The Destined Princess and the Hidden Knight

Chapter Fifteen

The room I was taken in was much bigger than any room I had ever seen. The structure wouldn't get any attention of any passerby from outside for suspicion, but from inside it was magnificently built and maintained. It had all the facilities similar to any palace. Although I haven't seen one in person, I have spent enough time with the princess to know what all privileges they had at the palace, or at least what were there. All they had were silk dresses and jewelry to show to others. While the palace would have all kinds of dishes ready to serve whenever wanted, it would have different kinds of baths, mud baths, herbal baths, scented rose baths, tons of servers to massage you, to take you to places, to bring things to you, at your feet and this room didn't look any different.

The walls were painted coral color. A king-size bed was placed at the center having coral sheets and pillows. A mat was kept at the foot side of the bed. Light coral curtains hung at each side of the bed frame. Coral candles were placed at the corners of the room and a giant lantern hung from the ceiling.

The irony of my dream to be a princess and feel like one and being kidn*pped and brought here as a slave was only making me chuckle more. It was like a wish to a genie, when the thing you ask for comes true but only in a form of a nightmare. I wish, I have never wished for anything. My expectations from life have only disappointed me till now.

Looking at myself in the mirror kept in front of the bed made me feel out of place. Black dress in a coral room. I didn't belong here in more than one way, and it should have dawned on me sooner.

My gaze fell on a paper kept on the bed and I quickly picked it up. Something told me that it was there for me.

"They will come for you, just get out of the room when the time is right"

What?

Who was going to come for me?

Whoever wrote this, should have been more clear about what I was supposed to do. I settled myself on the bed, still holding the paper.

Come for me as in, come to take me when I am sold? Or....or come to rescue me?

I could hear some rustling around the room, shadows outside the window, a glimpse of someone on the balcony. I held my head and put it between my thighs. I could be going crazy. No food since yesterday, or was it two nights and I have started seeing things. I wasn't in a proper condition to understand the message in the paper, what was I going to do.

The room was getting darker, with passing time. The paper in my hand, now wet from all the sweat, fell on the floor. My eyes flew open as someone opened the door. The loud sound took me out of my short nap. I immediately looked where I was. It was the same coral bed. The bath and the relaxing aroma in the room might have been the reason for me falling asleep. I wiped the drool near my lips. The material that had covered my face was transparent for me to see who was standing in front of me.

The man had brown curly long hair and patches of beard making him look like a man even though he would be in his teens. The muscular build highlighted by some kind of oil on his upper half only indicated that he had worked hard on it, possibly many hours a day. He flexed his biceps making them pop and smirked. I would have laughed at his attempt to impress me if that was what he was trying to do, or maybe he was just admiring his physique.

The ego in those eyes, the pride in owning a functional body, and the greed towards my body, only made me hate the royals more.

Wasn't it the duty of a royal, a prince to protect their people? Wasn't it the mere responsibility of a knight to not harm a woman, wasn't it the oath of a gentleman to not touch a girl without her permission? Or was I living a dream?

A man who would respect your voice and treat you right might only live in the books, no wonder girls were not allowed to read. It would only raise their expectations from men.

I had forgotten, right now, I was just a thing for him, to please him for some time and after he was done, he could just throw me away.

He took off the robe which merely covered him and moved towards the mirror having one more glance at himself. The half-smile showed his perfect shiny teeth. Maybe for a princess, he would have behaved much properly and not taken off his clothes just like that, or maybe to gain the respect from the subject if not for the princess.

He placed his hands on the mattress and leaned closer

"Strip"

He commanded.

I froze at my position as the reality of the situation I was in settled in. My eyelashes didn't blink for several seconds, my heartbeat was merely audible to me, my whole body had gone rigid at that command.

"If I had to repeat myself, I would add a punishment with it" he chuckled and looked at me. It felt like he could see my face through the thin cloth and I didn't want to move, because if I moved he would do something, anything to me. The cruel stare was burning my soul.

*I stood outside my house sobbing and wiping my tears off waiting for my father.

Hiccup

Hiccup

I was holding the letter from my mother in which she had told me that she couldn't stay here anymore. There was not much in the letter but her pendant, which she had left just above the letter. I had kept it inside as I waited for my father.

"Daddy" I rushed in his arms as soon as I saw him entering our street and started to sob more and more. I could barely breathe, but I couldn't stop crying.

"M-mother...she" he patted my head gently nodding my head like he knew she was gone, or that she would leave one day.

"She...left...Daddy...i- I thought" I wasn't able to form proper sentences as he stood there holding me in his arms, the hold getting tight with each sob like he was trying to tell me that he was here, here with me.

"I would always come home, Princess. I would come and won't leave"*

"Looks like you wanted to get punished first"

It was all a lie, no one was coming for me.