Knock. Knock. 

“My Lord, it’s Mervin.” 

Veins were popping on the Duke’s face as he made a horrid expression raging with bloodlust. He stared in silence at the presence behind the door, trying to convey his message without opening the door. 

Knock. Knock. 

His plan however failed. 

“This fuc***!” He groaned through his clenched teeth. 

After a strong grip on my hair, enough to make me yelp in pain, he let go of my hair and walked towards the door. 

He stomped ever so loudly continuously trying to tell Mervin that he was in a foul mood. 

“Mervin! You may be an important person in this house but my patience-!” 

Before he got a chance to finish his statement, the Duke stood bewildered at the open door. The moment he opened it, he found Mervin on his knees holding up a letter with the royal seal on it. It was another letter from the King. 

“What’s this!” The Duke exclaimed at the unannounced appearance of the King’s letter. 

“I believe the Noble council is meeting regarding the war.” Mervin answered, keeping his head lowered. 

“And!? You’re talking like Alric bothered to invite me every year.” said the Duke as he turned around with no interest in the letter’s contents. 

He put his back towards the royal seal and Mervin and stared at me from where he stood. My eyes at the time were fixated on the letter, curious about its contents. 

The Duke understood my gaze and suddenly burst out in laughter in the awkwardly silent room. He grinned from one corner of his mouth to the other and turned back towards the letter, he grabbed it out of Mervin’s hand and ripped it open. 

His eyes darted across the paper and a straight expression now rested on his face. With his eyes suddenly all serious and his steps being respectfully quiet, he walked up to me and turned the paper to my face. 

“Duke Anthony Vincent, His Majesty, Alric Dante von Romaro Hestia invites you to the Royal council on the 3rd day of the 6th month of the year. Your attendance is much awaited. Kind Regards. Alric.” 

From behind the paper arose an amused expression, one that enjoyed my disappointment in the letter. He came closer and pulled my chin to his face.

“My little princess, why do you hope so much!? Your father is the person that wants you gone the most! Why would he try to help you?” he responded with pure excitement in his voice. 

He flicked away my face and walked back to Mervin, who was still on his knees, and returned the letter to him. 

“Write to him to let him know, I’ll be there.” He said while glancing back a displeased look towards me. With no other words, the Duke left my room and walked back to his quarters. 

Mervin who had been on the ground the entire time finally got on his feet and walked towards me. Facing that humiliation, my head was lowered so I couldn’t see his expression. 

The back of my head was throbbing, my vision was blurry, my throat hurt so much it felt like it was getting ripped apart. Spasm memories of the Duke’s previous visits came back to me. His hands choked my neck until I couldn’t breathe. Suddenly it became more difficult to breathe. 

This time- no. Every single time the Duke is about to kill me, someone interrupts him, indirectly saving my life. Would it be the king since his letters are more important to the Duke? Would it be the messenger since his timing is always accurate? Why am I even thinking about this, the answer is obvious. 

However I am curious. Why do you try to help me so much? You know at this point that as a princess I have no value. Yet you show up every single time. 

I looked up to see tears flowing down from Mervin’s eyes. 

For how long have I been so blind? Due to fear, I labelled his every nice act as insincere. I never realised, the most sincere person out of everyone I know is probably you Mervin. 

I don’t have a father who cared for me enough to shed tears over sending his daughter off to die. Yet you cry over a few of my hairs getting pulled. 

“Why do you cry Mervin?” Why do I make you so vulnerable?

The sobbing man took out a handkerchief from his pocket and neatly cleaned his face. He placed the handkerchief back and lifted his head. 

“Your highness, the chef would like to ask for your preferences for dinner.”

He didn’t answer. 

“I want meat. Something nutritious that can revive my energy. I need to be strong.” I finally know what I should do. All this time wasted on insignificant dreams, this is reality. 

The King sent me here to die. Chances are, the King will ask about my death at the royal council, this might also be the reason the Duke was invited. 

The 3rd… that means I have exactly 15 days to get out of here. I must be out in 15 days.

My determination was set and it unknowingly was portrayed to Mervin as well. 

He walked around the room inspecting everything. He checked if everything was clean, if there was any trash. He stopped in front of the window. My heart rate started accelerating. The window was my only escape! However, Mervin didn’t do anything. 

Right before he left the room, he stopped in front of the chains coming out from the wall. He stared and examined them almost like he was trying to use his mind to break them.

“I will inform the chef of your request, please rest your highness.” He smiled and closed the door.

I believe it was the first time that I saw a genuine smile on that man’s face. 

……..

It has been almost a week since I started my preparation to leave. And strangely enough it was quite easy. 

I say that but I’m sure it’s all thanks to someone’s help. 

Knock. Knock. 

“My lady it’s me!”

The young maid stepped into the room carrying cleanly folded bed sheets. She walked up to the chest of clothes and placed it inside. 

This was the strange thing I was talking about. 

For the past week, I received a clean bed sheet every single day. Today, she brought three of them.

I was very curious about who was sending them and also why, but I didn’t want to raise any suspicions toward the act. This was helping me greatly and it’s better to keep silent about it. 

“And here my lady is your meal.”

The maid laid out in front of me three heavily protein based dishes. Going from soup to meat was incredibly difficult to handle but now eating three feels insufficient. Eating good meals for the week really got my strength back. I feel evermore ready to get out of this place. 

Everything is set in stone and it’s all thanks to that letter that was delivered to me a week ago. 

TBC