NOTE: This chapter is a teaser for my next book. You can skip it if you don't want to read it, so you don't spend coins on it. All the previous chapters are already updated btw.
While waiting for a new chapter for Sophie and Nicholas, feel free to read an opening to my new book "The Dragon Prince's Replacement Bride" which I will publish next year.
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CHAPTER 1 - FUCK YOU, ALERIC PENDRAGON!
"Fuck you, Isabelle Delorean," Ines could only curse under her breath when she imagined what the woman named Isabelle Delorean looked like. Isabelle was the reason for her misfortune. So, of course, Ines had a hard feeling for that woman.
She made that mistake once on their first day of travel, thinking Damian was tired and asleep. So, she tried to run away. Welp. He caught her easily.
Ines rolled her eyes at the memory. She would never make that mistake again. Even if Damian was really sleeping, she would just assume he was not.
She looked at Damian again. This man had short white hair, a beautiful pointed nose, full lips, and an angular jawline that made him look extremely handsome.
So, Ines suspected Isabelle must be beautiful too if she even had only half her brother's good looks. Maybe even much more attractive than Damian. All the servants in the castle told her Isabelle was the most beautiful woman in Sommeries.
Ines sighed. Of course, she could understand why such a beautiful princess like Isabelle ran away from her own wedding. Who in their right mind would want to be married off to a monster? No one!
Suddenly Ines felt so embarrassed about herself. Why did she blame Isabelle for her misfortune? Isabelle was just trying to save herself. The person she should be cursing was her husband, Aleric Pendragon.
Yeah. Ines now had a husband, even though she didn't love the guy and they had never even met.
She married that man by proxy two weeks ago. That seemed to be the custom in this era, or rather in this world. When the bride and groom lived far away from each other and they couldn't both be in the same place to hold the wedding ceremony, one of them would send a representative to act as their proxy to attend the wedding.
Actually, Isabelle Delorean should be the one to marry Aleric Pendragon, but she escaped the day before the wedding. She didn't want to marry a ruthless monster. So, the Delorean family sacrificed Ines, a stranger girl who was stranded in their land and looked slightly similar to their daughter.
It was deceitful and risky, but they didn't seem to have a choice but to resort to this scheme. Ines heard if they failed to provide a bride when Aleric's uncle who acted as his proxy arrived, the Pendragons would punish them severely.
Ines was forced to take on the identity of a Delorean. Otherwise, they would kill her for trespassing on their property. It did help that physically she looked a bit like them. The Deloreans all had beautiful silver-blonde hair that looked almost white and purple eyes.
Ines had her light gray hair that used to get her bullied for having 'mouse's hair'. Her eyes were very deep blue that actually when she thought about it again, could actually be dark purple. So, yes... she could pass as their family member. That's why they dared to send her as a replacement bride to Westovia.
Gosh... Ines' life was not actually great, but that didn't mean she wanted to die. So, she said yes to their order to buy herself time to plan her escape.
However, it's been four days now and she had tried to run away from her ordeal many times, all to no avail. The closer she got to her husband's castle, the worse her chance to escape. This made her feel depressed.
"Fuck you, Aleric Pendragon..." she hissed under her breath. This time she cursed her husband.
Husband.
Eh... husband??
Scoff.
Ines felt like crying. Gosh... she didn't even know what her husband looked like. Since the Pendragons lived so far away, they sent his uncle, a duke, to represent the crown prince, Aleric Pendragon, in the wedding ceremony.
Ines only knew from the maids gossiping within the Delorean palace that the man was a monster. That's why Isabelle Delorean, who was supposed to be his wife, decided to run away from home, leaving behind her family with so much stress to find her replacement.
Ines was curious and she tried to find information from the only person she was with right now. Damian must have known better what Aleric Pendragon and his family were like.
"Hey!" Ines exclaimed, but Damian looked indifferent. In fact, there was no movement at all from him.
"Hey! Can you hear me? You can, can't you?" Again, Ines called out to Damian.
Damian opened his eyes slowly and looked intently at her, causing Ines to gulp down coarse saliva and move restlessly in her seat.
Could it be that he was actually asleep and Ines had just disturbed him?
"Not hey, my name is Damian," said the man in a cold voice that didn't suit him.
According to Ines, Damian was too handsome to sound that cold and evil. But ah… in this world looks could be deceiving.
Was not it?
"What kind of person is this Aleric guy?" Ines asked, not caring about Damian's curt response. She looked at Damian seriously. Ines really wanted Damian to know that she wasn't messing around with this question and she really needed an answer.
