I tried with all my might to show that I wasn't.
However, at the moment I expected my death...
"Are you alright?"
Hearing such unexpected words, I opened my eyes and looked straight ahead. As it turned out, the villainess had covered the distance between us so quickly that I hadn't even noticed. Now she stood almost right in front of me.
"This woman is all trembling. She must be cold." — a thought flashed through Kaena's head, making her anxious. Come to think of it, summer was already coming to an end, and the weather was indeed getting windy.
My head was spinning, and my whole body was hot. I still couldn't understand what was happening now. Everything was jumbled in my head, and I couldn't properly formulate a single thought.
Meanwhile, when the princess, covered in blood, was about to take off her cloak, she realized it in time and frowned. Since she couldn't give me her bloody cloak, another idea came to her mind.
"Come here," the Crown Princess called impassively to her subordinate.
Probably only at this moment did I notice that knights of the Dark Army had been hiding all this time in the shadow of the local forest thicket. The main villainess's brigade stood at attention and didn't make a move without their mistress's order. One of the thugs in dark armor quickly approached us.
In him, I recognized that same scarred man who had returned my wallet not so long ago.
"....."
I was speechless. I really was an idiot.
"Give it."
"Wh-what?"
"Give it, I said."
When the knight realized what was required of him, he immediately took off his dark fur cloak and handed it to the princess. She, in turn, wrapped me in it.
"Guard this place. Check what's happening in the vicinity."
"Yes," replied the knight after the villainess quietly gave her command.
"Don't let anyone approach."
"Understood, Your Highness."
My eyes filled with bewilderment. I was completely lost in what was happening.
The Crown Princess looked at me with an expression that contrasted sharply with her bloody appearance. The expression on her face seemed as if she had done nothing special. As if we were in a clearing full of mushrooms, not corpses.
She touched my cheek. Feeling the cold on my skin, I shuddered. But... She still hadn't struck me with her sword, and this touch was more gentle than rough.
If not for the fact that we were at the site of a bloody massacre, and the woman before me didn't exude a bloody smell, one might think this was a scene from some melodrama.
I raised a trembling gaze, saturated with fear.
Her eyes, on the contrary, were full of warmth and completely did not match her face, covered in fresh red blood.
"I know what you're thinking," she said quietly.
"What?" I asked with a bewildered expression.
"...Thank you for waiting for me."
"....."
"But I wasn't waiting for you..."
"I can give you everything. Anything at all," the villainess emphasized with a calm face.
I wanted to say that I didn't need anything from her, but at that moment, my tongue simply wouldn't move. I just froze like a statue and stared at her.
The princess slowly raised her hand. I instinctively wanted to squeeze my eyes shut. But she merely tucked my disheveled hair behind my ear.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
"As promised, I'm going to ask your father for your hand in marriage."
***
Time flew towards evening. When we returned to the ducal mansion in the Crown Princess's carriage, the sky had darkened to lavender. The first thing I noticed was the unnatural silence around.
I looked around, but didn't see the knights who had been marching here in the morning. Sir Hilton was nowhere to be seen either.
While I was tormented by terrible guesses one after another, someone else's hand touched my shoulder and made me shudder.
"Don't worry. No one here will hurt you."
"....."
It was paradoxical to hear such words from this person.
In the current situation, I could only helplessly follow the main villainess. Although I wasn't tied up, I couldn't take a single step to run away.
At the end of the day, magical lights lit up all around the entrance and in the garden of the Duchy. Amidst our illuminating surroundings, a woman walked beside me, her eyes shining brighter than these sparkling lights.
At any other time, I would have admired this sight. But now, I only shuddered, finding her golden eyes incredibly eerie. Like a predator watching its prey from the darkness.
At the entrance to the mansion, the Duke unexpectedly appeared. I was surprised he had returned so quickly. And in general, if news of what was happening had reached him, I was surprised he had returned at all. He turned pale upon seeing me in close proximity to the Crown Princess.
"What's going on?" the head of the family inquired sharply.
"Your Grace, let's talk inside."
Kaena de Ronan merely smiled charmingly at him in response. And, since her word was decisive in the current situation, no one contested it. After hesitating, the Duke did step aside, allowing the guests to enter the house.
