Chapter 66: Awkward [Free]

Allyria was up the next morning, earlier than she anticipated. Everyone was busy, full of activity that she had to get up to check what was going on. As she perched on her bed, she noticed Celiana and the others already left the room. If she guessed it right, it was still 5 a.m.

She forced herself to stand and grabbed the towel. There was no time to spare. Any minute now, Dragunov might break the doors open to see if everyone was out. That's the thing Allyria almost forgot. Every day, Dragunov checks every cabin to make sure everyone was up and ready. How he had the time to do it? She didn't know. Though there are times when he's away so, he sends men from the Security Division to do it instead of him.

Allyria walked leisurely to the shower, steam filling the room as she cut the shower on. She bathed her skin lightly, taking careful notice not to touch the bruises that scattered her body. She hasn't fully recovered after everything that happened. There were still marks from the fall. It hurt but it wasn't something unbearable. Allyria could ask for help from the Health Division but she couldn't risk it knowing it might ruin their plan. 

It didn't take her five minutes to finish. She grabbed the towel from the hanger rack and ran it across her body. Allyria attempted to grab her clothes when she neglected to bring any. A groan escaped from her lips realizing she still has to go out to change. She wrapped the towel and stepped out of the bathroom.

The room wasn't as chaotic as it was in her first few days. Celiana used to nag every morning whenever it was her time to bathe. She didn't like the thought of waiting nor having to bear the ruckus of girls preparing inside but she had no choice. The room wasn't hers to own and using the facilities was also their right as much as hers.

Allyria was already in front of the dresser, removing the bath sheet when someone opened the door. Quickly, she draped the towel in front of her and jolted upright as a pair of boots stepped in. "Why is there someone still in here? Get moving." Dragunov's voice rumbled. He scanned the room and the sight of Allyria stopped him in his tracks, his face stuck in an uncanny expression.

It felt like someone had suddenly turned on an internal heater inside her system, and her pale skin slowly turned from a ghastly white to a shade of a ripe strawberry. The warmth had now bloomed into a full blown, sweltering heat wave bursting through her pores.

Allyria turned her head to the side to avert her gaze, but the sudden rosiness of her cheeks gave her away. She was muttering curses as she fumbled for the hem of the cloth. She gripped it tightly as if she might lose her soul if she drops it on the floor. The princess didn't know what to feel. Ashamed? Frightened? Furious of him for not knocking on the door before entering? 

Before she could utter a word, the man turned his back on her. 

"Uh…" Dragunov hesitated, not certain what he was going to say. He cleared his throat, "Make sure you help with the others after you change. I'll give you five minutes."

Allyria didn't reply. At that moment, all she wanted was to bury herself in the ground until she could no longer remember what happened. 

"I… I'll leave and wait outside," he stuttered and grabbed the nob of the door. When he was finally out, Allyria puffed out her embarrassment into the air. She wanted to scold herself for being too careless but she recalled he was waiting just outside. That wasn't something she wished for to happen again so she grabbed her clothes from her dresser and changed.

In less than a minute, she was already off. Dragunov, like he said, was standing on the side of the wall, his arms crossed. He seemed to be deep in thoughts. Was he thinking about what happened earlier? Allyria shut her eyes, shaking her head. Of course not. He's too busy enough to be thinking about a half-naked girl he encountered in his camp. He wouldn't waste his time for that. Would he?

"I'll be leaving so if you don't mind…"

"Wait," he said that made Allyria swerve to his side.

"What?"

"I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry. It's not as if you did it on purpose, right?" Allyria raised a brow. When he didn't answer, she proceeded. "As you can see, your 'employee without a salary' is really busy so I apologize if I don't have the time to talk about it. I'm not, in any way, affected so let's pretend it didn't happen, 'kay?"

"Oka—"

"Okay. Bye!" Allyria scurried away from him and walked towards the opposite road.

***

"How could that happen?" Denize giggled after Allyria told her what went wrong in the morning. They were back to doing their task but instead of logging, they're feeding chickens. 

A flock of chickens cheeped and clucked as they entered the enclosed area. Allyria threw an adequate amount of food—a combination of seeds, greens, windfall fruit and nuts—to the ground and the fowls gathered to get a taste.

"It just did. If you could only see his face, believe me, it'd be a living nightmare," she said and observed the surroundings. The plantation was how she imagined it to be—vast and a chock-a-block of crops and animals.

The mud lied in uneven patches, scattered over the sloped concrete farmyard. The smell of manure hung thickly over the more subtle scent of tree blossom. A well-constructed fence of wooden planks and chicken wire barred the yard. Slightly further up and to the left there are two stables of rotting wood with a corrugated metal roofs that now housed calves. To the top situated the stables with hens and ducks and to the right is the pig pen.

The others who were assigned with the same task were on different fences. While some plowed on fields to plant rice and veggies.

"Most of the ladies here think otherwise. Elvinci is decent, I can say," Denize replied.

"Elvinci? Are we talking about another person here or is it still the same topic? Because as far as I know, Dragunov is far from decent, attitude-wise, except for earlier and I really don't care about his looks." Allyria had no idea who Elvinci was. She never heard anyone with that name in the camp.

"Oh so you didn't know?"

"What should I know?"

Denize grabbed the pail and exited the fence. Allyria followed. "Dragunov's name is really Elvinci Artem Borisovich. Dragunov is just a nickname. I don't know how or when it started but when I came here, everyone was already used to calling him that."

"Oh," Allyria couldn't think of a reply. That's when she realized, she didn't know anything about him at all. If they wanted to get any kind of information, they had to do better. Her knowledge was just on a surface level, always doing the things the other workers did. She needs to step up. "Do you know why Dragunov started this? I mean, I admire his vision but… I was just curious, all the preparations, the workforce, it's a lot. What drove him to do it?"

"I'm not sure but according to what I heard, her father was a victim of the Aleshkovskys. His father used to be a chief adviser to the late King Dmitri."

"But why is he fighting for the Astrenmirs? They were the ones who slaughtered the rebels, King Dmitri… he's mad. He wasn't fit to be a king anymore." Allyria thought of her words. She wanted to make a point while also remaining unsuspicious. She wasn't ready to expose her identity yet.

"That's the thing I don't understand. I've heard speculations saying the Aleshkovskys were the ones to be blamed for the civil war but I don't know… I'm not in the position to say anything. That's the extent of my knowledge. If you want to know, you could ask Mr. Gadoury. He might answer your questions."

Allyria's uncertainty only grew by the day. Everyone has reasons for hating the royal family but it's supposed to be normal, right? You can't please all the citizens much especially those who are against your reign from the very start.

Though Allyria couldn't help but wonder how these people got the idea that it was her family's fault. There wasn't a single logical explanation that could answer their allegations. Another thing, Allyria witnessed how her family ruled. For the last 20 years, everything was harmonious, there has been no war since then and most of the countries have a good diplomatic relationship with Vervali.

"Are you okay? Did I say something wrong?" Denize asked.

"No. I… I'm fine" she replied with a timid smile. The princess wasn't sure anymore. She's the one who knows the royal family better. 

'They are great leaders. My grandfather, he did it for a reason.'

But was she only saying this because she knew the truth or was she just convincing herself to believe that side of the story because the Aleshkovskys who are ruling now are her family?

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Written and edited by ephemery.

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Allyria will hunt you down to the ends of Arde Terra and cast you out together with the Undying in the Islands of the Cursed. You've been warned.

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