The Crown's Entrapment

The Lucian started sailing once again as soon as Xenia was finished with her morning exercises.

Xenia had succeeded in disarming all of the equipment Osman used against her to fire those daggers at her, and while it took a while to do so, it was still honestly impressive. The equipment the man used was top-notch, and it really took her all to have them disarmed for her to ignore them.

On top of that, she also had to knock out three werewolves as soon as she got back on the deck. Luckily, the werewolves fought her in their human form, so it was a lot more manageable than fighting them during their strongest in their werewolf form.

Xenia sighed in relief. It was a good thing that she had trained together with her brother. Now, she couldn’t help but notice how things were falling into place to her own advantage.

She could still remember how her mother would often scold her for doing hard training with the men, only for her to realize that she was actually born for it. It was simply her fate, and she was grateful that she was able to use what she had learned as a warrior for her future and her cause.

Currently, she was dripping wet all over the deck, shivering because of the cool breeze blowing past her. She was also panting hard from all of the exertions she did. She was about to go inside and get a change of clothes when Osman barred her way._.

“I’m sorry, Princess, but you need to adapt to simple things like this… Like how a Cordon Queen would do so,” Osman explained.

“Figures…”

Xenia could only sigh as she rolled her eyes, proceeding to go towards the upper deck as she let herself be led by Osman.

On the bright side, at least she was wearing some rather thick garments that protected some of the sensitive parts of her body to be seen through. It was a tight fit, and it was thick enough that it could be construed as armor by some. Seeing it in action, only now did she get why Darius asked for the royal seamstress to create those kinds of outfits for her, the ones that filled out one of the bigger chests inside the king’s cabin.

“You need to get used to this. Your body needs to tolerate everything,” Osman reminded with a faint smile. “Remember, you’ll be experiencing much worse than this during the four trials, Princess.”

Xenia shrugged. She expected nothing less than that, so sucked it up and bit her teeth through the cold. It was only when Darius sat on his seat that she unknowingly formed a pout on her beautiful lips. That broad smile on his face just oozed smugness for some reason.

“Come here, love. You can eat,” he called out to her. “It’s pretty late. I’m sure you’re already starving by now.”

Sitting on the chair in front of her, Xenia almost drooled as she looked at the heavy meal prepared before her. She wanted something hot, so she started off with the hot porridge. After which, she then proceeded to eat her meal without a care for her surroundings, not even bothering with her table manners as a Princess as she sloppily filled her stomach.

“Tell me, Osman, is she the Princess I brought with me last night? I don’t remember her acting like a starved barbarian before while she was disguised as a lad,” Darius questioned with a wide grin on his face. “Hmm… She’s even more suspicious right now than that time she ate like a woman while disguised as a man. I mean, look at her now. It’s not like we starved her for a day.”

He looked amused at her behavior, but Xenia didn’t care. At least Darius was kind enough to starve with her, seeing as to how he also started eating as well.

Focusing on her meal, she ignored Darius’s teasing as she continued eating without caring for her surroundings. She honestly felt anxious, and she intentionally ignored him as she continued to munch on the meat on the table.

She needed to keep her strength up, and it looked like she wouldn’t be getting much of it by resting, so she better eat well instead. After all, who knows what these two men had in store for her after this meal?

“Eat slowly, love. It’s not like the food will run away from you,” Darius teased some more.

Instead of rising to his provocation, she simply glared at him, making him laugh. His face then suddenly relaxed as he looked out at the open ocean, his expression becoming serious as he sighed.

“Hey now, I’m simply trying my best to keep myself entertained while I endure seeing you suffer. Heaven knows how long I would last in this,” he suddenly complained with a heavy sigh.

“Don’t interfere. I want to suffer more. That way, my inevitable victory will be all the more rewarding,” Xenia scoffed, her mouth still full as he smirked.

Shaking his head, Darius filled his lungs with air as he murmured, “I’ll try my very best to hold it in then, love.”

Before long after she was finished with her meal, Osman started up her next training session. From the sidelines, Darius simply watched on with the usual stoic expression on his face.

Shrugging, Xenia sighed as she was asked to go inside a cage. From the get go, she could already tell what it was for.

“Am I a bait for sharks somehow?” Xenia mumbled out with a sigh.

“Indeed, Osman nodded. “There will be sharks under the water, Princess. Once you’ve been thrown out inside this cage, you will either die from lack of air or die from all the hungry sharks attacking you at once. No pressure.”

Before she could protest, Xenia felt a few stings on her skin. She had been wounded by some of the daggers before, but she was pretty sure that they weren’t that deep. Nevertheless, her wounds would surely be enough to attract some hungry sharks in her direction.

Thinking back, Xenia was aware of a particular group of sharks in the Miran Ocean that fed on flesh. They’ve once come in contact with them, and that already proved that they were deadly. Right now, she could bet that Osman had already drifted their ship to the exact location of those flesh-eating sharks’ territory while she was having a hearty meal.

“As soon as we drop your cage, Princess, the ship will move to a safer location. So from here, you must swim to us to get to safety.” Osman informed. “Also, you won’t have a single thing with you that can serve as your weapon or tools. However…”

“I know, Osman. All I need to do is look around the depths of this ocean and improvise for anything I can use,” Xenia sighed as she finished his sentence for him. “I know a few magic tricks anyway. So I’m pretty sure I’ll survive.”

Osman simply smiled and gave her a curt nod as she stepped into the cage. She could only hope that those magic tricks she remembered were good enough for her to survive the task at hand.