To His Hell and Back-Chapter 275: Weapon to Kill-II

Donna eyed Isabelle from the side and then clicked her tongue.

"Why does men always comes so late for safety?" she had meant to whisper her words but Erthand who had sat in front of her, riding the horse was quick to listen it.

"Do you have to blame men?" he inquired.

"What?" Donna frowned, "Are you one of those who believe that men is always on the right?"

Scoffing, Erthand shook his head while keeping his sight on the road, racing inside the deep part of the forest was worse as the trees were more unpredictable without a proper path made for horses to gallop in it.

"I believe that men are mostly the cause for some problem, but not all," Erthand answered, "If you continue to believe that all men are equally terrible, I fear that you would turn to the princess."

Donna’s eyebrows were raised, "Your princess doesn’t like men?"

"She despises them," answered Erthand. "All her servants and guards were women back then, well that was until the King decided that it was a bad idea."

"Bad idea..." Donna’s heart thump as if something in her heart had realized things faster before her own head. "Wh-"

"But if you are questioning why the Crown Prince still hasn’t came back, it’s not because he didn’t want to come back," Erthand filled her in, but in a way he sounded as though he realized he had misspoke and crossed the boundary of a retainer by spilling out the princess’s secret when he wasn’t supposed to.

He recalled the other day when Isabelle had visited the King.

"Accidentally" that is.

"Why?" Donna frowned again, hitting Erthand’s shoulder when he failed to answer as quickly as before, "What do you mean by that hm?"

He sighed, loud enough for her to hear.

"The King found a location where sorcerers seemed to have hid themselves in," Erthand continued, "He then declared that the Crown Prince could only step into the castle if he could bring the head of the said sorcerer."

"Now? NOW? At this timing?" Donna looked away to the forest’s floor, suddenly wondering why the timing had been so bad? It sounded as though someone had made sure that Cassius cannot come home now.

Erthand reeled his head in silence, recalling how his Princess had met the King last night and how she had told to the King of the sorcerers’s secret hiding place, telling him that the problem should be solved quickly if the Crown Prince could come with the sorcerers’s head as it was embarrassing if he couldn’t.

It didn’t help that the Queen only stirred the boiling pot even more by telling the King that since Cassius had failed last time, if he had failed this time around a punishment should be served, one where his position as the crown prince- as well as- Arabella’s life would be on the line.

Hearing that, Isabelle had smiled.

She didn’t find Queen Morgana to be her ally but at times like this, Isabelle didn’t mind leaving the Queen alive.

Donna shook her head, "But regardless of that he would come here right? Just drop that damned mission! Isn’t Bella’s life more important than his position as the Crown Prince?"

Erthand didn’t answer and when Donna was about to hit him again, she noticed how Erthand’s head had turned to the left and following that, Donna saw Arabella’s face staring back at her with a stunned look, as if all her features had been cursed to turn into an ice.

"You don’t seem to understand, Miss Donna," the one who spoke wasn’t Erthand but Isabelle. She had rode the horse closer toward Erthand when her servant spoke about Cassius as if on purpose, and had waited for Donna to yell such word, as though she had predicted it. "To the crown prince, the throne is important, even more important than his own life."

Donna saw Arabella’s face and the pain that had appeared which made her to turn away, wordless.

How could no one not be hurt when the trust they had given to someone be taken away?

Arabella looked down as she muttered, "I know he cares for the throne," and she cares for him... that’s why she could understand it but..

but...

But...

Cassius loves her does he not?

He told her the throne was far less important than her.

"If it was the man I love who puts me in danger and leaves me behind," Isabelle whispered, "I would doubt the sincerity behind his love. If it was me, I would never make the one I love to be prioritized after my ambition."

"Cassius is different.." muttered Arabella weakly, "And the throne... he had sacrificed far too much for it for him to simply toss it aside."

"Oh, really?" Isabelle whispered, her smile curling into something sharper. "Even knowing that by the time he returns, you might already be carved to pieces?" She tilted her head, voice dipping with cruel amusement. "Or perhaps it’s because he’s discovered you can’t die. Maybe he thinks no matter how many times they tear you apart, it won’t matter. You’ll survive it. And for him, that’s convenient, enough time to save both you and the throne he worships."

"Isabelle!" Arabella raised her voice a little as she shut her eyes, "Let us not discuss this matter now. I can’t-" she can’t think straight.

No matter how much she had tried to be positive, everything was going South and her fragile heart was at the brink of breaking.

She didn’t want to believe that Cassius would leave her behind. He was late. Not because he needed to finish the order the King had told him to fulfill but because the castle was a little too far for him to return quickly.

He promised to her. He promised he wouldn’t betray her.

She trusts him.

But then the image of what had happened since the past afternoon haunted her. The betrayal caused by Iliza, the shock of finding out that she couldn’t die, the death she had to witness as the hunt took place, and the extreme guilt she felt for being the cause of the human hunt being reinstated.

Arabella couldn’t bear it anymore, hoping she could just run away for now and find a time where she could breathe, not to wonder whether Cassius had left her to survive alone- or a part of him still thought that the throne was above her safety.

Isabelle smiled.

Words work in such delightful way after all. Words worked in such delightful ways, after all. Just a hint of poison, whispered at the right moment, and even the strongest resolve could rot from within.

Arabella had always been strong, so trustful. But after being pushed both physically and mentally for the past two days, even her would crumble- especially the trust she has with Cassius.

"It’s always the ones closest to us that make us bleed the most," Isabelle muttered and hearing Arabella’s wordless, she knew that her plan had succeeded.

Words are still the best weapon to kill, after all.