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Chapter 3

  • Her heavy breathing could be heard inside the hollow walls. She runs down the stairs, ignoring the maids that pass by.
  • “Ah!” she yells while she falls on her knees.
  • Explosions light up the city and the sky from black turns to red. She sneaks to see from a window and she notices her kingdoms banners. “They are leaving me behind”, says with a cry when she understands that they won't come for her. She shakes her head, trying to deny it, gathering her strength and aiming for the palace gates. 
  • The whole kingdom is on alert, but there isn't anyone to guide them. They try to find the Emperor, but they find him dead. They run down the stairs, following the stream of blood. 
  • “Stop where you are!”, a soldier screams to her while she is one step away from the gate. She freezes, not knowing what to do. They aim their spears to her while she slowly turns around. She tightens her lips while closing her eyes for a second, leaving a heavy breath from her nostrils. She whispers “Screw this, I’m done being weak”, and with that, she jumps out of the palace, landing on her bloody knees. 
  • She falls down the stairs and hits her back. She lets out a small scream, but she has a goal and that is getting away. She pushes her hands against the ground trying to stand up, mumbling, “They can't leave me behind”. The soldiers come out but they don't get to live for long. A stream of arrows is piercing their hearts and they fall to their death. 
  • The attackers approach Arianna, laughing. “Look what we got here”, a soldier says while they form a circle around her. She looks at them while lowering her gaze. A soldier steps forward and tries to grab her. She uses her frail body and grabs a small knife he had on his pocket. 
  • “What are you gonna do with that little thing?” he laughs. She clenches her fists and with one swing she slices his neck, leaving him bleeding. The others fluster as she runs away to escape. 
  • ‘This was my first kill, and I didn’t even flinch’. 
  • They started following her, catching up. One of them grabs her by her arm forcing her to come with him. “Let me go!”, she screams at his face.
  • “You just killed him! You little shit! Do you know what my men and I will do to you?”.
  • He raises his hand to strike her but a deep voice interrupts him. 
  • “What will you do, soldier?”. 
  • She stops breathing for a moment. The soldier turns around, looking like a wet cat, he takes his hands off her and he bows to him. Her mouth drops. She knows who he is, or has heard about him. She recognizes him by his looks. Long black hair with piercing blue eyes but most importantly, a great scar across his left eye, down to his cheek. The notorious conqueror called, “the Devil”. 
  • He stands on his horse, looking intimidating. She whispers, "I know you" without thinking.  
  • Keiran grabs his sword and points it at Arianna’s throat. She stretches her neck, straightens her back, and looks directly at his eyes. “We have a brave one here”, he says with an amused voice as he notices that she doesn’t seem afraid. Little does his know, as she is frightened as it can be. 
  • His eyes move at her body, noticing her ripped dress. “You are royal”, he says with a smile. 
  • “Sir, how do you know she is royal?”, the soldier asks.  
  • “If you had brains, you would have noticed that the dress is made of silk. Then, it looks like it is a dress made for a wedding night. Also, look at her porcelain skin and of course, the famous red hair”, he answers in a playful tone.
  • The soldiers look each other in surprise. “So, who is this one?”, another one asks. 
  • Keiran looks back at her and puts his sword back in his case. "She is the beautiful princess Arianna, from the Kingdom of Lotus, the new bride's wedding that we just ruined".  
  • He then points at one of the soldier to come to him. Arianna observes them with bewilderment. 
  • ‘He knew me’.
  • “Hoen, go find Eve. Ask her if she has found the other wives. Take the princess back into the palace. Roen will be in there. Give her to him”, he orders and Hoen gets closer to Arianna saying, “Sorry for before, please follow me. We won’t hurt you”.  
  • She looks frightened toward her Father's banners that they became distant. Keiran notices that and says, “They weren't gonna wait for you”. 
  • She looks at him frowning while Hoen takes her inside. As she walks, Keiran sees the dead soldier. “Who killed him?” he asks. One of them answers, “She did”. 
  • With a surprised face, he looks at her. He sighs and continues saying, “That’s interesting”.
  • She arrives back into the palace only to find a new set of maids, the three wives on the corner and a tall figure close to them. “My Lord, this is the fourth wife, princess Arianna”, Hoen comments being happy. The man nods and Hoen leaves.
  • He cocks his head as an indication of a greeting. “Hello, my name is Roen. I'm the trusted adviser of our Lord, soon-to-be Emperor, Keiran. I'm here to keep you safe”. She looks at him, studying him. She is surprised of how handsome he looks. He looks so different from Keiran.
  • ‘Roan seems peaceful and kind, but Keiran is more... mesmerizing, yet intimidating’. 
  • Roan interrupts her thoughts by telling her that she needs to follow him. He stops next to the other wives and says, “Stay here. It won't be long till our new Emperor will rise”.
  • The wives seem frightened and exhausted, covered in dirt. “What happened to you?”, she asks them. With disdain in their voice they answer, “These monsters hunted us down like dogs! They even ripped off our beautiful dresses!”. 
  • ‘Their Emperor is dead, the Kingdom has fallen, and all they can think about is their dresses?’.
  • They look at her and their eyes are full of hate. Arianna knew they didn't like her. She is much younger and prettier, the one that would give sons to the Emperor.
  • After a while Roan comes back. He apologizes for the treatment that they received. He offers them some bread and the three wives grab it with no thinking. Arianna denies it, as it seems her throat was too dry. 
  • Roan the offers her some water, which is accepted. 
  • “Thank you” she gently said, making Roan blush.
  • The hours were passing till Roan came back once more.
  • “My Ladies, I want to inform you that Emperor Lon is dead and that Lord Keiran has won”.
