Born As The Emperor’s Daughter - Chapter 223

Darkness has swallowed and engulfed everything.

The night was eerie and cold.

A man stood leaning against the wall beside the window which reveals the endless view of the empire, from the sparkling and glowing palace, to the flickering lights coming from the lights placed on the streets, and to the sea that reflected the moon and the stars. The view was quite astounding and beautiful, though one might think that everything looks beautiful when it’s bright, he prefers it dark.

The breeze was gentle as it caressed his skin, soothing him, and calming him down. He was observing from outside the window.

The sound of light footsteps was heard yet that didn’t pull him off his daze for he could immediately tell who that person was. It became louder as seconds passed by and they approached his position. Then one last footstep was quite loud as it resonated and echoed inside the messy and dirty room with its walls covered with ivy and the paint scraping off it.

“I finally found you!” He heard a voice coming from not far away from him, it echoed and resonated inside one of the dirty and messy floors of the abandoned building. He didn’t turn his head in the direction of the person who just arrived and saw him.

“I’ve been looking for you for years yet here I am, founding you in one of the abandoned towers of this empire. You could have told me where I will usually find you, I went to many places, and it seems like I went on an adventure just to find you.”

“I forgot about it, somehow.”

The person only let out a sigh as the man looked out of the window, looking down on everything as if they were just small ants that he passed by and threatening to destroy and kill by stepping on them. It was silent, the night was silent. Everything was peaceful, the whole place was being basked underneath the light of the silver moon was emitting. The light, unlike the sunlight which is bright and warm, it was warm and gentle. It has a cool blue hue.

The person who arrived was about to open their mouth and say something when the man spoke, interrupting what he was going to say. “Why are you here? What about the task that I gave you?” He said.

“I escaped. They have me trapped,” They responded.

“You’re useless, I thought you might be able to accomplish this task.”

“I sincerely apologize for that. However, I learned something while I was in there.”

“What is it?”

The man could feel and sense the grin that the person was giving him, it was chilling and creepy but it didn’t scare him. The atmosphere of the place became cold and tense all of a sudden as he waited for what the person will say next.

“They have her.”

Even though they didn’t clarify who that person or what kind of person that was, he already knew what they were talking about. Emotions suddenly sparked up and overwhelmed his system, his heart started to beat fast due to excitement, and because of what he heard.

He turned his head to look at the person’s direction though it was dark, he could see their face. His gaze on the person sent a chill down their spine and they gulped hard. His expressionless look on his face was replaced with a serious one and he opened his mouth to speak, 2 words slipped out of his lips and it seems like he was spitting out venom in his tongue. It was cold, much colder than the smile of the person’s face who is standing in front of him.

“Capture her.”

“Understood b-but it might take some time as she is heavily guarded by many people.”

“I don’t care, capture her. We need her.”

“Yes.”

And before the person could turn around and take his leave, the man spoke once again, grabbing his attention.

“Don’t disappoint me—”

He paused before he spoke out his name, cold and serious. It was cold that even a cold-blooded snake might shiver when he heard his voice and it made the atmosphere of the room heavy.

“—Mark Devan.”

—

More than 2 peaceful years have passed already. Less than 5 months before her 15th birthday.

Everything was quite fast and before Alexandra could process everything, 2 years already flew by. As if it was yesterday when she was kidnapped and such. She celebrated her birthdays with the usual ball and she was able to encounter many people and became friends with them but she only kept Amanda and Maribelle close to her.

Although 2 years have already passed, not much has happened to her. It was peaceful as always but her father was busy as usual especially during the first year. It’s because of the kidnapping incident and the negotiation with the other empire which went and resolved peacefully. No war is going to break out because of what happened, thankfully.

The kidnappers were executed publicly though their identities and where they came from kept a secret from the public because if they knew about it, it would create a controversial or a problem since they came from the archenemy of their empire. Her father has to deal with a lot after that, slavery, child trafficking, and such problems that are going on in their empire aside from the drought on the kingdoms of the north. But all of those were solved after several months and the empire was at peace again.

When her other brothers came back at the time where she was just saved from that kidnapping incident, they were furious when they learned about it. Much more furious than Diana, Carlos, her father, and eldest brother. She doesn’t even want to recall that time when Christian scolded her for being careless and reckless. Even Calixander wasn’t spared from Gilbert’s straightforward and blunt mouth when he learned that he was with Alexandra during that time.

[Flashback]

“God, why are you so careless? I understand that you’re a reckless person but to think that you allowed yourself to get kidnapped. You’re always making me worry!” Christian said as he did multiple hand gestures and expressions, standing in front of her. His voice was slightly raised but it wasn’t enough to scare or intimidate her. He was like a worried mother.

