Lahat ng Kabanata ng Surviving the World to Escape Him: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

HELENAI stared at him in silence while my mind raced in every direction. His eyes remained tightly shut, his confession hanging between us like a blade. Who was he acting for? I had always known the royals were cruel. I had seen enough to know mercy rarely existed within the palace walls. But I had never imagined they could be this cruel.They would use any weapon to achieve their goals. Power, fear, money, death. But love, love as a weapon I had never expected them to wield. The prince certainly had an imaginative mind. Did he truly believe I would fall for something so ridiculous? Did he think I was that desperate?That lonely, that foolish? When I gave him no response, he slowly opened his eyes. The moment our gazes met, panic flickered across his face. Real panic. His lips parted before he spoke. “Say something.” His voice was barely above a whisper. He couldn’t even look directly at me. as though my silence hurt more than any words I could have spoken.It almost looked…no. I sho

HELENA I stood there, staring at him in stunned silence. My mind had gone completely blank. He wanted me, a maid, to become his legal wife. Not a concubine. Not a consort. His wife. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or convince myself I had misheard him. my heart pounded wildly as I searched his face for any sign that this was a joke. Finding none, I finally found my voice.“Your Highness, if you are doing this to repay the debt of me saving you from the fire, there is no need. It was this subject’s duty to protect Your Highness.” Shock spread across his face. By the gods, he didn’t know. I must have offended a god in my past life to have such terrible luck. I had survived the palace, survived the village, survived the forest.Only to go and confess everything to the prince myself. “What did you just say?” his brows drew together in confusion. There was no escaping this now. I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t spoken or ignore what had just confessed. I turned away and tossed the words ov

HELENA That day, I had nothing to say to Julian other than agree to stay. It was clear he was not going to let me leave and I couldn’t disobey him. after talking for a while, I made breakfast for us. After eating, he left his guard and went to the next village where he used to live. He was gone for two hours before coming back with his things and insisted on staying with me for a couple of days.I tried to protest telling him about how inappropriate it was, and he only told me that I was his anyway, who cared what those villagers thought. That was how we spent five days together. I moved to grandma’s room and he took mine. Living with him was not bad at all. He helped around the house.Chopping wood, which was shocking for a prince. Going to the market to buy us food and helping with the cooking. I enjoyed being with him and the fear I had held on to felt like a joke compared to reality. Those days I could breathe easy and sleep well. Which was a first after grandma passed.But of co

QUEEN DOWAGERAfter Julian left, I called for my guard. He appeared in front of me. “Tell me, is the orphan taken care of?” he dropped to his knees and I frowned. “Your majesty, she was not there when our people got there, the house was empty.” It was clearly Julian didn’t know where she was and thought I had her. Good, she was smart, she knew her place and left on her own.“Find her.” The guard lowered his head. “Alive, your majesty?” I looked at him as if had asked a foolish question. “No.” understanding flashed across his face. “This servant obeys.” I didn’t want her coming back to cause trouble in the future. The princess walked in soon after. her face dark and I could tell she was not happy. I sighed feeling a headache coming. “The prince came to see me.” she started talking and taking a seat before greeting me. The audacity. “I see my grandson made the princess so angry that she forgot the rule.” Her mouth twitched but stood and gave a proper bow.“Greetings, your majesty. My

JULIANThe smell of steaming congee woke me up. My guards and I prepared everything and took it to the stalls. The sight on the way broke my heart. It was not my first time seeing that situation but since I lived in the village and with Helena. Saw what each tail, each bowl of grain meant to the common people. This sight started bothering me. refugees looking tired, wearing old worn-out clothes, children clutching their empty bowls. Parents with dry chirped lips, I could tell at a glance they had not eaten anything in days. Which made me wonder how they survived that long. We set up and started serving the people.They kept glancing at me and whispering.“Mom, is that really His Highness?” a little girl asked her mother, she wasn’t exactly quiet. Her mother rushed to cover her mouth. “Why is he here?” another asked. “Shouldn’t he be preparing for his wedding?” soon, whispers filled the place. It didn’t take long before word got out about the crown prince feeding refugees and the poo