And so the chaos begins! Things will start to make sense, I promise. And you’ll soon understand Princess Anne’s words and why she pieced her eyes with the knife in Ciril’s hands. See yA!
{Ciril’s POV}I had been frozen in my fright— too scared to move.However, someone broke me free— but then that someone ended up being a dead beast with dead flesh and rotten blood. I was slammed hard on the ground and my breath was punched out of me. I cried in pain but then that didn’t matter, as my voice only contributed to the pool of agonizing voices reigning all around me.There were bodies everywhere as the warriors fought off the Ferals that had attacked. It was meant to be the other way around— we attacking them, but thanks to Timtu, we had become the victims.But all that didn’t matter now. What mattered was survival.After my groaning, I opened my eyes and saw the bloody teeth of the Feral, who had speared me to the ground. It was coming swiftly at my head.I screamed and shifted away timely and missed the fangs only by inches. Fortunately for me, the Feral not only missed its attack but also smashed its head into the floorboard in the process. It got stuck.And that bought
{Ciril’s POV}I had been frozen. I think I owe my life to that random warrior that had yelled for us to go into the bell house because I didn’t think I would have snapped out of my panicky otherwise.We raced into the bell house now and started climbing the stairs to go higher. The building was like six stories high so our aim was to get to the top and shut the door… and then wait for what would happen next. We had gotten into the building timely before the second wave of Ferals hit us. We could hear screams now as we raced upstairs. It was a massacre out there and I didn’t want to imagine it. Retreating had been the vindicating idea before but now, hiding was.We heard crashing noises below us now and then we heard growls. The Ferals had sniffed us out— well, maybe they only sniffed the King since I was smelling like one of them now, but then they were coming for both of us now. We continued to rush up the stairs, the King leading the way. For some weird reason, it was only the Al
{Ivanka’s POV}~ FIVE DAYS AGO ~“My Lady, the Seneschal, how can I be of help to you?” The Hencher Woman asked me now as I slowly roamed my gaze around. It was a pretentious act. The Hencher was really a bloody mess and it irritated me who was even used to blood.— believe me, I’m used to blood.I looked back at the Hencher woman now and gave her a dirty once over. I didn’t like her dress. I didn’t like her face.“Where’s the filth at?” I asked her now and she grew a confused expression. “Mistress. I’m.. I’m confused. Filth?” She muttered while I just stared casually at her.“Yeah. Filth.” I affirmed. “Are you referring to someone, Mistress?” She asked me again and I frowned. “Of course, I’m referring to someone.” I said and I was already tired of her slowness, so I added. “Where’s the filth— Ciril?” I asked clearly and she nodded uncomfortably in understanding. I smiled a bit.“She’s not here, mistress.” She responded. “I can see that! Where is she?” I asked with a harsh volume.
{Ciril’s POV}I was on the ground level now— I had been dragged down from the bell house, almost thrown down even.“Murderer!”“Kingslayer!” Everyone was yelling these words at me as I was thrown about. I was too stunned to react.All I had in my head was the instance of me seeing the Alpha King fall off the railing and land on the ground— it was a brutal sight and it scarred me. The Ferals were still around but they were focusing on tearing down the old bell house where the bell clanging had been coming from. However, it was only a matter of time before they came back and hunted us down. But then, the warriors were smart enough to make their escape before then— they escaped with me, pulling me away like I was as dead as the King. — yes, the King was truly dead. If I didn’t believe it before, I believed it now as the warriors had checked so many times to confirm. His skull was too damaged for him to survive, and apparently, I had caused it.And so the road back to the Palace was a
{Ciril’s POV}I was on the ground but I wished to be lower. The crowd of people around us was chattering loudly now. “What?” Prince Landon bawled while the Alpha Queen raced over to her husband. He looked at me and then looked back at Balif, seemingly enraged by his words. He looked confused and tears glossed my eyes seeing him that way. “What sort of joke is this?!” Prince Landon asked with a harsh tone and Balif and the others behind trembled away from him.“It’s.. it’s not a joke, my Prince. The slave girl killed him. She pushed him down from a bad height.” Balif explained shakily and Prince Landon's gaze fell on me after he looked at his father briefly. I was shedding tears now. He looked hurt and very unhappy as he looked at me but mostly he looked confused. He shifted closer to look at the chains that shackled me in place— he looked at it in puzzlement. He was struggling with his belief and I waited for him to look back at my face so that I could help him out— so that I coul
{Ciril’s POV}It was creepy that Princess Anne appeared from nowhere. It creeped me out but then I didn’t dwell on it too much. I’ve already termed her as mysterious and odd so it made things easier for me. I saw the outline of her figure in the shadows and then I watched her creep out of it using her walking stick to guide herself until she got to my cell. She stopped before the cell now and said nothing while I just looked at her. “Three Questions.” She repeated herself after a moment.“I’m... I’m thinking of my questions carefully.” I responded. I didn’t want to mistakenly ask one question unconsciously like I always do.Princess Anne smiled now. It was as if she could hear what I was thinking in my head but then I wasn’t so sure. “First question.” I started to say. “You said in your tale that on a fateful night, the King died.” I reminded her. “Was that you foreseeing your father’s death?” I asked my first question.“I said on a fateful night, the King died.” She said. “Was tw
