Chapter 6

The sun was beaming yet the radiant sunlight couldn't get through the thick lush forest on the East side of Loire Kingdom. The unusual growth of the trees, wild plants, and tall grasses kept anyone from the kingdom away from the forest. There was no doubt that ravenous beasts were lurking in the shadows beneath the green leaves clinging on the strong twigs and branches of gigantic trees.

The Loire Kingdom was infamous for being surrounded by forests on all sides. However, despite the wide range of forests and the possible danger it could bring to the citizens, nobles would still choose to live in the kingdom as its economy was far greater and advanced than the neighboring countries. While the war was going on between different kingdoms- fighting over small pieces of land just for the benefit it could offer, famine and various epidemic spread in the whole continent. The only place that could be considered safe was the green lands or known by its political name- the kingdom of Loire.

Success was hard to achieve without sacrifices. And the kingdom in the spotlight had secrets buried underground. Secrets that were meant to be sealed as it could bring darkness in the world. After all, the root of evil would always be the most dangerous and at the same time, a perfect haven. Where evil lurked, a price should be paid in order to live on.

The smooth texture of the wet earth engulfed the small frame of a young child whose sleeping on the ground like it was a comfortable bed. With dry leaves shredded off the trees as her cushion and a piece of flat rock served as her pillow, the girl slowly opened her eyes to welcome another day. Her face was sinking- a visible sign that she's malnourished and by the looks of her physics, she could die in starvation anytime soon. Surprisingly, the pain in her stomach didn't stop her to pull a smile on her sickly looking face. However, the smile turned out horrible with her sunken eyes and pale skin smudged with dirt. It wasn't an innocent smile that children on her age would assume to wear but a sinister kind of smirk filled with hatred and lust over something- could be power or far greater than that. Her bright green eyes displayed a tremendous desire and longing. And there was more…madness.

The young girl whistled. A dotted deer came to her and bowed its head. The girl stroked its ears with her small, shivering hands before she held tightly on its antlers. “Go,” she muttered. As if on cue, the deer moves its hind legs backward once and twice... Slowly. It stopped after a couple of steps and carefully raised it's head to lift the young girl up. “Good boy,” she praised when she was finally standing on her feet. “The usual route,” she muttered. The deer moved to the usual direction they would take every morning whenever the little girl woke up. The girl would rest her head on its back until they reached a specific area in the forest.

A few moments later and the sound of the water flowing in the river could be heard. The girl held her head and looked ahead. There was a hint of excitement in her eyes when the river was slowly revealed behind the bushes. She jumped off the deer before it could reach the bank and ran towards the clear, cold river flow. She dived her head down and wiggled it like how she saw other animals do it. “Ah!” She exclaimed after pulling out her head from the water, her hair was soaked and her face was cleansed. She felt refreshed!

“This feels good,” she mumbled and raised her foot in the air while raising her hands above her head. In one swift motion, she let her back fall on the water, dragging her foot later which caused a loud flashing sound. She struggled underwater when she had a bad fall. Thankfully, that part of the river was shallow since the water only reached her knees when she went in earlier. She propped her head up to fill her lungs with water for a second before going down once again. Taking a bath like that had become her morning routine. She couldn’t be more comfortable for the rest of the day without her bath.

“Ah, okay. It’s enough,” the girl said when the animals in the forest already gathered in the riverbank to fetch her. She went out of the water with her wet clothes and all. “Hmm… I’m picking you this time, wolfie,” she said while pointing at the gray wolf. She smiled widely when her target pulled its body down on the ground to let her get on its back. “Oh, wolfie, your fur felt so nice to hug after a bath.” The girl giggled while burying her face in its thick, gray fur. Among the animals in the forest, the gray wolf she called ‘wolfie’ was her favorite. Other animals were kind to her as well but despite the wolf’s size compared to the rest, it never showed any complaints when she demanded it to do some things for her like giving her a ride, sleeping on its back during the rainy days, hunting wild birds for her to eat, and basically, serving her in every possible way it could.

“Wolfie… you’re so warm,” Layla mumbled with her eyes shut. She scooted closer to the source of warmth, nuzzling her face on the soft and thick fur. She felt pain all over her body just like after she was beaten to a pulp, usually. But the comfort she had while embracing ‘wolfie’ soothed the pain. She could definitely roll over wolfie’s fur all day and night while in sleep.

“Get off from me,” Layla heard a man’s voice said. She frowned but didn’t open her eyes.

“Wolfie! Since when did you learn to speak the human language? Did you forget I’m your master? Let me hug you more or I’ll punish you,” she replied in a threatening voice and hugged her ‘wolfie’ tighter. “Ah! You feel so warm…so good,” Layla added.

“Stupid woman.”

‘This dog has the guts to call me stupid? Err… when did the dog learn to speak anyway?’ Layla lazily unfolded her eyes to take a peek. She had to tilt her head up to see the wolf’s face since she was snuggling on its chest. Her eyes widened when she saw something unexpected. “Holly wolf! You’ve gone so big!” She shrieked as she backed away.

The young lady rubbed her eyes again before taking a closer look at the huge wolf in front of her. To her surprise, the wolf was gone and what’s left was a naked man! “AHH!” Her high-pitched scream irritated the man was looking smugly at her. When Layla saw the man blinked, she was convinced she wasn’t dreaming.

“AHH!” She screamed again when their eyes met. Layla might be afraid, but she grasped on the man’s shoulder so tightly like holding on to her dear life. On the other hand, her knees were pressed against his abdomen, ready to push him once he tried something suspicious. The man smirked and covered her mouth with his hand in an instant. Layla hadn’t foreseen it, thus she admitted he was a step ahead of her. ‘I still have my hands on his shoulder,’ she thought, justifying her action as self-defense.

“Stupid woman. Why are you so loud? Do you want to die?” The man asked her in his deep voice which gave her chills. He tried to get away from her but her hands wouldn’t let him go. He sighed and let her have her way all she wanted. Frustration was visible on his face, but he seemed tired to deal with it.

‘No, I was with wolfie and the others just now. How come there’s a stranger in front of me? I don’t recall having anyone else other than me in this forest… forest?’ Layla looked around her when she realized she was not in the open just like what she expected. Her eyes almost bulged out from its sockets when she found out she was inside someone’s room. Not just any other room but it was a spacious one, she could feel it was as she didn’t get suffocated. She removed his hand from her mouth while glaring at him.

“Where am I?” Layla asked and roamed her eyes inside the room. Her grip only getting tighter as she scanned the entire room.

The room was dark if not for the candles burning on every corner, Layla wouldn’t see anything. She could barely see the colors of the curtains hang on the windows. The smooth texture of the sheet draped around her was also nice though she couldn’t tell if it was her dress or just a cloth used to cover her nakedness…right! Layla’s face flushed a deep red when she realized she wasn’t wearing anything and if not for the cloth she had over her, her naked body would be exposed. Not that she didn’t care about it like before but this time was different, she was hugging a man who was also butt-naked and something in her guts was telling her it was dangerous.

Upon realizing her current position, Layla believed it was best to stay away than to keep the man under in her hold. She hastily let go of his shoulder and would have had a jump off the bed if there were no hands to snatched her back to where she was and a heavy weight to press her down the bed. A handsome yet seemed to be in a foul mood not-so-gentle-man, smirked as he looked down on her underneath.

“Why don’t you find out yourself? You already caused me a lot of trouble last night. How can you act innocent like you don’t remember anything at all?”