The Crown's Entrapment

Xenia couldn’t help holding her breath whenever she would meet Darius’s piercing gaze. Still, she knew she had to keep her poise up, so she met his gaze with the same intensity as last time. It was bold. It was dangerous.

In the end, that pointed gaze he constantly gave her was just too much for her. Conceding defeat, she found herself cowering as she took her eyes away from the Werewolf King’s direction.

“Explain!” King Stephan roared, his eye boring drills to their kingdom’s mage, Jayra.

The princess did her best not to flinch.

As expected of the Ebodian royal family, all of them were quite good at picking up on the situation. First her mother, and now her father… they quickly adapted on the fly, picking up on whatever they had to work with and running away with it.

It was quite admirable. They were quite good at acting, weren’t they?

Hearing her King’s outburst, Jayra quickly cleared her throat. “Your Majesty, the Princess unknowingly ate a berry that, in the eyes of a mere human, looks nothing more than a luscious and edible fruit. A bigger disaster has been averted, but if she were left unattended for a day, she could’ve lost her life,” she explained.

“It was only fortunate that while I was looking for the Princess, I didn’t skip over the garden and I somehow found the princess unconscious. We can only thank the heavens that I found her early enough to clear the poison from her system before it did any lasting damage.”

Jarya’s explanation lingered over the room as everyone’s eyes landed on the two of them. A few beats later, a few silent murmurs echoed from Valcrez’s side of the hall.

Xenia blinked. She was back in time before the intended schedule for the wedding, so there shouldn’t be any problems, right? The Vampire King and his companions shouldn’t have to make a big deal out of it.

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Waiting for the tension inside the room to drop, Xenia couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Darius’s direction. And as expected, there he was again, his eyes still on her as if he knew exactly who she was.

She unknowingly held her breath as she silently prayed for the Werewolf King to not cause a scene. To her horror, however, Darius suddenly stepped forward and spoke.

“King Stephan and King Nikolai, would you be so kind as to let me interrupt this discussion for a while?” the foreign King spoke, reminding everyone that he was still present in the room. “Worry not, I wouldn’t take too much of your time since I’m also in a hurry to leave.”

Darius’s voice made Xenia’s body freeze in fear.

‘Oh no…’ she inwardly cringed as her face paled. It was only a good thing that she was currently covered by her veil.

Her throat dried up as she quickly thought up of what to say in the worst-case scenario. She could only hope that Darius wouldn’t throw out a curveball for her to navigate.

“Of course, King Darius. Please speak freely.” Xenia’s father replied, and King Nikolai simply nodded as an answer.

Acknowledging the permission given to him, Darius looked at her father with a slight frown as he addressed, “I believe that you have an important matter to discuss with me today. I don’t want to be rude, but I have no intention of staying here in this kingdom just to simply witness this pressing matter between the Valcrez and Ebodia, which I have no concern with whatsoever.”

He scoffed, “Furthermore, I also won’t allow you to cancel our meeting and waste the days of travel I had already gone through to meet and talk to you, as per your request. Please tell me your concerns at this moment so we can move on. I don’t mind the others inside this hall hearing of it.”

King Stephan gulped. Clearing his throat, he cautiously spoke. “I do apologize that you have to witness this mess, but indeed… I asked for your presence for a very important discussion aside from inviting you to my daughter’s marriage ceremony,” he nodded as he then turned to King Nikolai.

“Although, I do believe that your side wouldn’t let me out of this hall under any circumstance. As such, as King Darius suggested, I will discuss matters with him here before all of you.”

The tension in the room became all the heavier as everyone present listened in on the separate discussion happening in front of them. Xenia could only stand at attention, her heart hammering as she kept an ear open.

“King Darius, I would also like to discuss a potential alliance between my kingdom and yours,” King Stephan began. “My son and I came up with a proposal that might be to both of our kingdoms’ advantage…”

As quickly as he waved, King Stephan signaled for his Great Chancellor Corpus, who at that instant approached King Darius and handed him the documents of the proposal. King Darius looked at it with a blank face, and Xenia bit her lower lip as she waited for the Werewolf King’s reaction.

In all honesty, she thought that she was already spared from much of the chaos, seeing as Darius had suddenly brought up another topic that led the discussion away from her.

However, Xenia was still wary about the current situation. After all, what if she had to face something chaotic happening very soon? Then again, that was probably just her guilt making her think too much for deceiving the Werewolf King.

“Hmm, how come you’re not offering a marriage proposal here, King Stephan?” Darius nonchalantly asked, his eyes darting to Xenia as he scoffed. “How come the Valcrez King has that offer extended to him and not me?”

‘What’s with that look?’ Xenia nervously thought. ‘Did he somehow recognize me from my eyes alone? But… that should be impossible…’

It was nerve-wracking. She was so dead nervous at the prospect of being found out. But… she shouldn’t be, right? There was simply no way that Darius would recognize her with her face covered like that.

Hearing his fellow king, a dim expression descended on Xenia’s father as he replied, “You must be mistaken, King Darius. I never offered my daughter to King Nikolai. It was their side that insisted that I marry my daughter to him in order to secure the alliance.”

Xenia clenched her jaw, knowing how his father must be in so much turmoil at this point. Her father never wanted to make any of his family act as sacrificial lambs unless they had no choice.

At the end of the day, their people’s peace and safety should come first and foremost before their own happiness. She could only thank the heavens that her mother was not present at that moment to witness this.

Letting her eyes wander back to Darius, she met his scrutinizing stare with a glare of her own as she kept her silence.

If Darius took offense to her act, he didn’t bat an eye at her as he said, “If that’s the case, then I would also like to marry your daughter to secure this alliance.”

He asserted himself, “What would you do now, I wonder? I want her, King Stephan…”