I Own You

'Why are all the men in this kingdom showing off their muscles and abs!?' Xenia exclaimed inwardly and complained as she removed her gaze from their toned chest and muscles. To her own delight, Darius' upper body was completely naked under his cloak.

She had heard that these people might need to transform into werewolves at any given time, so it is convenient for them to put on less clothes. Perhaps that was the reason why men in the Cordon Kingdom were shirtless most of the time?

Still, the man who saved her that night was nothing below being exceptional. He was the king who ruled over them, which explained why he wore a luxurious royal cloak that stretched across the floor behind him.

Even though the men behind him were wearing cloaks of similar design, theirs looked ordinary in a plain brown color by comparison. Their ensemble was so unlike the king's, whose outfit portrayed absolute royalty and elegance.

Xenia felt herself swallow a bit of her own drool. She had to admit that the king had this captivating charm surrounding him that seemed to be affecting her. It felt weird since she never truly bothered to notice the opposite sex before.

Was it because the men in her kingdom were not roaming around half-naked most of the time? Her perverted thoughts were interrupted when the man, with golden brown shoulder-length hair and trimmed beard and mustache, who stood next to the king spoke.

"Welcome to the Kingdom of Cordon. You were all saved by the mercy of our Majesty, King Darius. All of you are free to leave if you wish to, and we shall provide you with the things you might need for your journey," the man announced.

"If anyone here plans to stay and become a citizen of our kingdom, you are welcome to do so. We will collect your personal details, and just like the people of Cordon, each one of you will be assigned to your chosen tasks if you pass the test."

The King's eyes particularly glared at Xenia as he then authoritatively spoke, "You! Your life is in my hands. I personally saved you from death, so I own you from now on. I will decide your fate, lad."

Xenia's face fell as she retorted, "What?! And why would you own me?!"

"Insolent!" The other man, who also had that trimmed beard and mustache but with black short hair, standing behind the king barked. The man had a scar on his face and was much larger when compared to the others around him. Xenia gulped, realizing that she was rude to their king by answering like that.

'Xenia, control your temper!' she scolded herself.

It was then that the man who barked at her began to move towards her.

Xenia knew that he was about to punish her and put her in her place for disrespecting their king. But just as she was ready to accept her fate, the king signaled for the man to halt, who immediately stopped at the order.

"What is your name? And what did you do before?" The King asked with a frown.

Xenia gulped in fear. The king's stare was so intense and intimidating that it could scare even the strongest of men.

Even so, Xenia wasn't the type to so easily cower. Instead, she unintentionally met his stare with the same intensity as she answered, "My name is Xen, and I am a warrior."

"You're a warrior?! Hah! Then I must be a God, Your Majesty," the man with a scar on his face mocked her.

"Bartos, I have witnessed the lad fight, and I can assure you that he is very skilled in fighting and tactics," the man who introduced the king commented and Xenia was grateful to hear that praise.

"Hah! Are you kidding me, Gideon?! Look at how small he is! How can he fight being that scrawny?" Bartos replied.

"Silence you two. Gideon," The King authoritatively said.

"Yes, Your Highness," Gideon immediately answered.

"Escort him to the meeting chamber. I want to talk to him privately," The King ordered before turning around and leaving the room.

After he left, Xenia subconsciously turned towards Tarah, who smiled and whispered, "Ask for him to let me stay with you as your healer. Also, try to speak with a lot more politeness to the king the next time you're talking to him."

Fidgeting, Xenia was about to question Tarah when she suddenly felt a hand grab her by the arm. Turning her head, she saw the man addressed by the king as Gideon.

"Come on, lad, let's go. We shouldn't keep His Majesty waiting," Gideon urged with a blank expression as he helped her up to her feet and walked out of the room.

"You're lucky that His Majesty seems to favor you, but you must refrain from being disrespectful towards him. Especially so when you're in front of his men and people," Gideon harshly chided. "You better be careful from now on. Otherwise, you might meet your end sooner than you think."

Xenia kept her silence. She knew that it was a threat, but she couldn't really do anything about it. Still, she had to admit that it was her mistake for behaving like a princess when she was currently in another monarch's kingdom. And that was not to mention that King Darius himself had saved her life.

"I'm sorry. I will make sure that it won't happen again," she softly whispered.

She couldn't help that her personality was naturally bold. She had acted very brazen and rebellious for all of her life. Her father would even scold her, saying that she was more like a naughty prince than a respectable princess.

"His Majesty has been acting weird though. It was so unlike our king to say words like him owning a person's life. He has always been generous enough to give freedom to those who want it regardless of who saved them. Even if they owe their lives to him, the choice to stay or not was always left to the weak's hands to choose," Gideon whispered and Xenia heard him.

"Why do you think he wants to keep me then?" Xenia directly asked, but to her disappointment, the man only gave her a shrug.

******

A/N: I will post the AI-Generated visuals for Gideon and Bartos in the comment section for your reference…