The Crown's Entrapment

Xenia didn’t comment. Though, she was trying to suppress herself from uttering a single word so as to not make a mistake like last time.

In the end, she just followed behind Darius as he continued walking. She could only assume that he was looking for a good spot for them to rest.

A few moments later, the King suddenly hovered around a particular spot. Xenia watched him put down his cape as he said, “Come here and rest for a while. I’ll stand watch for the time being.”

“But I thought we’ll be traveling nonstop?” Xenia questioned with a quirked brow.

The King’s actions were utterly confusing at the moment, and that wasn’t to mention how she still could get over his so-called wolf-licking habit alibi of his!

“I’m waiting for a friend to return our swords to us,” Darius explained as he leaned his back on the nearest large tree. “In the meantime, take a rest while we wait.”

Shrugging, Xenia didn’t bother debating and just sat beside the King. After a while, she also leaned her back onto the tree trunk and made herself comfortable.

A silence settled between them. However, it seemed as if it was too much for one of the two of them to handle.

“Why shouldn’t we travel in your Wolf-Man form?” Xenia chirped, no longer being able to take the silence. “You’re stronger that way, right?”

“Aren’t you scared seeing that hideous form?” Darius asked.

Xenia sighed, “You licking my face early is scarier than seeing your Wolf-man form, my King.”

Darius chuckled at her words. “Well, you’ll get used to it eventually, Xen.”

“What?!” Xenia’s eyes burst in disbelief. Was she hearing him correctly? Did he really mean that he’d be constantly licking her face?!

‘Is he serious?’

Skeptically, she turned to him with a sharp gaze. This time, however, she was unable to get a proper look at his face properly because of the darkness.

“Just rest, Xen, before I change my mind and make you travel nonstop without sleep,” Darius whispered in her ear, sending a run of shivers traveling down her spine.

Xenia blinked. For some reason, she felt like the King was tormenting her through other means other than his usual tactics.

‘Was he trying to punish me?!’ she inwardly retorted.

Xenia distracted herself by eating some berries while staring at the night sky. However, with a myriad of thoughts still lingering in her head due to the King’s strange actions, Xenia found herself becoming restless enough that she kept on sighing in the dark.

“What is it?” Darius asked, having noticed the way she was nervously fidgeting.

Hearing him, Xenia couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

‘How could he ask me the obvious? Didn’t he know that I still can’t get over him licking my face!?’

Resisting the urge to shake her head, she was about to answer when a chilling sensation suddenly surged all over her body. It was as if something icy and cold to the touch traveled all throughout her veins. Her head began to spin, and a numbing buzz began spreading all over her body.

“Something’s wrong with my body,” Xenia weakly whispered as she tried to stand up, only to fail as she ended up falling on her feet.

It was a good thing that Darius was quite fast in catching her in the dark. His eyes were still as sharp in the dark, unlike humans like her whose vision was already failing her.

Catching her as she fell, Darius quickly noted something alarming in her system as he exclaimed, “You’re so cold!” Wrapping his arms around Xenia’s body, he instinctively smelled her breath. Immediately, he gritted his teeth as he whispered, “You’re poisoned…”

Moving quickly, he checked the bundle of the fruits Xenia had cobbled together and smelled them. Almost in an instant, the King glared at the source of the offending smell. Grabbing the small round purple fruit, he brought them up to his nose and gave them a cursory whiff.

“You…” Darius’s face dimmed as he sussed out the source of the problem. “How could you not differentiate poisonous fruits from real ones?!”

It was a rookie mistake. They looked like blueberries at a glance, but it seemed she actually picked poison berries that inevitably got her sick.

Grunting, Darius gently laid Xenia on the ground, his arms still wrapped around her body to help her feel warm despite her freezing body.

Adjusting himself a bit, the King then bit on his wrist, letting his blood flow out and drip into Xenia’s mouth.

“Drink. My blood will remove the toxins from your body,” he casually whispered into her ear. “You’ll be fine tomorrow morning.”

Xenia did as she was told. She was still feeling weak, but she was now conscious enough to be aware of how Darius had his arms wrapped around her body. His warmth permeated her, somehow giving comfort to her cold body.

Despite his efforts, however, she still felt like it was already winter; her body felt like it was left outside to freeze to death.

She weakly chuckled at her situation, and Darius probably heard it as he scolded her. “How can you even laugh while you’re like this, Xen?! If I wasn’t with you, you’d already be dead by sunrise!”

He then reeled himself in as he sighed, “Ah… I would’ve scolded you nonstop for this carelessness, but there’s no point in doing so at this point. Just rest and save your strength. The hallucinations will come soon, and may the Almighty help me through with dealing with you while you’re losing it…”

Hearing his ominous warning, Xenia couldn’t help but let out another soft chuckle as she breathed out, “Why are you even asking the Almighty yourself when you just said it yourself that your blood will heal me?”

She then let out a self-deprecating laugh, “It’s a good thing that those fruits are small, my King. I didn’t bother giving you one while we’re riding. Ah, but those berries did taste heavenly though… ”

“They might taste heavenly, but they’re also deadly,” Darius condescendingly sighed. “Dammit, Xen… I just hope you won’t torture me too much…”

The King really didn’t want to go through what was to come. Knowing that those berries were also known to contain a potent aphrodisiac, he just knew that something unamusing was about to happen.