"Lord Derke, whatever hogwash you are spewing, I have no idea. Please, maintain the distance" the Princess put her hand forth for him to stay away from her.
Lord Derke then laughed out loud which made Princess Divale frown deeper.
~Has he gone nutcrack?!~
"How cute, playing hard to get. You don't need to shy away from me, love, I will never push you away" he said as he moved even closer towards the Princess.
Just as he was about to place his filthy hands on her waist, a group of masked vampires came out of nowhere and pointed their swords at them.
"What the-" Lord Derke widened his eyes in alert.
"Get the Princess!" One of them yelled before they all lunged to attack.
At once, Lord Derke was quick to take out his sword and block the attack of one of the intruders as the Princess stepped back cautiously with her eyes on the scene.
One of the most notable and discreet tests the Royal Family of Urankia conducted for their suitors was the test of loyalty.
It was a test in which they would trial the loyalty of the suitors to know how prepared they were to give up their life for the Princess's life.
Emperor Terre was also tested this way as well before he got married to the Empress and he passed successfully, amongst other suitors which were why he was able to be the one to woo the beautiful Empress.
Now, as their precious daughter, Princess Divale was about to get married and choose a suitor from the three vampires, this test was definitely not going to slip away from them.
So Prince Kelle had arranged a date with the three suitors, Lord Derke, Earl Maneder, and Master Filen today with the Princess, one after the other, unknowingly to the one another.
And the Prince also arranged from his soldiers to disguise as bandits and attack the date to see which of the suitors would readily throw himself in danger to protect the Princess.
But as always, our dear Princess Divale has something else up her sleeve.
The reward for saving the Princess would be a dinner at the castle tomorrow evening with the King and Queen.
And the Princess wanted no one else but Master Filen to win this test.
Why you may ask?
It's actually simple...
If Master Filen wins, he gets to come to the castle, and if he comes to the castle, surely, a certain slave would accompany his Master, and if that certain slave is in the castle, with the Princess, in her home...
Hmmmm...naughty things were bound to happen.
And that was what exactly Princess Divale wanted.
Not that she was going to pray, wish and hope for it to happen, no!
She would just have to make it happen herself!
How? Let's watch and find out.
Lord Derke was in full defense mode as he blocked the attack of the disguised vampires with daring precision.
The soldiers were doing their utmost best and performing their tasks the right way.
One of them even slipped and was about to reach for the Princess when Lord Derke used his sword to hit him.
"Don't you dare go near her!" He spat on his face before he resumed the fight.
Our dear Princess who was in the background, watching all these happen, was busy twisting the screws in her brain to activate her plan.
The amount of zeal Lord Derke was putting in this fight was too much and it wasn't wrong to say he had won already.
No! She couldn't allow that.
The devilish Divale smirk came onto her lips again as she had already sighted what she would use to make Lord Derke fail this test.
She looked around first to sight the soldier in the bush that was looking out to report back to the Prince.
She caught sight of him and his eyes were readily on Lord Derke and the soldiers.
Her perfect chance.
She bent forward, still with her devilish smile, and lifted a rock on the floor with great effort.
The rock was heavy that she couldn't even straighten her back properly after lifting it but that was the same rock the Princess stylishly moved forward, towards the fighting scene.
"Princess, run! Run away and report to the castle immediately!" Lord Derke yelled as he fought off the soldiers.
~Dramatic much~
The Princess rolled her eyes as she stealthily moved like a snake in the grass with the huge rock in between her hands and dropped it on Lord Derke's foot.
"Ah!" Lord Derke screamed out from the pain that shot up his leg all of a sudden.
He staggered backward and fell to the ground.
"Quick! Take a hold of me!" Princess Divale whispered to one of the soldiers.
"I beg to be excused?" the soldier was shocked at her command, as far as he knew, this wasn't part of the plan.
"Are you daff or just dumb?! Grab me now!" the Princess hissed.
The soldier took a hold of Divale's arm as per her orders and the others went into action and surrounded him.
"Oh, no! Help! Help me, somebody!" Princess Divale wailed dramatically.
"No! Let go of her!" Lord Derke tried to stand up but the rock was too heavy on his foot so he failed.
"Please! Let me go!" the Princess covered her face with her hands as her fake cries filled the air.
Then, with the cue given by the soldier hiding in the bush, the disguised vampires ran away from the scene, leaving only the smirking Princess and the aching Lord Derke on the floor.
The Princess's smile widened when they got to the castle and Lord Derke waddled out of the carriage.
~Oh, no. Poor guy~ she thought.
~He's a vampire, he would heal in no time!~ she dismissed any guilt that she was supposed to feel.
"Lord Derke, you have shown immense courage by fighting off those soldiers to save the Princess but the end result remains the same. You have failed to protect my sister and you have failed the loyalty test. This further brings you down the chart in the eyes of the Emperor and Empress" Prince Kelle announced.
The infamous Divale's smirk came on her lips.
One down, one more to go.