An answer that could at least calm her heart.
"No idea. Never met him," Damian replied after breaking eye contact between them first.
Ines let out a disappointed sigh hearing that. Even Damian didn't know what Aleric Pendragon looked like. How was that possible? Didn't he care about what kind of man would be his sister's husband? This Delorean family was... weird!
However, Ines' disappointment did not last long. A few minutes later, she felt how the carriage they were riding in now started to run slowly until finally there was no movement anymore.
A smile appeared on Ines' face when she realized what she could do by taking advantage of this situation. The carriage would finally come to a stop. That meant they'd arrived at a place where humans lived and there was probably an inn where they would rest.
Apart from being able to straighten her body, Ines could also look for opportunities to escape.
Unfortunately, Damian was happy to shatter the hopes that Ines had.
"Do not even try." Before he got up from his seat, Damian gave a stern warning to Ines who could only stare at him with an annoyed look.
Damian seemed to already know what was on Ines's mind without the need to bother guessing.
It's not like Ines would obey him anyway.
"What? I won't try to do anything." Ines raised her hands like a criminal about to be caught by the police.
Despite his expression that seemed to say 'yeah, right', Damian didn't say anything else.
The carriage door was knocked lightly from outside a few times and after Damian gave permission it was opened by someone from outside.
"Your Highness, we have arrived at the inn near the borders of the Westerland capital. Just one more day and we will arrive at our destination. I think you can rest here and we can continue our journey in the morning." One of the guards reported to him.
They had traveled for several days and for the first time after spending so many days on the road, Ines was finally able to get out of this stupid carriage and rest comfortably and properly.
"You're right, but I hope no one will do anything stupid later."
Ines glanced at Damian who was looking at her with fixed eyes, making Ines instantly realize that Damian was talking about her.
Damian then moved to get off the carriage first, leaving Ines still in the carriage, trying to digest the information she received earlier. The bodyguards untied Ines' feet as well as her hands.
Only one more day and Ines would meet her monster husband. Ines had really little time left if she wanted to run away from all this madness.
"Come on, come down," Damian said and stretched out his hand which Ines of course didn't accept, just like the previous days.
She got off the carriage and ignored Damian's hand hanging in the air. When she saw what was in front of her, thousands of scenarios had already been created in Ines' head.
"Don't make me regret this." That was what Damian told her before they walked into the inn, leaving the others behind.
Ines snorted in annoyance. She was still being treated like a prisoner. However, in retrospect, she was the one who saved the Deloreans from the catastrophe by replacing Isabelle. They should have treated her better.
Perhaps they would have done it if Ines had not tried to run away all the time. However, she had to. Ines still loved her life. She didn't want to become the victim of a monster.
Ines saw that they were now in front of a large inn building located on a fairly busy main road. There were people walking around carrying goods, selling, shopping, and so on. Damian was talking to the innkeeper, probably wanting to ask for special arrangements so Ines couldn't escape…
"Kyaaaaahhh…!!"
When she saw Damian was busy, Ines pushed the body of the bodyguard beside her with all her might so that he fell to the ground,
Without looking back, Ines immediately ran away from the inn area, followed by the shouts of people telling her to stop.
"Stupid carriage! Stupid wedding! Fuck them all!" Ines said while running as hard as she could. Her hands were busy lifting the hem of her dress so she wouldn't trip.
Her head was spinning. Crazy! She had been stuck with these people for two weeks. Ines had to break free before her life took a turn for the worse and she couldn't find her way back home.
Ines was only thinking about how to make her escape and didn't think about what other steps to take. She couldn't keep running aimlessly like this.
"There! Yes, I have to go there!"
Ines nimbly jumped over a vegetable basket and continued to run with all her might, entering the market to hide. The place in front of her must be the market right? She could already see stalls and the crowd of people.
She would definitely be able to find a place to hide. If she was lucky, maybe she could look for someone to help her.
"Argh!" Ines let out a low scream when she felt that she had no strength left, making her body stagger.
Her breath hitched and she coughed a few times. She blamed the carriage for having kept her from using her legs for a long time, making her weak like she was now.
The sound of an approaching horse's hooves entered her ears followed by a scoff afterward.
"Ahem."
Ines heard that and immediately grimaced when she realized whose voice it was.
Like in a horror movie, Ines turned her head back slowly, and there, right in front of her, was the figure of Damian sitting on a horse, staring at her coldly.
The prince spoke in an icy tone, "This is my LAST warning. If you tried to escape one more time, I will kill you on the spot."
- TO BE CONTINUED
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