Princess Thief [✔]

24. Enchantment

Trigger Warning: This chapter may contain scenes including violence, trauma, abuse, or emotional distress. If you are uncomfortable with the following, please skip this chapter.

It was over but the despair remained in some point. The faces of my maidservants flashed in my mind and I wanted to throw up. The remorse gnawed me up once again.

This was it. I could not take any more of this. Another death and a day on that hell would end me. I could not wait any longer for Night to help me. I had to take matters into my own hands again. I needed to claw my way up before I could drown in this abyss.

I walked my way back and I was fully preoccupied planning until I saw the distinguishable silhouette of Xenon at my door.

The two knights who were guarding me were nowhere to be found. As soon as he saw me, he approached me hastily and took me in his arms. We entered my room and he quietly laid me on my bed.

A woman with nothing but a tattered dress alone in a closed room with a man. Anyone who could see it would definitely think it was scandalous but both of us didn't care for any decorum in these kinds of situations.

We were both wrapped in silence as he cleaned every gash that marked my body.

Father was particularly cruel towards me when he was angry and Xenon was fully aware of that, no wonder he was here. He relentlessly tried his best to be with me after I spent my time in the oubliette but this past month, he constantly had some errands to do.

I appreciate his efforts but it was not his accompaniment that I wanted. Both of us were too similar that we became comfortable with each other's presence. I remembered the moment I laid my eyes on him during that first time I tried to broke loose, I knew I found a companion. He was the one who caught me but he looked worse than I did.

Those deep gray eyes reflected the ghosts chasing him. He was haunted and so was I. We were like two dogs licking each other's wound and no one would fully heal unless we leave this place but none of us could.

My gaze fell on his face laced with concern and sympathy as he applied bandages on my legs. It was an expression solely for me as he was the only person who cared that knew the horrifying truth about Father and me.

Night and Cindra may have a hint while Yves and Lian admitted they knew but it was just the tip of the iceberg. They were not there on the day I lost all faith in Father.

"Am I just a possession, Xenon? Don't I belong to myself?" I mumbled the questions running in my head.

Xenon's simply looked at me and resumed covering my injuries.

A deep sigh slipped from my lips. He was the kind of person who would stay silent than say the truth when it hurt. His obvious evasion to the question was the answer itself.

Father did not care enough for me as a daughter. The only reason he was furious from the envoy's announcement because there was a chance I might leave this place.

If marrying a noble was the only way I could gain freedom, I didn't want it. It was only like I was handed to another prison, just a different master in a different place. I exhaled at the thought. My fate was truly similar to a slave, only that I was masquerading as a princess and a thief.

I had no identity of my own. I was called a monster. I was just the hidden princess, the cursed youngest sibling, the king's toy, and at the end just a criminal at night. All of this just because I was alive.

Dying had always been my option but it was only failed attempt as Mother's face was embedded in my mind.

That was when I made the final decision. I am escaping tonight.