The Crown's Entrapment

From a distance, Gilas stood by as he witnessed Gideon and Freya interacting with one another. Closing his eyes, he let out a heavy sigh. It had been a week now since he last visited his mother, and he was starting to get more worried by the day upon seeing how her condition had worsened since the last time he saw her.

Begrudgingly, he balled his hands into a fist, no longer bothered with how his hands bled the tighter he held them. Unfortunately, Freya was now his only way to see his mother, and he had no other choice than to see it done. Calming himself down, he let out another sigh before walking down towards the two, who seemed to be bickering about even now.

“Good morning,” Gilas politely greeted, making his presence known.

“Lord Gilas,” Freya gave him her curtly nod.

“Gideon…” he greeted in turn.

“Gilas…” the man exchanged his courtesies.

“Pardon me, but I saw Lady Freya and couldn’t help but greet her,” Gilas began with an air of innocence to him. “Are you perhaps going out to ride Speedy?”

“Yes, Lord Gilas,” Freya answered._.

Times flew so fast indeed. Before they knew it, Freya had become a woman, very far from the kid he usually hung out with before. Now, she posed with the etiquette of a prim and proper princess, though her personality still shone through sometimes.

“It has been a while, right?” Gilas wondered. “How about we ride Speedy like the good old times?”

“Hell no!” Gideon quickly interrupted. “Speedy’s old now, and he will surely be crippled once you ride it with Lady Freya. The poor thing will have to bear both your weights, and, Freya isn’t the thin stick that she used to be!”

“Huh?! So you’re saying I’ve become fat now?” Freya scoffed.

“Of course not,” Gideon casually replied. “But you’ve surely gained weight when compared to before.”

Gilas could only shake his head as he watched the two descend into their usual bickering. Seeing this, he dropped his shoulders in resignation. It would seem that he would never see his mother again for a long time.

[Just focus on Clara instead. She’s our mate after all!] his wolf, Ham, called out. [Or we can just kill that annoying father of yours instead!]

[Mother will die if we do that!] Gilas scolded. [Stop suggesting such things.]

Letting out a sigh, he looked at the two in front of him as he wondered, [They make a good match, don’t you think?]

Ham only scoffed at him. Seeing as the two of them didn’t seem to be stopping any time soon, Gilas decided to interrupt their banter as he said, “I’ll leave you two to your business then.”

Turning around, Gilas didn’t bother waiting for the two of them to answer as he promptly left. He was obviously going to be the third wheel if he pursued Freya, simply because Gideon wouldn’t dare watch idly by while his mate hung around with him.

Besides, he was way too tired from playing this foolish game with his father. If only he could just simply run away from all of this with his mother… to a place so far away that no one would even recognize them…

[Bring our mate with you though. Or else, I’ll go berserk,] Ham interrupted with a joking reminder. [You can do at least that before leaving everything behind.]

[I’m tired of having this conversation with you, Ham,] Gilas dishearteningly retorted. [Our mate doesn’t even recognize the Mate Pull…]

Walking around aimlessly, he stopped and looked in a particular direction. It was in the direction of Clara’s bedchamber, where she would often stay on her balcony to have some tea.

Currently, however, Clara wasn’t in the castle. She was back with her Midnight Pack at Ryder Manor.

[How about we go and visit her then?] Ham suggested. [Go check on her. It’s not like you don’t bug her often enough while she’s in the castle. She just simply changed her location. Let’s just go.]

The Midnight Pack was just next to Capital City located on the west side of the kingdom. After a second of thought, Gilas didn’t waste any more time and left the castle to check on Clara.

***

Gilas arrived at Ryder’s Manor just in time to witness Clara on her personal training grounds at the back.

Leaning his back to the wall, he watched as Clara seemed to be in deep thought while working on her fighting techniques. She was someone that was superb in archery, and no one could beat her there for sure. However, it was very different when it came to a sword. She only had an adequate amount of skill for it, and she would surely lose if she ever fought someone even remotely competent.

‘Pinra will crush her in a sword fight,’ Gilas thought.

Having had enough of seeing her flail about, Gilas stepped in. “Looks like you’re focused on your training,” he chimed in, walking in with his usual gait. “Though, isn’t it a bit boring to train on your own like this?” She should’ve already noticed him already anyway. It was either that Clara was ignoring him, or she was just too distracted that she didn’t see him coming.

Moving closer, there was no response from her, so Gilas sheathed his sword and quickly lunged at Clara. Crossing arms, she looked at him with those soulless eyes, and Gilas couldn’t help but think that Clara might just yield and walk out on him. To his surprise, however, she attacked him without a pause.

“Pinra knows this technique, so avoid using this when fighting her,” Gilas commented, mimicking said technique as he taught her. “Watch closely. I’ll teach you a new move that nobody knows about…”

Clara didn’t say a word, but she followed Gilas’s moves regardless. Eventually, the sound of their swords clashing filled the grounds.

And after a few moments, Clara was already panting while Gilas smirked above her and said, “Still not good enough to win against Pinra. I’ve personally watched how my cousin trained since she was a kid, and I must say that you still have a long way to go, Clara.”

“Why are you even here?” Clara finally spoke just before she laid another attack on him.

“I was getting bored in the castle… I miss bugging and annoying you, so here I am,” Gilas shrugged. “As an added bonus, how about I give you some free training during my free time, huh?” he offered with a grin, all while simply putting up his defenses against all of Clara’s attacks.

“Help me become Queen, and I’ll grant you whatever it is that you want, Gilas,” Clara firmly stated as she gasped for air.

There was a momentary pause, her eyes never leaving his as she waited for his answer.

“There’s only one thing I want from you, Clara… But unfortunately, it’s something you can’t give me anyway,” Gilas coolly responded. “Either way, I’ll just help you out regardless. In return, I will ask for something simple.”

Lifting an eyebrow, Clara asked, “And what is that?”

“Visit my mother with me at least twice a week,” Gilas said.

It wasn’t much, but his father would definitely allow it if he was with Clara. His father didn’t exactly say that she should already be in love with him when he told him to ‘capture’ her anyway.