{Ciril’s POV}“I know you didn’t kill the King.. because I killed him.”As Ivanka said those words, I tended and jumped at her, but then the metal frames in between us stopped me harshly. “How could you? How dare you?!” I bawled at her and my voice echoed a bit. I was in a part of the Dungeons that was private and isolated from where the other criminals and scoundrels were kept so it was relatively unoccupied, hence the echoing. I didn’t know why Prince Landon had asked that I be kept separately but apparently now, it was giving Ivanka the leisure to spit out her sins… because she knew no one but me could hear her. She didn’t respond to me so that I grew confused now and stared down at the ground for a moment before I looked back up at her. She was still smiling, unbothered by my drama or reaction.“But.. but how?” I muttered in my confusion, thinking back to that moment. “No one else was there and you were here, at the Palace, so how could you have done it?” I asked, reminding mysel
{Ciril’s POV}I was taken out of my cell in the dungeons and dragged through the distance between the dungeons and the Throne room.Landon didn’t give me attention.He looked angry. He looked so furious that he didn’t want to look in my direction even though I called his name and cried. He ignored me… but that didn’t stop me from speaking.We were halfway through the distance and almost getting to the Throne room. Everyone on the road was looking at me and judging me with their stares, but my attention was on Landon who was pacing hurriedly before me. “I love you. And I would never want to do anything to hurt you— which includes hurting the ones you love.” I pleaded and my chains rattled as the guards bounced me about. They were extra rough with me since I was tagged as a murderer. I felt like they wanted to convey that message with the way they were hauling me around. But then I didn’t care. My body has been through enough distress for me to be used to it by now. So this wasn’t go
{Ciril’s POV}I saw the Hencher Mistress claws out for the first time ever.I had never seen her looking so aggressive.I had never seen her so enraged. The hairs on her body rose and grew thicker as she shifted into her werewolf form and I stared at her with a mixture of dread and shock.I started to hear a loud banging sound now. Taka and his cronies were attempting to kick the door down.I trembled back in reaction but the Hencher Mistress stood her ground as we both stared at the door that was slowly budging to their brutish nudges. I could see the hinges of the door gradually giving in to their physical demands as they started to pull out from the walls and the way my breath grew very heavy in that moment was agonizing.Breathing almost felt painful now. Several kicks were being dumped on the door and all the structural reinforcements the Hencher Mistress had made were slowly giving out and I didn’t know what to think or do.I only knew that death wasn’t far away from me now.
{Ciril’s POV}My chest started heaving as my heart started to beat threateningly fast.I was not on the public post anymore. I was free. I was literally free to roam about, free to go anywhere I wanted to.— free to leave this place.But then I heard from the Hencher Mistress that we weren’t escaping anywhere… but going to her room. I was confused.Her room?I had been bound to heavy chains for more than two weeks just for her to set me free and want to take me to her room?I bombarded her with questions now as we raced through the shadows. The Palace lights and lamps were off so that the full Moon was the only light source which gave us the grace to move about sneakily, but then I was almost jinxing it with my restlessness and questioning.“But we’re not going to stay in your room, right?” I asked. “Did you forget something in your room?” “Does your room have a secret doorway that can help us escape secretly?” I asked again when she didn’t respond to the first two questions. She
{Ciril’s POV}“Just hang in there for a little more time.”The Hencher Mistress had said and left me with those words. But then she had stopped at a short distance away and chipped in a line.“I’ll be back.” She had added and now, she was gone.She was gone… and I needed her. I needed her to be here because I had grown scared.— scared of dying. Yeah…The people’s ridiculing words had broken through my defenses and made me gloomy and vulnerable. And now that I was thinking of how close I was to the hour of my death, I was scared. And it was made worse by the fact that Taka had told me how everyone would be competing to be the one to take off my head after the Guigon moon’s arrival. Hence, I needed the only friend I had left, the Hencher mistress, here with me but then because of how she had been acting and the statement she had made, I hadn’t been able to tell her.“Just hang in there for a little more time.” I repeated the words now and then tears glossed up my eyes as realizatio
