Indecent Folks

We visited a farm in Vycath where we saw the Ireth Palace from a distance. The carriage stopped at the stables beside the wheat field, so a farmer came to us and bowed his head. "I heard about your visit, Your Highness. Welcome to our farm." "My pleasure." The prince got off the carriage, so we followed him around as he spoke to the farmer. They talked about the agricultural state of Ireth and how much had improved when the queen ascended the throne. "Were they trained to speak like that?” Rougan whispered to me, who must be referring to the farmer.

I glared at him. "Of course not."

"I'm just messing with you." He smiled while I frowned.

Instead of losing my composure, I turned to the stables when the farmer has led Prince Gerald to the west of the farm. "The rest of horses were taken for examination by the village vet, but we had two healthy horses here, Angelo and June. They just finished their checkup this morning," said the farmer.

"Well, there's three of us. Are there no more horses around?" the crown prince asked.

"It's okay, Your Royal Highness. The wind is my friend. So I won't sweat even if I walk." "She'll ride with me, Your Majesty,” Rougan said in a monotonous manner.

I shot a look at him and shook my head. "No way."

"You will," he insisted before turning to the crown prince and smiled. "Shall we?"

The wind is my friend, but it wasn't helping now that I shivered from the chill. I watched the prince straddle the black horse while Rougan stood beside the brown one in front of me, a playful smile forming on his lips.

I grabbed the reins and sat astride the horse, but he must have felt my irritation, prompting him to neigh and take a few steps forwards. I quickly rested my hands onto his neck to calm him down, but Rougan's hand landed on mine, intending to do the same. He promptly took his hand off and raised it in the air. "Accident," he defended. I rolled my eyes and moved a little forward so he could have space behind me. He grabbed the reins too and hopped onto the horse. His wide arms rubbed against my hips as I felt his chest on my back. Suddenly, the wind no longer felt cold as beads of sweat started forming on my neck. I gasped when I felt his breathing on my ear, so I turned a little to my left. "You smell good,” he whispered.

I ignored him and gazed at the prince, who started signalling the horse to walk, so Rougan drew the horse alongside him while the knights still followed us. I was glad that my vest covered my entire chest, so he won't see me breathing heavily.

"I heard the queen was planning to subsidize rice production for a year to see if it's sustainable," the crown prince said, snapping me back to reality.

"For the common people in the South, yes. The Minister of Agriculture were already in talks with other kingdoms to seek affordable and good quality of seeds." I could answer eloquently, but my mind stuck on Rougan's arm and chest all over

me.

"If it's not sustainable, what happens then?" Rougan asked.

"It won't be that bad because the kingdom doesn't lack agricultural assets. It's just that the monarchy used to hoard almost all the resources. Her Majesty is doing her best to distribute everything since it's the property and hard work of the people, anyway."

"Ireth is full of nice and industrious people. So it deserves the best service," said the prince.

"Indeed," I agreed.

I'm trying to work here, but Rougan's breathing on my neck kept distracting me. Why did I even agree to this? This is absurd. I tapped Rougan's arm to get this attention without looking at him. "I'm walking. My back hurts." I have no plan of asking for permission, so I shoved his left arm and hopped off the horse.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I walked in front of the horses. I don't trust what I'd feel if I stayed between Rougan's arms any longer. It's been a while since I felt this thing, and it didn't end well. I had to stop this as early as I can. A farmer came to us and handed me a plate of biscuits. "For His Highness," he whispered. I smiled at him and tapped his shoulder to thank him. I picked a piece of biscuit and tasted it before turning to the prince and offered him. "No poison." The crown prince chuckled and leaned forward to get one. I walked up to a cabin and placed the plate in the patio before sprinting towards the horses to keep up. The crown prince stared at a mountain to my right, so I turned to it and crossed my arms. "That's the famous Beccar Mountain. Where the founding fathers of this kingdom built the first Ireth Palace." I pointed at the field on the mountain's summit, where the ruins of the old palace stood. "That one." They got busy staring at the mountain, so I stopped walking and turned around to block their way while I waved my fingers to stop the horses. They turned to me when the horses halted and looked at the barricade made of wooden spears just steps away behind me.

"What about that place?" the prince asked as he looked past the five-foot-tall barricade. It's only an acre of a wheat field and a small forest beside the ocean.

"That area is limited only to one person," I said. They looked at me in confusion, so I smiled at them and hid my arms around me. "Well, brace yourselves for a not so good story. A bandit resides in the forest, a royal one. He was Prince Benedict, the cousin of the late King Alfred I. He should be around 78 years old already."

