CH 3: MY ALLY

••ROXANA••

"What do you mean princess?" The guards stopped laughing at me when I gazed at them fiercely.

My eyes underwent a sudden, eerie transformation. My irises dissolved, leaving only a piercing white part of my eyes that appeared to glow from within. The air around me began to crackle with my aura.

Without warning, I raised my hand , and a burst of mana fire erupted from my fingertips. The guards, frozen in shock, were unable to dodge as the fireballs hurtled towards them.

"Fools, who dares to stop me?" I hissed, my voice low and menacing.

The fireballs stuck their mark, sending the guards flying. As they struggled to rise, I summoned another wave of flames, my eyes still remaining in that terrifying intensity.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" This time I laughed at their horrified faces. "Did you assume that the rumours were true of me being devoid of mana power? Fools, do not believe every rumours about me!"

The guards started shivering after witnessing the true power of mine. They immediately rushed inside and informed the emperor about my arrival.

"Roxana, come inside."

The loud angry voice of the emperor thundered in there. I turned back and showed my middle finger to the guards and walked inside. I grinned without realising that the emperor was watching me.

"You dare to laugh after causing such a shameless act in the royal palace?"

I rolled my eyes and casually replied, "I was just exercising my authority. Your guards looked down on me first so I just let them have a taste of my power."

"Wow, now you are talking back at me without even using honorifics! Is that how you are going to behave from now onwards?" He growled at me with glowing eyes and I laughed internally.

I guess him getting shocked is valid, the past me would never dare to lift a finger against any royal guards or knights. I used to keep my head down and trembled in fear of being presented in front of the emperor, my so-called cold-hearted father.

Titling my face, I shrugged. " I thought we were talking like father and daughter. Oh my bad, I forgot that we had no such relationships with each other since you never acknowledged me."

I bowed down and formally greeted, "May glory be upon the emperor of the Elovera empire. I'm here with a request which needs your approval."

I politely addressed my reason for visiting him and ignored his questions because it doesn't matter now since I have painted myself as a rude princess. I can behave like one.

"Y-You…"

I could see him gritting his teeth in irritation which obviously doesn't concern me at all.

"What is it that you need my approval for? You could have just asked Lorence!"

"It's not something butler Lorence can approve of," I abruptly replied and smirked, "so I had to come in person to give you a headache."

"W-What did you say?"

"I meant to beg you in person for approval," I lied and he looked annoyed.

Knitting his eyebrows, he asked, "What is it?"

"I want a personal knight like my sister has!"

His eyebrows went up as he groaned in annoyance. "You could have asked Lorence. Why bother me for such a trivial matter?"

I glanced at him who was not even paying attention to me. His ignorance made me furious and a wry smile crawled on my lips as I mentioned about impossible.

"Beastman?" He got up and looked at me seriously. Probably thinking that his daughter has reached the final stage of craziness.

"Yes, the beastman who is locked in the dungeon. I want him as my personal knight."

"Roxana," he thundered, punching his table and his lips twitched in disgust. "You want me to release a criminal for you to make him into a knight? Are you okay?"

"Yes, your majesty. I need you to release him."

Even though it hurts my Pride to continuously beg this man, it will be worth it. The beastman father is referring to is the man I rescued in the past but unfortunately he got locked up in the dungeon. As far as I remember, this beastman tried to contact me in the past, when I was suffering alone in the cathedral castle of Holy Land. I need to have him as my closest ally.

"Seriously? You will keep begging for the release of the criminal?" He jolted me out of my thoughts and I noticed sympathy in his eyes.

As if he wanted to say something to me but didn't seem to have enough courage to say. I gulped in and repeated, "Then please your majesty, approve my request."

"Alright."

He replied tirelessly and stamped on the approval document. He extended the document and indifferently advised, "Show this to the dungeon's watch guard."

"Thank you for your approval. I appreciate it."

I turned back to leave but I heard him mumbling.

"I'm your father, not emperor. You could talk to me informally…"

I raised my left eyebrow in cringe. How could he utter those words when he himself gets offended by my casual addressing of him as father! Ignoring him, I dashed to the royal underground dungeon.

Upon arriving I showed the approval document with the emperor's seal to the watch guard. He looked at me with judgmental eyes but decided to be polite.

"Princess, follow me. That beastman is dangerous so he's locked in a special jail."

I followed the guard and entered the deepest part of the dungeon. It was a heavily guarded area with magical locks and spells on every door of the jails. Not even a soul of the dead can escape from this place.

"We are here, princess."

The guard unlocked the door and with a screeching noise, the huge iron gate opened giving me the clumsy glimpse of what awaits me.

I saw the wooden bridge connecting the two high cliffs and volcanic lava flows underneath the bridge. And iron cages carrying the criminals hung from the rocky ceiling of the cave.

My body shuddered in terror. This was the part of the dungeon where criminals with extremely powerful mana and magic abilities were kept. Royal mages built this hell especially for such criminals because it's not easy to kill the criminals who have mana power in their bodies.

"Release him," I ordered pointing towards the beastman who had long red blonde hair and cold gray eyes.

The guard hesitated but dared not to go against the emperor's order. The cage in which the redhead beastman was kept was brought down and by chains, the guards dragged him to me.

"What's your name?" I asked, looking into his eyes but remained quiet and stared at me blankly.

"Princess he's under spell. The royal mage casted it on his collar chain because he couldn't stop growing and making ruckus here," the guard explained to me that only boiled my blood. "You must keep your distance from him. He's a savage beast!"

"Shut up." I shot a murderous glance at the foolish guard and broke off the controlling leash around the beastman's neck with my magic. "He's not a savage beast but a shifter."

The guard who had never seen me this angry, trembled in fear and apologised immediately. I asked him to get out of my sight and focused my eyes on the man standing tall at 6'5 before me.

"What's your name? Do you remember me?" I repeated and the man nodded obediently, quite opposite to his rough appearance.

"M-My name is Damien and I remember you. You are my saviour but that doesn't mean I'll become your slave," he growled and raised his open claws to grab my throat.

But I quickly distanced myself from him and summoned the magic shield. "I'm not here to make you my slave."

"Lier." He roared, his claws clashing against my magic shield. "You guys think of yourselves as superior just because you have elf's blood and mana in your bodies."

"Your mages mutated animals and humans and created new species called 'Beastmen.' Do you think it's funny to treat us like this just because your people are creators of our origin?" His words had deep hatred and I could feel his pain and helplessness.

"No. It's not funny, which is why I'm here for your help," I scowled, and he frowned. "If you want equal rights as other beings, you must become my ally."

His furious eyes softened as he stopped attacking my shield. "What can you even do? You are just an abandoned illegitimate princess!"