The Devil's Warrior Queen
Chapter 364: Stop Thinking About Aldric!

Chapter 364: Stop Thinking About Aldric!

Her silver shackles clinked softly with each step she took, their metallic sound echoing in the oppressive silence of the prison.

She could feel the weight of them pressing down on her wrists, a constant reminder of her captivity and the uncertainty that lay ahead. But despite the heaviness of her restraints, she refused to let them break her spirit, to extinguish the flicker of hope that burned within her heart.

As they reached her cell, the guards paused, their expressions grim beneath their helmets. The door creaked open with a protest of rusty hinges, revealing a small chamber that seemed to swallow the light that dared to penetrate its gloom.

The walls were rough and uneven, coated with a layer of dampness that glistened in the dim torchlight. A single straw mattress lay in one corner, its fibers matted and stained with years of use. A small window, barred with iron, allowed only a sliver of moonlight to filter into the room, casting long shadows that seemed to dance along the walls like specters.

Zoya hesitated for a moment as she crossed the threshold into her cell, the sense of isolation washing over her like a tidal wave. She could feel the weight of the stone pressing down on her, suffocating her with its oppressive presence. But still, she held her head high, refusing to let the darkness consume her.

Aldric stood at the opposite side of the cell "In three days, your trial will be conducted until then, you shall stay here." He said with a neutral tone, that of a warrior he was.

"That’s no way to treat your guest." She said in dry humor.

"You’re not considered as a guest when you breach the barrier that protects our kingdom. In three days time, your trial shall be held by the council on whether you’re guilty or not." Aldric said.

Even though it didn’t go as planned, at least she would get to see the council of elders. She nodded meekly, understanding that no amount of plea would save her or change the decree, so she just had to wait for three days.

Aldric signaled to the guards to remove her shackles, before he turned away to leave, while she watched his retreating back fade into the darkness.

As the guards removed her silver shackles and left her alone in the cell, Zoya leaned against the wall, her heart heavy with the weight of her predicament. She could hear the distant sound of footsteps echoing through the corridors, a constant reminder of the world outside that she was now cut off from. But here, in this desolate chamber, there was only silence.

Hours passed like agonizing eternities as Zoya sat alone in her cell, the minutes ticking by like grains of sand slipping through her fingers. She could feel the chill of the stone seeping into her bones, a relentless cold that seemed to penetrate to the very core of her being. The darkness pressed in on her from all sides, wrapping around her like a suffocating cloak.

But despite the despair that threatened to engulf her, Zoya refused to surrender to the darkness. With a steely resolve, she rose to her feet and began to pace the length of her cell, her footsteps echoing in the silence like a drumbeat of defiance. She traced her fingers along the rough stone walls, feeling the texture of the rock beneath her fingertips. She whispered incantations under her breath, weaving spells of protection and hope to ward off the encroaching darkness.

As the hours turned into days, Zoya’s spirit remained unbroken, her determination unwavering despite the harshness of her surroundings.

Zoya was beyond weary being in the cell, at night while she slept on the bitter, cold floor, bugs and rats would crawl up her body, and every time she had to move her limbs so they didn’t mistake her for a corpse and tear through her body.

It was unlike anything she had experienced before, never had she once been imprisoned, probably because she did not break through a magical barrier securing a discreet kingdom, but she needed to.

She could have easily broken out and gained her freedom, but that would have been unwise, after all, she needed to see the council of elders and persuade them to help her, and her best chance at that was behaving herself and waiting for the trial to commence after three days.

It would have been three days of pure hell in the cell, but the only good thing about it was the fact that they actually gave her a warm, proper meal three times per day. She was grateful but eating in a dead silent, cold, and foul cell wasn’t something she would normally gratify, sometimes she lost her appetite anyway.

It had been unnervingly quiet during the three days, it was lonely and sometimes, she would think they had abandoned her to rot in the cell, until the servant bringing down her food would appear and she would have to query him again about the upcoming trial supposed to hold in three days.

Within those desolate days, she pondered about the mysterious yet eye catching Aldric, she shouldn’t have been thinking of him, or rather, be distracted by the thought of him constantly in her head.

She wondered why he hadn’t paid her a single visit since their last encounter, since he had promised to not let her face it alone, whatever that meant. Thinking of him could lead to something disappointing and detrimental, but her mind didn’t cooperate with her instincts warning her.

Perhaps, she was just lonely and getting sucked every day by the enclosing dungeon, hopefully if she got out, she would be more composed.

Sighing wearily, she sat down on the cold floor, hugging her knees tight against her chest while her white robe which had been stained dirty pooled over her feet.

Taking a sniff, she inhaled the foul stench of her own smell, they had been kind enough to give her a good meal, but not kind enough to give her a bath.

Perhaps they had been scared to let her out of the cell which was enchanted to prevent her escape, but the last thing she wanted was to escape, it would nullify her mission.

Her usually lustrous hair was now damp and clinging to her scalp in a disheveled state, never had she felt that disgusting and humiliated, at least she had been living a noble life, thanks to her dead parent’s fortune and being the only child, there was nothing she wanted that she lacked, but now she was locked up in a dungeon, without a bath or sunlight.

Finally, after three days, she gleefully awaited the sound of clinking boots coming down from the stairs towards her cell. Rushing towards the enchanted bars, she coiled her fingers around the bars, feeling the chill beneath her fingertips while she pressed her cheeks against it to steal a peek at the door, waiting for it to be swung open and Aldric, the renowned warrior to walk through.

’Stop thinking about Aldric!’ She scolded herself inwardly, while she waited with bated breath, but the only problem was that she had no idea whether it was day or night she would be released for the trial and more so, she had no idea if it was day or night being trapped in the dungeon.

After a long moment of waiting like a helpless damsel in distress waiting for her white knight in which Aldric would have been the perfect illustration as a white knight and she, a damsel in distress, she gave up involuntarily as she moved away from the bars till her back hit against the wall.

Her head fell forward in utter disappointment, wondering why they hadn’t released her yet. Perhaps they wanted to release her during the nighttime and it wasn’t yet time, or had she calculated the days wrongly since there was no window to tell her the time of the day? She pondered restlessly.

Her face fell forward, making disheveled, damp strands of white locks fall across her face.

"Ugh!" She groaned impatiently, she was exhausted and drained of staying in the dungeon, she couldn’t endure the torture for yet another second or she swore beneath her breath she would lose every string of rationality holding her composure.

She decided to wait for a few more hours, thinking perhaps they wanted to release her during nighttime, but after waiting for hours which felt like an eternity, her patience wore thin like a needle being washed away by the flood.

Her teeth gritted harshly against the other as she stomped toward the bars, grabbing the bars, she yelled toward the door "Let me out you scumbags! It’s been three days already!!"

She growled angrily, but no response was stimulated, for a moment, it felt as if she had been torn apart from the world and left to rot in that foul smelly cell.

Perhaps, truly they had forgotten about her existence, Aldric had forgotten her, she thought inwardly but then as if realizing what she had said, she inwardly smacked herself as she muttered in frustration "Stop thinking about Aldric!"

Suddenly, she heard the door swing open with a loud creak that echoed off the stone walls and then, a velvety baritone voice echoed afterward "And what about Aldric?"