Ever A Never After

Chapter 2

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Traitor's daughter?

I grip the remaining cloth in front of me. Confusion, bewilderment, fear. I do not understand anything about this at all.

Who's the traitor's daughter now?

Looking at those amber eyes, it seems he was devouring me. I feel too much pressure that a shiver starts to wreck my whole body. It's like my soul bowed down to his presence.

"W-What are you..saying...". I whispered. How dare this man confuses me with these ridiculous accusations! My father was an honest farmer while my mother was a simple housewife! Never in our entire lives have we been involved in these assholes called nobles! Also, my parents died 3 years ago! So how come...

I hate this man.

Getting the courage, I want to break the nose of this man. He ripped the only dress I have and then accused me of something I didn't know about!

But somehow, those amber-gold eyes were mesmerizing to see. So my brows furrowed, fighting the urge to bow to this man, I look him in the eye.

"What the hell are you saying--!"

GRRROOOOOOWWWWLLL

I stopped. Wide-eyed.

That was not my stomach, wasn't it?

Oh.

Hell.

No.

Shame rose from my chest up to my face. Still wide-eyed, I sat down quickly again in shame hiding my face between my knees, my face like a tomato.

God, I'm already at my limit. I'm hungry and getting angry at this man is exhausting all my strength.

Please, let the earth open up and eat me now! 

I heard a cough and saw it was Sir Daniel faking a cough behind the Grand Duke. Was he chuckling? 

Sir Daniel Hawk, commander of the great Golden Lion Mane's Knight, laughing?

Impossible.

But is everything real this time either? Two of the greatest figure of the kingdom, standing in this god-forsaken dungeon in god-knows-where? In front of me? What is the possibility of me meeting these two greatest men in the kingdom? Like a needle in an acre of hay.

I scowled at him. I want to cry. I want to pull their hair until nothing remains on their heads.

"Your Highness," Sir Daniel called out after deliberately faking a cough a few times.

"Commander, bring this woman to Mollie," the Grand Duke said. He eyed me one more time, his expression not changing, but the amber-gold eyes I saw a while ago had completely vanished. His eyes were the color of black like a night once again. I am now sure the color of his eyes did change! "Then send a message to that Tyrant and issue our demand,"

"Your Highness, are you sure she's the one we're looking for?"

"Indeed, that scar she has was the exact brand my father told me,". 

Brand? This scar was a brand?

Realization hit me. The Grand Duke knew more about me than myself.

Honestly, I lost my memory when I was 7. I could not remember beyond that. 

I was an adoptive daughter of the Barnett couple. They said they found me wandering like a lost sheep in the midst of the thick Dalgar forest. They tried to find people who might know me but to no avail. So, since they are childless, they took me in and care for me like I'm their real child. However, my mother died, and then a year after that, my father also died. That was 3 years ago.

Could it be, they knew me?

"W-Wait Your Highness--!" I choked.

He pull out his sword from its scabbard and swung it toward me and pointed at my neck. I flinched. Slowly with steady hands, he used the sword to lift up my chin so I can look up at him. I trembled in fear. Just one wrong move and that sword could plunge my throat. 

I need to know!