Red

Chapter 5

The First Challenge

I saw some of the other contestants going out of the castle wall. Four of them to be precise. "Where are you all going?" I asked bluntly. "To a bar, no place for a lady." Lewis, the guy I conversed with at the dinner stated with confidence. I followed him and the other guys anyway. Luckily the bar we arrived at was not anything I knew or usually went to.

The bar was close to the castle, therefore, plenty of people from the castle came there.

The bar itself was made of similar grey stones to the castle walls. The doorway had a bold neon sign, which I presumed was a crown.

Inside the bar, people hustled and bustled, moving here and there, conversing and enjoying the time with their friends. The tables that they occupied were also grey but the guys sat on the black barstools near the counter.

Everything reeked of alcohol. I sat next to four huge men, one of them being Lord Zingus, who sat right next to me. He started bragging about practice and I wrinkled my nose in distaste. Practice for me was the worst since I was the one teaching rather than being taught.

I was smelly and sweaty while the others were already dressed in suits with colorful fabric. In any other place, they would've stood out but here since everyone was wearing colorful suits it wasn't much of a bother.

Weird

Suddenly Lord Zingus asked, "so, Lei, tell us about yourself." I retorted "What exactly do you want me to say?".  

"Are you single?" One of the guys asked, he was one of the younger contestants, Miles was his name, he was only a general's son so he didn't have any noble blood. He was shorter than most, my size to be exact, and had a goofy personality.

We chatted for a long time, this gave me enough time to realize how much I hated Lord Zingus. He kept on giving rude comments whenever I was talking and he never refused the chance to comment on my stupidity for coming here.

We were in the middle of a conversation when I chose the perfect name for him. "Yeah, you are right, Lord Dingus." I instantly regretted it. He gave me a death glare. The other started looking everywhere but at us.

"Did you just call me Dingus?" He asked me in a menacing tone that shook me to the bone.

"No, I said Zingus, you must have heard me wrong." He luckily shrugged it off and we continued chatting.

Miles kept flirting with me continuously and it was getting on my nerves.

Then all the boys looked in another direction, whistling. Rude and total perverts, I thought. Then I saw her, The annoying blonde bitch who just so happened to be the 4 of hearts, arm in arm with Ezekiel.

She had no idea I was on a 'job' or that I was Red for that matter. This was very bad. She looked at me and rolled her eyes.

"Do you know her?" Lewis asked me. I brushed it off by saying I had no idea who she was.

Right after that Ezekiel saw me, understanding, and left with her. My heart rate was slowing down.

I stopped drinking after two beers because I needed my mind to stay sharp. One wrong word and the king could kill me.