BRIDE OF THE BEAST: Trapped In Misery

HELL ON EARTH

“What if she’s really innocent?” Amy asked, as she listened to the cries coming from Ramona.

“Ramona? It doesn’t matter. I don’t think she’s ever gonna get off the grip of the Queen Dowager and His Majesty,” Felix replied after a sip.

“His Majesty is leaving the throne tomorrow anyways. I can’t wait for the festival. Maybe the next king will favor Ramona. I really pity her,” Amy said.

“I feel a strange air about the festival,” Felix said.

“Mr. Feeler, time to go serve breakfast.”

Amy stood, and Felix chuckled before following her.

DOVE FOREST

Arthur had been walking around the forest since daybreak, sightseeing.

He had the usual sad look on his face as he took each step, hoping that the moon wouldn’t come out tonight again.

He suddenly saw a rat running past, and he grabbed it alive.

He was about to bite into its neck and suck its blood when he stopped himself and let it go.

The rat ran away, and his eyes returned to their usual gold as he walked away from there.

He plucked a tangerine from one of the trees and peeled it, then he started eating it slowly.

“Father!!” Mikaela came running, and he spun around.

“Here to nag me again?” he said, and she hugged him.

“Mandela said you’ve agreed to go for the festival,” she said, and he broke the hug.

“I hope you keep your promise,” he said.

“Of course! I’ll stop hurting humans since I’m becoming a princess tomorrow,” she said, smiling prettily.

She’s truly ten years old, but she thinks like an adult.

“Wait till the festival tomorrow,” Arthur said and started walking back into the woods.

“Can I follow you?” she asked.

“You already know my answer,” he replied, and she frowned.

He suddenly stopped walking, and he immediately leapt into the air, flying away like a bird.

“He’ll roam the forest till night again. What a boring father,” Mikaela muttered.

BAAL PALACE: NIGHT: DUNGEON

Amazon got suspicious when the night air started feeling eerily cold, and she knew immediately that something was going to happen.

She looked at Ramona, who was lying lifelessly on the ground, and when she made to move toward her, the guards around her started falling asleep.

They kept falling to the ground one by one, sleeping off.

Her eyes widened, and when she made to start calling their names, her eyes started closing too.

“What’s happening to me? I’m…”

Just like that, she fell asleep too, and a masked man appeared in the middle of the sleeping guards.

With just a wave of his hand, he opened the dungeon door, then stepped in and carried Ramona on his shoulders.

He disappeared.

The next place he appeared was the forest.

He dropped Ramona, and surprisingly, both Sally and Reggie were waiting.

The man had obviously brought them there too.

“Sis!” Reggie quickly hugged her.

“Reggie.”

She hugged him back, recognizing him by his voice.

“Ramona?”

Blind Sally started searching for her with her hands, and Reggie took them to each other.

They hugged tightly too.

“Take this as my only act of benevolence, as I’ll be leaving the throne tomorrow,” the man finally spoke.

King Logan!

“Your Majesty!” They all bowed immediately, and Logan vanished into the darkness.

“Why did he release us?” Sally said.

“That’s not important right now,” Reggie replied and tried untying the blindfold on Ramona’s eyes, but it was impossible.

“It was magically tied. You won’t be able to untie it,” Ramona said.

Reggie bent in front of Sally and made her climb onto his back, then he held Ramona’s hand and started running with the two of them.

BACK IN THE PALACE

The palace was restless already as all the guards kept running around in search of the three criminals.

Amazon and the other guards only woke up three minutes after the man took Ramona away. Even the guards in the prisoner cells experienced the same thing.

Kyle entered King Logan’s suite with sss, and they found him smoking.

“Your Majesty, the criminals escaped,” sss reported.

“Joking?” Logan smiled, and sss swallowed nervously.

“We suddenly slept off and… and by the time we woke… she was gone. Same with her brother and mother,” she said fearfully.

Logan threw his pipe at her immediately, and it penetrated into her tummy.

“Ahh!” she gasped, holding it as it started bleeding.

“Go to the southern part of the forest! Find them in ten minutes!” he commanded.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” she bowed and rushed out.

Logan smiled devilishly afterward.

“Feels good to give them hope and take it back.” He laughed wickedly, getting another pipe, which he started smoking.

“In ten minutes, they’ll be captured, and they dare not say my name. Who’d even believe them if they say it? How sweet would it be to punish them tonight,” he laughed again.

“And as for the throne…” he muttered.

“I’m not leaving anytime soon.” He smiled dreamily.

FOREST

Reggie still had Sally on his back, and he was still holding Ramona’s hand as he ran tirelessly.

Thorns kept pricking his feet, but that wasn’t important right now.

He kept running, his hair covering his face just like Ramona’s and Sally’s.

He had never had a haircut since he was locked in, so his hair was as long as a girl’s.

“Ha!”

Ramona winced when she suddenly fell, hurting her knees.

“Sis, please don’t get tired,” Reggie said.

“Ramona,” Sally called from his back.

“I’m fine,” Ramona breathed and stood.

Reggie grabbed her hand again, and when they made to proceed, a figure appeared in front of them.

Reggie froze in his spot.

He came to a standstill, his eyes widening as he stared in disbelief.

Amazon!

