The Grace of a Kind Passer-by turns the Night
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The darkling Alley way,
Avenues of the Town of Crimsonton,
Kingdom of Velicia,
Darkling hours of Nightfall,
The Eighth Day of the Month of November,
Thirty Third Year of the Reign of King Jesse Crestings
As she looked up at Sir Grendin hopelessly, a much taller shadow shaded over him and the man seemed to be looking up to someone behind her.
Just then, the large knock of a man's fist sent Grendin flying into the wall where he had had her arrested and a strong arm encircled Amelia from behind, drawing her close against the tall stranger's side.
"Never touch my lady again, you filthy pig", a cold and deep voice cut like a low growl.
Amelia Luna-dynn blinked in shock as she stared at Sir Grendin crashed against the wall and holding the back of his head. She looked up at the man whose arm had her arrested against him and realised that his face was masked.
Chills were still running down her back and her senses were scandalised. There was a grumble from Sir Grendin, who rose from the floor, dusted himself, and snarled at her saying, "I'll get you back for this." With that, he scuttled away into the dark of the night.
Amelia's fears caught up with reality and she rested her throbbing head against the tall man's chest and tried to calm her thundering breathing, unable to collect herself from the trauma. Tears began to stream down her cheeks again, and she used the back of her hand to wipe her face.
"Take it easy now", the masked man's gentle voice came to her.
"H-he tried to tear my gown", her fears were coming alive, in a frenzy, and her face started sweating profusely.
"Hm", there was a low hum from the tall man, like he disliked what had happened to her. After a moment, he asked, "Do you know him?"
"H-he's from work", she choked, feeling her pulse still going haywire from the aftermath of the incident. "He asked me to give him favours, but I don't know why he attacked me", she mumbled, still in chaos with herself, as she covered her face in his chest.
The tall gentleman's brow rose and he looked down at the damsel in disarray, before asking, "You don't know, do you?"
"Hm?" she looked up to see him with an amused smile on his lips.
"You don't know what the man was trying to do, do you?" he repeated his question, like he was growing more interested.
There was an uncertain sensation flooding her chest, like her mysterious companion knew what Sir Grendin's intentions had been. She stared at him hesitantly, for she did not know, but she didn't want to seem vulnerable, and so she said replied, "Yes, I know. It was something wrong."
The man nodded, in response, still seeming amused, as though he knew that she had no idea. Then, his eyes turned serious as he looked into her dark eyes and said, "Should any man try to get close enough to undress you, always resist and call for help."
Amelia felt a hot feeling spreading across her cheeks and she nodded, unable to tear her eyes away from his gaze, before looking down to hide from the man that she was flustered.
"Easy now", she heard his deep voice chuckle and she nodded, withdrawing herself.
He did not remove his arm from around her waist, but calmly waited for her to gather her bearings. Her body was still shaking to the rhythm of her vivid fears and she couldn't take control.
But a tingling sensation burnt along her waistline, where his arm rested, and she tried to push away from his grip, for he was a stranger, but he held her firmly against him, as though she belonged to him.
Something about the way he was protective of her made her heart feel wild sensations erupting within, in a rather pleasant way, and she did not want to catch those feelings for the man, when she was already invested in pursuing a relationship with Knight Erion.
Amelia placed a palm on his chest, and another against her own, holding her clothes and trying to put distance between each other for se could not break away from his strong and possessive grasp. She looked up and whispered, "Thank you, sir"
There was a smile and a slow nod as his eyes swept over her face and down to her lips. His gaze descended therefrom, before he looked away. Amelia felt her cheeks and neck heat up before she drew her sleeves up her shoulders and looked around for her cloak.
Her eyes found her cloak lying like a puddle on the floor where Sir Grendin had been flung, before the warmth of the stranger's cape fell over her shoulders. He slowly loosened his grip from around her and she stepped back, holding his aged cloak over herself.
"Thank you so much, sir", she said, her voice coming out raw after all the tears and screeches.
The man simply waved it away before striding over to the cloak and retrieving it. Amelia turned around to hide from his view and adjusted her garments to the way they were supposed to be.
It seemed like the old fabric of her bodice had tears, from the rough handling and the struggles. She sighed, realising that she would have to discard the gown after all the years of frugally using it.
The damsel was thankful for the tall man's coarse cloak, for it shielded her sufficiently, but was trailing on the floor, since it was much longer than her. She cast a glance over her shoulder to see that the gentleman had taken her book that had fallen to the ground as well.
He seemed to be perusing it, like he was interested. The damsel of long brown curls walked over to his side and looked over to see her cloak draped over his forearm, but he did not seem like he was going to hand it to her.
"And you are..?" she asked, her voice quiet against the night.
There was a drawn moment of hesitation, before the masked man said, "Lance."
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