Chapter Two

Elena made her way back to her room. Once she reached her bedroom, she began pacing in the comfort of her closed space. Tired and scared, thinking of a way to escape this disaster. She didn't want to get married to the Blood King.

No! That will never happen! She thought.

He was popular in all the lands for his tyranny and love for pain.

Rumors have it that if he doesn't cause himself some sort of bodily harm at a particular time every day, he would not be satisfied or happy, thereby making his tyranny towards those around him even worse.

If she gets married to this kind of person, there is no probability of her ever surviving. She wondered what she did to her father to make him hate her so because if he didn't, no matter if he accepted her or not, he would not want to send her to the Blood King.

The only way left was for her to flee the palace.

She continued pacing while drafting out plans in her mind. As she finally thought of a way to get herself free from the palace, her room was kicked open fiercely, with no respect whatsoever, and by a palace maid nonetheless.

"The king wishes to see you." The maid announced with a sneer.

"You should be grateful. For the first time in your useless life, you finally have a worthy purpose." She said mockingly, then left the room the same way she came.

Elena stood there tight-lipped. She was used to this kind of treatment, especially from maids, who supported her stepmother. She took a deep breath and started making her way out, heading for the throne room.

As her room was in the quarters reserved for her mother, the distance to the throne room wasn't much. She already knew the King's purpose for calling her. She arrived at the throne room and made her way into the hall.

The hall was huge. There were twelve golden pillars in the hall, six on the left and six on the right. They were arranged in a vertical order if facing the throne seat. There was a huge pathway in the middle of both pillars, and a red carpet had been placed as some sort of pathway towards the throne.

The carpet was where people, Elite and commoners alike, made requests or granted tributes to the King. The pillars by the left and right side of the palace hall were where the different political factions who advised the King stood.

As she had been listening to all their discussions going on in the throne room, she knew there were forty-two political advisors in total, twenty-one on both sides. The majority of their discussions happen with both factions arguing their heads out. It would have been funny if they didn't have to make a serious decision in the end.

As she walked down the red carpet, she noticed the absence of the factions. The scribes were present only, who sat very close to the stairs leading to the throne - the King, and her stepmother, the current queen.

When she reached a reasonable position, she knelt on both knees and bowed her head as was their custom for a female. A female could not look at the head on the throne - the King.

"Elena," the King's voice boomed in the hall. That was the first time he had ever addressed her directly.

"You have been given a duty, which you must carry out for the best of this Kingdom. You are to be given to the blood king as a Bride, and you must carry yourself properly when representing our Kingdom." If they were expecting any response from her, they showed no sign of it.

Having concluded his decree, the King spoke: "Arise -"

"Why must I get married to the Blood king?" Elena interrupted. She never believed that her heart could break more than it already did, but as she knelt there, listening to her father speak, she felt her heart shattering to a million pieces.

The hall was strangely quiet. One could hear the sound of a pin if it were to fall on the hall floors. That was the first time that Elena had talked back to anybody, both maids and royalty. Talking back to the King and Queen was a huge achievement for her.

"Why do I have to get married to the Blood king?" She asked again. She had already made it this far, so she might as well continue, she thought.

Recovering from his shock, the King spoke, frowning.

"It is your duty."

"My duty? I'm just a nobody to you. Why do I have to do it? Why can't the princess do it?

"What do you mean? You are also a princess." The King said snidely.

"My step-sister, Clara, can get married to the Blood king. She is the favored one in the palace. A union between her and the Blood king will bring tremendous possibilities to our Kingdom."

"Clara cannot get married to the Blood king. Her fate rests on the future of this Kingdom. She is to be the next ruler, and whoever she marries will rule alongside her. If she gets married to the Blood king, our Kingdom will be under his reign. I do not want that. All I need is just his support."

"Since you call me a princess, and also since I'm the legal child of the King, why can't the future of this Kingdom rest on my shoulders? I'm your first child, father. Even if the Kingdom does not know of it." Instantly there was a smashing sound next to her. The King had thrown his glass goblet at her, causing a piece of it to slash her cheek.

"How dare you talk back to me? Who gave you the audacity? I have made a decree and you shall adhere to it, whether you like it or not!"

