LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 19: Am I seriously getting Damsel-in-Distressed right now? Pssh. Silly Angel. Just seduce your kidnapper, Duh. He’s. F*cking. Hot.
Redhead’s traversing through the forest with her on his shoulder. They’re on the opposite side now. He’s following the downstream river. She tries to make the best out of the situation initially. Attempting to use the opportunity to pry about his connections with Godor. But the tight-lipped asshole refuses to budge. He only replies, he’s not going to share information with the enemy.
When her persuasion gets her nowhere. She eventually gives up and focuses on trying to escape next. But she immediately gets her weapons confiscated the moment she attempts stabbing him into dropping her. The hour after, she spends futilely screaming bloody murder to let her go. Tossing about and clawing at any exposed skin she’s able to set her nails on. He hardly even flinches. He’s strong as a fucking bear. And it only irritates her more when Bathory’s completely thrilled by this development with her rampant girly squeals,
Holy shit. Have you seen the size of his bicep? It’s thicker than my thighs combined. And what’s with those chest muscles. It’s like fucking rock pillows. Bet he’s hung like a horse too! Oh my God. I wanna see it! I wanna see it! Hey, try talking to him. Flirt or something. Stop antagonizing him.
Of course, I’m going to antagonize him when he’s the fucking antagonist! Don’t you understand the situation? I’m getting fucking kidnapped! Held fucking hostage! Against my fucking will! And he won’t even give me clues about Godor. There isn’t a single upside to this.
Sheesh. Are you blind? The upside is the kidnapper is fucking handsome. Did you even look at him? He’s a total bad boy. All chiseled and masculine. Jacked up to the neck with pulsating testosterones. You really have no idea how many girls dream about this scenario.
What fucked up novel universe are you living in? Most normal girls would rather not get kidnapped at all, dumbass!
Blah, blah. Don’t you holy people like to preach about love thy enemies or something? What happened to all souls are equal, hypocrite? Go on. Practice it, love all hot men equally like I do.
The phrase is love thy neighbor you wretched woman. Stop twisting everything to fit your narrative.
Listen. I’m going to spell out your plan for you. You are eager to return to Soril, yes? Then solicit him. I’ll give you your strength back. You can use it to fight him off after that. You get what you want, and I get what I want. We’re both happy with the outcome. And oh, don’t you even dare try to cheese me again like last time. Just sticking it in doesn’t count.
I don’t want to have sex with him! In fact, the last thing I want to do is have sex! Do you like carpet burns in your vagina? Because you’re going to get carpet burns in your vagina. I’m fucking dryer than the Godorian desert right now. Why not let me paint you an imagery of how it’s going to go. Sandpapering a tree bark. Does that sound sexy to you?
Hate sex sounds sexy to me. Use some spit or something. You can heal anyways. Why do you care? It’s my body in the end. You’re just an envoy. You don’t hear me bitching about it when you’re happily face rushing attacks and shredding me up a hundred times worse.
I care because I don’t want to fuck him!
Guess you don’t want to see Soril enough then. Oh... I wonder how he’s doing now. Maybe he’s alone, bleeding out. Dying in a puddle somewhere. How pitiful. How tragic. If only there’s some way you can make it in tim-
“Shut it!” Bathory’s starting to piss her off, she’s frantically messing her hair with an irritated grunt, trying to tune out her incessant taunts of painting Soril’s death, before she caves,
“Okay. Fine. Have it. Have your abrasive hate sex!” She got so agitated she didn’t realize she’d shouted that out loud. Redhead’s confused, he’s flicking over his shoulder to raise an eyebrow at her,
“I thought you gave up struggling, did you finally lose it?” she ignores his question to say instead,
“Hey. Stupid gorilla. Do you wanna fuck?”
He yanks her on the collar, dangling her before him like a cat held by the scruff, so he’s able to address her face,
“What trickery are you up to now, witch?”
“No trickery. I just got horny.” but he’s closely examining her, though not in the way she thought he is,
“Come to think of it. Didn’t you use to have a massive scar on your cheek?”
“Stop dodging. I know you heard me. Do you wanna fuck or not?” But he isn’t responding to her. He’s just turning her from side to side as if he’s studying a mysterious artifact with a dumb look on his face. Why is he difficult to read too? What’s this baboon even thinking of? Does he need more encouragement? She lifts her dress up,
“Here. I’ll show you some tits.” exposing her breasts. No response.
“Wanna see pussy too?” She’s just about to pull her underwear down when he abruptly fixes her clothes, dragging it in place before tossing her over his shoulder again,
“You’re a bad liar.” he says simply, “You shouldn’t proposition someone with such obvious evil intentions.” Hah! What? He expects her to pretend she’s into it as well? Fucking prick. She forces a smile, stops her lips from twitching,
“I’m not lying.” sweetening her voice, “I find you attractive and I’m dying to sleep with you.”
“I’m not interested in touching another man’s woman.” she rolls her eyes. Great. The rare chivalrous breed amongst Estelians. How noble.
“But kidnapping is completely fly on your moral compass? Are you operating on a roulette wheel?”
“I’m operating on whatever wheel that keeps my men safe and brings us victory.”