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"What happened to him?"

"When Her Majesty's brother stole the throne, Prince Benedict kind of exiled himself and stayed here. He doesn't allow anyone to get past this field, so the residents here made this barricade to prevent the kids or some hardheaded teenagers from entering that forest. I heard stories that some curious non-natives tried finding him, but they never came back."

Right after I said my last words, I heard a familiar noise from a distance, so I turned to the barricade a found an arrow shot from the forest. "Fall back!" I yelled.

The horses neighed in unison as I took a few steps behind. "Dani!" Rougan called me, but I stared at the arrow. It was shot too high to reach us. We're not the target. "Dani, come here!"

The arrow landed somewhere on the back of the barricade, and the very land where I stood exploded along with a loud blast. I was hurled by the impact, but before my body hit the ground, I clenched my fist and raised my arm to pull a dome

over us.

A growl escaped my lips when my head hit the ground while the woods from the barricade dropped on me. The horses neighed too loud, so I turned in their direction and grabbed the soil to calm them down. My head throbbed as I caught some figures running towards me. They stared at my body, and that's when I felt the stake plunged into my gut. My body trembled in pain as every vein inside me prickled like hell.

"Dani! Dani. Hey," Rougan helped me sit as I rested my head on his arm. Then he turned behind him and yelled, "See if anyone can get past the dome and call for help! Your Highness, stay here." "What does this do?"

"Protection," Rougan mumbled.

I coughed in pain, and a thick liquid with a familiar taste dripped on the side of my mouth. "No, no, Dani. Help is coming. Hold on." He turned behind him again. "Call a doctor!" He slid his arm under the back of my knees. "There's a cabin nearby. I'll carry you there, alright?"

I waved my fingers, and we watched the dome turn into a 30-feet defensive wall extending from each side of the wheat field before nodding at him. He carried me into a cabin while I tried to look for the crown prince. The knights surrounded him as he stood by the door. "How is she? The stake was deep," he asked.

Rougan held my cheek as he turned to the door. "Take His Majesty to the palace. They told me beforehand that they prepared a room for us." Indistinctive conversations filled the place until I heard the horses run away. "Help is coming, Dani. Just hold on," Rougan whispered.

My gut twinged, and I could no longer breathe properly, prompting me to cough blood. Rougan began to panic, so he held onto the stake, ready to pull it out. "You're losing too much blood. I will heal you-"

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I grabbed his wrist to stop him and shook my head. "I don't want your blood." His jaw dropped as he stared at me in disbelief. "I'm too injured to survive, Rougan. If I die with your blood in my system, I will turn. I don't want to be a vampire," I said. He couldn't finish a blink while he looked at me in pain. "So promise me that...you won't turn me. You will give me this choice."

He pursed his lips as he forced himself to nod. "God, Dani. I just got you back. I can't you lose you again." He caressed his cheek against my forehead as I tried my best to breathe. "I just got you back. Please keep fighting. I promise I won't turn you. Just keep fighting."

Tears trickled down my cheeks while the rain started pouring. "The prince will most likely reject the offer now, don't you think?"

He furrowed his brows as he glanced at the stake in my gut. "I don't think we should still be thinking about that."

"I messed up."

"You protected the prince and the rest of us in an instant. That's more than any Defence Minister could do." Every vein in my body felt like snapping as I breathed, so I held onto his arm. "Just wait a little longer, baby," he whispered. The rain sounded nice in my ears, and I suddenly remembered what Grace told me before. She, too, had come to the point that she almost died. She said that when your surroundings started to sound peaceful, you could already let go. My grip onto Rougan's arm loosened as my strength started wearing off.

"Dani?" he gently tapped onto my cheek, so I looked into his eyes. "Please hold on. Don't scare me like this. Please." His lips were shaking, and tears filled his eyes. "Come on now. Don't cry for me," I forced to speak.

He pursed his lips as he wiped his cheek with the back of his hand, staining his face with my blood. "You could say that I'm still under your hex, and I'm not going to be mad," he said, breathing heavily. "I love being in love with you." Tears trickled down my cheeks, and I could no longer breathe enough air, so I laid my head on his chest. "Dani..." he called. "No, wait...Wait, please. God, no." His pleading blended along with the sound of the rain, and I felt that familiar pain again. The kind that transcends the physical aching of my body, something that shatters my soul.