The Crown's Entrapment

With his plan in mind, Calypso sported his kindest smile as he explained himself. "Please give me a bedchamber next to Lady Aurelia, Lord Hebron. You see, she's under my responsibility, and I need her to be close to me or else her brother would try to kill me for letting her slip away from my eyes," he elaborated.

He then backpedaled a bit to deftly lessen the disrespect that he was currently dealing with. "Although, don't get me wrong. I know that you can also keep her safe, but with the ongoing war between Ebodia and Helion, I simply can't take the risk. After all, your lands are well along the border."

Aurelia obviously frowned at him, but Calypso simply ignored it in favor of exuding confidence in his points. They were valid, after all. While Ebodia had great security along its borders, the kingdom was still basically at war, which could possibly lead to weakened border patrols and overall security. That was also why Lord Hebron even bothered to escort them through the wilderness with Ebodian knights and mages in tow. It was all done under the Ebodian King's instructions to keep them safe.

"Oh, I understand then, milord. Worry not. There's still a vacant chamber next to hers that you can use," Lord Hebron nodded before he sent another signal to his servant. He then turned back to face him and said, "Let me escort the two of you then."

Calypso had a wide smile on his face with what he had achieved… Sure enough, he got a bedchamber next to Aurelia. It even had a balcony next to hers, meaning that he could just simply jump over to her once he caught her scent.

Currently, she was also on her balcony. Calypso wanted to jump over and announce his presence, but that might scare her with how sudden it would be. So instead, he simply casually walked to his balcony and leaned towards her direction.

"Lady Aurelia, I'm curious about what brought you to the wilderness outside Ebodia's borders in the first place," Calypso remarked, hoping that Aurelia would at least humor him with some casual banter. "You even had a small house built out there…"

A beat passed, and Aurelia kept her gaze on the vast surroundings in front of them. Not bothering to turn to him, she casually replied, "I needed a sanctuary away from everyone, and that place just so happened to be the perfect spot I could find for myself while I was traveling."

Hearing her tone, Calypso could sense that something about the conversation was bothering Aurelia. However, he knew that he shouldn't bother thinking more on it for now.

"Well, seeing it now, I guess that place is no longer safe to live in anymore, especially with Helion armies roaming out and around near Ebodia's borders," Calypso nonchalantly stated, following Aurelia's gaze as he replied. "That's probably the reason why Princess Katelina left it in the first place."

Looking out into the horizon, the sun was already starting to set. Soon, darkness would take over, signaling the end of the day. Turning his head back to her, Calypso added, "If you find yourself needing sanctuary, please don't hesitate to ask me. I can provide you with one should the need arises."

This time, Aurelia turned to him, their eyes meeting as she flashed him a faint smile. It was the first time she smiled at him like that, and Calypso nearly felt his heart skip a beat just from the sight of it. It was … This was the first time he had ever experienced such a thing in front of a woman. Then again, he was starting to experience a lot of foreign emotions lately whenever he was around Aurelia.

Calypso stared intently at the smile being given to him. It was only a brief one, with her showing her perfect white teeth for only a fraction of a second, but it was more than enough for him to last a few hours. She was just so gorgeous and adorable in his eyes, what with that long braided section of her hair dangling away on the side of her face.

"Thanks, but no thanks…" she grinned. "My brother will definitely not like it. The last thing I want to hear from him is for me to heed his warnings about dangerous men…"

Calypso's jaw dropped. That grin looked so sexy on her, but the words she just said gave him a bitter taste in his mouth. Dangerous? Him? There was no way that he would be dangerous to a woman!

[Let's just kill Gideon!] Axel jokingly scoffed. [Or maybe I should just kill you instead for giving yourself a bad reputation when it comes to women!]

"But I'm not dangerous," Calypso meekly defended with a pout.

Aurelia chuckled. "Sure, you are. You're the most dangerous man in Cordon when it comes to women, and I'm absolutely right," she scoffed. "This isn't a false accusation, but a fact, milord."

Before Calypso could even defend himself some more, Aurelia had already walked back inside her bedchamber.

*****

Aurelia was still smiling to herself as she walked back inside her room. Sitting on the nearest chair, she helped herself to the tray of tea and some appetizers a servant just served to her.

'I hope you're alright, Katelina,' she mused while thinking about her friend.

Absently, Aurelia recalled that one time when she went on a journey to find herself. Back then, she felt conflicted about so many different things… That was the summer back when she hired some good folk from Ebodia to help her build that safe house out in the wilderness.

It was from there that she met a wounded Katelina out in the wilderness while she was searching for herbs. After nursing her back to health, the two of them spent the entire summer in that house talking to one another.

By the end of it, Aurelia decided to return back home before autumn started, knowing that her family would start worrying about her if she would still on her journey for far too long. She had honestly tried to convince Katelina to come with her but the latter refused, saying that she still had a purpose to fulfill.

Katelina had helped her set a straight path for her life. She heeded Katelina's advice, and she kept herself busy with work instead of getting frustrated because she still couldn't interact with her wolf, assuming she even had one to interact with.

Also, that wasn't to mention her conflicted feelings regarding her brother Gideon. Yes, she loved Gideon differently and looked up to him, but she still knew her boundaries, knowing full well that he only looked at her like a little sister and nothing more.

"I'm honestly happy seeing how blissful he is right now with his mate, knowing that she had already accepted him," Aurelia whispered to herself with a smile as she sipped on some of her tea. For her, no one could beat Gideon. He remained loyal to Freya for all those years, and she wanted a man who would be just like her brother… no lesser… She wanted a man who would be loyal only to her.

Calypso's cheeky grin suddenly flashed before her eyes, and Aurelia's face paled in horror.

"Definitely not a man like you… You who had done nothing but play with a lot of women like they're some kind of toys for you," she firmly declared with a frown. "I refuse to become one of your playthings!"