“Ever thought the solution to be simply, stop attacking Astia?”
“Then why incite a war by assassinating our Duke?” huh. Did Astia actually do that? She only knows Estelis’s Duke has been murdered and blame was pushed onto Astia. She should pry further,
“How do you know Astia did it? Might be whoever the Demon is working for. He isn’t from Astia, and he sure as hell isn’t on your side either.”
“I don’t know about no Demons. The Princess herself witnessed the killer. A man with hair, silver as snow, eyes blue as sapphires. She described. Sounds familiar?”
“What? Soril?”
“Try again.” wait no, it wouldn’t add up, this war started five years ago. And if she had to guess, Soril only became the White Ghost of Astia after the death of his family, so this could only mean,
“Soril’s father killed the Duke of Estelis?”
“Evan Blaine. Soril Blaine merely inherited his title. His family has always been doing shady things for Astia’s royalty. But the old man slipped up. He couldn’t anticipate there to be a little girl, hiding in her uncle’s closet whilst playing hide and seek with her cousin.”
“What would Astia gain from murdering your Duke?”
“Why don’t you ask your lords instead? What would they gain by leaving behind a bloodied sword with a grey moose hilt?”
Grey moose? She’s trying to recall. That’s the sigil of Rothingale. The icy kingdom up north. What’s with all these new revelations? So, he’s essentially saying, Soril’s father assassinated the Duke and attempted to frame Rothingale for the kill. To do what? She guesses,
“Astia was trying to get Estelis to attack Rothingale?”
“Same way they got us to attack Genocia.” what?
How did the Estelis - Genocia war unfurl? Genocia. Genocia. She’s trying to recall, tracing her memories back. What happened to Genocia again?
Plague.
Right, she was supposed to save an orphan that could’ve cured the plague. But because she didn’t. Disease continuously devastated Genocia for almost four decades. And, by the time it’s finally gone. The damage has already been done. Their working population was severely crippled. And Genocia’s economy went to shit. Prices were sky high to the extent that food became something only the wealthy could access. Their people were getting increasingly desperate and angry. A civilian rebellion was threatening to break out against Genocia’s royalty. And to resolve this. Genocia attempted to form allegiances by wedding their only daughter to... No fucking way! She realizes,
Bathory your fiancé was the Prince of Estelis?
Eh. Yeah. But it’s not as great of a bargain as you’re thinking. They won’t offer their eldest son that’ll eventually ascend the throne. But some mid-tier nobody that can become a Duke at best. We were giving up way more. Sole control of Genocia’s biggest and only valuable export. They wanted us completely under their financial thumbs. Can you imagine? The nerve of them. Demanding silk, the finest Genocian gossamer silk, revered by all the nobles of the seven kingdoms as a symbol of opulence, for fucking wheat. Do you know how many butterfly wings are required to even make one piece? Tens of thousands. I was a naïve fool falling head over heels thinking he genuinely liked me.
Huh. She does remember seeing some tacky, glow-in-the-dark fabric from her well a few times. That must be what Bathory’s referring to.
But that treaty went south. Your fiancé betrayed you. What happened there?
His mother died in her room whilst staying in our castle during the negotiations.
“Estelis’s fucking Queen got murdered in Genocia?”
“You read your books well.” How did she completely blind sight this detail?
We didn’t do jack though. Imagine how dumb it is for us to kill their Queen when our Kingdom’s already knees deep into recession. Last thing we could afford is a war. They didn’t care to listen. Went ape shit at us. Rest is history.
She addresses the redhead again,
“So, you’re essentially telling me, all Estelis’s attacks are instigated by Astia? But why would Astia do that?”
“Look where we’re at. Astia’s in a terrible location surrounded by dense forests and volcanic mountains. The population is huge, the kingdom is unbelievably wealthy, yet livable land is unbearably sparse. And what do you think happens in this scenario?”
“You think Astia wants to expand by pushing into neighboring kingdoms?”
“I know Astia wants to expand by pushing into neighboring kingdoms. They just won’t be up front about it. Great at playing sheep. When Genocia fell, guess who swooped in to take half the cut.”
“Astia did?”
“Your lords are a bunch of fucking snakes. They got too bold the second time otherwise we would’ve been their little puppets for far longer. We’re simply paying penance where penance is due. Genocia was an unfortunate mistake we didn’t find out earlier.”
“That’s why you’re persuading Godor to help to pay this penance too?”
“Nice try missy.” Tsk. He noticed. He doesn’t speak further after that.
That’s a whole lot of new discoveries she just made. If what he mentioned is indeed true. Will Astia’s Crown Prince even want to stop this war? Everything suddenly feels a lot more premeditated. If he doesn’t, then is she still making the right choices by assisting Astia? She shouldn’t jump to any conclusions yet. She should fact check with Soril. But first, she’ll need to think of a way to escape.
The skies are turning dark. They’ve been traversing for a day. Redhead will eventually have to rest. She double checks the dagger she kept secretly hidden in her sleeve. She’s already mapped out a route back to Ryden and she can lose him in the thick bushes in the dead of night. Now all she must do is obediently wait for her opportunity to arise.