The Blood King's Bride

Chapter Three

Elena finally arrived at the entrance of the castle gate. To avoid the guards from seeing her, she sneaked out in the form of a maid. It would have been hard to discern her as she was never treated specially in the castle, so her clothes were no worse than a maid. Her heart was beating hard when she reached the guards.

Fortunately, they didn't suspect anything and so she left the castle without a problem. It was a good thing that not everyone knew her face. They have heard stories about the bastard child, but most haven't seen her or even care to. She spent most of her time in the castle library or her secret passage hideout, listening to the King's and his advisors. Thanks to the extensive knowledge she was able to accumulate, she knew following the forest will lead her to the border between her Kingdom and the Kingdom of Neba.

Neba was her mother's homeland. Her mother had always talked about that kingdom; its scenery, the food, and the culture. To be honest, Elena had always been a bit curious about her kingdom - the kingdom of Pres. But after the way her own family in the castle treated her, she doubted if the people would accept her if they find out her real identity, and from what she had gained from the discussions between the king and his advisors, the people are fiercely loyal to their king - the same king she wants to destroy.

So as far as she was concerned, going to the kingdom of Neba was a good idea. She would start a new life and map out her journey towards getting revenge.

KINGDOM OF PRES

BACK AT THE PALACE...

The maid looked at her colleague who left the garden with a look of derision. She had never seen such a shameless person in her life, then again, all the people in this kingdom were. She was sent here as a spy by the king of Neba, to find out about the sad ending of his only daughter. The king had never been a fan of the king of Pres, and so after finding out about the mysterious way his daughter died, he instantly became suspicious. The King of Neba had an uncanny sense of intuition. It turns out he was right again.

His daughter didn't die of natural cause.

She was killed.

She smiled. Looks like there was going to be a war.

IN THE FOREST...

As Elena made her way deeper into the forest, she also took in her surroundings. She saw plants, trees, and animals that she had only seen in books in the palace.

There was an animal that caught her interest. It had a hide of golden brown and very unique horns. The horns look like they were connected; made up of different connected horns. Its eyes were black. She didn't see any white or any other color, just black. It looked soulless, but if she looked behind the eyes, she found it very cute. She wondered if it was a mystical creature. She has heard of them, but no one has seen any in a long time.

The animal was grazing and she just couldn't help herself to study it, not worried at all if she would be caught.

As she moved, the animal paused its eating and looked at her. She stood very still as the animal also did, so as not to scare it and they were like that for a while. Sensing no threat from her, the animal resumed its grazing. She moved closer to the animal slowly so that the animal won't be spooked. Except for the occasional twitch of its ears, the animal paid no heed to her.

She walked closer to the animal so she was about an arm's length to it. As she stretched out her hand to touch its hide, the animal paused its grazing and sharply looked up at her. She gasped and retracted her hand a bit, especially after closely viewing the animal's soulless eyes. When she was sure that the animal will cause her no harm, she raised her hand towards it again, slowly until she could feel its hide.