The Crown's Entrapment

How did it come to this? Was this even real life?

“Row faster, Princess!”

Xenia didn’t think that her training would inevitably land her doing something that she never even thought possible. Sure, she could accept being thrown into shark-infested waters inside a cage. Sure, she could accept being thrown daggers from all directions without even so much as having breakfast. And sure, she could accept being forced to swim for an entire day in the raging waters of the ocean while also somehow being able to keep up with a wind-powered ship.

But to somehow row Lucian forward until they reached Valcor Island? What kind of madman would even think it was even possible!

“I’m… doing… my best here!” she huffed out, her annoyance and disbelief rising by the second. “I don’t… even think… we’re making progress!”

“Nonsense!” Osman cackled, the man clearly enjoying her misery as he stood by the mast of the ship. “I made sure that we’re barely a day’s worth of sailing to our final destination. Why, I can even see land now!”

Xenia looked behind her, and sure enough, the sight of land was indeed by the horizon. If she hazarded a guess, she’d estimate that they were probably only a few hours away if they were on horseback…

Still! Could she even row an entire ship all the way there!?_.

“Osman, isn’t this a bit… excessive?” Darius asked, her mate hopefully coming to her rescue as her arms felt like it was going to give out at any second. “You can’t possibly expect a human like her to be able to row a ship this massive. Hell, even I might not be able to do such a feat.”

“She’s getting help from the sails, Your Majesty,” Osman grinned from where he stood. “If anything, if she knew exactly what this test is meant to do, she wouldn’t even be breaking a sweat!”

Her eyes widened at such a ludicrous notion. “As if! I’ve been… rowing… all morning!”

It had been the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard in her entire life. Xenia even thought that Osman had been messing with her once he handed her two massive oars that were borderline heavier than her, but apparently, he had been serious. Somehow, she had to somehow row their ship to shore. Their massive, heavy ship that she was sure could function as a fleet’s flagship if the need arose for it.

Seriously! This was the stupidest thing she had ever done!

“And you’ve made excellent progress, Princess!” Osman laughed at her. “Look, we’re getting closer as we speak!”

Xenia wanted to take another peak towards their destination, but her dying arms told her that any sort of interruption would have her be rewarded with her body passing out from exhaustion. And to think that she had already swam through the ocean for an entire day before this…

Comparing now to that, this was about ten times worse.

“Osman, she looks like she’s about to fall over,” Darius growled by the side. “And no matter how much I think about it, I see no way to do this task in a way that you claim that it would be laughably easy.”

“Hmm… I suppose I was too vague,” Osman hummed in thought. “I did say that she had to get our ship to shore and left it at that, but I’m telling the truth in that there’s a simpler way for her to finish her task.”

“And pray tell, what is it?”

Xenia almost wanted to wish that Darius’s growls would show the farce that Osman was running. Unfortunately for her, the admiral only sighed as he leaned into her mate’s ear, Darius’s eyes widening as if the entire revelation that would help her had been staring at her all this time.

“Can you repeat to me what exactly you told her to do again?” Darius pensively asked.

“I told her to get us to shore while handing her those massive oars,” Osman chuckled. “That’s it.”

“And… that’s… what I’ve… been doing here!” she protested for what felt like the umpteenth time that past hour. “My arms… feel like…. they’re about to fall off!”

Looking to Darius, she hoped that her ever present mate would take her side on this. To her horror, however, he simply smirked at her as if he now had some kind of forbidden knowledge that she had no right in having.

“As much as I want to support you, I can see what Osman is trying to teach you.”

What?!

“D-Darius?!”

“You have to figure this one out on your own, Xen,” her traitorous mate regretfully told her, though the small snigger that escaped his lips only made her blood boil harder. “I did say that overconfidence was a slow and insidious killer earlier.”

“You… traitor!”

Darius flinched at her words, an action that gave her great satisfaction even as her chest heaved with each breath. That should teach him for making fun of her.

“For what it’s worth, you just need to think about what he said one more time,” Darius sighed. “Some rules just aren’t as clearcut as they seem.”

Xenia frowned as she rowed. Still, her mind digested his words as she quickly pulled up Osman’s words.

‘Get us to shore, he said,’ she wondered. ‘Then he gave me oars and left me at that… Wait…’

Her arms halted, her face starting to burn as the startling realization slowly dawned on her. Surely… Surely the solution wasn’t that obvious and stupid!

“Do you get it now, Princess!?” Osman laughed out loud.

Instead of replying, Xenia gave him and Darius the most murderous glare she could muster as she dropped the oars. Standing up, she harnessed the full fury of her anger as she stomped her way to the admiral.

“I’m taking this as you realizing-“

“I hate you,” she growled. “Get us to shore.”

“Oh?” Osman challenged. “Are you someone that I should follo-“

“Get us to shore before I rip out your guts and beat you with it!”

To her annoyance, Osman simply smiled as he saluted, “Aye, milady.”

***

By the sidelines, Darius let out a sigh of relief as he watched Xen take command of the entire ship. Truly, his admiral had a knack for wording puzzles with simple solutions.

“Teach her that not all rules are ironclad,” he muttered to himself with a smile. “Assumptions can get her killed, and that while there might be rules to the Elemental Forest, she could skirt by them if she searched for loopholes.”

How ingenious… Even he had to admit that he was tricked.