I stood there, looking at the boys who were running back to the camps until they disappeared from my sight. A light breeze blew, shaking the leaves and making the flowers and grass in the clearing dance along.
'Amusing.' I thought, a small smile on my lips.
I turned around to face the clearing once again. There were plenty of wild flowers and they looked beautiful as they swayed elegantly with the soft wind. I walked leisurely towards the middle, by a pond, placed my handkerchief on the soft grass and sat there. The weather was not too hot, fluffy clouds were hiding the sun and the soft breeze was cool on the skin.
'This is so relaxing.' I thought to myself as I looked up and closed my eyes.
I stayed in that peaceful position for some time, just listening to the birds singing and the wind blowing softly, before sensing heavy footsteps.
"What do you want?" I asked when they came nearer, my eyes remained closed.
"Lady Melody Castellan, please come with us." A deep voice commanded.
"No." I replied, lazily opening my eyes to look at them.
A group of men wearing full silver armor surrounded me.
"I was not asking." The man in front answered.
"So am I." I replied looking straight at him.
"We will be forced to take you by force if you insist." He replied, his hand holding the hilt of the sword that was dangling from his waist.
"And I will be forced to respond in the same way." I answered, a lazy smile on my lips. "The difference is that, you would be dead even before you could pull out your sword."
The man furrowed his brows and held on the hilt of his sword, planning to pull it out. Before he was able to, he suddenly grasp his chest and started breathing heavily. He looked at me menacingly before dropping face first to the ground, dead.
The other men were stunned and bewildered at what happened to their leader. One even tried to shake him to wake up but when they flip him over, his face was blue and blood started flowing from his mouth.
The man who flipped him over suddenly clutched his neck, he was gasping for air while kneeling on the ground. Tears started to fall from his eyes as terror dawned on the others who were looking at him. He was choking, choking out of nothing. Seeing this, someone extended his hand towards me in an attack. But before he could do so, he also started to gasp for air. One by one, the men started dropping to the ground gasping for air. Some of them started to piss on themselves while others fell unconscious on the ground.
The last person standing looked at me and I smiled at him mischievously, telling him that it was all my doing. The color drained from his face as he saw the last person before him fall on the ground, eyes bulging and saliva flowing out of his mouth.
"P-please. I-I have a-a son and a-an unborn child." He said in a voice filled with terror as he knelt down on the ground, trembling in fear. "I-I cannot die h-here."
I stood up from the ground, dusted my skirt before picking up my handkerchief.
"Relay my message to your master; 'I will take something of you as payment for today.'" I told the man as I walked past him without looking back.
Walking out of the forest, I saw Sebastiene approaching me. He had on his usual business smile and was carrying a large box with both hands. He glanced at the forest where I just came out from snorted.
"Should I take care of the rest, my lady?" He asked.
"No need." I answered and continued walking back to our tent. "What's that in your hands?"
"This is what you asked me to take care of, my lady." Sebastine replied happily.
I had ordered him to follow my father from a distance and eliminate anyone who was planning to use the hunt as an opportunity to eliminate him. But I have no idea about the box.
"I asked you to take care of enemies, how did a box have anything to do with it?" I asked him with a frown.
"Well, the box contains the hands of the assassins sent to kill His Grace." Sebastiene replied with an evil smile. "I just thought that it would be a good gift to give to their owner."
I stepped back with a disgusted look.
"So you're telling me that that box is filled with hands?" I asked him, frowning even more.
"Yes, my lady." Sebastiene replied. "I still wanted to ask you permission to send it to the person in question."
"Urgh." I waved my hand at him. "Make sure mother and my sisters don't see it."
"Yes, my lady." Sebastiene bowed and opened a portal, but before he dropped the box he looked at me again and smile. "Any message you would like to leave them, my lady?"
"None." I told him and he dropped the box inside the portal and closed it.
"I hope they like our gift." Sebastiene smiled as he took off his gloves, burned them and wore a new pair.
Just as we arrived at the tent, we heard a loud, sharp shriek of a woman.
I guess they liked our gift.