You Think I Won't Talk?-Chapter 38

The servants, who were often witnesses of such distressing scenes, drowned their shrieks as the rules dictated. Otherwise, the next victim would be one of them...if not all.

They fled the room in a muffled panic, leaving the Crown Prince all alone once again. Taking off the fabric, ignoring his servants’ escape, he forced open the huge cage with his bare hands.

A red flame lion, known as one of the most dangerous beasts of the Northern regions, was lying motionless with one of the blades of his sword stuck through its neck. The intricate handle in the middle was slightly sunken on the pierced flesh. If not for its thickness... The two-bladed sword might have broken completely through the beast.

Retrieving the sword, its neck was torn off from the upper side, splashing a big amount of dark blood on his clothes. The two-bladed sword made a loud clanging sound as it fell on the floor after it was thrown when taken out of the dead beast.

Seeing that the thirst persisted, with his own hands, he began tearing the extremities off the body as in a trance. The cracking sound the bones made as they were broken... Was terrifyingly deafening.

When his clothes, dripping from the now heavy sleeves, had become soaked in its blood, dyed with its strong colour, he realised that... this demanding desire was not going to cease with this simple method.

Looking up to the ceiling with weary eyes, he inhaled the thick air surrounding him. The intense smell irritated him further. Frowning, his eyelids shut down and his instincts showed him what could help him with this desperation.

Zeleskiaz looked towards the covered windows.

From under the curtains, the light from the sunset was slipping into the room and he shamelessly took this as permission to follow these instincts. Knowing what he should do for this desperation to dissipate, a truce was put on his inner battle.

Stepping on the blood, squishy sounds were heard on his path to the window. Lifting it, his hand easily slipped through the union where the curtains met and slowly let the dim light enter freely into the bedroom.

With a fierce gaze, his eyes stared intensely in the direction... the West Wing was located.

*******

It had finally come the time to take action.

The day before, the Prince made all the arrangements necessary.

He has never attended the Masquerade, this was his first time doing so. However, it was the perfect setting, not only for him to roam freely, but also, more than anything else... go unnoticed.

He watched his reflection in the mirror, pleased.

"...Perfect."

Expectations began to expand inside him.

The corners of his lips scarcely lifted in a mischievous grin to these sensations.

Murky blue hair and turquoise eyes, both achieved thanks to archaic concoctions, were in contrast to the original ones, truly unfamiliar.

Placing the metallic brooch of intricate design as a fitting accessory on the collar, he put on the white mask which concealed his sculpture-like traits fairly well.

Walking away at a relaxed pace from the mirror, stepping on the hair he had previously cut, The Crown Prince, was now ready to take action.

*******

Zeleskiaz awaited for the Lady’s arrival on an unseen corner at the entrance of the Main Palace.

Watching every guest who stepped in, he would look at the next one immediately with only one glance, knowing the one he was looking for was not them.

His patience was starting to evaporate. He could feel, even though their colour was concealed, how the dim red of his eyes was slowly beginning to widen, taking a more intense colour. The thirst he could barely control was threatening to resurface at any moment.

While he began to breathe carefully to grasp authority over his hunger, he heard the guards welcome a new guest.

Said guest, did not answer their greeting.

Not looking towards the entrance, holding back his expectations, Zeleskiaz listened carefully to the steps of the guest.

An almost absent sound came from those light steps.

He turned his full attention in their direction, completely sure that these quiet steps, belonged to the Lady he was searching for.

From the distance, he saw the loose hair falling on her back like a wide cascade. Her dress was almost ebony, but the silver decorations embellished the fabric invoking a blue shade on it.

His tongue traced the tip of his canine. The beastly thirst was under control, yet, it was clearly still there, awaiting the moment to taste whatever it desired to consume. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

At a safe distance, the Prince followed the Lady’s steps from behind.

Inpatient to look at the clouded expression he met the first night of the Spring Ball, a great urge came over him. This strong desire made him recognise what was that his instincts wanted.

That illusion he saw as they danced... He wanted to see it again.

’... was it truly an illusion...?’

His brows knitted and his eyes flickered with heat as he pondered this, not knowing why it bothered him to the extent of wanting to confirm his suspicion.

After the Lady entered the Ball Room, he let two minutes pass before he came into the full room. As he began to mix between the people trying to find the one Lady, a pair of women approached him. With their lousy high voices, they began to flirt with him, exhibiting their very exposed cleavage.

Seeing that their target was not paying the attention they desired, one of the ignorant women placed her fingertips on the side of his right arm.

If this were a normal situation, that woman would now be taken away and placed into a cage to wait for the Prince’s distinctive emergency call.

However, he shook her off with indifference as he trailed in another direction. Leaving the two women embarrassed from such a harsh rejection behind, Zeleskiaz went towards the place he had caught a glance of his prey a second ago.

As the distance closed, he could finally see the profile of the Lady.

She had taken a glass of wine from a passing servant, drinking it slowly but with big sips. As if she was observing a theatre function, she drank the glass while looking at her surroundings. She tilted her head back to drink the last drop and licked her lips, savouring the taste of the wine as she finished the cup.

To this sight, his breathing became slightly irregular. The fierce red lips evoked a sensation that made him recall when, under the light of a single candle, a great area of her cleavage was exposed and, a round shape... menaced to peek out.

He now wanted a taste of that wine, but... there was some kind of weird idea roaming his mind.

’... it’s a shame to drink from a glass...’

Zeleskiaz was in a trance. Although those were his thoughts, he had no explanation for them. His instincts were the ones who led to such ideas and his current state made him unable to identify what these meant.

He continued to observe her movements with great curiosity.

The Lady took another glass of wine and drank it in the same manner she did with the first one. Staying there, her head moved to observe her proximities for a moment after ending her second glass, and then, began to move with an unknown destination.

As she walked through the area, she grabbed two more glasses of wine.

In amazement, Zeleskiaz let out a low and short chuckle. Her brazen motion as she took a hold of the cups, displaying her evident desire to drink those glasses on her own, was unpredictable and made the thought of her enjoying alcohol such a fascinating aspect of her mysterious being that he couldn’t help but enjoy her actions.

He was following her, but it didn’t feel that way for him. It was more like she was guiding his path to her... as if he was under a tempting spell.

The Lady went to an isolated area and pushed with her forearms the sloppy curtains that gave to a vacant balcony.

He silently got closer. Just like the night he broke out secretly to see her, Zeleskiaz hid behind the curtains and watched over her.

This time, it was him who was inside the building and the Lady on the balcony. Nonetheless, it was him once again who couldn’t take his eyes off of the innocent Lady.

Watching her gulp down the two glasses of wine in an instant, the Crown Prince smirked.

She turned to the railing and placed her hands on it. A breeze emerged and graced her body. The loose hair fluttered with the wind, her sweet and coquette scent mixed with the surrounding air, making its way towards him.

Her stretched figure, pointing to the high brilliant moon that bathed her in its light, was curvy and slim. The sight of her back was strangely glamorous... and sensual.

Zeleskiaz was now struggling to keep his distance. An enormous need to approach her had been accumulating. He desired to see those empty grey eyes, hidden by the delicate mask.

His thirst, stimulated by the sight and scent, seemed to be on the edge.

The deep new turquoise eyes brightened in accordance... when a low dulcet voice sang an unknown piece.