In a blink of an eye, things managed to blow out of proportion. What I had in mind to be a friendly challenge turned into some sort of tournament where Isaiah and I were the only competitors. The royal guards were quick to set up everything at the open field under Captain Evander’s orders since he was the most enthusiastic among all of us there.

　　As Isaiah and I waited by the side for the field to be ready, I could not help but to notice a small crowd of guards and other workers of the palace forming around. I glanced over to Isaiah, wondering if we should stop before more people came but my gaze went past him as I noticed two familiar figures in the crowd.

　　“Ugh…” I could not help but groan out my displeasure.

　　Isaiah probably heard the sound that left my mouth and that caused him to look over at where I was looking at. “What the hell are those two doing here?” he spat just as Augustus and Cassian’s eyes fell on us.

　　“What’s happening?” I could hear Cassian ask a guard next to him.

　　“Princess Cordelia challenged Lord Isaiah!” he announced, a little too excited.

　　“Oh? And I’m guessing it has something to do with archery?” he said absent-mindedly as he looked over the two targets that were placed at a good distance from where we were.

　　“Don’t tell me you are getting nervous cause your boy toys are here to watch you?” Isaiah snarled.

　　“B-Boy toys?” I gasped, I quickly recovered from his insensitive words. “Well, wouldn’t that make you one of them as well?” I teased with a raised eyebrow.??

　　“Huh? What did you just say?!”

　　“Lord Isaiah! Princess! The field is set for your challenge!” Captain Evander called out, waving at us to take our positions. I mentally thanked Evander’s good timing since I did not need to waste any more time standing next to Isaiah.

　　The both of us stood parallel to our respective targets while two guards came to pass us our bow and arrows. Rodrick then approached me with a frown on his face.

　　“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked in a hushed voice.

　　“It’s a bit too late to change my mind now,” I said as I got used to the weight of the bow in my hands. “And besides, I’ve been training with a bow in secrecy.”

　　Rodrick’s eyes widened. “You have?”

　　I giggled. “I wanted to surprise you since I remember you said that having knowledge about multiple weapons would be beneficial to me in the long run.”

　　Rodrick was about to say something when Isaiah sighed aloud, catching our attention.?

　　“Let’s get this over and done with.”

　　I nodded to Rodrick to tell him that everything will be okay and he left to stand at the side with the others. Now that I know that Augustus, Cassian and the members of the royal guards will be watching, my nerves just increased tenfold. I could feel my hands trembling and no amount of my clenching against the bow was helping me.

　　“The rules are simple, each of them has three arrows and the one how hits the centre of the target the most will win the challenge.” Evander explained.

　　“Easy.” Isaiah scoffed as he rolled back his shoulders.

　　“You may start whenever you are ready.” Evander beamed as he too went to stand at the side.

　　I carefully aligned the arrow on the bow and fixed my stance. Before I could even get comfortable, I heard three loud snaps which caused me to look over at Isaiah where his arrows were nowhere to be seen. Soft chatters and surprised gasps filled the crowd as I looked over to his target, noticing how one hit directly on the bullseye while the other two were close to the centre.

　　“Your move, princess.” He mocked with an irritating smirk.

　　I was growing nervous now that I knew he was proficient with the bow but I still had a chance to win if I could manage to hit the bullseye twice. I looked away to focus on my own blank target, trying my best to calm my nerves and not allow the pressure to get to me. I pulled back the string of the bow until I couldn’t anymore, I took a deep breath as my eyes were solely fixed on the target. I released the arrow, the sharp sound piercing through the atmosphere until it met its mark.

　　The silence from the crowd turned into loud cheers which made it hard for me to not smile at my accomplishment. I glanced over to Isaiah only to find him glaring down at me which immediately took away the joy I felt. He surely does have a killer gaze. I cleared my throat and reached for another arrow.

　　“Don’t get so cocky. Anyone could hit the target with how slow you are moving.”

　　“I didn’t know this was a speed test. Maybe if you withheld from finishing so fast then maybe you would have hit the target with all three arrows.” I spoke back, not wanting to sit back and take his rude remarks.

　　“Hah! I doubt that you will be able to hit the bullseye again. That was obviously beginner’s luck.” He scoffed with such irritating confidence.

　　I stayed silent, wanting to focus on what I was doing instead of getting more agitated by his words to me. I placed the arrow against the bow once more and took my stance. Somehow I felt that even if I were to hit the red dot again, he would just brush off my victory.?

　　I had to do something that would make him see that I was not just the weak puny omega he sees me as. I pulled back the string and just then, a thought came to mind. I held my position, tensioning against the string until my arm was starting to ache and at the final moment before I released the arrow, I turned to look at Isaiah.

　　We held eye contact, him looking almost confused as to what I was doing while I merely smiled at him, still looking at him as I released my arrow. It was a risky play since I could have completely missed the target but from the way the crowd of guards and palace staff reacted, I most definitely managed to hit the bullseyes.

　　I quickly glanced over to see my victory before turning back to bow at Isaiah playfully.

　　“With two arrows directly on the bullseye, Princess Cordelia wins!” Evander announced.

　　“That was fun.” I beamed at Isaiah as I walked ahead and just before I passed him, I dared to whisper. “How does it feel to lose to a puny omega?” I taunted him.?

　　I was expecting him to say something nasty back or even stay silent since I bested him but I should have known that someone as hasty and reckless as him would react differently.

　　He reached out and grabbed onto my collar, practically dragging me towards him as though I was weightless. The atmosphere tensed by his sudden violence but things only turned for the worst when his sudden roughness caused the string of my bow to somehow snap as it ricocheted and hit me directly on my cheek.

　　Isaiah tensed and from the corner of my eye I noticed Evander and Rodrick rushing towards us. Isaiah’s eyes widened as my cheek started to sting and I could feel something warm dripping from the spot.

　　“Shit…” Isaiah muttered before he was pushed away by Rodrick.

　　“Princess!” he urgently called as he made me turn to look at him, simultaneously grabbing the ruined bow and tossing it to the ground.

　　“Calm down, Rodrick! I’m fine!”

　　“You are injured!” he cried.

　　“It’s just a scratch!” I tried to convince him and the restless crowd that I was okay.

　　“Leave it to the brute to injure our fair princess.” Cassian’s voice made me realise that both him and Augustus had approached me.

　　“I—” I wanted to say that it was not Isaiah’s fault since the bow string snapped suddenly but Evander was already giving him an earful.

　　“You dare to use force against the princess?!” He growled as his grip was hard on Isaiah’s shoulder but Isaiah was not even looking at him as his gaze was fixed on me. His features had softened but he seemed to still be in a state of surprise after seeing me bleed.

　　“Let us go to the doctor to get your wound treated.” Rodrick said, trying to get me to walk ahead but just then Isaiah pulled himself free from Evander’s grip and walked towards me.

　　“I’ll take her.” was all he said.

　　“You must be delusional to think I would allow you near the princess after what you did.” Rodrick said as he stood in front of me in a defensive manner.

　　“Then let me fix my mistakes.” Isaiah sounded calm, so unlike himself that I was starting to get confused as to why he was even acting like this. Before Rodrick could protest I held my hand to stop him.

　　“It’s okay Rodrick. I’ll go to see the doctor with Isaiah.”