Wymond, The Cursed Beast.

Arabella's Point of View

"You were so hot back there," she praised me.

"Of course, I'm Arthur's sister," I bragged.

Being Arthur's elder sister has taught me a lot, and one of those things is to be brave enough to stand up for myself.

"Let's go home and get ourselves ready for the selection parade," Daphne said.

★★★★★

TWO DAYS LATER – SELECTION PARADE

We've all (the eligible girls) gathered at the entrance of the Wizardry Forest. This is the road leading to the Beast King's palace—weird, right?

Our families were standing beside us, consoling us and giving us advice about how to behave when we get to the palace—what to do and what not to.

Every girl was staring at the Wizardry Forest with great fear. In fact, one could tell how scared they were from how they were trembling.

I'm not scared of going through the forest because I've gone through it before. I'm just scared of what's gonna happen at the Beast King's palace.

"Are you even listening to me?" Mom's question snapped me back to her.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Don't talk to anyone when you get to the palace. Don't ask too many questions—in fact, don't ask any questions at all, because I know you too well," she said sternly.

I nodded.

"And don't run about. The King is very ruthless to rule breakers, and he kills for fun."

"Hm," I hummed.

Mom sighed and pulled me into a hug. She patted my head gently.

"I know the Moon Goddess wouldn't pair you with him. I just can't help but worry, though," she said.

I smiled.

"I'll be fine, Mom." I pulled away from the hug and held her hands. "I have a way to make them disqualify me from the selection parade."

"What?"

I nodded.

"Let's get to the palace first. I'll make sure I get disqualified," I assured her.

Mom glared at me but didn't argue with me. She leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

"Just be careful and come back to me in one piece," she said.

"I sure will."

Arthur cleared his throat and stepped forward. He stared at me for a moment.

"Well, I'm praying you die there because I'm not gonna miss you..."

Mom smacked the back of his head for saying such words, but I simply smiled because that's exactly what I was expecting him to say—but I know he's indirectly telling me to come back safe.

"...What? If she comes back alive, she's gonna disrupt my plan of becoming the Alpha's son," he said.

"Hush," Mom hushed him and quickly looked around to check if anyone heard him. Fortunately, everyone's minding their business right now.

"I can play matchmaker between you and Alpha Jarek when she's gone," he grumbled further.

I reached forward and ruffled his hair, but he quickly slapped my hand away and frowned at me.

"Not the hair, please."

"Don't worry, Arthur. I'll come back intact," I told him.

He scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. He leaned against a tree as he tried to keep a cool expression.

"I don't care whether you come back intact or not. I'm not gonna miss you anyway," he said.

I laughed and shook my head.

"I love you, Arthur."

He scoffed and looked away, but I heard him grumbling, "I love you too, sis."

Mom and I exchanged looks and laughed at his naughtiness. I hope I'll come back to my happy family. I don't want them to be sad because of me.

"Alright, it's time to leave. Everyone, be in a straight line," a man dressed in some sort of uniform commanded—an army uniform, I guess.

Everyone (I mean the eligible girls) started lining up at his command. I also leaned forward and gave Mom a goodbye kiss on her cheek when I saw Daphne rushing toward me.

Mom patted my shoulder and gestured for me to join the line. Daphne, who had already gotten to us, linked our arms and smiled at Mom.

"Bye for now, Mrs. Humphrey. We'll be back real soon."

"I know, dear," Mom replied.

Daphne and I hurried up to get in line too. I groaned when I realized the girl standing in front of me was Ingrid.

"Humph, some people don't know where they belong," she said.

"I know, right? Like I'm too hot and too sexy for that old beast. I might ride him to death," I replied in a whisper, putting emphasis on riding him to death.

She turned and glared at me.

"You're such an uncultured swine."

"Oh, thank you," I replied.

She scoffed and didn’t say any more words to me. Daphne tapped my shoulder, and I leaned back to give her my attention.

"She's scared of you."

"She's supposed to be. I'm a wolf and she's just an ordinary elf—I might bite off her long ears if she steps on my tail again."

Daphne cringed.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side."

"I'll keep that in mind," I assured her. We laughed briefly.

Soon, everyone was done lining up. Some men who were also dressed in army uniform moved around and shared a piece of cloth with each of us.

