Chapter 5 Hinder

PRINCESS NIEVA peeked through the hole in the off-white canopy of the old wagon. She saw some huge trees, and green surroundings. A new ambiance for her to be seen, and she was blessed to see this remarkable beauty of nature outside the Parzatine. The old wagon was still moving towards their destination. Helena and Hestia were with her inside, but they were now asleep while Daffodil and Deja were outside to help Helmar in navigating the horse that was towing the old wagon.

Everything seemed peaceful, and they easily got inside without any hindrance unlike a while ago from the cruel perverted men.

She pouted her lips, and suddenly felt bored while sitting. She wanted to walk, but it could take them more time. It was more convenient if they rode a wagon that was towed by a horse. She touched her fire amulet in her necklace, and played with it with her fingers to ease her boredom.

'What should I do when I arrive at the palace? Would I also sense my mate there too? Who among the curse princes would he be? Also, if I ever feel him there, and met. Would he accept me as his mate? What would happen if I got rejected by him? I didn't want to be with another heir to please them, because my body and soul were only for my mate's desire.'

Her contemplation was interrupted when the wagon paused. Her brows furrowed, and she immediately looked again through the hole if ever they were there, but not.

"Give us your old wagon, and we wouldn't harm any of you." A gruff voice commanded and then someone kicked the side of the wagon wherein Helena at Hestia sleeping that made the two startled while hugging each other.

"Mister, the wagon was only my possession to transport my vessels to sell it to the market to live. Please, don't hinder us right now, and let us proceed towards the town, because we had an important errand to do," Helmar calmly pleaded.

She heard a sinister laugh from the man Helmar was speaking with, she listened carefully while making herself for not coming out to punch that man's face until his face wouldn't be familiar to anyone he knew.

"Don't order me around, Old Man. I'm one of the toughest men here at the boundary of the kingdom. You must give what I said or else you wouldn't proceed. You were old now, so kindly hand-over your rusty possession to me," the man with the gruff voice sarcastically said. "Oh, you also had two companions who were alluring beauties. Were they your woman? Shame on you. They needed to have a young man like us to pleasure them, so entrust all of them and we would spare your life."

The man who kicked the side laughed menacingly. "Yes, Old Man. Agree with my brother, so that you wouldn't get hurt, and you could still continue your rotting life. Oh, I'm so eager to taste these women, Brother. Hmm. . . I wonder what was inside of this old wagon with off-white canopy."

Her eyes rolled. Those men outside who were both empty-headed pervert siblings. They didn't know what would happen if they wrecked the patience of Daffodil and Deja. These kinds of men needed to be perished in this world. She suddenly wondered if there were any kind-hearted men like Helmar living without any cruelty and pervertness. It would be such a pity if all of the men who were kind-hearted would be married or dead.

"Please, Mister. Let us proceed or else something bad would happen to the two of you," Helmar calmly pleaded again, but she heard a loud spit which made her irritated. Her jaw clenched, and that ripped her string of patience. Before she could rise from her seat, Helena and Hestia immediately held her to stop leaving from where they were.

'How dare those empty-headed men outside bad-mouthed and spit to a person who was older than them? They needed to be punished by Daffodil and Deja mercilessly. No one should disrespect an elder like them.'

"Both of you didn't want to live. Helmar gave you a chance to let us proceed, but you and your brother tested my patience. Both of you would perish today," Daffodil said coldly.

"What were you saying, huh? Look at us, we were herculean and strong. You were belittling us-" The man didn't continue to blabber his nonsense threats.

The old wagon suddenly wobbled a little, and she knew that Daffodil and Deja just jumped from their seats to advance to where the empty-headed men were standing. Until she heard some fast slashes, and whimpered then were loud thuds like someone's throwing in the other direction. She knew that it was done by Daffodil and Deja, and they didn't leave any traces of those empty-headed men.

