The Crown's Entrapment

Chapter 727 The Source of the Voice

Amon hastily turned his head away when Lady Bella stripped herself before him.

"What are you doing!" he barked out in protest.

To his chagrin, the woman simply ignored his shouts. In fact, he even heard her giggles as she ran towards the river. Against his will, his eyes darted towards her clothes on the ground. It would seem that he had no choice in the matter now, especially if she's out there running around as naked as the day she was born.

Shaking his head, Amon heightened his senses as he looked around, making sure that no one was near their area enough to peep at Lady Bella's innocence. And if that wasn't enough, he even chanted a spell to secure the entire perimeter surrounding their location. Looking around once more, it was only after he was satisfied with his work that he moved to look after his wayward companion.

"Seriously, do werewolves love getting naked?" he hissed in annoyance as he picked up Lady Bella's clothes, carefully folded them, and placed them on a clean flat rock. "It's as if-"

Amon blinked as he froze. With his hands still holding her discarded panties, it was only then that he realized what he just did.

"Come on, Your Majesty! The water's cool and refreshing!" Bella shouted at him from the water. "You can look at my underwear later if you want!"

Amon's cheeks burned red as he quickly dropped what he was doing in favor of actually going near the river. He ignored the fact that he had just been folding Bella's clothes like he had already done so multiple times already in his life. It was simply improper of her to let him handle her clothes like that.

It didn't matter that he actually knew how to handle said clothes in the first place. It was still her fault.

Rolling his eyes, Amon crossed his arms over his chest as he casually leaned on the nearby tree. Just in front of him, Bella was busy enjoying herself in the river. Her body was thankfully submerged enough in the water to protect her modesty, which allowed him to occasionally sneak glances at her if only to make sure that she wasn't drawing while he wasn't looking.

Yes… He definitely wasn't trying to look at her amazing body…

"Are you seriously just going to stand there?" Bella called him out from the water.

"I have no need to cool down," Amon coolly stated. "I'm only here to make sure that you won't get lost."

"Really? You're going to give me that excuse?" Bella scoffed as she visibly pouted from the water. "Would it kill you to enjoy yourself for once?"

Amon narrowed his eyes at her. "I do not deserve to enjoy myself until after I've fixed my kingdom," he firmly declared. "Only then will I allow to 'enjoy myself,' in your own words."

It was only proper. It wouldn't do for Helion's king to be seen enjoying himself when his own people were still suffering from the effects of Devon's tyrannical rule. Not only would it be tone-deaf, but it might also make his words lose their meaning when he was seen not doing everything he could to improve his people's living standards.

"Are you sure about that?" Bella dubiously questioned. "You need a break every once in a while, you know. From what I know, not allowing yourself to rest would only make you worse in whatever it is you wanted to do in the first place."

Amon sighed. While he knew well enough that was she said was true, it still wouldn't make allowing himself to rest a viable solution. The only rest he needed was sleep, and he could do that only when he had a bit of free time for himself.

"I get enough rest when I sleep at night," he scoffed. "Anything else would be me needlessly wasting my time."

"That's such a sad way to live," Bella sighed, her body still fully submerged in the water, allowing him to stare right into her eyes. "You deserve to rest too, you know. Even if everything's falling apart, a good hour or so of relaxation can make all the difference."

He raised an eyebrow at what she just said. Somehow, he felt himself being surprised at that random glimpse of wisdom from her.

"What? Surprised?" she smirked. "I'm not just some woman that only knows how to look pretty. I've run a fairly successful business, you know."

"Which somehow, doesn't surprise me anymore," Amon allowed himself a light chuckle. "Fair enough. You've made your point clear enough. However, I still won't allow myself to- Hey!"

Despite what he just said, he was in fact, surprised as Bella splashed a bit of water his way. Thankfully, he managed to avoid most of the water, but he still felt a few drops of it land on his clothes and skin.

"Damn… I missed," Bella pouted as she sank herself back down into the water. "I could've sworn I was right on top of you."

"You will pay for that, Lady Bella," Amon grunted in both annoyance and amusement.

"Oh? And how exactly will you do that?" Bella taunted him from the water. "You said it yourself that you don't want to go into the water."

Scoffing, Amon decided that perhaps it was time for him to join this woman. Stripping himself down to nothing but his bare body, he took amusement in the fact that Bella immediately turned away the moment he positioned himself near the water's edge.

"What? You're naked yourself, correct?" Amon taunted.

"I-It's not the same!" Bella gasped out loud. "J-Just get in the water already!"

Smirking, Amon did exactly that. Getting his feet wet, he was just about to start his counterattack when something passed his ears…

'You must leave…. Stay alive…. Be happy…'

He blinked as he turned to find the source of the voice. It was a woman… one that sounded painfully familiar to him…

'Get out of this forest alive… Please…'

"Your Majesty?" Bella asked. "What's wrong?"

Amon could only hiss as both familiar and unknown name escaped his lips. "Helena…"