  • The three wives look each other in shock. 
  • So, it finally ended. 
  • She puts her head down, feeling for some reason, guilty for his death. He then continues, “The day after tomorrow he will be crowned as the new Emperor”. The wives are having a mental breakdown. 
  • “Now, what I want for you, is your help. As Lord Keiran is going to become the new Emperor, he needs a wife by his side so he will be acceptable to the people and create new alliances. He will pick one of you since you are coming from the most powerful kingdoms. But the Emperor doesn’t have the time to think tiny things like that. So, he gives you a chance! You get to pick which one of you will be his wife. But I have to warn you, Lord Keiran isn't an easy man, not someone you can trick or mess. He is dangerous and you won't lead a happy life with him. So, choose wisely”.
  • “What happens to the remaining three?” one of them asks. 
  • “Will get their freedom, of course”.
  • Roan leaves and all of them are left speechless. ‘Another wedding?’.
  • The third wife Ti, says, “So, who do we choose? I don’t wanna marry this monster!”. They look at each other in question. 
  • The three of them nod their head in agreement.  Milen looks at Arianna and says, “After a lot of thought, we decided--” and she gets interrupted by Katzin, the oldest saying, “Let's not lie, it didn't require a lot of thought, but the logical decision is to be you, Arianna. We all saw Keiran, killing countless of people, being ruthless. We all heard about his achievements. I'm not gonna become this monster's wife. You brought this to yourself. So, accept your faith”.
  • ‘Fate huh? The strings of fate brought me here’. 
  • The sun rays spread inside the palace, an indication that the morning finally arrived. The wives wake up and some soldiers take the to the throne room. Arianna is rubbing her eyes and looks at the rising sun from the big windows. The three of them stop some feet away from the throne, only to find Keiran sitting on it. He has one leg on the throne with his hand hanging on it, acting cocky.
  • Roan clears his throat and says,  “Good morning Ladies. I hope you've made a decision cause Lord Keiran can't wait all day for something so simple”. 
  • Katzin steps forward and says, “We've decided that princess Arianna will become the wife. It seems she is also still a virgin, perfect for a new Emperor!” she tries to sugarcoat it.
  • Roan continues saying, “Are you sure about this?” raising his eyebrow. All three nod with certainty.  
  • Keiran stands up and descends the stairs slowly. Roan points at Arianna to step forward. 
  • ‘Perfect’, she thinks to herself. 
  • With hesitation she steps forward only to find herself face to face with him. He tilts his head as he analyzes her, spins around Arianna to study her. She feels his hypnotic eyes on her, making her shiver. 
  • He takes a deep breath and says, “Take Lady Arianna, give her a bath, a new set of clothes and feed her. I can't have my future wife be treated like a dog. Give her whatever she needs. Treat her like an Empress”. 
  • Her eyes open in shock and one of the maids approach her. “My Lady, please come with me”. She follows her and as she walks she looks back at Keiran. She raises her eyebrows showing that she did not expect that. A soldier asks, “What about the others?” and Keiran answers, “Throw them in the dungeon”.
  • Arianna walks in the hallway and notices that all the blood and damages were gone. The palace seemed clean. 
  • ‘When did they even had the time to do all of this?’. 
  • They arrive at the end of the hallway and a maid opens the door. This place is the royal bath. Inside, there are other servants that prepare the water. Hot steam comes out of the bathtub and a maid removes Arianna’s clothes. The other maids look at her noticing her big bruises and cuts she has.  
  • “We are really sorry my Lady”, a maid says to her.  
  • “But why?”.
  • “My lady, you are covered in blood and dirt. Our men treated your wrongly and you had to stay all night with only water, a teared-up dress and unattended wounds. I can't believe you are covered with only bruises and not a broken bone. So, we are all surprised how you are still standing and walking and not complaining”.  
  • Hearing all these, Arianna is starting to notice that she doesn't feel that much pain as she was supposed to. She looks at her body and she start to wonder; how did she end up like this. She takes a step into the bathtub. The hot water touches her open wounds and she feels the burning throughout her body. She tightens her lips and holds her breath. She feels discomfort and pain but she continues slowly and places her whole body in the bath. She lets out her breath accompanied by a small cry.  
  • The hot steam surrounds her. She relaxes her muscles and tilts her head back. She feels a sharp pain on her ear. 
  • ‘Uh, I forgot about that’. 
  • She puts her fingers on it, realising that not much was missing, as she thought. 
  • ‘What the hell?’.
  • She still can’t understand what happened. All went by so fast. The memory of Keiran kicks in, his piercing gaze and tall figure. Immediately, she opens her eyes breathing fast.  
  • One maid comes at her and says, “Are you ok my lady?”. 
  • She looks at her and recognizes her. “You are the maid that left the window opened and told me-”,
  • “That everything is gonna be alright”. 
  • “So, you remember” the maid continues saying. Arianna starts remembering the maids the past few months that she’s been in here. This maid wasn’t here till one week ago that she appeared; a tiny figure, easily to blend in. Things started making sense now.
  • “You planned this. You planned to kill him then”. The maid nods on that.
  • “What’s your name?” she asks. 
  • She bows and says, “My name is Zoe my Lady”. Her name seemed distant.
  • “You aren’t from around here. Your characteristics didn’t give it away, but your name did. It’s definitely from the Outer Rings, right?”.
  • Zoe nods in surprise. Arianna knows that the Outer Rings are being used for their resources and people. They take people and use them as slaves. They live in poverty and suffer.  
  • “Let me ask you, who killed the Emperor?” Arianna asks.  
  • “Who do you think?” Zoe answers with a wink.