Seated on the sofa in the living room, I tightly clutched the folds of my dress. Maids served tea, but no one drank it. Meanwhile, glancing around casually, I didn't see Yufil anywhere. Where was he? While I wondered about my older brother's whereabouts, my thoughts were interrupted by a voice cutting through the silence.
Time passed, and I didn't notice that half of this conversation had already flown by.
"...What did you say?"
"I said that my daughter isn't going anywhere."
The cold atmosphere in the living room was frightening. Neither of the parties present wished to yield their positions. After a while, the Crown Princess smiled.
"Why do you refuse? If your daughter comes with me, she will want for nothing."
The Duke de Walte looked at her heavily.
"We don't need that."
"And what about Camilla? Don't you care about your daughter's opinion at all?"
When the conversation touched upon me, I, sitting on the sofa, pressed myself into it even more fearfully. I lowered my eyes to the floor and couldn't lift my pale face.
Being between them, like between two fires, I wanted only one thing — to disappear from here.
"Your Highness, our family is very grateful to you for your marriage proposal," the Duke replied as restrainedly as possible, "But we must decline it. I hope you will not take this refusal as an insult."
"......."
Silence.
While I didn't know what to say, the Duke rose from his seat.
The expression on his face as he shielded me with his back and stood facing the Crown Princess was so cold that words cannot describe it.
"I cannot allow this."
This single word was so decisive that for a moment I thought this man had gone mad.
Victor de Walte's gaze became more fierce and determined than ever.
I looked at him in fear.
"What the hell is he doing?!"
In the living room filled with the Crown Princess's armed men, he actually dared to say something like that. In the past, this man had always ignored me. So why was he insisting now?
I truly couldn't understand what he was thinking.
But it wasn't necessary to understand.
Hearing him, a cold expression appeared on Kaena's face for a moment. But then it was replaced by a smile. A nightmare smile. I was even afraid to breathe the same air as her. "Alright..." — after a short while, she spoke, "If that is your decision, I won't contest it."
I couldn't believe my ears. I couldn't believe everything could end so simply. And I was right.
"...I'm sorry you won't be able to attend our wedding."
The next moment.
The Duke looked down at his chest, not even able to utter a groan. I did the same.
A sword was sticking out of it.
A sword that had pierced the Duke's back through and through.
"Ha-ah... ha-ah..."
Blood began to spread across the master of the house's chest like spilled ink.
Soon after, the sword was pulled out, emitting an unpleasant sound.
The Crown Princess grabbed the Duke by the hair, as if disposing of trash. Then she threw him aside. The Duke's cold body, with a distorted face, lay on the floor without any strength.
The dark red blood flowing from the man's chest spread across the floor. The pooled blood flowed towards my feet.
"....."
My teeth chattered uncontrollably as I desperately tried to move my frozen tongue. In the end, I couldn't even find the strength to scream.
"Kill everyone," this cold-blooded phrase was uttered as easily as the wind.
I froze in fear, unable to do anything, as in my house, before my eyes, a bloody massacre took place. The remaining servants and guards of the de Walte estate perished one by one. Everything happened very quickly and rapidly.
The moment came when I remained the last survivor.
Then the Crown Princess extended her hand to me in a bloodied glove. She smiled softly at me with a gentle gaze. My heart beat so fast when I saw this expression on her face, but not at all from sympathy for her.
"From now on, you will no longer have to grovel before these people."
Her voice was confident and calm. There was a lot of warmth in it.
Could one believe that this same person had just butchered so many people? Cruelly and mercilessly. Like a predator out hunting. The mad Crown Princess, who knew no mercy, made me an offer.
I didn't know whether to tell her this.
"The only person I'm afraid of here is you!"
Suppressing tears, I extended my trembling hand to her. The Crown Princess readily accepted it and touched her lips to the back of my palm. I felt fear and disgust simultaneously.
"Thank you," she said quietly, "Thank you for loving me. A lifetime wouldn't be enough to repay your kindness."
Hearing this, I didn't even know whether to laugh or cry.
"So, by killing my father and destroying my life, this is how you repay me?!"
In short, I was truly in a terrible position.
"If only I could turn back time..." — this thought ran through my head once again.
But nothing could be fixed.
Now, being in such a situation, I had only one way out.
"At all costs... I must escape!"