She smirked with the cleverness of Daffodil and Deja, and that made her calm. Helena and Hestia moved back to their seats. She also felt that Daffodil and Deja sat back to their seats beside Helmar, and then the wagon continued to move. Her attention was caught by Helena and Hestia who were whispering and their faces were pale too, but they could see relief since their father wasn't harmed by those two foolish empty-headed men that perished a while ago. She put her forefinger towards her lips and motioned to be quiet. Helena and Hestia nodded obediently, and they continued to pretend that nothing happened outside.

She sighed, and closed her eyes. The ride would definitely be a great time to take a rest to conserve her zeal when they were at the palace's barrier since she wouldn't know what would happen to them next.

PRINCESS NIEVA's breath hitched, and she gasped for air. She was sweating a lot while her heart pounded loudly and fast from her chest. She opened her eyes, and a tear rolled down from her cheek. She dreamt that she was standing on a rock under the Red Blood Moon. The night breeze was soothing, and it also danced her silvery hair. Her long dress that was full of embellishments of crystal shone from the moonlight that made her sparkling. She wasn't on her facade and unleashed her true self. She wanted to be enchanting to her beloved mate. She smiled genuinely while holding a piece of flower that she picked beside the rock she was seating while patiently waiting for her mate to arrive.

Until she smelled an addicting smell that made her smile bigger.

'Finally. . . He arrived.'

Her mate called her from the other direction that made her smile bigger, and she couldn't help but to giggle, and moved her gaze to that direction. She wanted to hug and kiss her mate to ease her longingness to him. He started to proceed towards her direction from the darkness. But a dust came to her eyes that made her flinch. She bowed her head while busying herself to get rid of the dust to her eyes. Until she saw the bare feet of her mate, and she looked up. She couldn't see her mate's face, because of the dust to her eyes that made it blur her vision. But her mate suddenly fell on his knees, and there was blood in his chest dripping, and his blood poured into the lake that turned into blood that made her scream in fear.

"What happened to you, Lady Eva?" Hestia worriedly asked.

Helena handed her an average size of vessel that had an intricate motif that had water. She drank it to quench her thirst while Hestia wiped-off her sweat while soothing her back. She handed back to Helena the vessel of water after she was done.

"Hmm. . . I just had a nightmare," she answered, and stared blankly at the wooden floor of the old wagon where they were.

'What was my dream all about? How come my mate was awfully wounded? Was it a premonition?'

Fear crept in her, because of that. Her heart leaped fast. She didn't want that to happen in reality.

"You need to take a rest, and eat more, Lady Eva. Don't worry, dreams wouldn't happen in reality," Hestia said.

'I hope what Hestia said was true that my dream would be just an illusion. I wouldn't want to see my mate dying in front of me. I had many dreams to fulfill with him. We would take revenge on King Amari, rebuild my beloved kingdom and create our own family.'

"Yes, Hestia was right, Lady Eva. Relax, and everything would be alright. If you were hungry, we had bread here," Helena added.

She shook her head. "No, I'm not hungry. Thank you for your concerns."

Hestia sighed. "If you want someone to talk with, I'm all ears for you, Lady Eva."

She stared at Hestia, and a smile rose from her lips. "Thank you, Hestia. Don't worry about me, I'm alright."

Helena touched Hestia's shoulder. "Lady Eva was tough like Lady Daffodil and Lady Deja. For sure that nightmare would just be dust for them to get rid of. Did you remember that they saved us from those men in a blink of an eye? I wish that I'm also like them, so no one could belittle us easily by those selfish people."

Their conversation was interrupted when the wagon stopped. Her brows furrowed when it wobbled a little, and then the old-white canopy open that revealed Deja with a smile.

"We were here now," Deja mumbled.

She guessed that she slept for so long that she didn't notice that they finally arrived in town. She nodded, and that made her ease her mind. Deja helped her to get down from the old wagon. She gazed at her surroundings, and it was filled with people of Kingdom Cervantez running their own errands. She walked in the middle to have a good view, and she was mesmerized. But it was interrupted when the people started to scream that made her brows furrowed. She looked behind her, and her eyes widened. The horse was advancing fast towards her direction that had a basketful of flowers at the side.

