Learning about the history of royalty in all the different kingdoms was such? a tedious thing to do when I was younger. Naturally, I enjoyed reading and learning new things but at some point I came to realise the amount of death and betrayal involved when you become involved in politics and the throne.

　　Jealous relatives are often the cause of many deaths. Just in my own kingdom’s history alone there have been five cases of emperors or to-be emperors dying under mysterious circumstances. If I consider the history of noblemen and assassinations then that list would be too long to even form.

　　From the very moment I accepted the responsibilities of ascending to the throne, I was very much aware that there would be people who would not be happy with that decision. I knew that if there were signs of disagreement then signs of plotting against the throne would follow behind. Thinking and anticipating was one thing but directly experiencing it in the form of a strange man running towards me with a dagger was another thing.

　　It was as though something had snapped me out of sudden fright as I rushed to the side to avoid the man’s blade. I hissed in pain when the sharp end of the dagger dug into my arm, causing a long gash to appear as blood started to trickle out.

　　Someone screamed, chaos ensued at the grand hall as people rushed away from the mysterious man, away from the dagger and away from my blood tainting the marble floors. Before the man could attack me once more, rushed thundering footsteps could be heard as metal clanked against each other. Rodrick and the other guards were quick to come to my side, forming a sort of human wall between me and the assailant.

　　Someone grabbed onto my hand, causing me to gasp as I quickly turned to see who it was. Cassian wore an urgent look as his eyes quickly darted from the assailant being surrounded and to my bleeding arm.

　　“Let’s go!” He said, tugging me away. “We don’t know if there are any more assassins.” He told me before I could even think of questioning where he was leading me. I glanced behind, watching the chaos enfold as more guards from the different kingdoms all rushed to their master’s sides.

　　“Princess Cordelia! Duke Ashborne!” A guard called out. “Please follow me!” he said, leading the both of us out of the hall and into the corridor.

　　The initial shock from the attack was dying down as my gaze fell to where Cassian had a firm grip around my hand. The guard then led us to the very end of the hallway and pulled open a door, gesturing us to enter.

　　Cassian pulled me inside. When I looked around the room, I was not familiar with it as I never really spent much time around this part of the palace. It seemed to be a normal common room, with a couch and coffee table. A dusty forgotten piano was pushed to the corner of the room as well. It would seem that no one had used this room for quite some time.

　　“Please hide here until it is safe. I shall head back to the grand hall now.” The guard said, causing me to finally turn to him to look at him properly. His helmet was covering his face and the lack of light was not helping at all. I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out if I had recognised him.

　　“Alright, thank you.” Cassian nodded.

　　“Please do not mention it.” he said with an odd smile before pulling the door shut. It was at that time when I had finally realised that I had not recognised the guard at all. He had to be an imposter.

　　I pulled my hand free from Cassian’s hold and rushed towards the door. “Wait!” I cried but the door was quickly pulled shut and a click made it evident that he had locked it from the outside.

　　“Did he just lock us inside?” Cassian asked. “Is this some form of safety precaution the royal guards practise when there is danger?”

　　“He wasn’t a part of the royal guard.” I sighed, hand dragging down against the cold wooden door until it fell to my side. I tried to ignore the pain coming from my arm but the blood trickling down my skin was making it hard to ignore.

　　“And why did you not say so before? I could have overpowered him since he was just one person.”

　　I twirled around to look at him. “I’m sorry I was not paying attention. I was rather preoccupied trying to calm down after getting stabbed!” I snapped as the throbbing of my arm only got worse.

　　I knew that getting angry at Cassian was not the right thing to do, especially since he was quick to come to my aid earlier. I wanted to apologise to him for getting upset but somehow I could not even look him in the eye as I walked away from the door to look around. Cassian silently watched me until I could feel his presence approaching me.

　　“Hey.” He called out.

　　“What?” I said, not looking at him.

　　“Let me help you with that.” He said.

　　I glanced over at him only to see him pointing at my arm. That prompted me to properly look down at the gush on my arm. The dim light from the moon entered the room from the large window and it provided enough light for me to see how bad it was. The cut itself was deep but not too deep to have my bones exposed. My arm was particularly covered with my own blood at this point and was trickling down to the floor.

　　I felt my stomach knot as the metallic scent of blood filled my senses. “It’s fine.” I said aloud, hoping that Cassian did not notice the change in my voice as I swallowed a thick lump in my throat. I averted my gaze from the wound, thinking that if I ignored it enough and focused on finding a way out of this room then everything would be okay.

　　“Must you still be so stubborn in a situation like this?”

　　“I don’t see how this is any of your concern.”

　　“Well, we are stuck in this mess together so I should at least do something to stop the bleeding. If you were to faint from blood loss then you'd just be dead weight to me.” He logically explained and yet his condensing tone was making me grow even more agitated.

　　I smiled at him. “Thank you, I appreciate that you pulled me out of the hall and into a trap but you don’t have to do anything more but look for a way out of this mess.” I said through gritted teeth.

　　“That has to be the worst show of gratitude I have ever received.” He said sarcastically.

　　“Let’s not pretend that you saved me out of the goodness of your heart, Duke. Because I’m starting to wonder if the only reason you acted so quickly is because you orchestrated this entire thing knowing your involvement with the Hollows.” I blurted out mindlessly, spewing incoherent thoughts aloud just because I was allowing the fear and nerves get the better of me.??

　　“Is that what you think of me? Some mastermind going out of his way to assassinate you in such an elaborate manner?” he asked as he slowly approached me. He looked at me, completely expressionless while his voice was cold and distant. I wanted to tell him that I was just projecting but strangely I could not utter a single word.

　　My body was growing heavy and my mind was swirling. I took a step back to build the distance between our bodies once more but Cassian reached out all of a sudden, grabbing my hand and tugging me towards me.

　　“Cassian wait—!” I said in a panic only to watch him pull out a handkerchief from his breast pocket.

　　“If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it on the first day we met when we were alone in that room. Besides, you are my one-way ticket from avoiding the forced marriage between Olivera.” He reminded me softly as he turned my body to the side slightly so he had proper access to my arm.

　　“Right…” I sighed, hating how I had allowed my emotions to get the better of me earlier. My focus then went to his hands were gentle and careful as he wrapped the white handkerchief around my arm. I winced when he tightened the cloth into a knot.

　　“That should stop the bleeding.” He said.

　　I stared down at the cloth as the white fabric was quick to be tainted red by my blood. It was starting to get harder to breathe and strangely the only scent that my body could focus on was Cassian’s. I wanted to back away from him but lost my balance as I stumbled backwards. Cassian was quick to catch me before I could fall.

　　“Thank y—” I could not finish my sentence when my entire body felt as though it was set ablaze. I gasped out in realisation as I tried to pull myself free from Cassian’s grip, because I knew this feeling all too well. I was going into heat.