Princess Ivy, who had joined her parents in the large hall, smiled warmly at them before speaking with the important guests that they were conversing with. Once the guests had left to interact with others, her Mother was the first to pull her to her side, and she questioned her daughter with eager looks, taking hold of her hand.
"My dear, did you enjoy your time with Lord Ivan?" She whispered, looking behind her daughter as if she would catch sight of the nobleman before retracting her gaze back to her daughter. "You both took longer than you normally do, did you speak of anything important?"
Her Mother demanded with inquiring eyes, waiting to hear the gist from her daughter, but Ivy secretly rolled her eyes as she pulled her hands away from her Mother's hold, knowing the response she was about to give would upset her Mother tonight.
"He asked for my hand in marriage." She finally revealed to her parents, who's faces lit with surprise, that was until she said. "But I don't think I will accept his proposal. Lord Ivan doesn't want a wife for marital purposes Mother, this is based on plain politics, and I do not want that kind of marriage for myself."
Ivy shook her head in denial, and her Mother's smile dropped after hearing her daughter speak her thoughts. "I hope you didn't say this to him." She warned in a whispering tone, trying to keep her voice down, "why do you speak like you have no idea how this type of thing works? There's always marriage before love, and if Lord Ivan never admired you once, he would never have asked you."
"You do no not know Lord Ivan more than I do, his mind is more twisted than you think." Ivy refused to be persuaded by her Mother's words. "I like Lord Ivan, but I am afraid his conditions aren't something I can readily agree to, and I do not wish to get on his bad side."
"Maybe you should give it some further thoughts before giving your answer, I do not think there's any need to be so hasty with the decision." Her Father thoughtfully suggested, "whatever your choice may be in the end, your Mother and I will support you."
"Thank you, Father." Ivy appreciated her Father with a slight bow. If she wanted to be honest, she never liked Lord Ivan during their first meeting, even when she had never met him in person, the rumors about him had made her come to dislike him.
She had lied about her name being princess Mallory to save herself when she broke one of their treasured antiques during the soiree event that was held here three years ago, but Lord Ivan was no fool, he caught up to her lie when he found out she was using her sister's name instead.
He told her something true but heartless, it aggravated her, and she retorted coldly. Since then, they've been appearing in the same event, and the more they conversed, the more she figured he wasn't actually a monster like people said, but a difficult person to understand. Lord Ivan was a man who possessed a very unique charm, he was different, he could be straightforward, but subtle with his words without caring if it was misunderstood.
He only stayed with her because he assumed she doesn't harbor those types of feelings for him, but in truth, she secretly does, and that is why she's more than afraid of accepting his proposal.
Confused on what would be the right decision to make, every thought seized when her eyes darted up the stairs to see Ivan making his way down, his mood dampened, and he barely spared his family or anyone a glance as he headed straight for the main door.
Grandmother Abrielle who witnessed her grandson storming out of the Palace was at loss. She called after him, but he didn't respond to her. If she didn't know better, she would have guessed he was going to kill someone due to the rage in his eyes, but there was also a flicker of worry as he hurried out, and that look confused her.
"Where is he going?"
Without explaining to the stunned guest and family, Ivan stepped out of the palace building.
"Tell the head groom to get my horse ready." He ordered one of the guards who stood at the front gate. In no time, his white steed was brought to him.
"Ivan!" Abdiel called back, curious to know where Ivan was going, but the Vampire Lord answered to no one and dashed out of the Palace on his white steed, the gate closing behind him after he left.
"Did something happen?" Grandmother Abrielle questioned Alistair who pretended to be as confused as everyone.
"I haven't seen Ivan so mad before." Abdiel said, knowing something somewhere had to be wrong, and no one can know the answer to that until he returns.
-------------------
In the dark forest, Samantha kept running as fast as her legs could carry her, refusing to let her eyes fall on the lifeless and twisted branches of the trees, or anything that would trigger her fear. The silence in the woods was thick and unnerving, and only her footsteps snapping the twigs on the ground broke the silence.