She didn't know where her boldness was coming from, but she embraced it and blurted out,

"What did mother ever do to you? Why do you hate her so? Just grant me this request and please answer me, as this might be the last time you will ever see me."

The King laughed at her mockingly.

"You want to know why I hate your mother? I'll tell you why. She disgusts me. I had no use for her. She had done her part in making sure I got the throne. I didn't need her anymore."

"Father, Mother was a princess of another kingdom, but you used and treated her like trash!" She could feel her blood boil below her skin as she knelt, squeezing her fingers tightly into her palms, her eyes on the floor.

"She died, and you didn't even care! You replaced her with another who isn't even up to her status, and a bastard at that -" there was a gasp, and the King stood up. Even with her head bowed, she could still feel the fury emanating from the King.

"How dare you! Guards! Take her away! Lock her up in her room till the day she is to serve her duty! I regret the day I slept with your mother. You should have never been born!"

There was silence and then the patter of feet coming towards her direction. She felt herself being held on both sides as she was dragged without care out of the hall, all the way to her bedroom. She was thrown harshly on the floor, and then her door was banged shut and locked from the outside. She knew that they would stand there to make sure she couldn't escape her misfortune.

Elena did not get up from the floor but instead laid flat on it. She felt her cheek itching and touched it, only to notice the blood on her fingers. She had been bleeding from the slash on her cheeks, and yet she never felt it.

She enjoyed the peace she felt at that point. Laying on the floor, she took a deep breath and then let it out. She felt her eyes mist up, but she forced herself not to cry. She had endured all sorts of things in the palace, and she would not break because of one more disappointment. Since she was all by herself, she might as well help herself.

She was going to leave the palace.

She was going to escape.

Elena stood up and took a look at what had been her sanctuary for a long time. The extravagant room once filled with life when her mother was alive was now dull in contrast. The French windows were open, yet she never noticed anything outside it. She took a look at the bed had slept in with her mother. As no one took care of her, she had always been the one to wash the sheets. All valuable things in the room were gone, and all they had was a locket with a mini portrait of her mother.

Sighing, she walked to the wall behind the bed. There was a huge painting of a deer in a meadow painted on it. She walked towards the picture, bent down, and placed her fingers up on one of the petals of a single - but not obvious - flower that made the wall open. It was here she found the existence of secret passages in the palace. Once she entered it, the wall closed back. She was never coming back here again.

She started her way down the passage, making complicated twists and turns around corners. She was almost at the end of the passage leading to the palace's outer walls entrance when she heard a conversation. It was between two maids. They snagged her attention, as something about the way they spoke made her suspicious, and so she listened.

"...she was poisoned?" One of them asked.

"Of course she was poisoned! Where were you when all these happened?" Ignoring her, the first maid spoke again.

"Why was she poisoned?"

"In life, you fight for the things you want. The King saw no need for her, so he allowed her to carry it out."

"So you're telling me that the king allowed the current queen to kill the former Queen all because he saw no need for her?"

What? Elena thought. This was her mother they were talking about! Her mother, who was killed by the support of the King!

"I'm surprised you didn't hear of it."

"I was at home then. I had to take a leave of absence. My mother was sick."

"Oh, then you missed a lot! Come, let's go to the garden. I'll narrate the whole story. Everybody in the palace knows about it but obviously, no one cares to say a word!" Their voices grew dimmer as they left, but Elena stood there, squeezing her fingernails into her palms till they bled.

Ha! She knew it!

She had never had a reason to return, but because of this information, she did. She had endured all the abuse, insults, molestations, and all other things done to her, but finding out about her mother's death was the one thing she won't sit back to endure!

She was going to come back and make them pay! All those who made her and her mother's lives miserable will suffer! Her father and his wife will have a taste of what it feels like to be degraded, insulted, and molested! She will take away their power and their pride. She will strip them of all their wealth and glory!

No! She won't kill them. That will be too easy for them.

She will make them bleed and suffer slowly until they lose the memory of even their name! This so-called Kingdom that they love too much, she will take it away from them! She will come back and have her revenge!

She will make sure they regret ever being born!