Princess of the Silver Ocean - Chapter 39

Clearly, it was, judging from her happy and pleased expression. He smiled when she nodded, and they ate in complete silence. The silence felt rather comforting and not awkward. A part of her felt happy that she now had an ally who would stand beside her and take down the Dark Lord. Knowing that made her extremely content.

Once they were done eating, the servant arrived, took away the empty dishes, and left. The fox prince stretched his hands, placed them on the table, and steepled his fingers. He was deep in thought as he was busy strategizing how he would deal with Saxhish tomorrow.

Astoria watched him furrow his eyebrows while occasionally pressing his lips together. She did not want to disturb him, so she just watched him silently. He rubbed his eyes and stood up. He held his hand out for her to take. She placed her hand in his, and his face lit up. He helped her get up from the floor.

“You should go and sleep,” he said, placing his hands on her shoulders and ushering her towards the bed.

She walked to the bed and sat down. He walked towards the door and opened it, ready to leave.

“Where are you going?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The dungeon,” he replied, “I need to decide which prisoner to use as bait.”

“Dungeon?” she asked, staring at him with wide eyes.

To her, there was no way she was going to miss the opportunity of seeing a dungeon. She was definitely going to go with him. He nodded and opened the door. As he was about to step out, she stopped him.

“Wait!” she exclaimed, standing up and running to his side.

He saw that she had a glint of excitement in her cobalt eyes. It really shocked him, and he found her more attractive, yet again.

“I’m coming with you,” he heard her say.

“What? Why?”

He stared at her in disbelief.

“I’ve never seen a dungeon before,” she replied, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

“I don’t think a dungeon is something you should be excited to see,” he told her, frowning.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she said, “I won’t be scared or anything like that. I’m coming with you.”

With that, she stepped out and stood outside, waiting for him. She was excited to see a dungeon. She had always read about them in fantasy books. To see a real-life dungeon would be so awesome. He walked out and closed the door.

“Fine,” he said, “you may come with me.”

“Yes!” she exclaimed, clenching her hands above her head.

“But,” he said, emphasizing the word, “if at any point you start feeling uncomfortable, let me know.”

She vigorously nodded, and he sighed. He led the way, and she followed suit. The dungeon was behind the palace. A little broken statue marked the entrance to this dungeon. Beyond the broken statue was a narrow, crumbling room. It was covered in bat droppings and rubble.

“Ew,” she said, completely disgusted, “Can’t you do something about these bat droppings and rubble?”

She crinkled her nose and then covered it. The smell was appalling.

“A dungeon isn’t exactly supposed to look or feel like paradise, princess,” he said, laughing softly.

Their torches allowed them to see remnants of what once must have been a mess hall of sorts, pillaged and wrecked by time itself. Further ahead were two paths, but the right was a dead end. Its twisted trail led past long rooms and tombs and a damp area. There was an altar in the center of the damp room. It was covered in what appeared to be runes, some of which were glowing.

‘What happens in this place?’ she wondered, staring at the altar as they passed it.

They slowly marched onwards, deeper into the dungeon’s darkness, passing dozens of similar rooms and passages. She was told that most of the paths led to nowhere or back to this same path in the event of prisoners escaping or enemies trying to enter the dungeon for reasons which would cause trouble.

It made sense that this dungeon had so many paths. They eventually made it to what was likely the entrance to where all the prisoners were kept. It had a massive metal door. Strange writing was all over it, somehow untouched by time and the elements. She stepped closer to inspect it and.. wait.. suddenly the metal door slowly opened on its own.

She squealed, jumping back in surprise, her mouth wide open. Yashiro threw his head back, shaking with laughter at her tiny jump and reaction. She covered her face with her hands, totally embarrassed. She could not help but be taken aback when the door had started opening on its own.

“Don’t worry,” Yashiro said, winking at her, “I opened the door. Let’s go.”

She internally facepalmed and followed him. The inside of the dungeon was lit by floating orange flames, giving it a big contrast from how dark the outside was. There were a variety of prisoners locked behind massive red prison bars. These were bars totally different from the ones she had seen. These bars had metal thorns coming out of them.

“Wow,” was all she could utter as she stared in fascination.

Yashiro began to walk up the giant stairs that led to the roof of the dungeon.

“Stay close to me,” he told her, suddenly reaching out his hand and entwining it with hers.

She said nothing, and they walked side by side. Suddenly, the prisoners began to whisper among themselves and catcalled. Clearly, they were excited at seeing the sight of a beautiful woman.

“She’s so beautiful.”

“I want her.”

“Wow, who is she?”

“Is that his wife?”

The prisoners began speaking and asking questions, some walking towards the prison bars to take a closer look. Some even tried to reach out their hands to touch her, thus hurting themselves in the process. The thorns pierced them and, while some shrieked in pain at the incident, others paid no attention to the blood oozing out of their skin.

“Hey, annoempra,” one prisoner flirted.

She stared at the creature. It was a male Nephilim, a creature that was large and strong. Basically, a giant like the one in Jack and the Beanstalk, except smaller in size.

“Why don’t you get in here,” it continued in a flirtatious tone, “and let my hands work your body?”

She stopped in the step which was close to another prisoner and stared at the fox prince.

“What is an annoempra?” she asked him, tilting her head to the side.

Curiosity was written on her face. He was reluctant to answer that as he knew it was a swear word equivalent to’ b*tch’ or ‘wh*re.’ However, seeing her expression showed him that she would not take another step until she knew. He sighed and, looking away, told her.

“Oh, I see,” she replied, pressing her lips together.

This was why he did not want her to come with him into the dungeon. These prisoners were vile creatures who were not right in the head. Seeing such creatures would be sure to traumatise or scare any princess. He wanted to take her back to the palace, but before he could tell her, he paused.

He noticed she had walked down one step and stood where the Nephilim prisoner was. He also noticed that Nexi had no fear whatsoever written on her face. No fear was evident on her body either. He was astonished and certainly shocked.

“Hey!” he heard her yell at the prisoner.

“Unless you want those big hands of yours to be bent, burned, or your arm dripping blood onto the floor,” she said, lowering her eyebrows, “you better watch your mouth.”

The other nearby prisoners who heard her were astonished by her words, some even gasped loudly. They began whispering about how brave she was and scary too.

“And that also goes for the rest of y’all! I will f*cking break your necks with my bare hands if I hear you call me such a derogatory name or even flirt with me!” she yelled as loudly as possible.

With that, all the prisoners went silent, shocked by her words. They were in complete disbelief of how fearless she and how, as a princess, she was not afraid to sound and speak in such a vulgar manner. Yashiro stood two stairs above her and watched in disbelief as she walked towards him and stood by his side once again. He gawked at her, mouth wide open.

“What?” she asked when she saw his expression of disbelief and shock.

“I did not expect you to be so…” he paused, trying to find the perfect word to describe her.

“Fearless? Bold? A bit vulgar?” she suggested, finishing his sentence.

He nodded, and she smiled enigmatically.

“Let’s just say I have dealt with my fair share of prisoners like him, so this,” she pointed all around the dungeon and then looked at him, “is nothing to me. These prisoners don’t scare me.”

Patting his shoulder, she began walking ahead, leaving him to watch her disappearing figure. He smiled and ran up to her.. They walked side by side once again, heading for the prisoner the fox prince knew would be the perfect bait for Saxhish.