The Cursed Prince

[Crazy. Why are there so many crazy people in Draec?]

Emmelyn hurriedly handed back the beautiful bow to Gewen. "Ahh .. I'm sorry, Lord Gewen. I don't think I can accept a gift as nice as this bow. I'm afraid I will only ruin it."

"No... why did you refuse my gift? I brought it especially for you ..." said Gewen, pretending to be offended. "Besides, if this bow broke, you just have to tell me. I'll give you a new one."

At that moment, Emmelyn felt like pulling her hair. She just had a really embarrassing incident with Queen Elara, and now she had to deal with being approached by a gay general who thought she was a man.

"Very well, if Lord Gewen insists," Emmelyn finally said, trying hard to refrain from beating up Gewen with that bow. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me. I love helping talented people get a good bow," said Gewen. He then signaled for Emmelyn to follow him to the archery field. "Come on, try the bow now. I want to know how your training yesterday with His Highness."

As he said that, he glanced at Mars, who was discussing something with Edgar. His lips curved up into an obvious grin. His mind was thinking about something funny, but he only kept the thought to himself.

Emmelyn complied with Gewen's request and practiced the bow-drawing movement she had learned all day yesterday. Gewen was satisfied to see her performance. He then handed over a quiver with arrows to Emmelyn.

"Now you can try to shoot the arrows at the target. We start at ten meters." 

Emmelyn took an arrow and put it in the bow. After focusing her sight on the target, the girl took aim and then released her arrow.

ZING

"Very good!" said Gewen. "You're very talented, as I thought."

Emmelyn still stood rooted in her place, looking stunned. She didn't expect her first shot to hit the target directly, right in the middle.

Was this luck ... or was she really as talented as Gewen said?

"Now let's try a farther target .. 20 meters!" said Gewen. He pointed to a target that was twice as far from Emmelyn's first target. Emmelyn followed Gewen's order and took her shot.

ZING!

The second time around, Emmelyn was lucky again. She managed to shoot her arrow right into the middle of the second target. Again, Gewen praised her.

However, when the general asked Emmelyn to shoot a target that was 30 meters away, Emmelyn finally failed.

The arrow only flew 25 meters and then fell to the ground. Emmelyn lowered her bow with a disappointed face. Gewen hurriedly approached her.

"Don't be disappointed. For a beginner, you did really well when you hit the two targets on the first try. However, you have to keep pushing yourself and train hard. You must aim to hit farther targets. In the battle, we should be able to shoot arrows up to 200 meters away. Thirty meters is nothing," he said. Gewen patted Emmelyn on the shoulder. "Here, I'll teach you how to manage your strength from your shoulders."

He walked behind Emmelyn and held her hand that was holding the bow. From the outsider's perspective, it looked like Gewen was just innocently training a young soldier.

However, this felt inappropriate and uncomfortable for Emmelyn because she was a woman. The girl could only curse inwardly because of the unfavorable situation.

She could not refuse Gewen's help to train her. The man would be suspicious, and worse, maybe he would feel offended. Emmelyn could only bit her lip and grumble inwardly.

"Why is your body so stiff?" Gewen commented. His voice sounded so close to Emmelyn's ear. "Come on, relax."

The man deliberately whispered directly into Emmelyn's ear in his deep dark voice. He also squeezed Emmelyn's shoulders gently, making the girl shudder.

Uff ... If Emmelyn's suspicion was true, that Gewen liked the same sex, wasn't this considered flirting on his part if he thought Emmelyn was a man?

"Lord Gewen .. You are too close.." said Emmelyn. "I don't feel comfortable. I would like to train on my own, please."

Gewen turned to Emmelyn and looked into the girl's eyes with a playful glint in his eyes. "Ahh .. would Lord Aldrich prefer it if His Highness the Prince train you then? Yesterday, I saw how you looked so comfortable when the prince held you and helped you train."

Emmelyn swallowed hard. She glanced at Mars, hoping he would look her way and realize that she needed help. Shit. It looked like Mars was busy.

Emmelyn must think of a way to make Gewen leave her alone. She couldn't possibly beat up the man with this bow, could she? 

Finally, the girl took a deep breath and whispered to Gewen. "Uhm .. Lord Gewen has very sharp eyes. That's right. I feel comfortable being trained by His Highness because I like him. After our steamy night in Glendale, I have fallen in love with him. That's why I asked my father to send me here. I just want to be with His Highness again. ... "

Gewen stepped away from Emmelyn and took a good look at the girl. His forehead creased. "You and Mars ... are lovers?"

Emmelyn nodded. Better if she confessed as Mars's boyfriend, right? That way Gewen would leave her alone. Even though Gewen liked men, he would not dare to approach the prince's boy-toy.

Emmelyn couldn't care less if Gewen would also think Mars was into men. After all, Mars had been rumored to be gay for years already since he never had a girlfriend.

Emmelyn wasn't the one who started the gossip. She just took advantage of it.

"I'm sorry that I can't reciprocate your feelings, Lord Gewen. But I belong to the prince," said Emmelyn again. "Please keep my relationship with him a secret. His Highness doesn't want a scandal if the public finds out he likes men."

Gewen was very surprised to hear Emmelyn's words. "You ... you are really a man? You are not actually a girl pretending to be a man?"