"Move!" shouted by a manly voice, but it was too late to avoid it. She stumbled when the horse bumped her. She grunted in pain while laid flat on the bricked pathway, and the flower petals flew like it was raining only in her direction. The hood of the cloak that she was wearing was removed from her head revealing her face and also her black hair that sprawled from where she was lying.

"Eva!" Daffodil and Deja screamed in horror.

Daffodil and Deja moved fast to her side while she was grunting in pain. She opened her eyes, and she saw a man that was riding the horse. The basketful of flowers was gone, and now scattered at her body and even everywhere around her.

"Was she alright?" asked by the man riding a horse. She looked at him, and saw that he looked not an ordinary person in the town, because of his appearance. He had jet black hair that was long up to his broad chest and half of it was being held by a gold band, he had brown almond shaped eyes, aristocratic nose, thin lips, and buff built. He wore an off-white long sleeves that emphasized his biceps, and brown trousers that suited his dark brown boots. He went down from the horse that showed how buff his built was.

"Do you think she was alright, huh? Look at her, she was groaning in pain! Name yourself, Stupid Man!" Daffodil yelled full of rage.

Deja helped her, and inspected her body if she had any injuries. She motioned her that she was fine, and had a minor bump on her behind.

The man looked at Daffodil, and she saw bewilderment in his eyes while staring. "I'm not stupid. How dare you say that to me. Anyways, who were you, Monster?"

Daffodil huffed in annoyance. "Monster? I would be your worst nightmare after I punished you for what you had done to her, Stupid Man."

With that Daffodil rushed towards the man that was frozen from where he was standing.

"Hey! What were you going to do with me? Argh!" He stumbled after Daffodil kicked his leg and punched his jaw with so much force.

Daffodil wouldn't let this man go alive after he hurt her. She needed to do something to stop it.

She sighed, and whispered enough to Daffodil to be heard. "Enough."

In a blink of an eye, Daffodil moved backwards while seriously staring at the man who was still dumbfounded while being laid on the bricked pathway with blood on his lips, and also his jaw got bruised.

"Deja, get her. We need to go now," she added.

Deja nodded before proceeding to go to Daffodil. She glanced for the last time at the man that was still laid on the bricked pathway, and now grunting in pain. The people started to surround the man, and she didn't care about that rude man who didn't apologize to her for bumping his horse to her. What truly a crude person he was.

She shook her head and went back while Daffodil and Deja were behind her to where Helena, Hestia and Helmar were standing who were talking to each other, and the horse was now eating and drinking.

'There were lots of hindrances pausing us. How foolish of them to bump us, because they would definitely taste a punishment. But this man who was a while ago bumped her with his horse, and even showered her with flower petals. He felt different among them. Who was he?'

"Helena, Helmar and Hestia, where would we go to proceed to the palace to be slaves?" she asked, which made Helena, Helmar and Hestia sighed in relief. "I'm sorry if I make the three of you worried. I just walked around to see the surroundings."

"It was alright, Lady Eva. I just let my horse eat and drink some water, so that we could proceed to the heart of the town where the Emissary was," Helmar answered.

She nodded. "Thank you for the help."

Helmar shook his head. "We owe our lives to you, and even Lady Daffodil and Lady Deja. It was our pleasure to help the three of you throughout your journey to enter the palace safely." He motioned his daughters Helena and Hestia. "Daughters, help Lady Eva, Lady Daffodil and Lady Deja to go inside the old wagon, and both of you would sit beside me at the front."

Helena and Hestia nodded, and helped Daffodil, Deja and her to go back inside the wagon with off-white canopy. When they were seated properly, the old wagon started to move. Daffodil examined her and that made her smile.

"I'm alright, Daffodil. I'm just having a little trouble behind my back," she said.

Daffodil sneered. "That Stupid Man should die, because of what he did to you. He didn't know who he hurt. And how dare he accuse me of being a monster."

She motioned her finger to her lips. "Hush, be calm, because you were far away to resemble a monster, and you were always beautiful. That man was truly a crude person for accusing you of that. Also, Deja could ease my trouble, alright?"

Deja healed her, and that refreshed her body. The three of them stayed quiet while the wagon was proceeding all the way to the heart of the town.