"Why did you stop?" Ramona asked fearfully.

"We got caught," Reggie replied, and Sally slowly climbed down from his back.

Within another minute, more than twenty palace guards surrounded them. Reggie took both Ramona and Sally's hands, holding them tightly as sss started walking toward them.

She finally reached them and raised her hand to slap him.

Reggie closed his eyes, but it never came. He slowly opened his eyes.

Amazon's hand was already down.

"Arrest them," she ordered.

Three guards immediately stepped forward and began tying their hands behind their backs.

Ramona started crying bitterly as the guards secured them.

Once they were tied, the guards began leading them back to the palace.

Reggie clenched his fists, finally understanding everything that had just happened.

King Logan's plan had been to deceive them with the promise of freedom—and it had worked.

Immediately after they left the forest, someone landed on the exact spot where they had been arrested.

When his face came into view, it turned out to be Arthur.

He was about to move forward when the smell of fresh blood caught his attention.

He squatted down and touched the blood with his fingers.

Then he looked up blankly.

PALACE

Ramona and her family were tied to poles immediately after they arrived, and a look of hopelessness covered their faces like veils.

Fear filled their trembling breaths, and the smell of pain hung heavily in the air.

Princess Shakira appeared with the Queen Dowager and walked straight toward Ramona.

She slapped her hard across the right cheek.

"Ahh!"

Ramona spat blood.

Shakira slapped her again, and she spat out blood once more.

The slaps continued until the tenth one.

"Stop!" Reggie screamed tearfully.

The Queen Dowager walked toward him.

"His Majesty took us into the forest. We didn't escape by ourselves," he replied slowly.

The Queen Dowager slapped him.

"How dare you lie about His Majesty after trying to escape with Cobra's help!" she spat.

"It wasn't Cobra! His Majesty did it!" Reggie shouted.

The Queen Dowager stretched forth her right palm.

A dagger suddenly appeared in it.

Just as she tried to shove it into his belly, Princess Alice appeared and grabbed her hand.

"Mother, please don't," she begged.

The Queen Dowager sent her flying away with a mere glance.

Alice landed hard on the ground, injuring her elbows.

"Ouch! Mother!"

"How dare you beg for a sinner who killed your sister!"

King Logan entered with Kyle, and everyone bowed.

His arms were crossed behind his back as he slowly walked in front of them.

"My toy. You think you can run away from me? Never." He chuckled, holding Ramona's chin.

"You son of a bastard! How could you release us just so you could have fun?" Reggie shouted stubbornly.

Everyone's eyes widened.

"Reggie, no!" Ramona trembled.

"I'm not scared of you! Just kill me if you want! The truth is, you're not as powerful as you claim! You're just an insecure bastard who's jealous of his junior brother!" Reggie continued.

"Reggie, stop!!!" Ramona shouted.

Logan suddenly super-sped toward him.

He shoved the dagger from earlier into Reggie's belly, and blood immediately stained the ground.

"Aarrggh!" Reggie cried out in pain.

"Reggie! Are you okay?!" Sally shouted.

Logan roughly pulled the dagger out, and Reggie immediately vomited blood.

"I'm still the king. How dare you talk down to me?" he muttered furiously.

Jonathan watched from his terrace, his fists folded as usual.

Tears streamed down his face.

The truth was, there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop this.

His mother was human, while Logan was a wizard. That made Jonathan half-human and half-wizard, so he would never be strong enough to face Logan.

Never!

From the kitchen balcony, Felix and Amy were watching too.

As Reggie bled, Amy felt tears filling her eyes.

"Getting emotional?" Felix smiled.

"Don't smile, please," Amy sniffed, wiping the tears before they could fall.

Amazon stood among the guards, watching everything unfold.

Her fists were clenched, and they were shaking.

"They were saying you released them," Shakira said.

"Really? Not Cobra?" Logan smiled as he walked away from Reggie.

"What do we do to them, Mother?" Shakira asked the Queen Dowager.

"They committed three sins. First, they tried to escape. Second, they talked down to the throne. And third, they lied about the king," the Queen Dowager said.

"Electrocute Ramona until she sees the spirit of death," Logan ordered.

Ramona started crying again.

"And as for the other two, beat them until they feel like dying," the Queen Dowager added.

Shakira smiled satisfactorily, while Alice watched helplessly.

The electrocuting wire was connected to Ramona's metal pole, while water from the kitchen was poured over Sally and Reggie.

The wire was hammered into place, and currents immediately began surging through the pole.

Ramona started trembling as the electricity passed through her body.

Her life flashed before her eyes countless times, hanging on the very brink.

The right name for this was surely the abyss.

HELL.

Reggie cried silently as he watched his sister being electrocuted.

It made him remember the sweet moments they had shared ten years ago.

"I have the prettiest sister in the whole world," he'd always say.

"And my Reggie is the most handsome guy in Baal," she'd reply after giving him a peck.

A happy laugh would always follow.

"Ramona!" he screamed as the first lash of the whip landed on his back.

"Ramona!" Sally screamed too as she received another lash.

Jonathan shed even more tears as he watched.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He looked up and saw Queen Beth.

"Mo... mo... ther," he stuttered tearfully.

She pulled his face against her chest and hugged him.

"All will be well, Jonathan."