SLAP!
The harsh sound echoed off the stone walls of the basement, followed by the hoarse grunt as a man fell to his behind.
He looked up with a terrified expression, pulling back to shield his face from the approaching presence.
Prince Anthony stepped closer.
"N- No... Your Highness... P- Please have mercy—"
Anthony's fist enveloped with a gleaming blue mist, raising his clutched knuckles as his eyes narrowed at the shivering man.
The man's teary eyes widened, looking away as Anthony's hand darted forth — his fist paused midair.
The man remained huddled in the corner with stiffened shoulders and quivering lips, afraid to look up. Anthony's cold ocean eyes slowly trailed down, noticing the spreading moisture on the man's pants.
His face scrunched in disgust, taking a step back as he watched the excuse of a man quiver in his own fluid.
"Sylus?" Anthony called in a rather calm tone, straighten the fabric of his sleeves.
The petrified man, still unable to lift his gaze, had his lips agape due to his swollen cheeks and chin; his face marred with evidence of violent abuse and brutality, his eyelids barely apart.
He gulped painfully, looking up at his royal highness.
Anthony then careful wiped his finger with a handkerchief before disposing it onto the palm of a knight that guarded his back.
The crowned Prince squatted before the man he called Sylus, glaring deep into his pupils. "You had one task, Sylus. Just one."
Sylus wiped the tears trailing down his cheek. With the longitudinal scar on the side of his face swollen and bluish.
"So why is that thing, in the name of my wife, still alive?" Anthony crooked a brow.
"Y- Your Highness, I don't- know what happened? My wife and I had done as you had instructed. We took her to the furthest part of the forest and poured on the attractant as the witch said— OOF!"
The air on his chest wheezed out as Anthony's boot launched at his guts, forcing him to curl to a ball.
"Then how do you explain her presence in MY PALACE!" Anthony foot met hard with Sylus' jaw, casting him to the side.
Sylus growled in pain, clutching his fist as he struggled to utter. "I- I don't know..." He whispered, "I don't know why the Sliqruki didn't kill her... Th- The witch said... The attractant would make her appealing to its taste—"
Driven by wrath and frustration, Anthony resumed to battering the weakling beneath him, berating him with every injury he inflicted.
After the torturous moment of violent expression, Anthony finally stopped himself with an exasperated huff.
Grinding his teeth in frustration and impatience, Anthony's knuckles turned white, though stained with Sylus' blood; he let out a tut, stepping away from the coward he was so close to bringing to his death.
His finger ran through his raven strands, letting his hair then fall to frame the sides of his face. Anthony exhaled.
With Sylus barely conscious, his body remained motionless in immense pain.
Anthony frowned.
Why?! Was the only tormenting thought pondering his mind. Why did Sylteena make it out alive? And without any permanent deformity or defect?
Aside the mile scratches of running barefooted and light falls, Sylteena was bare of any evidence of her life being truly endangered...
His brows twitched.
Why didn't the Forest Feeder, Sliqruki, devour her? Why didn't the Forest Hounds consume her to her very bones?!
Why did she have to escape and come back to his life as the torment of being his wife.
In the mist of his annoyance and disappointment, the loud creak of the basement door drew Anthony's attention, causing his gaze to fall on the guard that walked in.
"Your Highness!" The knight bowed, stretching forth the sealed envelope in his hand.
Seizing it with a hiss, Anthony broke open the seal to read the detail written on the parchment.
"I must say, my luck is as bad as that thing I married", he squeezed the letter. "The next council meeting is in two days time. That means, I have barely two days to ensure those taxes are recalculated!"
Especially after he had boastfully humiliated the councilmen and degraded their duties so far, claiming he could effectively handle the labour of the taxes just to prove their incompetence... But it proved rather more difficult than he had anticipated.
The knight nodded with a sympathetic grimace. "Not to forget, Your Highness, but you have a meeting tonight with the Defense General."
Anthony rolled his eyes. "It's moments like this I wish Wilhelm was more productive than a breeding buck!"
Tossing the letter to the side, he then turned to Sylus. "And as for you!"
Sylus' eyes weakly raised to his.
Anthony stepped closer, "You have the grace of these two days to heal. Afterwards, you and that wife of yours better come up with a plan to keep your part of the bargain. Or else..." He grasped Sylus' blonde strands, gaining a groan as he pulled up his head. "... You two better have each ounce of gold I paid you."
Sylus gulped.
• • •
Meanwhile that evening...
"FINALLY!" The high pitched yelp of lady Clementine echoed through the lonely library, dumping her head unto the heap of papers spread on the desk.
"We're done!!" She let out an exasperated sigh, taking a moment to breathe in fresh air of success as she raised her head off the table.
Sylteena smiled.
Seated next to her before the pile of tax paper work they'd just gone through, Sylteena's eyes softened at the exhausted maiden seated next to her.
