Pampered by the Villainous Tyrant King

Chapter 3

Knowing that Kiran had been out to kill her, and with how she was treated in the past, Princess Annabeth certainly would not have much loyalty towards her home nation. Percy's instincts told him that he could move safely against Kiran without the princess' interference. The princess might even be able to hold against the dowager queen.

This was an interesting development indeed. Somebody with no loyalty to another kingdom and had a spine of courage was better than a puppet with a weak personality but was a stepping stone for others. He only had to prevent his stepmother from influencing the princess. But then again, Princess Annabeth herself had been under the thumb from her own stepmother. It was possible for her to sympathize with him rather than align with the Eldoris dowager queen.

"Are you all right, Princess?" Percy asked.

She was still looking a little pale from earlier. Annabeth shook her head as her knees buckled. Percy caught her just as she fainted. The exertion must have been too much for her.

"Bring me a physician! We're heading straight for the palace right away."

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Annabeth was awake when the doctor was discussing her health, or rather the original body's health, with King Perseus. She had been treated for some bruises and scratches from the last beating, but for the most part she had fainted because she had little food or water in the past couple days.

The king entered the small inn room just in time to hear Annabeth's stomach grumble.

"You're awake? That's good. How are you feeling?" He asked softly with a smile.

"Starving," Annabeth said honestly. "But thank you for the treatment."

She accepted the warm barley and vegetable soup and coarse bread that the king had brought and happily scarfed it down. It was only inn food, but Annabeth's hunger made it seem like it was good from the gods. Slowly, energy and warmth returned back to her body.

"We'll be arriving at the Eldoris palace in one more day. For now, please bear with the sparse living environment." The king told her.

Annabeth looked around at the homely inn. But the room was neat and the sheets had the smell of soap. This was a lot better compared to the original soul's basement room where spiders and cockroaches roamed. It seemed that the previous soul shared Annabeth's phobia of spiders.

"No, I have no complaints." Annabeth replied. "This is more than enough, thank you."

She did not know that in the king's mind, the king had more or less surmised what kind of environment the Kiran princess had grown up in. Annabeth did not care about luxury in her modern life, only meaning that the food he had brought her was enough to feed three men.

"I have asked them to prepare a bath if you'd like, Princess."

"That would be good. Thank you, Your Majesty."

Hunger satisfied, Annabeth sniffed herself. The king was polite about it, but there was a subtle smell on her like a rotting fish that had been rolled around in mud. When the physician had treated her, an inn woman had wiped her body with damp cloth, but Annabeth could still feel an icky layer of dirt around her.

The king stepped out of the room after giving her a gentle reminder of applying medicine on her wounds. An inn woman helped her out of her torn clothes and into a wooden bathtub. Annabeth sighed with relief as the warm water washed over her. For the first time she saw her body fully in this world.

She was about the same height as before, but her limbs were all frail and sickly. Her ribs poked out through paper thin skin. Even after downing two bowls of soup and a loaf of bread, her stomach wasn't caving out like that time when she ate a whole medium pizza by herself on a dare. It would take time, rest, and some decent meals for her body to regain its normal state.

Finished with the bath, Annabeth took a good look at herself in the mirror. Surprisingly, she had the same face as when she was in the modern world, except that the signs of starvation and abuse had left their mark. Thankfully, there were no scars on her face, although there were old wounds on the back of her thighs and abdomen. She felt a little sick to her stomach as her fingers traced the old scars. Perhaps she should have slapped Dame Lune a little harder. It wasn't as if the Eldoris king would have stopped her doing so.

Speaking of the Eldoris king, for a villainous tyrant, he had been quite polite to her. He wasn't even angry that Kiran had switched Princess Alana for Annabeth.

Annabeth dried herself and was perplexed at the dress King Perseus had left her. She didn't like wearing dresses normally, but even then they had buttons and zippers easily placed.

There was a knock on the door, and two women came in. Annabeth recognized the inn woman from earlier.

"Miss, we were asked by your husband to serve you for the time being. I am the proprietress of this inn."

"Thank you, madam," Annabeth said gratefully with a smile.

Husband? They weren't married yet. But Annabeth said no more and didn't correct the misunderstanding.

The women helped her with the dress and then tied her hair in a simple hairstyle that Annabeth requested.

"Are you sure you don't want us to put it in a bun or something fancier, Miss?" The older woman asked, anxiously.

It was clear from the women's clothing that they were employees of the inn and not palace maids. King Perseus hadn't brought any maids with him in the rush to escort her to the palace.

"There is no need, thank you." Annabeth declined.

Her curly golden hair was pushed back with a plain blue silk ribbon that matched the dark blue hue of her dress. All were finer than what the original Annabeth had ever worn. This outfit didn't seem to match that of royal standards and must have been hastily prepared after the attack.

"But miss," the older woman started. "We could really add some more ribbons to your hair. And what about jewelry?"

Annabeth observed that the woman seemed even more nervous somehow. The inn woman's eyes darted towards the door.

Annabeth's grey eyes narrowed. It was as if the inn woman wanted to delay her from something.

She moved swiftly from her seated position in front of the mirror and went out of the inn room just in time to catch the scene of a pretty young woman with her future husband, King Perseus, in a rather intimate position.

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A/N: Don't be mad at Percy, things are not always what they seem in this story, hehe.

I think different from Revenge of the Duchess is that Clarisse's story has been wrecked since Princess Annabeth stayed alive. It's difficult for either Percy or Annabeth to use their knowledge to predict all the events that will happen in the future since the story has now completely digressed. Butterfly effect after all!

They also have vastly different understandings of what could happen. Annabeth's knowledge is solely based on Clarisse's point of view (and thus Alana's POV because the novel is written in her perspective) while Percy has his own perspective of what went behind the scenes. Isn't it interesting that you can consider yourself the protagonist of your own life but you may also be the villain in someone else's? It'll also be intriguing to see how their contrasting points of view will lead to synergy as a power couple or complete misunderstandings lol.

As always, I hope to see you all next chapter!