"Now put on your blindfolds," the man who commanded us to line up earlier commanded again.

We all obeyed him. We quickly put on the blindfolds and waited for his next words.

"Hold onto your neighbor’s shoulders and start walking ahead," he said.

We quietly and obediently did what he told us. I quickly told Arthur and Mom goodbye through our mind-link before we embarked on the journey.

★★★★★

KING'S PALACE – 50 MINUTES LATER

"Stop and take off your blindfolds!" the army man commanded after we had walked for a very long time.

Without wasting time, I took off my blindfold and looked around me. My eyes met with two big gates.

I raised my head to take a proper look. I couldn't help but awe because the gates were incredibly tall—I never thought they were so tall, and I had never seen any gate as tall as these. Though it looked like one of those ancient gates.

Which made me wonder... how old is the King exactly?

"Ara," Daphne whispered. "What do you think we're gonna face behind these gates?" she asked lowly.

"An old beast," I answered.

The army man cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"We're about to go inside. Just set your gaze on me alone as I lead you in, and don’t look around or..."

He trailed off. His eyes moved around, which we all followed—only to find guards standing beside each of us.

"...or these guards won’t show you any mercy," he said.

I gulped and cursed mentally. Here I was, thinking of how to rub mud on my face to make me look ugly and get disqualified—how am I gonna do that now?

"Come with me," the army man said.

The gates slowly opened up, and we trooped in after him. I wanted to look around, but remembering the army man's warning wouldn't let me.

★★★★★

We stopped at a door after walking down countless hallways. He pushed the door open and stepped in before inviting us in too.

I had taken a sneak peek at some of the hallways on our way here, and strangely, there were no portraits of the King—which kept me wondering.

Why are all the hallways so plain? Where are the Beast King's photos? Why isn’t there any portrait of him? Is he that ugly and too unpleasant to the eyes?

"Your Majesty, the girls are here," the army man said with a bow.

I looked to the front and saw a man sitting on a small chair with a small table in front of him—though his back was facing us.

"Hm," he hummed.

Is he gonna keep backing us like that? But my thoughts were interrupted when he turned around.

My jaw dropped in shock. Isn't this that handsome stranger from the Wizardry Forest?

What is he doing here? How did he survive the Beast King? Wait—was he captured by the Beast King and taken to his palace to be a slave?

That’s right. He was captured by the Beast King. I must find a way to rescue him. After all, he saved me that night, and that’s why he was captured.

I cautiously took a few steps back and moved away from the others to a position where he could see me. Then I waved at him.

"Hey," I whispered-yelled, but he didn’t hear me. "Hey," I whispered-yelled again, but he still didn’t hear me.

A few girls heard and gave me weird glances, but I quickly muttered "sorry," and they turned their gaze away from me.

Is he ignoring me? Or he really can't hear me? Maybe I should just continue waving until he looks my way.

I started waving at him, but I quickly gave up when I realized he wasn't sparing me a glance. His attention was on the other girls. Maybe he's scared of the Beast King.

I couldn't come up with any good plan, even after much thought, on how to rescue him from here. I felt a sudden surge of frustration, and I couldn’t help the next words that left my mouth.

"My darling!" I blurted out very loudly.

All heads turned toward my direction, and my eyes grew wide like a deer caught in headlights. Embarrassment swallowed me, and I felt like disappearing into thin air.

Daphne rushed toward me. She grabbed my arm and leaned closer to my ear.

"Why did you call him your darling?" she whispered.

"I... I... I know him," I answered her loudly.

"You know the King?" one of the girls from the crowd asked.

My head turned back to the handsome stranger. I took a closer look at him, and I started taking note of things I had overlooked before.

The chair he was sitting on—it might look small, but it's made of gold. His extravagant clothes and his posture—he looked so majestic.

"He's... he's the King?" I stuttered quietly.

"Yes, that's the King," Daphne answered.

I pulled Daphne closer to me.

"You mean he’s the Beast King?"

"Yeah," she answered.

Then I recalled how the army man had addressed him earlier—"Your Majesty." I also recalled his words back at the Wizardry Forest—looks can be deceiving.

It's over.

My legs suddenly became jelly, and I found myself falling to the ground and was instantly drowned into the abyss of darkness.