The Royal Revenge
Chapter 51: A Hefty Price

Chapter 51: A Hefty Price

The princess couldn’t believe her eyes!

So that was why they didn’t notice the bandits up until they attacked them. Perhaps it was the jade necklace that kept them hidden in plain sight.

Elys scrambled up as fast as she could.

The bandits scattered after the explosion, all of them trying to reach either of Aleksander and Elys. The leader was nowhere in sight, and the princess strained her neck to search for him out of the chaos.

Cordelia was quick to her feet. Without a weapon at her disposal, the former warrior lady-in-waiting resorted to fighting the bandits with her bare hands.

The bandits charged at her thinking she was a defenseless old woman, but they were wrong – Cordelia was an expert in hand-to-hand combat.

On the other hand, Teo continued to fend off the other half of the bandits, slicing and thrusting his spear expertly with precise movements. The other knights rushed to support him, adding to the security that separated Aleksander and Elys from danger.

One by one, the bandits fell.

They had been surprised at first, but Teo and the knights had quickly recovered as they fought their attackers without mercy.

The bandits might have come at them by sheer force of numbers, but skills played a lot in winning a battle, and it was evident that most of them were incapable to defeat a vampire knight – much more several vampire knights.

Elys turned her attention to her husband.

Aleksander dusted himself after which he just stood by, witnessing the havoc that surrounded him. His eyes were distant and wicked, a smug grin plastered to his face as he relished on the bodies that fell to the ground.

The princess saw that he didn’t even lift a finger to help, to which annoyed her as it would have been easier to solve the problem without violence if he would just use his powers on the bandits.

Why wasn’t he doing anything?

The vampire prince merely walked leisurely, whereas the rest of the knights and Cordelia were fighting the last of the bandits.

"Your highness, stand back," Henry said as he pulled Aleksander away.

"Husband," Elys called out to the prince, "use your power to end this quickly. There is no need for bloodshed anymore."

The prince turned to Elys with a disappointed look, "They were the ones that attacked us in the first place. They deserve to die for their impudence."

"But they were just fighting in anger for the vampire’s transgressions," the princess insisted, "you need to admit that your kingdom is fucked up that way!"

Out of the corner of her eyes, Elys saw a lone bandit that was able to slip past the knights. He had a sickle raised above his head; his eyes tearfully crazed.

"Dodge!" Elys yelled.

Aleksander turned sharply as his eyes made contact with the bandit. The man instantly turned to stone with one look and his body shuddered. The bandit lost his grip of the sickle and he crashed to the ground screaming in excruciating pain.

"What are you doing to him?" Elys asked.

Although the Black Bandits had attacked them first, the princess couldn’t help but feel sympathy with what the leader said. If she wasn’t put in a difficult situation as the forced wife of the prince, she would have immediately switched sides.

"I am doing what you asked of me, wife," Aleksander said grinned.

The princess was conflicted.

Should she help the bandits or stick with her plan to exploit her position as the prince’s wife? Her morality was being tested and she was at her wit’s end.

’What is more beneficial, father?’ Elys asked in her mind, trying to think what her father would have done instead, ’Do I follow my heart or go for what is more logical? If I turn on the vampires, I would have to start at the bottom!’

Deep in her thoughts, the princess absentmindedly stepped out of the protective circle, but Cordelia was quick to admonish her, "Stay right there, princess!"

Elys stopped in her tracks, surprised with how Cordelia could tell her off like that.

Aleksander knitted his brows together. "Let the knights and your maidservant do their job," he said.

"Don’t get in their way."

Elys tightened her grip of the dagger in her hand.

She felt so helpless.

On the other side of the battle, the leader of the bandits was waiting for the right moment, clutching the jade necklace in his hand. He prayed for protection and the success of their mission.

His men were slowly diminishing by the minute – the vampires obviously overpowering them.

He had been too dependent on the magical jade necklace of protection around his neck. It was powerful and truthfully effective on the vampires. But sadly, the necklace’s magic came with a hefty price.

"Sir, what are we to do? Shall we retreat already?" one of his men asked in a rushed whisper.

The leader shook his head, "This is our only chance. Either we die trying or go home in disgrace."

"Then what are we waiting for? Every man and boy I could gather from town came with us, but now I don’t even know who would be left to return," the subordinate almost cried. "We are losing, sir. We need a miracle."

"Then a miracle I will give you all," the leader responded.

He squared his shoulders, reached out for several arrows and stretched his bowstring as he focused on his target. The coast was now clear and he could finally see clearly where the royal vampires stood in safety.

The leader closed his eyes and called out to the power within the jade stone.

He chanted a spell, murmuring words taught to him by the mysterious man that gifted him the jewelry around his neck, "Ya makyapar jadi, rantu im yaling, dara dis pana para sa yatap, wagta du bampe eia."

The stone glowed and this time around, the spell was too intense for them to stay hidden from human eyes trained to see magic.

The leader suddenly felt a vile taste spread in his mouth, and out he coughed blood all over his shirt.