The Cursed Prince

Roshan went inside the castle in a hurry. His face was stiff and filled with worry, that he didn't even hear a servant greeted him.

He had no time for these fools. He would soon be out of here and lived like a nobleman with the gold he had collected so far. He must pack quickly and left.

"Sir? Did you meet the firewood vendor? He came here to see you for payment but when I told him you went to the woods, he said he would go there and see you directly."

A servant bowed down his head slightly to show respect to the butler when he saw Roshan came out of his room with a big cloth bag on his shoulder.

Roshan winced his brows. He didn't meet any vendors in the woods, nor did he care.

"No. If you see him again, tell him to come back in two days. I need to visit my older brother in the countryside. He is very sick and his wife told me he might not make it until the end of this week," he replied to the servant.

"Oh... I hope your brother will recover soon. I am sorry to hear that," said the servant sympathetically. Roshan pretended to look sad but he didn't say anything. He just patted the servant's back and left through the front door.

Roshan felt his heart pounding when he left the castle vicinity. Somehow, he felt something was amiss, but he couldn't really pinpoint what it was.

Was it the air? The air was bone-chilling. The sun already went down on the southern horizon and the night had fallen.

He whipped his horse to move faster. He wanted to be far away from the capital before midnight.

If he could reach the next town by then, he could still find an inn to spend the night. People wouldn't ask too many questions. He didn't dare to sleep outside. Not while carrying this much gold.

While he was busy with his thoughts, Roshan didn't see an old wagon suddenly appeared from behind a big rock, 200 meters ahead of him.

Emmelyn recognized the man on the horseback as the treacherous butler that she hated to the core. A smile of contempt slowly curved up on her face as she took a bow and several arrows from the quiver beside her.

She stole them from the castle earlier. A guard was not vigilant enough to care for his equipment and Emmelyn could take one bow and a quiver filled with arrows. She thought she would need it for a long-distance attack like this one.

The only way to stop Roshan now was by shooting his horse with arrows. Then, Emmelyn could finish him. And that was what she was doing now.

As she reached for the bow, Emmelyn remembered her days being trained by Gewen and Mars on archery. She did learn quite a bit about how to shoot a moving target. It was surely helpful in her current situation.

She raised the bow and the arrow. Emmelyn waited patiently until Roshan's horse became closer and closer from where she was. She couldn't hit the target if it was farther than 100 meters.

Her best chance was at 50 to 60 meters. So she waited.

Emmelyn narrowed her eyes and focused on her target, ready to shoot as soon as he was within reach.

90 meters.

80 meters.

70 meters.

FINALLY!

SHOOT!

Emmelyn pulled the string and let it go when she saw Roshan within the shot. Fortunately, the moon was shining brightly slightly above her head and gave enough light to execute her target.

The horse jumped in a panic when one arrow after another suddenly came from in front of them and grazed its neck. Roshan was startled, but before he could react, he was thrown away from his horse.

The animal quickly ran away in fear for its life. Emmelyn intentionally didn't want to kill it, so she only grazed the horse. She figured the shock was enough to get the animal to throw Roshan and ran away.

"Auwh...." Roshan cursed at the fleeing animal and patted his clothes to brush the dust off. His body ached from the fall and he felt like throwing up.

The man quickly checked his bag of gold and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw all the gold coins were still there. Those coins were more important than his life. He must not lose them.

"Bastard."

The butler looked up in surprise when he heard the chilling voice rang from above him. He was too shocked by the fall and busy checking the gold, so he didn't pay attention to his surroundings.

"Y-you....?" Roshan suddenly felt his throat choked. His biggest fear just materialized in front of him.

He saw Emmelyn standing cooly in front of him with a sword pointed at his neck. He could feel the tip of the sword, leaving a cold sensation on his skin.

"Why are you scared?" Emmelyn mocked the man. "You look like you are seeing a ghost."

Roshan swallowed hard. The movement on his neck accidentally made the sword tip graze his skin. Blood started trickling from the fresh wound. However, he couldn't even feel the pain.

He was too scared to feel anything but fear.

"Y-Your.. H-highness... You... you're alive..." he muttered.

He had heard from Mars today that Emmelyn was not dead and he had seen the empty grave with his own eyes, but it was still so hard to believe it, that the person standing before him now was not a ghost.

"What? Do you want me dead?" Emmelyn narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Who ordered you to scheme me? If you speak now, I might let you go. You can live in the countryside and disappear."

"Y-you will?" Roshan suddenly felt a little hope when he heard Emmelyn was willing to let him go, in exchange for his testimony.

"Depends. If you gave me valuable info, I will let you go. If not... I will use your blood to wash this sword of mine."

Roshan looked at the sword and he felt all his bones turned into jello.