She didn't stop or look back as she wore Ivan's cloak, immediately covering her head with the hoodie. Ivan was feared by a lot, so with his scent on the cloak camouflaging hers, she doubted any creature in the woods would come at her, or any other living thing that existed in the woods.
Beads of sweat were starting to form on her forehead as she kept running, her heart pounding, hardly pausing to even catch her breath. Trails of her glistening sweat rolled down her face to her neck, but her eyes showed no sign of tiredness, despite it being noticeable in her body movement.
She was going to escape from that hell of a place and find somewhere to camp for the night. She just had to make sure she was far enough to avoid running into Lord Ivan, or his guards. She prayed he hadn't been alerted of her absence, else, she would be doomed for.
If she can find an opening, it would be better than running in circles around the dead forest. She couldn't tell how long she had been running, but finding the exit had proven to be a lot difficult. If she can just….
"Ah! Ouch!"
Samantha stumbled over an unseen branch and fell forward. It resulted in her knee scraping the rough ground, and a short cry tore from her lips when the pain stung her like a bee. All her energy in that leg gradually drained, and Samantha sat on the ground, clutching to her knee with her face twisted in pain.
"Why now? Why now?" Raising the hem of her dress and exposing her knee that presently bled, she blew air into it to reduce the sharp sting. Samantha barely had time to recover her strength when she heard the galloping sound of a horse behind her, and her body alarmingly tensed up.
When she slowly lifted her head up to look behind her, her eyes widened, and she reigned silent curses through her parted lips.
The sight of Prince Ivan approaching her on his horseback, immediately forced Samantha to scramble to her feet. She forgot about the pain in her knee and continued to run, but unfortunately, she was no match for the speed of a horse, cause in no time, he had cornered her with his white steed standing in front of her.
Samantha was forced to stop in her tracks, and her emerald green eyes stared straight at the Vampire Lord who had her trapped with nowhere to run to.
His red eyes glinted in the darkness of the forest, and there was a strange look that flickered in them. His lips parted, and he wanted to say something to her, but to his awe, his little lamb turned and took another direction, running for her life.
"How bothersome." He muttered.
Again, he cornered her with his horse, blocking her path, and when he finally dismounted from it, Samantha pulled out a knife from underneath her sleeve, pointing it at Ivan who stopped approaching her.
"Why won't you leave me alone??" Her voice trembled, and her fear had become noticeable considering how her throat went up and down to avoid breaking her resolve. When Ivan didn't respond to her question, Samantha cautiously took a step back, looking left and right to confirm if he truly came alone.
"H… how did you know I escaped so soon? How did you find me so quickly?"
"With those short legs of yours I doubt you can get that far, little lamb." He taunted with a serious expression, and when he took a step forward, Samantha took a step back, still pointing her knife threateningly, despite knowing it was useless.
"Why did you come for me? Aren't you supposed to be picking a bride and leaving me the hell alone?? For God's sake I want my freedom!"
"And what makes you think you will get it by running away from your Master?" He cocked his head to the side, hitting her with a tough question. "If you find it strenuous to locate the forest's exit, then tell me this, how will you survive in a world that is no different from a labyrinth? You have no home, little lamb, where will you go?" He wasn't saying this as a form of tease.
As much as she hated it when he opened his mouth to speak, the truth that lied in his question was like a piercing arrow that had found her weakest spot. The rage in her eyes was evident, and without responding, Samantha charged towards Ivan with the knife in her grip, but he effortlessly evaded her attack by stepping aside.
To his amusement, she didn't give up.
When she tried another form of attack, Ivan caught her tiny wrist and snatched the knife from her grip, but what he did next left her awestruck as he protectively pulled her behind him, and he threw the knife at something, or rather someone that stealthily approached them in the dark.
"AAAAHHH!!!!!!!"
An ear-piercing shriek was heard, and Samantha's eyes nearly fell off from their sockets when the knife Ivan tossed was presently trapping a man's hand to a tree, but it wasn't a human, its serpent eyes that burned with hostility already told her that.
Did he… did he just save her??