The Royal Revenge
Chapter 61: Closer Now

Chapter 61: Closer Now

"Henry," Aleksander called out to the attendant.

"Yes, your highness?" the old man replied, gripping the reins tightly as he heard a second howl echo from the distance.

"Give me that," Cordelia snatched the reins away from him, "you are shaking like you had been slapped by a bitchy snowstorm. I will drive so you can rest for a while."

"No, I am fine," the old man tried to resist. "Driving the carriage had always been part of my job. I don’t need you to take over."

To be completely honest, Henry was about to hand over the reins but in the spur of the moment, hesitated. He wasn’t really trusting yet with Cordelia, even when he had every evidence to believe she was capable and much stronger than he was.

The woman could definitely drive a carriage if she wanted to. It was just that Henry was more comfortable that a man was fit to do the job rather than a woman.

It was how the patriarchy had always taught them.

But the old woman paid no heed for the toxic ways of the patriarchy. If she was capable of doing what was needed to be done – whether it was a job associated to a man or a woman – then she would do it.

Cordelia glared at Henry, and he withdrew his grip from the reins, completely giving his role to her for the time being that the prince had called for him.

The carriage was rolling at full speed with the power of two horses pulling with brute force. They were closing in on Teo, and the vampire knight adjusted his speed accordingly so he wouldn’t get trampled on.

"Your highness, what was it you had called me for?" Henry spoke to the tiny compartment that Aleksander opened to speak with the man in front.

"How far are we from the Eastern border?" Aleksander asked.

Henry sneaked in a peek at his pocket watch. It was well past midnight, nearly three hours left until dawn too.

"It had been nearly ten hours since we had traveled after the tiny problem with the Black Bandits," the attendant reported, "What was supposed to be a three-day ride would most likely be a day less as Sir Teo led us through shortcuts along the way."

The prince raised a brow at the mention of the golden-haired knight’s involvement to their fast travel. He didn’t expect the punk to be that useful at all.

Why did he know such routes to a kingdom where their political ties were hanging by a thin thread? He knew the knight was fishy in the first place.

Not many of the Western people knew much of the outside world, save for maybe nobilities that traveled here and there. Common vampires and the human servants and slaves were limited only by what the kingdom had for them.

Travel was expensive, if not dangerous at all, depending on their destination.

The Eastern Kingdom at that wasn’t particularly a great place to travel to in the first place. The dense forests were hard to pass through for most carriages. Many tend to get lost if they don’t follow the one trail that usually took three days to traverse.

And just as what happened to them earlier in the morning, bandits and thugs were inevitably out to wait for potential victims along that lone road.

"How long until we arrive?" Aleksander added to his question.

"About two hours more, your highness," Henry said as he calculated their speed and the distance they were yet to cover.

Aleksander didn’t really pay much heed to the world outside the carriage. The prince admitted that he had been too busy concentrating on the vision that he let Elys see.

He needed to focus on it as he wanted the experience as vivid as it could be for him to see any visible response from her during the vision.

Speaking of the slave, she had fallen silent the moment Aleksander had turned his attention to conversing with his attendant.

He returned to his seat and looked at Elys’ obviously annoyed face. He raised a brow at her, asking non-verbally what was on her mind to look so fierce as if she could kill in a snap.

"Aren’t you hungry?" Elys asked him out of the blue.

Aleksander was taken aback.

He had thought the woman was going to continue with their argument and insist on knowing what he had discovered about her. But instead of addressing that issue, she just asked if he was hungry?

The woman confused him to no end.

"Not entirely," Aleksander cleared his throat, "I tend to get less hungry during the night than when I do on daytime."

"Hmm..." Elys hummed, "but haven’t we missed your evening feed when you trapped me in that vision?" she pointed out.

"Ah..." Aleksander smiled impishly, "not to worry on that. I may have forgot to mention that I sneaked in a bite while you had been stiff as a log all throughout the hours that I had you under my magic."

The princess clicked her tongue.

"You speak as if you haven’t wronged me for doing that," she spat at him.

"And you regard me too kindly," Aleksander waved a dismissing hand, "you already know I don’t do well with playing by the rules. I am unkind, foul, and will never be someone you could trust."

Elys scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief, "I can’t even imagine the day I would come to trust a vampire."

Silence wrapped itself around them afterwards. The wolves howling kept on getting louder, and after sometime, Aleksander spoke again.

"Do you know anything about the Eastern Kingdom and their relationship with the werewolves that live in their forests?" he asked her.

The princess leaned backwards to find a comfortable spot, "All I know is that you vampires haven’t been in a good relationship with the said kingdom. Humans had always been welcomed everywhere they seek refuge."

Aleksander chuckled.

"I beg to disagree," Aleksander countered. "Humans have overflowing greed in them just as much as vampires lack the capacity to be empathic to suffering."