{Ciril’s POV}I was outside the Revel Hall like they said I would be.And I was tied there to the post as they said I would be.But then as an added compliment, I was stripped naked. Every worker or servant who passed by now seemed to have fun with their eyes and talk about my body and appearance before leaving.It was still the early hours of the day so the Reignile people hadn’t started coming yet. From what I had heard, the Guirgon full moon visits a few hours before midnight which meant that the people of the Reigns who had been invited would begin coming in during the evening.And so I was left out there in the open for the sun to dry and make harder the fecal matter that was on my body and for the wind to blow specks of dust into my eyes.I saw some of the maids and slaves I used to work with back then when I wasn’t tagged as the Kingslayer yet. I saw some of them pass by and gaze at me with clear disdain and irritation on their faces.Normally, this would break me but now, I di
{Ciril’s POV}It was noontime.And I was surrounded by darkness.— sweating and clothed in poop.I was back at the Dungeons and I stinked. I stinked badly and had a foul look on my face, but then the stench of the dung wasn’t the reason for my foul mood. My foul look was brought about by the realization that today had brought upon me.What Prince Landon had done to me had broken me in so many ways. What he had done to me had killed whatever sell-worth I had left in me and for this I loathed him. He was on the list now and in truth and at this moment, I wanted to kill him more than I wanted to kill anyone else on that list. I wanted to yell curse words at him while I stabbed him so many times in his face and chest with a knife.— I wouldn’t hesitate by even the slightest bit if I was given the chance to do this.Yeah. That’s how much I hate him now. I had found the ring. After almost an hour, I had found the damn thing but not until poop had almost diffused through my skin.People
{Ciril’s POV}“Come with me.”Prince Landon had appeared from nowhere and had told me to come with him so now I was trailing behind him and Dylan without any clue as to where they were taking me. General Dylan looked specifically elated while Prince Landon looked aggrieved, and these were the only clues I had to work with.I wanted to ask Prince Landon where he was taking me but then I didn’t even want to speak to him so I kept my curiosity to myself. I was that hateful of him. We left the Palace grounds to the common grounds where my curiosity was inclined to the max. General Dylan turned back at one instance to smirk at me and this made me even more confused.What were we doing in the Common Grounds?We were trailing through the ground villages and I looked left and right, wondering what could possibly make them bring me here. The local people were both happy and angry to see our group.Elucidation: Happy to see Prince Landon.And angry to see me.They looked like they wanted to t
Ciril’s POV}The Hencher Mistress has cleaned my wounds and helped me clean the vast floor of the Hall just like she had said she would.She had to run away into hiding a couple of times to evade the guards who had come to check up on me but then she had helped me, not leaving until what was left was a small portion to clean.I didn’t understand.I didn’t understand why she cared so much about me. I had asked her why but then her reason hadn’t done justice to how she acted towards me.I’m lovable?Lovable my foot! I’m miserable. I’m miserable to the max and yet she still cares so much about me. I really didn’t understand how or why. She was gone now and I was wrapping up— cleaning the remaining portion of the ground. She had told me that Anika had been seen being seized and taken away by some warriors earlier and so I was thinking about that now.Anika had said she would try to reveal the truth about everything that had happened in the Dinner hall that day and I had mentally doubted
{Ciril’s POV}[ ~ Day Thirteen ~ ]“I need you to eat because you’re going to need your strength for tomorrow…”What do you mean?What is happening tomorrow?These were the questions I had asked Princess Anne following her weird statement… and these were the questions she had ignored. She had left me without attempting to answer any of them but then had also left me with a confusing line as usual. “You will either lose your life or someone else’s...” She had said as she left and I had stared at her until she was out of sight.I didn’t bother to ask her what she meant by that sentence because it didn’t matter to me. I was going to die tomorrow and be free of this world and its tortures so I didn’t have anything to do with her and her fatefully confusing words anymore.I was only grateful for the food— I was really grateful. The food had been the best thing that had happened to me since all these torture episodes started and I was thankful that Princess Anne’s crazy mind had led her to
{Ciril’s POV}[ ~ Day Thirteen ~ ]Morning came and met me in my foul mood.I hadn’t slept.I hadn’t slept because I couldn’t do so with all the hate I was now carrying in my heart.I still wondered if the Hencher Mistress was okay but then I wasn’t sad about it anymore. Every sadness I felt was being translated into anger and resentment… and I didn’t mind. I was seated on the floor now and glaring in the direction the vile bunch would come from. I wanted them to come and get today’s torture over with so I was somewhat anticipating them, but then I didn’t see them for several moments. Soon my attention was diverted from waiting for them to looking at my body.— Some of my wounds were healing and I had scars forming now. I could see scars of random I’s, R’s, and S’s.. which stood for Ivanka, Ruika, and Sam— Dolores’ children.She had scourged me with these marks and wounds the other day as her own form of punishment and now, the wounds were healing and turning into a reminder that th