Aleksander continued to wash his vest off of the blood that had stained them. Thankfully, they hadn’t dried off yet. It was relatively easier to clean blood when it was fresh.
The vampire prince’s stomach began to grumble – he was turning hungry with the scent of blood wafting inside the small underground cave. Now that the thought of feeding crossed his mind, he was reminded he didn’t really drink any blood for the past four hours.
Prince Aleksander’s thoughts wandered until his eyes landed on Elys. She was still sitting at the edge of the pool, a sort of blank look on her face.
She still hadn’t washed. Her dress was full of blood splatters, and her sleeves were tattered. She had a big wound in her right shoulder, but she looked as if it was nothing.
Aleksander approached Elys slowly. She was so out of herself that she didn’t even realize he had come up to sit beside her.
"Aren’t you going to take a dip and clean yourself from all the blood?" Aleksander asked.
"I will in a short while," came Elys’ curt reply.
The princess glanced at Henry and Cordelia. They were watching her and Aleksander from afar, waiting for their next instructions. It looked like they had already finished cleaning what was needed to be cleaned with themselves.
There was an awkward silence that filled the space between them. Aleksander was becoming more self-aware since he had recovered from the spell his father’s letter to Queen Euphemia was broken.
Come to think of it, how did it even dispel itself? He knew that losing consciousness wasn’t going to be enough to stop his father’s magic. Elysianne had said they had fought which was the reason why she had several notable injuries – was she the reason he was back to normal?
’Speaking of broken things, how did the magic inhibiting bracelet come off my wrist?’ Aleksander asked himself as he stared at his bare wrist.
The prince glanced at Elys who had her eyes cast down at the water – what was she thinking?
Aleksander gathered up all the niceness he could muster and asked as politely as he could, "I guess it isn’t the right time to ask again why you have magic and why you healed me then?"
Elysianne eyes glanced at him, her whole body and head keeping still. She didn’t respond for several seconds after he asked, but then her eyes returned to the water and she replied with a small voice.
"I will tell you what you need to know if you would treat me better from now on," Elys said.
The prince was confused with her mellow energy. More often than not, she would have lashed out or reacted negatively at him when he pried too much for her comfort.
Aleksander tilted his head and asked, "You changed..."
Elys raised her head and turned to him. Her eyebrow shot up in an elegant arch and she scoffed as if a bit offended by what Aleksander said.
"I changed when I was forcefully captured and enslaved by your kingdom, your highness," Elys said, a bitter tone to her voice rising.
Aleksander listened to her without saying a word. He wanted the slave princess to open up to him voluntarily, as when he had pushed her and forced a vision on her, she didn’t take it well and his plan only retaliated.
"Then tell me how you came to be here, wife. Who are you really, Elysianne?" Aleksander asked. "Why do you hate the vampires that much? What happened to you and what can I do to treat you better?"
The princess was taken aback by the words Aleksander spoken. She didn’t expect him to be considerate enough to ask her without being demanding or even condescending.
He had always been a man full of pride. Prince Aleksander Ardorlean, despite the fact that he was a bastard, lived to convince people that he was as much as royalty as the rest of his relatives living in the castle and nearby estates.
Elys clutched her skirt, gathering a fistful of fabric in her hands as she tried to contain the anger that slowly rose to the surface.
"I hate the vampires," Elys hissed as she mentioned the bastard prince’s species. "I hate the fact that they are so strong and inherently more powerful in terms of magical capabilities. I hate it that they can do as they want without considering the choices of others – to be bold enough to think they are superior just because they are powerful."
The princess’ eyes were teary. Her brows were tightly knit together in a bridge of fiery hatred. She had been containing her emotions for a very long time that somehow, in the midst of another invasion of a peaceful kingdom, her trauma of the past was triggered.
Aleksander was oblivious to this, to which was the reason why he had asked for her to explain herself. If he had the capability to read her mind then he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to extract an answer from her.
"The Western Kingdom had only recently been expanding as suggested by my half-brother," Aleksander explained. "He wanted to create a legacy of his own before he ascended the throne, to which my father was only too unhinged to stop – heck, he even encouraged that bastard."
"And what about slavery? Why do you take away people forcefully?" Elys asked him, her hands shaking and ready to grab him by his collar should he say anything absolutely absurd.
"Slavery has been how the continent worked since time immemorial, wife," Aleksander reminded his wife, "even the other kingdoms are using slavery as a means to build their land."
"That’s just bullshit!" Elys spat. "Slavery will never be ethically and morally right. People have a choice – they are free people! No amount of gold could ever compensate for the sacrifices they make."
Suddenly, Elys grabbed Aleksander by his collar and pushed him to the ground, making Aleksander suck in a breath as he didn’t see her attack coming.