"What do you think you're doing here in my castle?"
"I apologize that I didn't have an invitation but you entered my palace grounds first"
"That was to save my princess"
"Leah is mine, not yours. She has been promised to me since we were both born"
"I don't think you are aware of the current situation"
"Leah will always choose me"
"That might have been the case when she didn't know who you are but now she does"
"You told her. She didn't need to know"
"She deserves to know the truth"
"Did you actually tell her the truth or did you tell her your pathetic side of the story?"
Leah then walked out in front of Chase, coming out from hiding.
"What right do you have calling him pathetic?"
"Leah, you don't know the whole story"
"I don't need to, Leonidas"
"Leah, just listen to my story. Don't just assume the worst like you always do"
"How can you so blatantly insult me while trying to defend yourself? Maybe I really don't know you like I thought I did. You killed an innocent man, a loving husband, a father"
"Stop doing this. You are absolutely infuriating"
"Then leave"
"Don't do this. Let me explain"
"I don't need to hear a word from you again. Chase, please get your guards to escort the Prince of Drastos out of here"
Chase's guards had already started to move towards Leonidas, getting out their restraints.
"As you wish, Princess"
Leonidas was quickly rushed out of the castle along with his men. As he was leaving, Kylo had sneaked into the castle from the back and made his way to Leah's room.
Meanwhile, Leah felt unbearable pain in her heart. She clutched her chest as she fell down and lost consciousness. It was almost beyond control as Chase quickly caught her. It was as if the universe wanted no one other than Leonidas to have her.
Chase quickly carried her into the room and called the doctor to come over immediately. A single tear slid down his face as he looked at Leah's lifeless body, hoping she would hold on a little longer.
"Don't leave me, Leah. You cannot leave me alone like this. Hold on. You need to keep going a little longer"
When Chase finally left the room after some time, Kylo slowly snuck into the room. He looked at Leah with a sad gaze as he knew how devastated Leonidas would be seeing her in this condition. It seemed as if they just couldn't stop misunderstanding each other.
Leah was laying on her bed, wearing a royal blue silk fabric. Her face displayed an expression of discontent, far from her natural look. Her hair was fanned out gracefully on her pillow and her blanket was slipping off the bed.
Kylo gently put the blanket back and took a moment to watch Leah.
"Leah, you simply must get rid of your habit of thinking everything you hear is true. Leonidas did indeed kill Chase's father but not for the reason that you think. It was not done just for the sake of killing an innocent person. Chase's father started the tensions that led to the war that ended up with the death of your father. Chase's father actually kidnapped your mother and blamed it on Leonidas's father. Leonidas just wanted to confront the man who was behind building tensions and ended up being imprisoned. He had to endure terrible conditions along with having the misfortune of having to hear the plans of how to take over the kingdom and what he would do to your mom. If there's any possibility that you're listening to Leah, you can do whatever you wish with this information but remember Leonidas isn't the villain. He surely made mistakes and will continue to but he always has the best intentions. It's hard to find people like that in this world. Anyways, goodbye, Leah"
Leah had been listening to Kylo the whole time and shed a tear when he stopped.
"Wait"
"Leah, you're awake"
"Take me to Leonidas, please"
"Of course, right away. Follow me"
Kylo was incredibly surprised when Leah started speaking but he knew that he had to move fast. There wasn't enough time to think about it too much at the moment because while sneaking out of the room, Kyo noticed two guards were stationed at the end of the hallway,
He was about to wait for them to look away but before he could plan out a way to get past them, Leah had already made a move.
She ended up walking up behind them and pressing a pressure point on their neck, making the guards drop to the floor in an instant.
"Ok, let's make our way downstairs"
"How do you know how to do that?"