From Clementine's childlike expressions of exhaustion and joy of success, Sylteena found herself smiling at the warmth of her presence — enjoying the soothing aura of relating to someone that seemed rather comfortable around her.
As foreign as it was to Sylteena, she couldn't hide the meek satisfaction. Of not only Lady Clementine asking for her help, but having to enjoy the privilege of studying and working on a topic of economics and even having to teach her Lady Clementine, about it.
Sylteena finally looked back at the final documents they had sealed for the next council meeting.
Although Clementine had some commendable knowledge in economics, she was completely awed by Sylteena's expertise and economic wisdom.
Sylteena chuckled... So this is how it felt to relate normally...
"Your Highness!"
Her mismatched eyes raised to meet Clementine's doe brown eyes. "Y- Yes?..."
Without a hint of warning, Lady Clementine clasped her hands and pulled them to her chest, staring up at her with a wide smile and dilated pupils.
"Thank you so much, Your Highness! I couldn't have done all these without you in such short notice!"
Taken aback by the gentle physical contact and words of affirmation, Sylteena remained still.
"I owe it all to you, Your Highness! You are so gifted in all these!!" Her voice laced with genuinity.
Sylteena's eyes wandered away as she pushed out a nervous smile. "Uh- Um... D- Don't mention it..."
Again, Lady Clementine's smile didn't drop as she finally let go of Sylteena's hand to go back to arranging the files before them.
"Who would have thought that the problem with the taxes were as simple and basic as overdue inputs."
Sylteena only smiled weakly, not sure what else to say; stranded between the thought of losing herself in economics rants, or sounding overbearing and awkward at the same time.
Sorting out the books, Lady Clementine then said in a passive tone. "With how skilled you are in this field, I wonder why His Highness asked me to do it when he is already married to a genius."
And with those words, Sylteena wiggled in her seat in discomfort, clearing her throat softly.
It wouldn't speak well of her as a wife and crowned Princess, to contribute to any conversation that might tarnish the prince's imagine or reputation, so instead, she decided to change the topic.
"Uh... F- For His Highness to um... Have given you such delicate work as taxes, it means you are part of the council... Right?"
Which was strange to Sylteena as she had rarely heard of a councilwoman being this young.
"Oh no, I'm not..."
"Huh?" Sylteena brows crooked.
"My husband is. Councilman Abraham. But he is currently unwell."
"O- Oh... I see. My apologies..." Sylteena lowered her gaze.
"Oh no need to apologize, Your Highness. Considering his age, such conditions are not too unpredictable."
His age? Was at the tip of Sylteena's tongue.
Clementine beat her to it, "My husband is eighty two years old."
"Eighty two!?!" She blunted out.
The age, 82, in the sorcerer kingdom, was actually two centuries in human years, which was the equivalent of aged elderly.
And the glaring question in Slyteena's eyes was, why would a young beautiful maiden such as Lady Clementine, who looked her age, if not younger, marry such an ancient man.
Why!?
Clementine paused to look at Sylteena's bewildered expression, letting out a light laugh. "I am the first daughter of my family, Your Highness. And councilman Abraham had selected me to be his bride since I was a child. On my eighteenth birthday months ago, he married me."
Sylteena's brows arched high. "O- Oh..." Her face failed miserably in masking her disbelief.
Resuming in gathering the books, Clementine continued, "I am the only one amongst us wives that is educate, so that is why I am standing in for him at the moment."
"I beg your pardon?"
Wives?!
At this point, Sylteena knew her negative judgment and bewilderment to Clementine's story was clear and bright on her facial expression.
Clementine's tone was unhinged as she added, "Hm... He has twelve wives."
He's worst than a wild breeding boar...
Sylteena lowered her eyes for the moment, clearing her throat softly. "O- Oh... I see..."
Poor girl... She thought to herself.
"Indeed, Your Highness," Clementine finally gathered all the books. "You know how marriage is. Either you marry a traumatized spouse, or one that will traumatize you."
Tell me about it... The thoughts of Prince Anthony's cold maltreatment replayed in her mind.
Clementine then stood up to face Sylteena, who got up on her feet as well.
"Thank you once again, Your Highness, but I must be leaving now. My husband does not permit me to stay out after seven."
"Of course... I understand," she awkwardly returned the bow.
Picking up the important documents they had concluded, Lady Clementine expressed immense gratitude once more before exiting the library.
Left alone in the enormous room of varying knowledge, Sylteena returned to her seat on the roundtable before picking up another economics textbook to emerse herself in.
A few more pages wouldn't hurt... She smiled, flipping open the book; but the intruding sound of the book creaking open, seized her attention instantly.
Her eyes widened at who stood at the open door way.
"Philip!" She stood up straight, turning to him at the sight of the sad grimace on his face.
As Philip drew near, her gaze locked onto the object cradled in his palm. The scaly, patched cover of the ancient tome seemed to mesmerize her, her eyes widening in a mix of curiosity and anticipation.
Her lips twitched into a smirk.
The Chronicle of Beasts...