The Crown's Entrapment

Gilas clicked his tongue as he watched his cousin bow her head down low so hard that it made a small thud. It was as clear as day that Pinra wasn't herself. She should be better than this… Sharper… More dangerous…

It almost made him want to pity her.

"What makes you think I'll say yes?" he neutrally asked.

Through the bars, he watched as Pinra raised her head up to him again. Her forehead was bloody now, drops of red liquid dripping down her face even as she smiled madly at him.

"You… You have to! We know each other, right?!"

He narrowed his eyes at her answer. She sounded desperate… as if this was her only option if she wanted to live…

"Gilas, don't tell me you're seriously considering getting in there with her in that cell," Clara scoffed, her arms crossed as she stared at him. "She's clearly unstable."

"All the more reason to try and check on her, right?" Gilas reasoned. "She needs help. As a living person, she's still afforded some of her rights."

"Are you listening to yourself? You just said you want to help our would-be murderer," Clara insisted with a squint. "She's not in the right mind, and giving her what she wants will just-"

"No! Who are you to talk to him like that?!" Pinra suddenly burst out loud, her tone dripping with the anger and rage that he was honestly expecting from her. "Let him do what he wants!"

"This doesn't concern you," Clara coldly spat at Pinra. "And you just proved my point."

Gilas let out a small sigh as he turned his gaze back to his cousin. Sure enough, Pinra was showing the rage and hatred that she so readily showed to them all back when she was still under Nasser's thumb. She ground her teeth at Clara, but her eyes constantly kept glancing at him as if she was waiting for his every word. And somehow, he could see something else in those eyes of hers…

The gaze of confusion… She was hanging onto him like he was going to be the one to save her.

"Y-You'll see me, right?!" Pinra asked, her full attention coming back to him as her crazed eyes looked up to him. "You'll come to me?!"

Gilas paused for a second, letting Pinra's voice echo for a while before he responded. "Not today."

"W-What?!"

Gilas almost flinched at Pinra's passionate outburst. All of a sudden, she began fighting against her restraints, her shackles clattering against the ground as she strained and pulled at them desperately.

"Gilas, get back!"

And to his further surprise, Clara had put herself between him and Pinra. Despite the barred door separating them from his cousin, his mate still jumped in to try and protect him.

It almost made his heart swoon from the gesture.

"Why?! Why won't you see me?!" Pinra screamed. "Please! I know you're there, Gilas!"

"Clara…" he shook his head. "Maybe we should-"

"Gilas, she's raving mad," Clara growled. "The moment you step inside with her, I'm sure she'll just try and kill you without even a second thought!"

Clicking his tongue, his gaze alternated between Clara's insistent stare and the small gap showing Pinra's desperate flailing in an effort to see him. Even through the slightest of gaps in between the bars, his cousin's mad gaze told him of just how badly she had deteriorated.

"Maybe you're right," he relented to Clara as he sighed. "We should leave."

"Wait, you're leaving?!"

"Good," Clara nodded, talking over Pinra's mad ravings as she grabbed Gilas's hand. "We don't need to see her again anyway."

Gilas blinked as he let himself be pulled away by the hand, Clara taking the lead as they left the dungeons. The moment they saw the sun once more, the fact that his mate had jumped to his defense made itself all the more apparent as she pulled at him with enough force that he would've thought she was trying to hide her treasure.

[So you're her treasure now, huh?] Ham chuckled.

He couldn't help but smile. Surely, this was another sign that she liked him, right? She was more than ready to jump to his defense, and she didn't even care if she was going to get caught in the crossfire.

'She really cares about me…' he joyfully thought.

For a brief moment, Gilas relished this fact, momentarily forgetting the mental state that they left Pinra in. There will be time to ponder on her state. But for now, he would enjoy seeing Clara be this defensive of him.

****

"No! No!"

Pinra pounded her fists onto the ground as she screamed and cried. Rage and desperation coursed through her chest, the black snake on her arm sizzling hotly as pain etched itself onto her very soul. She could feel her mind fraying apart again, but she was too busy being angry at the voice trying to scold her.

'You should've controlled yourself… Act more genuine with your pleading…'

The disembodied voice seemingly mocked her in its condescending tone. It was encouraging her, sure, and its voice had a calming effect to her in ways that she was too confused to understand, but she did exactly that, hadn't she? She was crying and pleading, her throat almost turning hoarse with just how much she had begged Gilas to see her.

"I did everything right! I… I did!"

She was too caught up in her own rage and confusion. The fact that she didn't even recall the name of the woman alongside Gilas didn't matter to her. The fact that she didn't know why she was so angry didn't matter to her as well. Gilas leaving her was the only thing that mattered… Why!?

"Why did he leave me?!"

'Again, behave yourself…'

"Quiet!" Pinra shouted at the wall next to her, a visage of an old man materializing next to her.

'You're better than this…' the voice encouraged her. 'Bide your time…'

Pinra blinked. The burning pain in her arm ceased for a brief moment, and she finally found herself calming down. Yes… That was what she should do…

"Y-Yes… I-I should do that…"

She nodded to herself as she curled up into a ball, hugging her knees as she retreated to the nearest corner of her cell. Like the voice said, she just had to be patient again. Her time will come… Surely, it will…