Vows and Bullets
Chapter 165 - 3rd week of September (Part 4)

Chapter 165: 3rd week of September (Part 4)

Please DON’T READ this Chapter yet. I will update this 3rd week of September!

Good news! My hands have healed now and I’m catching up on writing my missed Chapters. My apologies for all the delays. I will replace this Chapter with the real one soon, don’t worry, and upload a new one for the next day. I really apologize once again.

In the meantime, please enjoy the continuation of the story below titled "The King’s Beloved". This is the revised version I am planning to submit for paperback publication. Hopefully, I get a chance someday.

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(Part 28 - Continuation...)

She was unable to proceed with her prayer anymore. She was too afraid to the point that the word itself wouldn’t suffice the feeling she was experiencing at that moment. For a woman like her, or any woman at that matter, virginity was something extremely important. And as a woman, she wanted it to be given to someone she loved—not to the king of the enemy race who killed her loved ones.

"Not like this... please."

Hours passed by. Soon enough, it would be night time and the king would come. Rania was the first one in the list to be visited. Despite not having a concrete plan in her mind, she decided to sneak out. For some reason, her heart told her to run. As to where, she simply let her feet lead her to wherever. Anywhere far from Meracus would be better. She wasn’t sure what would happen once the king found out she fled, but still, she ran away wearing nothing but the nightgown her maids forced her into wearing, and a dark cloak to hide the brilliance of her gown.

"Haaah... Haaah... Haaah..." Rania panted as she ran away while blending with the shadows of the trees or any blind areas along the way. Her heart pounded hard and tears stayed at the corner of her eyes. She was afraid to her wits but she didn’t let the fear paralyze her.

A few moments later, her feet took her near the Forbidden Forest—the forest located near the Forbidden Chamber where she was told not to go if she didn’t want to die a miserable death. There was a pavilion near the forest and feeling tired from running nonstop, she walked inside and sat down to rest for a few minutes. To her luck, the bushes beside it were tall enough to hide her presence should anyone happen to pass by.

Inhale. Exhale. Rania caught her breath. Once rested for a bit, she noticed that the pavilion looked rather familiar. She turned her head around and saw her old palace, Pémptos Palace, a few blocks away towards the south. The Forbidden Chamber was to her left, the Forbidden Forest on her right, a wide meadow in between, and at her back was the path where she came from. For some reason, no one was around. Usually, there would be knights roaming the grounds since it was also near the Grand Palace. Actually, the Forbidden Chamber was part of the Grand Palace so there should at least be someone. But whatever the reason was, Rania felt relieved that no one managed to follow her and that no one was around.

"Hmm... Even if no one is here, I can’t stay here," she told herself. "The meadow is too open and if someone happens to be looking from above, it will be easy to spot me from this open pavilion. I need to be somewhere hidden."

Turning around, the forest caught her attention. Being it almost dusk, the Forbidden Forest looked rather scary and dangerous. After all, it wouldn’t be called forbidden for no reason. But Rania already decided. Between the pavilion and the forest, the latter seemed to be the better option. She could just stay somewhere near the entrance and make sure not to go in too deep so that should at least keep her safe, was what she thought.

And so, she walked towards the forest and went inside until her shadows were nowhere to be seen.

***

Chapter 10 THE MASKED MAN

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The sound of leaves and twigs breaking, and small rocks colliding could be heard from Rania’s every step. She wasn’t that far from the entrance yet but the forest looked dark already. Good thing she brought a few luminous stones to use for lighting. While she rummaged on the pocket of her cloak, she suddenly heard faint crying noises from the bushes behind her. It was so soft that it almost seemed inaudible. Weary of what it was, she alerted herself. But then she thought, whatever it was, given the tiny voices it’s producing, it shouldn’t be that much of a threat, right? So, she carefully approached the bushes and parted it into two with her hands.

Rustle. Rustle. Rustle.

When the bushes parted, there she saw tiny creatures with little butterfly wings—so small that they were barely the same size as a finger, around three to four inches. Looking at them closely, they were rather cute and petite, had faintly glowing bodies, and looked exactly how you would imagine an adorable fairy wearing leaves and flowers as their clothes. Both Rania and the fairy-like creatures were surprised to see each other.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" they screamed at the sight of her.

Even if they were shouting, they only produced soft sounds. Only their body actions looking like they were panicking told Rania that they were wary of her. Seeing how cute they were despite the fact that they kept flying around freaked out, Rania ended up laughing at their reaction. It was funny how she was so worried and scared earlier but seeing these cute tiny creatures being adorable was just soothing for her. After chuckling to herself for a few seconds, she noticed that one of them looked injured.

"Oh no! Are you okay?" she asked the injured fairy softly, worried that her voice might be too loud for them. "What happened to you? Is there anything I can do to help?"

She tried to reach out her hand to the injured one but the other fairy-like creatures covered their comrade in defiance.

"No!" one of the male-looking fairies shouted with his tiny voice. "You can’t hurt her!"

"Hm?" Rania tilted her head. "But I wasn’t planning to. Why would I try to hurt an already injured fairy?"

"W-We’re not fairies, we’re sprites!" shouted the other one.