On the other side of the corridor, Maxen was speaking with his subordinate Caesar, who was relaying information about the incident that had occurred in Folkshire the previous night. The man could not help but wonder why the king was interested in a matter concerning a small town. Nevertheless, he still provided the king with all the information he had.
"Your Majesty, rumours have been circulating in the town of Folkshire and its nearby villages about a promiscuous woman who appeared out of nowhere and was dressed indecently. The townsfolk nearly burned the woman at the stake, believing her to be a witch who was attempting to lure and sacrifice men from the town. However, at the last minute, the magistrate intervened to calm the people and examine the woman for any evidence of witchcraft. He had her drink the grasswich potion in front of everyone and after a few minutes, the townsfolk were convinced that she was not a witch and she was released."
Maxen's eyes blazed with fury and his jaw ticked upon hearing about the townspeople nearly killing his woman. He would never have had the opportunity to meet her in this lifetime had they succeeded in harming her the previous night.
"What about the magistrate?" Maxen asked in a cold voice.
"After confirming that she was not a witch, the magistrate took her to his office to assist her. He claimed that the woman had attempted to seduce him into sleeping with her, but when he refused her advances by stating that he was married with children, she became angry and attacked him before fleeing from the area. This is what the magistrate was spreading in the town, Your Majesty"
A dark chuckle escaped Maxen lip's, reverberating across the corridors. He commanded his subordinate, "Take care of that magistrate".
"Yes, sire", Caeser's eyes lit up and a deranged smile tugged at the corners of his mouth making him look like a maniac. It had been so long since he used his torturous methods to kill someone. Now that the king gave him the opportunity to use his skills on the magistrate, his mood brightened on thinking about the ways to torment the man until he wished death was better than his torture.
"On second thought, bring the Magistrate to me. I will deal with him personally", grinned Maxen and his eyes glinted with something menacing.
"Yes, My Lord" Caeser responded to the king's order with a bow. Although he was somewhat disappointed to have missed out on an opportunity to hone his torture skills, he could not help but wonder what the magistrate might have done to prompt the king's personal involvement in this matter. He shuddered with fear at the thought of the unfortunate magistrate, who was completely unaware of the fate that awaited him.
"There was one other thing I forgot to mention earlier, Your Majesty. I overheard that the woman had injured three men while they were attempting to drag her to the town center. One man had a broken nose, another had two broken ribs, and the third was bedridden for a few days after being kicked in the groin. However, I find it hard to believe. How could a seemingly weak woman injure three men twice her size? It's possible that the men may have fought amongst themselves and tried to blame the woman to avoid being penalized for starting a brawl in town," Caeser remarked before he scrunched his face thinking about the last person's plight.
How did they even get beaten by a woman to the point of getting their bones broken and their balls kicked? They must be lying. He reasoned in his mind.
Maxen's eyebrows raised in amusement and a charming smirk played on his lips, "Interesting".
"Do you believe the woman could have beaten the three men, Your Majesty?", Caeser had a dubious expression on his face.
Maxen asked his subordinate nonchalantly, "Do you think those men would sacrifice their pride and self-respect to lie about being beaten by a 'feeble woman'?"
'If the king believes it to be true, then it must be true. So the woman actually did injure them. Those men must have been too weak to defend themselves against a woman. tut-tut-tut ...What a shame!' He tutted inside his heart. [Who's gonna tell him that he's soon going to suffer the same fate in the hands of a 'weak woman' ?]
When Maxen sensed someone approaching him, he turned his head to look over his shoulder. He saw Eva walking towards him from the corner of his eyes and the small glimpse was enough to send his heart into a tailspin. If he thought she looked ethereal while she was asleep, she looked even more exquisite now, as she walked towards him with her gaze fixed on him.
"You can leave", he waved his hand to his subordinate who left from there quickly.
"It's him. He's the one who saved me" he heard her say and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips but the next moment, his eyebrows were pulled into a knot in confusion when he heard her remaining words, "Damn. He's one heck of a hunk!"
He tilted his head in confusion, wondering what she meant by her sentence.
When Eva approached him and stood at an arm's length distance in front of him, he extended his hand towards her with his palm facing downwards. He waited for her to take his hand into her palm and kiss it, as it was customary for anyone meeting the king for the first time to show their loyalty to him.
Eva looked straight into his eyes, her gaze unwavering, before her eyes moved from his face to his hand. A small smile formed on her lips as she stretched her hand forward to hold his hand. But instead of placing a kiss, she shook his hand firmly before she started to introduce herself.
"Hi. You are the one who saved me from those bad men last night, right? Thank you so much for saving me. I'm so grateful for your help".
Behind her, Maisie's eyes circled like saucers when she heard Eva speaking so casually to the king. Even the strongest of the men would tremble in front of him. But instead of shivering in his presence, this delicate lady over here was shaking his hand confidently and talking to the king without any honorifics as if they were friends.
Maxen looked at their connected hands before his gaze trailed up to meet her purple eyes. A smile tugged at his lips when he saw her resolute expression. She seemed to him like a princess, displaying elegance and royalty in her actions, and not afraid of him like the others.
"By the way, I am Eva Grey. Nice to meet you", Eva continued before retracting her hand back and a subtle frown appeared on his forehead when he heard her name, but it vanished before she could notice it.
"Eva", her name rolled out of his mouth so smoothly that made Eva's heart skip a beat. There was something endearing to her about the way he called her name, even though she couldn't quite put her finger on why she felt that way.
"That is a beautiful name, Miss Eva", his deep, rich, and mellow voice sounded like a cello.
'Wow, his voice would give ultimate eargasms to a lot of young girls if he were to become a singer in the 21st century' Eva thought to herself. She was also slightly surprised because, unlike others, who addressed her as Miss Grey, he referred to her as Miss Eva.
"Thank you. Do you mind if I ask your name?" she asked with curiosity in her big purple eyes.
"Maxen Regan" she heard him say.
"Maxen..." Eva enunciated his name in a soft voice, but a thoughtful frown appeared on her face after a few seconds. "Wait... you're a Regan? so you are a prince, huh? No wonder you have that elegance and poise of a prince. It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Maxen"
The human maid's heart leapt out of her chest as soon as those words left Eva's mouth. She was so close to tearing her hair out. How could this lady mistake the king for a prince? Even if she thought he was a prince, did she not know that it was only appropriate to refer to the royals as 'His Highness' or 'Her Highness'? No one was allowed to call them 'prince' or 'princess' unless they were also royalty or were someone close to them. Would the king punish the lady for her lack of etiquette? Maisie gulped softly, thinking about ways to escape this situation without getting beheaded.
She decided to correct the young lady before the king's wrath would end up killing them both. But as soon as she opened her mouth, she received a look from the king as if he was warning her not to meddle in their conversation, so she immediately shut her mouth and lowered her head.
When Maxen heard his name coming out of her sweet lips, his eyes darkened slightly and a flickering emotion flashed across them before they went back to normal as if it was just an illusion.
"Your eyes…" Eva tilted her head, gazing into his red eyes.
"What is it with my eyes, Miss Eva?" he questioned her, slightly raising one of his eyebrows. This scene reminded him of the time when he had met a little girl with the same purple eyes as Eva.
He wondered if she was really the same girl he had met before. But why did she lie about her name? As far as he could remember, the little girl's name was not Eva.