Ch. 90 – I’m not the man you think I am!
[How do I say this....I just got home from my first day of school as a college IT freshman and it was an interesting day to say the least.
There were strict teachers and some are not. I also just made two new friends by the end of the third class.
Anyways what I'm trying to say is that my schedule was once again overloaded, much more overloaded than my Senior High School student days, which means if I somehow didn't managed to publish a chapter, It means either I'm buried by school works as projects or I got home, forgot to write and slept like a log. That's all, xiao!]
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"Leo!" Grabbing the hem of her skirt, Elsa ran outside at full speed, ignoring the shouts and yells from the Knights.
Leo, who was jogging alongside the horse, heard his name being called out by Elsa and braced himself to receive a hug.
*Thud!*
As he expected, a white fur-ball crashed against his chest, taking a small puff of air from his lungs.
"I got worried!"
Beside them, Iduna who was watching their interaction, slightly glanced towards her youngest daughter and saw the small envy flashing in her eyes.
Holding her hand, Anna seemed to have waken up from her trance and smiled weakly towards her mother.
"Anna I-..." Once she's done with Leo, Elsa transferred her attention to Anna, remembering the look on her face after what she did, she stuttered.
"Elsa....I forgive you." Sensing her sister's troubled emotion, Anna mustered up a smile as she reached out to Elsa to touch her hand.
Squeezing it tightly, Elsa's lips quivered. Although she felt something else in Anna's words, at least she could feel that Anna is indeed forgiving her.
"I'm so sorry, Anna. I-I never meant to do it." Finally, tears starting to stream down from her eyes as she broke down.
Anna quickly dropped down from the horse's saddle to hug her sister, engulfing her in her arms.
"Shh...it's okay now. Dad is fine and we lost nothing." Anna patted Elsa's back as she allowed him to cry on her shoulder.
"...Anna. Your hair?!" Elsa suddenly noticed Anna's hair that has a few tinges of white strips. She knew what this meant. The curse that she accidentally placed on her when they used to be children.
"This...."
"No no. We need to get to the trolls. They can help it and-."
"We already went there, Elsa. Grand Pabbie said, the solution he did a few years back can't be repeated anymore."
"No. No. No. This can't be! M-Maybe I can do something like reverse it or- or-." Elsa started to stutter, who wouldn't be, knowing that your sister is slowly dying due to the curse that was never meant to be.
"Elsa, calm down. Although Grand Pabbie can't use the same solution as he did, he proposed another one." Watching Elsa panicking slightly made Anna a bit guilty, so she quickly told her the other side of the story.
What happened next was simply Elsa monotonously looking at Anna, the previous saddened expression nowhere to be seen.
"You should've started with that, don't you think?"
"Sorry..." Anna muttered, her voice sounding like a mosquito.
"It's a very long story, Elsa we should get inside. I'll tell you everything afterwards." Iduna patted Elsa's shoulder and said.
"I don't think I'll be able to join you guys. So you guys go first and I'll catch up later." Leo slowly stepped back as he said.
"What? Why?" Elsa confusedly said.
"Let's just say, I have a rat to kill." Leo smirked as his eyes then darted towards the new Quest in front of him.
[• Quest Title: The Hunter and the Prey
Main Quests: The Main perpetrator of the chaos that happened managed to escape! Hunt him down and show him that for every action, there's a reaction!
Reward: Fame, 5,000 Reputation Points!]
***
"Huff! Huff! That crazy duke! He didn't tell us about the Queen being capable of sorcery! My entire men are destroyed and now, because of that, I'm all alone!" Still running without looking back, Argon doesn't know how much kilometer he has already covered, all he knows is that he's been running nonstop for 5 hours straight!
He's even ignoring the painful burning feeling on his legs that has been screaming at him to stop and take a rest.
However, remembering the faces of his fellow bandits being pierced by those large icicles, a renewed sense of vigor flowed over him, activating his adrenaline, making him capable of running nonstop at full speeds.
Just as Argon thought he was already safe and no one would be able to catch up to him considering how far he had gotten, he heard a rustling of leaves and small branches around him.
As if he's not alone.
"Who goes there?" Taking out his colt gun, Argon stopped in his tracks and pointed the gun all around him in a circle.
His body rotates as quickly as he can, as if he's afraid that a single second of exposing his back would become his demise.
