LOVESTRUCK

Mason, Jackson, and Damien arrived at the palace and the first thing that caught their attention was Kathy who was standing under the sun in front of the palace.

Jackson who was in front, barely paid Kathy any attention as his eyes caught a whiff of the princess who briefly looked out the window from her room to see the warriors.

He hurried into the palace as the servants stood by the wide double doors, waiting for them to approach.

Mason walked behind him, his attention was caught by the design of the palace. He smiled as he took in the beautiful surroundings but the smile on his face disappeared when he made eye contact with Kathy.

Kathy quickly looked down, afraid that Mason was going to accuse her of being a witch or hurt her once again. He ignored her and followed behind Jackson as he approached the palace doors.

Damian on the other hand gazed at Kathy with sympathy. He could see that she was sweating profusely and the look on her face convinced him that she was very uncomfortable, and how could she not be when the sun was shining directly on her face?

He walked up to her and wiped the sweat off her forehead using his hand, "why are you standing under this scorching sun? Is it a part of your job or what?

Athena smiled bitterly, "I didn't get the princess's flowers on time. She was already awake by the time I got back so she gave me the punishment of standing under the sun throughout the day."

Damian stared at Kathy in shock, unable to believe what he had just heard. He looked at the princess who was at the door with the servants to welcome them and suddenly developed a hatred for her.

His first thought about her wasn't wrong. He wouldn't deny that she was beautiful but she was quite mean and her heart was definitely full of evil.

He stared back at Kathy without knowing what to say to her. He knew she was ugly but that didn't mean that she deserved to be treated like an animal.

While Damian was still standing with Kathy, Meela who had heard about the arrival of the great warriors hurried to the palace. She was aware of the prophecy and was so eager to find out who her daughter Athena was going to take as her husband.

She saw Kathy with Damian and from her observation, he seemed to be nice to her. "This couldn't be," she thought. "Everyone was supposed to hate her."

The sight in front of her made her unhappy. Perhaps this warrior had no idea about how everyone found Kathy disgusting and hated her. She walked up to Kathy who at this point was staring at Damian and trying to assure him with a smile that she was okay.

She did not see Meela coming since her attention was completely on Damian. Not until she received a hard slap across her face. The pain she felt was intense. Her hand quickly went up to that part of her face which had been repeatedly slapped since she woke up in the morning.

Tears fell from her eyes without her knowing what to say while Meela roared, "you filthy slave. Who gave you the right to chat with such a noble warrior? Have you looked at your ugly self properly? Why would you disturb someone who came here to see the royal family?"

Damian was livid and wanted to scream at Meela but paused when he heard Athena say, "no mum, I wasn't disturbing him."

Damian stared at Meela in shock, unable to believe that she was Kathy's mother. Due to how loud Meela had been, the people at the front of the palace door turned to look at what was happening.

Damian noticed that the queen was staring at them and waited to hear her reprimand Meela but she took her eyes away as quickly as possible and focused her attention back on the people in front of her.

Meela walked away and left Kathy with Damian when she saw the anger on his face. Damian felt upset. Exactly what kind of life was Kathy living? If even her mother could treat her with so much contempt, then who would fight for her?

He was disappointed in the royal family that Kathy was treated like an animal right in front of their eyes and they did nothing about it. If she were to be their daughter, would they still be so unbothered?

He stared at Kathy who had stopped crying and wiped the tears from her eyes. There were handprints on both sides of her face and Damian was sure that it was due to her being thoroughly slapped. He couldn't keep quiet and do nothing. He decided that he was going to put a stop to Kathy's suffering, all he needed to do was think of a way to achieve this.

When they had been formally welcomed according to the tradition, Jackson called out to Damian, "come on, let's go in."

Damian smiled warmly at Kathy, "I'm going in now and I will see you later. Do not worry, everything will be fine. I promise."

Kathy nodded her head, "thank you very much."

Damian joined Mason and Jackson and together they all went into the house.

The moment Mason set his eyes on Athena, he became lovestruck. He had never fallen for a woman before. Kathy was the first girl he lost control in front of and he believed that it was because she had bewitched him.

It was different with Athena though, he could feel butterflies in his stomach and his heart was thumping loudly. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of hers and nothing else mattered at this point.

Jackson also found himself completely besotted with the princess however, he could see that she had eyes only for Mason since she was shamelessly gawking at him in front of everyone.