The Royal Revenge
Chapter 131: The Chase

Chapter 131: The Chase

Cordelia was confused. The more she looked and listened in, the more she speculated that she knew the man facing in her direction. Not to mention he carried a royal emblem with him.

She only knew one person who owned a royal emblem at the moment, but she hardly believed King Aleksander would let anyone else aside from Henry use it now that he was in power.

Then who could this man be? And why does he have a royal emblem with him?

’Maybe he is someone trusted by the previous king and queen,’ Cordelia suspected. ’Perhaps a trusted adviser?’

"Thank you," the masked man spoke. "My master will appreciate your help."

His voice was muffled by the mask, but there was a distinct characteristic to his voice that was vaguely familiar to Cordelia.

Who was it? Was it someone she knew from the palace?

If so, she must tail this person too.

’What is in his hand?’ she wondered.

The masked man tucked a piece of paper and what looked like a small vial of a bluish hue inside his cloak.

"Make sure you don’t get caught, or else I will stop supplying you and you will kiss my ass goodbye," the other man, the one who had his back towards Cordelia, warned the masked man. "Anytime I hear of something going awry in the palace, I am out of this kingdom."

"That won’t happen if you just concoct the potion accordingly as you promised," the other man replied.

"What do you think of me? I am the best in what I do."

The masked man chuckled, "Which is the reason why I specifically sought you out here, Rui."

"Don’t speak my name!" hissed the other man. "I’ll be going now. That vial should be enough for a hundred if you divide it with the exact proportions I instructed. Don’t forget to destroy the paper as soon as you memorize what I wrote there."

"Ah, if so then let us burn it right now," the masked man said.

He fished the piece of paper again from under his cloak and began reading silently the instructions the man named Rui wrote. During this time, Cordelia noticed another prominent feature regarding the masked man.

’A rotund stomach...’ she noted. ’And was that a pocket watch chain dangling from his vest pocket?’

After several moments of silence, the masked man handed back the piece of paper to Rui and instructed, "Burn it."

Rui scoffed, and in the blink of an eye, the paper in his hands engulfed in dark flames. Nothing was left of it, not even embers after the paper was burnt.

Cordelia stiffened as she confirmed instantly right there and then that one of them was a vampire with a magical affinity.

Despite Cordelia’s efforts to remain silent, a bug had flown inside her horse’s nostrils, and the equine whinnied as it tried to snort the bug out of its nose.

Cordelia cursed silently as Rui and the masked man were alerted of the noise.

Rui immediately ran away, fading into the town’s dark alleyways. The masked man quickly made his escape, but Cordelia was swift to react.

She kicked her feet and at once chased after the masked man.

"!"

The masked man was surprised to suddenly see a tall figure clad in black chase after him. He swung at anything he could to hinder his pursuer. From dustbins to crates stacked on the sides, the masked man toppled it down.

"Hah.. Haah! Go away!" the masked man huffed as he ran and ran.

He grabbed objects and threw them precariously behind him. It did little to deter Cordelia’s will to catch him.

As much as he tried to slow her down, Cordelia only jumped and pirouetted, slid down and dodged at whatever was thrown at her.

The masked man turned around a corner, and to his dismay, found himself in a dead end. There was a tall fence that reached approximately six feet tall, that deterred him. The only way around was to climb over.

"Goddammit!" he cursed to himself.

Before he could even turn around to find another option, the masked man felt his whole body slam to the mucky ground.

"Gakh!" he gasped.

Was that a knee to his stomach? The man tried to wriggle himself out of his pursuer’s hold.

Unfortunately, mud had splashed on his mask, making his vision murky. It was already difficult for him to move with the weight on his body, all the more was the fact that he could not see clearly through his mask.

"What the hell?! Who are you?" the masked man gasped as Cordelia pinned him to the ground. "Get off me!"

Cordelia didn’t speak as a precaution. The man continued to struggle, and every movement that he made only annoyed Cordelia all the more.

His legs were kicking nonstop, and his arms flailed like an insect that couldn’t get up from being turned upside down.

She reached for the item under the man’s cloak and immediately took it from his pockets.

"Hey! Give that back! You don’t know who you are going up against! I am working for the palace you thief!" the man yelled.

He reached out for the vial containing the mixture he got from Rui. It was extremely important that he returned with it, as his master wasn’t going to be happy if he didn’t.

Cordelia stared at the vial’s contents, and noticed how there was something extremely eerie wriggling inside of it. She was so entranced that for a split second that she didn’t pay attention, the masked man had already reached for a stone and smashed it over her head.

The old woman’s vision spun and her ears rung.

Before she knew it, the man twisted his entire body, making one last desperate move to get the upper hand.

Suddenly, Cordelia found herself on the ground, the man’s body weighing down on her. He snatched the vial from her hands, and then ripped Cordelia’s own mask off.

Seeing his pursuer’s face for the first time, the man suddenly gasped, "Cordelia?!"