*Fwooosh!*
Feeling a chilling wind lick his back, Argon quickly turned just to see nothing but falling leaves.
"Huff. Huff....Am I hallucinating?" Argon muttered to himself confusedly, thinking that his exhaustion is finally taking over his body, hence giving him hallucinations.
"It must be it. I'm just tired." Argon hoarsely chuckled to himself as he slowly lowered his colt gun.
However, that would prove to be his biggest mistake as suddenly, he felt a searing pain on his right hand, that holds his colt gun.
Shivering, Argon slowly looked down only to see his already severed hand that was still clutching the colt gun lying on the ground.
That's when the pain finally registered him as he screamed his lungs out. Falling down on the ground to his knees, using his free hand to try to stop his severed wrist from bleeding.
"ARRRGHHHH!"
*FWOOOSH!*
Feeling the familiar wind licking him once again, this time Argon was sure that he wasn't hallucinating anymore. Instead, he's indeed not alone and someone is attacking him!
With his life being on the line, Argon grunted in pain. His remaining hand took the colt gun from his severed hand and started firing everywhere.
*Bang!* x6
*Clack!* x3
Running out of ammo, Argon breathes heavily as his eyes dart all around, trying to discern his current situation.
'I can make a run for that tree. As long as I can climb to the top, I can get a better sense of view all around me.' Argon muttered under his breath upon laying his eyes on a very tall tree, a few meters away from his left.
With the plan in mind, Argon felt his energy going back to him, as if the world had given him a chance to live, to escape the predator that is preying on him!
Argon ran as fast as he could, as far as his legs could, his vision slowly inching towards his destination. The tall tree.
A smile adjourned his face when he's finally in the perimeter of the tall tree.
Stretching his hand, as soon as his palm touched the trunk of the tree, something unexpected happened.
*Slash!*
A red thin line appeared on his left wrist, much to Argon's disbelief.
And soon, the pain finally came to him as his left hand fell down to the ground, followed by a shower of blood that came out of his severed wrist.
"GAAAGGHH!"
Left with no hands, Argon's face despair, he can no longer climb the tree nor can he fight back.
It's over.
"How fickle for someone called a Bandit King." A mysterious voice was heard behind him.
Argon wanted to look back however as if the voice didn't want him to look, a force was preventing him from moving his neck, like a hand was gripping his neck.
"K-Kurrkk..." Argon's eyes start to turn red courtesy of trying to turn his head to look at the source of the voice.
"A dead man shall not have the right to see my face." Argon heard.
"Mercy...." Argon cried out. He could feel all of his 0limbs being gripped so tight to the point that his ears could hear his blood vessels starts to pop.
"No mercy." The voice pressed. Soon, the grip on all his limbs starts to tighten more, making him feel the worst pain in his entire life.
"Gaaaggghh!" Argon could only scream to the top of his lungs before finally feeling all of his strength leaving his body. The last thing he saw was the face of a man in a red mask looking menacingly down at him.
"See you in hell." Was the last words he heard before darkness overwhelms his vision.
***
At the same time as Argon was being hunted like a pig by Leo. Iduna, Anna and Elsa were having their talk in the bedroom, where for every word that came out of Iduna's mouth, the more shocked and surprised Elsa is.
"I'm sorry, sister." Anna looked down on the ground as she could feel Elsa's stare on her, she felt as if her womanhood was being judged by her very own sister. The truth about her having feelings for Leo was finally revealed to Elsa. Now, all that's left is waiting for her reaction.
"Anna...." Elsa muttered, her eyes bearing complicated emotions towards Anna. She wanted to be angry at her for having the same feelings for the same man, however she knew she doesn't have the right as Leo doesn't even know her feelings for him.
So in this kind of situation, Anna is not in the wrong here, neither is she.
Maybe it's Leo's fault?
'That's right, who told him to charm not only me but also my sister!' Elsa silently pouted in her mind, quickly putting the blame to Leo for being such a charming person.
"Anna, I don't own Leo. We're not married so whatever you're feeling for him, It's not my business."
"But you like him!"
"I do, but.....I don't know if he likes me back...." Elsa looked saddened as she spoke, however she wasn't expecting a voice to suddenly respond to her.
"I like you, Elsa. But I'm not the man you think I am."
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[Next Chapter: Ch. 91 - A Queen and a Princess's kiss]