The Cursed Prince

"The Serpent is my father," Kira said nonchalantly. "So, you know him?"

The knights exchanged glances. They just happened to hear about the Grim Serpent's reputation. He was a ruthless pirate lord who pillaged coastal cities and robbed many merchant ships. They knew the man from his famous snake tattoo and called himself the Sea Serpent.

So... this woman standing before them was his daughter?

"Anyone could make such tattoo to scare people," the leader decided to challenge Kira's statement. "How do we know that you are really Grim Serpent's daughter?"

"You don't," said Kira casually. "And I don't care if you believe me or not. I will not do anything to you though. I am in no mood to fight. I am just going to ask you if to explain to me about the bounty. Is that so hard to do?"

The leader swallowed and he realized that there was no need to act aggressively toward the woman who could possibly be really the daughter of the most feared pirate in the seven seas. Kira was not insulting them, and she was just asking a question.

So, he decided to play safe and answered her question. "Very well. I was asking this young man over here about Wintermere because our king is looking for a woman. She is from Wintermere and the king lost her some time ago. He will give gold, land, and title to whoever can bring her to him safely. Her name is Lady Emmelyn."

Emmelyn held her breath when she heard, for the first time, how the king of Summeria set up a bounty for her. She had only heard about this from Lyla. So.. Lyla was right. The king of Summeria really wanted her. He would even give gold, land, and title to people who could bring her to him.

They said the king lost her? So, it means the king already had the woman who claimed to be Emmelyn, and then he lost her for some reason. Now, he wanted her back.

This suddenly made Emmelyn feel nervous. Would her plan work? Could she convince the king to help her if she met him? He was obviously looking for another woman. Of course, he would want to keep looking and he would feel deceived when Lysander came and brought Emmelyn to him.

"Why does the king want this lady?" Kira asked more questions. "Do you know?"

The leader shook his head. "We have no idea. It's not our place to question what the king wants."

"Hmm..." Kira turned to Emmelyn. "You are from Draec, right? Have you been to Wintermere? Do you know the woman they are looking for?"

Emmelyn quickly shook her head. "I traveled through Wintermere. I have never heard of that woman."

"Do you know each other?" The knight asked Emmelyn. He was surprised to know Kira seemed to be friendly with Emmelyn and he realized the two might be friends.

"Yeah. This is my travel companion," said Kira. "We are going to Summeria for an adventure. What kind of man is the king?"

Emmelyn never bothered asking people about the king, or as they called him the supreme ruler. Her focus was solely on Myreen and the Leoraleis. However, now that Kira asked that question, she became curious too.

So, she looked at the knights attentively and waited for their reply.

"The king? King Loriel Ashborn is young and ruthless," the leader said. "He is feared by many. The ground trembles at the sight of him. However, we, knights, love him. We love having a powerful king as our ruler. The previous king was sickly and weak."

"Loriel Ashborn..." Emmelyn muttered to herself.

She thought it was such a good name. It kind of reminded her of her husband's name. Both sounded like the names suited for powerful men.

"I mean... is he ugly like a monster? Or.. is he an evil man who abused women?" Kira asked again. "I don't care if he is powerful. A man who chased after a woman who clearly left him must be ugly or evil that he wants to force her to come back to him."

Emmelyn turned to look at Kira with renewed awe. She never thought of it this way before. That's right. If the king was chasing a woman, it must be because she left him for whatever reason.

He couldn't accept the fact that a woman dared to reject him and decided to set a bounty to get her back. So, what did he do wrong to make the woman leave?

Maybe Kira was right. He might be an evil man who treated the woman badly. Or... maybe he was an ugly man who fell in love with a beautiful woman and when she rejected his love, he chased her to no end.

Just think about it. Nobody was perfect. This king, who ruled such a big empire was young and powerful. He must have a big weakness to make up for all his other perfection.

"The king is not ugly," the leader laughed at Kira's question. He acted as if the woman just asked a very ridiculous question. "But we don't know what's his relationship with Lady Emmelyn. It's not our place to probe into his personal life."

"Hmm... very well," Kira turned to Emmelyn and said, "Can we go to Wintermere after you find your friend? I am interested in looking for this woman."

Emmelyn swallowed and nodded, trying so hard to look indifferent. "I am not interested in land or title. You can go alone if you want.

"So, how far is Wintermere from here?" the leader asked Emmelyn.

"Hmm.. let's see," Emmelyn furrowed her brows and did the math quickly. "Around six weeks."

"Ah.. that's doable."

"Yeah..."

"Thanks. We will continue our trip to Wintermere tomorrow morning."

***

Emmelyn decided to put the 'birthmark' on her face again when she changed her outfit the next morning to continue her travel.

After she met those knights who were looking for her, she became anxious, worried that people would recognize her as a woman who disguised herself as a nobleman.

It was better safe than sorry. So, she intentionally made herself look ugly again.

.

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FINALLY, we get to hear the king's name. We will meet King Loriel soon enough.