“I fought back but they were too powerful.”

“That’s not the point, you could have run!”

“Sorry.”

“How were you kidnapped anyways?” It was Chandler who asked her that, they were in the living room of the palace, spending time with each other as her brothers just arrived a few hours ago and they just ate. Chandler was sitting on the couch in front of her, a table separating the two of them with a few things on top of it. Alexandra glanced at Calixander’s direction who was drinking his afternoon tea before she opened her mouth to speak.

“I went out with Brother Calix during that time, we were with our knights back then, and some sort of commotion happened and I was separated from them. I was wandering around looking for them then boom it happened.”

Gilbert, who was reading, flipped the next page of the book that he was holding before he spoke in a nonchalant tone of voice.

“Good job, dumbass.”

Was what he said. It was clear that he was directing it to Calixander who just calmly drank his cup of tea, prepared for everything that Gilbert would shoot at him.

“You could have thought about what would happen. You even got our little sister kidnapped. She must be traumatized about what happened. Where did ‘the responsibilities as the eldest brother is to protect their young siblings’ went to?” Gilbert spoke calmly as he continued to stare and read his book which is quite amazing.

“Nobody expected that. We didn’t even know about the kidnapping cases going around.”

“You could have taken precautionary measures. You knew that members of the royal family are often getting kidnapped when they go outside.”

“We were in disguise.”

“Dis—”

“Stop or I’ll shoot you with my arrows,” Christian said and they didn’t notice that he already have his bow summoned on his hand, blazing with blue flames and emitting a powerful aura. Even though he was smiling, he looked somehow scary. Are all my brothers like this scary? Alexandra asked herself even though she was as scary as them even when she’s fighting with a weapon, magic, or just words.

“I never knew that nerds could be this scary.”

And an arrow flew straight to Chandler’s direction but he was able to deflect it when he was able to summon his weapon immediately. A short sword. Alexandra’s eyes sparkled when she saw it all happened.

“Wow, that’s cool!”

“Don’t humor them, Alexa.”

[End]

Alexandra though just continued living her life along with Amanda and Maribelle who she would always socialize and send letters with aside from Christian who was in the academy. Gilbert already graduated and was planning on becoming a wizard, he already told their father about it and it took so much time as he was quite reluctant in saying it. That��s why he is taking lessons under one of the Elders who volunteered to do so. It turns out that Gilbert was quite close to him, his name was Albert.

Harrison was the same as always. Running away from his responsibilities and escaping from Arthur who would always be stressed out by him though it was quite unusual that he became close with Gilbert because she would sometimes see them talking with each other. Gilbert isn’t exactly friendly but he gets along with anyone while Harrison somehow prefers people who are like Gilbert and Alexandra.

Alexandra didn’t feel quite lonely in the palace since she already has two of her brothers here who would interact and talk with her every day when they encounter each other like in the dining room. She would send letters to Christian and she would always get one back, it would always be a long one and she would take time to read it.

Well, aside from letters getting delivered to her, there are also some which came from people who are brave enough to do it.

Alexandra entered her room and surveyed her surroundings when she saw all of the things piled on her couches and table along with her desks, she almost cursed out loud.

There were gifts and letters all over her room.

“For the love of God, why don’t they stop?” She said to herself and let out a sigh as she heard the sound of the door close behind her.

She already knew what all of those letters and gifts contain. Several months after she turned 14, these all started to happen. Invitations for her to come and visit their mansion or come to their party or become friends with their children, mainly sons. She already knew what they were after, it was a proposal. A marriage proposal and she only kept on declining them, saying that she’s busy on that day or she got some things to do even though she isn’t.

Well some of them were inviting her to the banquet for their daughter and she still has to ask someone to look through their background and check if they have sons.

But even so, they don’t stop.

Her father couldn’t do anything about it as this was quite normal especially for royalty like her. The only thing that could stop them is to find someone appropriate for her and be engaged to them to which she declined saying that she’s too young for that, and she still wants to go wild and free rather than be tied down because of marriage.

“How persistent are they? I’m sure that even if I declared that I like someone they would still keep on coming. How bold of them,” She said as she went to her bed and climbed on it. She stared at the boxes of gifts placed on her couches and table, trying to guess what might be inside. Jewelry? Dresses? Shoes? Books? Antiquity? Gems?

A sigh slipped past her lips before she let her upper torso fall back to the bed and stared at the ceiling of her room. Exhaustion came over her as she became sleepy and even before she knew it, she fell asleep.