"Every girl in Alriya is trained in self-defense. As a future queen, I would need to be able to defend myself especially well"
"You really are just full of surprises, Princess"
"That I am, Kylo"
"By the way, just follow me. I know my way around this castle. We should be able to go around the left corridor and from there exit through the garden. There usually aren't any guards in the area at this time"
"Leah, do you really love Chase"
"To be honest, I don't really know, Kylo. I cannot even begin to sort out my emotions right now. I somehow always feel like I'm being deceived. It's just been so hard trying to believe in my own feelings when my opinions of people are constantly changing. One thing I know for sure is that I am hopelessly in love with Leonidas and I want to go back to him. I need to tell him that I am so terribly sorry for my tendency to come to misunderstandings. I hope that he can forgive me"
"I am sure he will, Leah. I'm not sure if you know the true extent of how much he loves you. He would wait for you for eternity. Don't worry about him"
Leah and Kylo eventually made their way down the stairs and were walking slowly into the gardens. They walked along the edge of the castle walls to avoid being seen through a window.
They were able to go undetected until they got to the opening of the garden. Leah then spotted a man walking towards them from a distance and behind him were two horses.
"Leonidas"
"Leah, you're okay. I was so scared that you might have not woken up"
"You weren't concerned about me staying with Chase?"
"Leah, I would be okay with you staying with anyone that makes you happy. I also know that you are capable of making your own decisions. You are a strong and independent young woman and this is one of the many reasons that I admire you"
"Leo, I love you so much. All this time I've been so confused but the one thing that I couldn't deny was that I was in love with you. No matter what you might've done, I still couldn't convince myself that I didn't care about you as abundantly as I do"
"While I would love to hear all about your love for me, we must be leaving"
"Right, you can take Serenity, Kylo. I will take Storm with Leah"
Kylo wasn't nervous when he mounted Serenity. In fact, when Leah returned, he had accompanied her to the stables and consequently earned Serenity's trust.
Once everyone was situated, they quickly rode off into the woods. Leah was holding on to Leonidas's waist when she heard a quiet bark.
"Leo, what was that?'
"Ah yes, it seems that on my quest to find you I didn't realize that a little puppy had been following me. I'm sure that you will be able to recognize him. By the way, I also named him Leo so that's the only name he'll respond to"
Leah slowly pulled the golden furred puppy out of Leonidas's bag and pet his soft, fluffy head.
"I forgot how adorable this little pup was and it seems like he's grown quite a bit. I also love the name. It almost reminds me of a lion or even you"
Leonidas winked at Kylo and they continued on their way back to Drastos.
Meanwhile, in Hydreas...
Chase had started pacing back and forth outside of Leah's door and didn't know whether he should walk in or not. He wanted to see her awake and well but he was even more terrified of finding her in an even worse condition.
For some reason, Chase had gotten attached to Leah. All he could think about was her beautiful black and red hair flowing in the wind or her overwhelmingly calm and content demeanor. He felt happier around her and for the first time after his father and mother passed away, he felt somewhat loved.
All he wanted was for Leah to love him, and he was willing to do anything to achieve that goal. On that thought, he decided that he was going to visit her in the room again.
He started to walk in slowly, hanging his head down slightly in fear. As he made his way back to her bed, he noticed the eerie silence which caused him to look up. He soon saw that Leah wasn't in her bed. He frantically ran out of the room and looked down the hallway. When he didn't see her, he sprinted down the stairs and went through every room.
He thought that maybe she had just gone to another room of the castle, thinking that since she had just woken up she might be a little disoriented. After he searched through all the rooms in the castle, he decided to look outside and though that the first place she would go would be the gardens.
When Chase walked out into the gardens he noticed that there was a slight indication of footsteps. After that, he noticed that there seemed to be two pairs of footsteps. One of them had the Hydrean royal seal in its pattern which meant that it surely belonged to Leah. The other one had somewhat resembled the Drastonian royal crest and was significantly larger, suggesting that it belonged to a man.
From there, Chase immediately figured out that Leonidas had helped her escape in some way. He was furious. Those around him could almost feel a heat radiating around him as if his anger had manifested a flame inside of him.
He soon called his guards and asked them to go to Drastos. If Leah wasn't returned to him then there wouldn't be any turning back from an all-out war.
After all, all's fair in love and war.