The Crown's Entrapment

In the other part of the camp, Gideon shook his head as he walked towards Princess Ezme’s tent.

“Why would they send this brat instead of another officer?” Gideon murmured to himself as he approached the tent. “This’ll be a pain in the ass…”

He was just about to enter the tent when Princess Ezme suddenly went out, looking at him with a haughty eye as he stopped in front of her.

“I can smell your stink from my room, so let me spare you the time of entering my tent and meet you here,” Ezme snorted.

Gideon shook his head with a grin. Slightly bowed to Ezme, he greeted, “Welcome to your new playground, milady.”

Ezme scoffed once more. With a pout, she mumbled, “I heard that your king’s mate passed out during the burial rites. Hah! She’s not fit to be his mate if she’s that weak. Death is inevitable in a war, and showing her weakness in front of her people like that is just so lame.”

Gideon shrugged at her words. This wasn’t his first time interacting with Ezme, but he still couldn’t get over this attitude of hers. No wonder King Nikolai would often prefer for this brat to be out of his sight, just so that she stay out of his sight and out of trouble.

“Must I remind you then, milady, that Princess Xenia is human,” Gideon politely defended.

“It’s only natural for their kind to have these kinds of emotions.” It was only a good thing that his king wasn’t present at the moment. He would be displeased if he ever heard what this princess had to say about Xen’s current state.

Ezme’s eyebrows lifted as she snorted, “I’m half human, so I know what you’re saying. Still, for me, she’s too weak for Darius.” She then looked around as if looking for something, “Anyway, when will Darius come back?”

“We’re not sure. There’s no news yet, but I’m sure they’ll be back soon,” Gideon answered with a smile.

“In the meantime, why don’t you rest for a while, milady? I still have a few responsibilities to see to, and seeing as you’re definitely well settled, let me check up on the rest of Valcrez’s reinforcements and make sure that they’re doing fine.” He kept up his smile as he bided his time. He just simply couldn’t wait to run away from this crazy Princess of Valcrez.

“Ah, no need to check on them since they’re behaving pretty well despite the fact that they’re currently surrounded by luscious meals…” the Princess commented, showing a sharp fang to Gideon on purpose.

“Stop that! You’re creeping me out,” Gideon complained with a frown.

“But I’m hungry… Also, your wolfman form is creepier,” Ezme murmured with a devious grin.

Gideon wanted so much to groan in annoyance right about now. This brat loved to take a sip of their blood, and they allowed her since she would only take a sip to satiate her hunger.

Apparently, for her own reasons, it was better to sip on werewolves than on humans and turn them into a vampire. Unlike werewolves who could control their venom to turn humans, a vampire’s bite would automatically turn a human into one of their own kind.

“Why don’t you follow your brother? Just drink on animals!” Gideon complained.

“It’s not like I’m always drinking your blood!” Ezme rolled her eyes at him. “Do you want me to tell Darius that you’re depriving me of your blood then?”

‘Ah, this brat!’

“How old are you to keep showing these kinds of tantrums, huh?” Gideon scoffed. “When will you grow up?”

“I’m twenty and hungry…” Ezme answered with a grin.

“Fine then! A five-second sip! No more no less,” Gideon relented, offering his neck to the princess. “I’ll definitely file a complaint to King Nikolai about this!”

Waiting for the bite to come, Gideon rolled his eyes as the seconds ticked by. However, the bite he expected didn’t come. Instead, Ezme walked past him and said, “Ah… Your blood doesn’t taste good anymore. I’d rather just roam around, honestly.” She then dramatically sighed, “Ah… my appetite lately hasn’t been good. I wonder why…”

Gideon rolled his eyes. Apparently, Ezme was just playing a prank on him again. Either way, he was just glad that she already left him alone. Watching her leave, he wondered who the Princess would bully next…

He didn’t worry too much about it though, since it was only Ezme’s naturally playful attitude that would be wreaking havoc across the camp. They all knew that the Princess was harmless, especially to humans, but… she definitely spelled TROUBLE despite it all.

He could only hope that she’d at least keep it down, at least for now.

******

Humming to herself, Ezme walked towards Princess’s tent. She passingly saw that Bartos was very occupied with the human sitting beside him, and Ezme took the liberty to walk right past them and enter the tent in a flash without anyone seeing her. She then curiously looked, seeing whatever effects there were inside before stopping at the bed where Princess Xenia was currently sleeping.

Looking at her fellow princess, she frowned when she saw beads of sweat forming on Xenia’s face.

“Are you having a bad dream?” Ezme murmured. She hadn’t had the opportunity to properly stare at the human Princess’s face before, so she took the opportunity to do so now. “Hmm, not bad for a beauty…”

She scoffed at the sleeping princess. In all honesty, she still thought that this Princess didn’t suit Darius at all.

“No…” the human princess whimpered.

Ezme raised an eyebrow. Out of her natural curiosity, she leaned down and touched the princess’s arm. In that instant, she entered her dream.

“What is this?” Ezme scoffed at Xenia’s memories.

She understood that she was dreaming about her final moments with the Seer that just passed away. Xenia was shouting, while the Seer was slowly fading away from her sight.

“It’s time for you to wake up,” Ezme interrupted the dream.

“You?!!! What are you doing here?” Xenia asked.

“I’m inside your dream since I’m curious to find out what it is. Looks like it’s not a nightmare though,” Ezme casually replied. “Anyway, you need to wake up and gather yourself. I can see you’re having some hesitation regarding Darius… Well, it’ll be a good opportunity for me, but where would be the challenge in that?”

She let out a grin as she stared at her fellow princess. It was clear that her Ebodian counterpart wasn’t marked yet.

“I’ll leave your dream now. Enjoy more nightmares, if you like,” Ezme snapped with a wink before leaving Xenia in her dreams.

Opening her eyes, Ezme removed her hand on Xenia’s arm, and at that instant, the Ebodian Princess jolted awake.

“That’s quite fast. Don’t you want to enjoy a bit more time with your Seer?” she asked with a frown.

The human Princess was panting as she sat up. As soon as she gathered her senses, she glared at her and asked, “What are you doing here?! Who gave you permission to enter and invade my privacy!?”

Ezme’s eyebrows raised as she scoffed, “Hmm, quite a temper there.”

“Get out now! You have no right to be here!” the human princess yelled.

Ezme frowned and childishly said, “You… you’re so not fit to be Darius’s mate! Hmp!”

And with that Ezme instantly left in a flash, exactly like the way she entered in the first place.

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