He asked in a deadly tone, and Layah shrugged with her arms akimbo.
"I said, you're domineering but shy before a girl." She repeated her sentence, and Damien's face darkened instantly.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked with his arms folded, and a smirk emerged on Layah's face.
"Well... Firstly, you turn red in front of a girl. Secondly, you stutter in front of a girl, just like with the princess, and thirdly, you can't bear seeing her sad. Aww."
She laughed mockingly, and not in any way amused by her words, Damien stormed towards her and stood in front of her.
"I know you're too dumb to know that she's the princess, so what can be expected from you?" He smirked at her, seeing the shocked expression on her face.
"Too dumb? You are simply trying to console yourself and appear tough before me. After all, what about me? Wasn't I a princess? No, a crown princess at that! But what did you do? You took advantage of my weakness and helpless situation to capture me and bring me back to your shitty kingdom. That is so shameless of you, Mr. General! I don't have any bit of respect for you because a man who takes advantage of the weaknesses and helpless state of others to hurt them doesn't deserve respect at-"
"Just shut up!" He grabbed her harshly by the throat before she could finish her words and lifted her from the floor.
"Le-let me go." Layah struggled to free herself, but he held her even more tightly, wanting to hurt her a bit.
"You will take those words of yours back one day. Not now, but on the day that I get justice for everyone that I loved! I promise you that!"
He yelled at her and angrily threw her to the floor, not caring one bit that she would get hurt.
"Get out." He ordered in a deadly tone, and Layah stared at him in a bit of confusion before helping her aching body up from the floor.
She gazed at his back and, with her hands balled into fists, she turned around and stormed out of the room.
"Idiot!" She cursed and fumed in anger, resulting in her not noticing two palace ladies spying on her.
"Hmph!" She arrived back at the slave cell, and the guards pushed the door open for her.
She stepped in, and they shut the door, then locked it.
Everyone within the room raised their heads on seeing her, and their faces clenched in confusion on seeing the neat clothing she was wearing coupled with her fresh skin that showed she must have taken a luxurious bath.
"Princess!" Mishak immediately stood up from their bunk bed and rushed up to her.
He examined her from head to toe and let out a relieved breath on seeing that she was completely fine with no scratches.
"Where were you, your highness? You left in the middle of the trai-"
A soft chuckle from the leading girl from earlier during training sounded, and Layah shifted her gaze to her.
She looked at her from head to toe and averted her gaze, not bothering to utter a word.
"Mishak, am fi-"
"What is a princess like you doing amongst us slaves? A weak one at that." The girl asked, and Layah immediately turned to look at her.
"A weak one?" She arched her brow at her, and the girl chuckled softly.
"Yes, you are weak. You couldn't even catch up to me during training. But I must compliment your bodyguard. He really is amazing, even though he didn't win in the end. Well, none of us did."
She shifted her gaze to Mishak with a slight smile on her lips.
Mishak glared at her and turned to Layah.
"Please disregard her princess. Everyone will try to get on your nerves, so do not mind it, okay?"
He smiled at Layah, and without enunciating a word, Layah walked past him and sat down on their bunk bed.
She curled her legs to her chest and buried her face in her knees.
The girl looked at her and scoffed in disdain.
__________
Two palace maidens rushed off towards the royal chamber that was meant for the princess and stepped inside.
They hurried toward the princess, who was seated on a royal seat with her legs crossed and a book in her hand.
"Your highness." They bowed deeply to her, and Hazel averted her gaze from the book to look at them.
"What did you find?" She went straight to the point, and without raising their heads, the maiden with short brown hair proceeded to give her report.
"Your highness, there was indeed someone in his chambers per your suspicion." She reported, and Hazel immediately shut the book she was reading and sat up from her chair.
"What do you mean?" She asked, and the maids swallowed hard, knowing the kind of person she was.
"Um... just like you asked us, we had stayed back and monitored to see if there was anyone in his chambers. And indeed, there was someone. It was a girl with short, curly hair and a slim body. She has blue eyes and we believe her to be one of the slaves."
"But as you assumed, she indeed did take her bath in his chamber, because when she walked out, she was dressed in new clothing that belonged to him."
"What?!" Unwilling to believe such nonsense, Hazel shook her head and her hands balled into tight fists.
"Tha-that's impossible. Damien never allows anyone near him, so there is absolutely no way that he would allow a mere slave to wear his clothing."
She disagreed completely, as she found such nonsense absurd. She, of all people, knew the kind of person Damien was. He even avoids her, despite the fact that she was a princess, so it was all impossible.
She took deep breaths and returned her attention to her personal maids.
"Limah, Livia, keep an eye on this girl you speak of and bring me information concerning her every two days. Tomorrow is training, right? I will go to see her for myself."
She ordered, and the two personal maids nodded furiously.
"Yes, your highness."