Annora : The Princess of Albelone

Chapter 4

The officials were delighted that the peace negotiation was successful and they did not have to give much to Emerade except for the Princess. Indeed, a marriage alliance is the best solution to end a war.

But all of this came down as a shock to Annora. She had never thought that she would be married off in such a way or to say, she was practically sold off to a man who was old enough to be her father, just to maintain peace between their countries.

She now understood why her father had called her back after so many years. She was just a tool for him which he wanted to use for his own benefit. She had never expected her father to love her anyway but she never thought that he could be so cruel to her.

But, it was true that he had never loved her or cared about her since she was born. When she was old enough to understand, she had seen her father shower all his love on Elric whereas she was always ignored by him. She felt hurt but her mother had loved her twice as much which was enough for her.

Until the end of the banquet, Annora was in a trance. Even when the guests came to greet and congratulate her, she did not pay attention to them. Eira stayed by Annora's and never left her even a second.

Every person here was a wolf in the mask of a sheep. They could not wait to attack it's prey.

As the banquet was approaching its end, Eira thought of taking Annora back to her room but stopped when she noticed Grand Duke Winston walking towards them.

He walked up to her and there was just a little distance between them as he looked at Annora from top to bottom with lustful gaze.

"Princess,...my apologies. I could not accompany you as I was busy discussing official matters with his highness."

His ferocious voice brought back Annora from her thoughts and she quickly took a few steps back.

Annora looked indifferent and there was no emotions in her eyes. Ignoring the waves of burning anger inside her, she tried to maintain her calm on the surface.

"You need not apologize to me Grand Duke Winston."

"Of course, I should....after all, you are my future wife. We will soon get married and we need to be more familiar with each other." As he said this, the Grand Duke took a step and streched his hand to touch Annora's face.

Annora was caught off guard by his actions and quickly shook his hand away from her face. She felt nauseous from his touch and her face turned pale.

"Since the banquet is almost ending, why don't we go out for a stroll and spend some time alone."

"I am sorry, Grand Duke Winston...I need to leave as I am really tired from the journey to the capital. I need to rest now. I shall take my leave now."

Without waiting for his answer, Annora quickly turned around and walked away from the banquet hall and walked towards her room.

As soon as she entered her room, Eira locked the door behind her and did not allow the other maids to enter the room. Annora sat on the couch as she tried to take deep breaths.

She felt disgusted by his mere touch and to be with him alone ? It was out of question. She clearly saw his gaze filled with lust as he looked at her. She would never marry such a disgusting person.

Eira handed Annora a glass of water and patted her back to let her calm down. The anger and distress on Eira's face was evident but she could not do anything and could only wait for her mistress's instructions.

"Princess....what should we do now? Now that the King has arranged a marriage for you, we cannot stay in royal palace anymore. How can we take our revenge?"

Annora was in a deep thought and did not answer Eira's question. There was no chance that she would marry that Grand Duke Winston of Emerade even if she had to give up her life. But with the announcement made by the King of Albelone, she could not break it even if she wanted to.

"Don't you worry Eira.....I will never marry that man. I will think of a way. I will never miss my only chance to take revenge from my enemies."

While Annora was busy thinking of a way to break this marriage alliance, far away in the north, chaos erupted on the borders of Emerade.

............................

Corholt City, borderland of Emerade Kingdom.

The Emerade army on the borders were caught off guard by the sudden attack from Raewyn army. In the silence of night, a troop of 3000 soldiers , captured the city of Corholt.

"Lord Cornell, the Raewyn army has already taken down most of our men and only about 300 of them are left. Our soldiers cannot hold on anymore. I think we must surrender at this rate."

The city of Corholt on the borders of Emerade was protected by Lord Cornell for years. The Raewyn Empire had never tried to recapture the Corholt city for over a decade now and so, he had never thought that there would be sudden attack in the middle of the night which caught him off-guard.

While Lord Cornell was thinking of whether to surrender or continue fighting, Another soldier came running in from outside and said " Lord, our army has been wiped out and the soldiers are marching towards us to capture the city."

Lord Cornell was shocked and his knees felt weak as he fell. "It's over.... it's over now...we have lost!"

Whereas, the Raewyn army was rejoiced on their victory. After nearly 13 years, they managed to recapture their city of Corholt.

"Commander, the Emerade army has surrendered and the city of Corholt has been recaptured by us." said a soldier.

The man in the front was mounted on the horse and he seemed calm with his back towards the rest of the army. Dressed in dark blue with an armour on his body, he blended with the night. Only the sword in his hand which was dripping with blood was the proof of the bloody battle.