Chapter 5

"This is my palace, mom. As I've said to you earlier, I still don't like her." Upon hearing that, I gulped. "I hate everything that classifies her – her New Zealand accent is frustrating when I first heard her talk to my guard…."

So, when I told that dude about the skyline's beauty, he actually heard me?

And when he said THIS was his palace, did he really own it all?

"She smells of awful fragrance…"

I smelled my armpits and hoodie. They're not stinky. Does he just hates me for no good reason? I was already liking him in first sight and I'd appreciate dad later for linking me to a Greek god.

"She's not even up to one-tenth of the girls I dated in highschool. She's an outcast! She can't be my wife, talk to dad about it. I don't have feelings for her, talk much of loving her. She's just the opposite of my ideal girl. She's not an inch close to my girlfriend, Elsa Maurice."

Okay, wait a second…. Did I hear him correctly? He is in a relationship with another woman already then, what am I?

A secondhandded side chick?

No way!

"Mom, please stop. The only reason why am saying yes to this wedding is because am scared of what dad might do to me. You know him, he might break my head. And for that reason, I have decided she'll stick with me as a maid."

A what?!!!!!!

Me? A maid? Here?

This was not my agreement with dad. He said for me to be the queen, I'll marry Prince Harry and rule the kingdom with him someday, not some kind of nanny, dishwasher, cleaner or slave.

Didn't dad credited him as the best guy he had met in his lifetime? He said to be a good man and future husband but this crook here is just heartless. So heartless to turn someone else's daughter into his servant.

Maybe dad said the truth, but this guy just twisted the whole thing.

I spun around and started banging the door with my fists.

Oh, somebody open up, please. I need to return back to where I came from before it's too late.

"Hey!" His voice enveloped the room and when I turn around, he push the phone from his ear. "Don't wreck my door."

"Sorry Sir, but I need to get outta here." I simply say. Trying my possible best to be polite.

And he just said a word before hanging up, "I'll call you later, mom. I have some shit to clean up."

Who's the shit? Me? Does this guy know who he's messing with?

He dropped the phone on the table near the bed and got up to meet me.

I had to look up at him because he is six and two foot and am not even up to his shoulders.

His eyes narrowed and his pupils darken the more. I notice his eyes raking up and down at me, then, settled back on my face.

I gulped for the type of devilish aura I sensed around him.

"You want to go out so you can run away, isn't it?"

Huh?

"Excuse me, minster Prince, you don't know me and you have no idea how my life is. You can't just expect me to pass the night here – with you, in a strange land, strange country with strange people. I don't belong here!"

A bad smirk appeared on his lips, then, he pointed towards the king-size bed.

My heart skipped a beat twice, when a mere thought of losing my dignity flashed in my head.

"Go lay on that bed." When I frowned, he raised his brows and snapped. "I said, go lay on that bed! Don't you want to be the queen of great Britain and Ireland? Come on, go there and have fun, queen!"

I shook my head vigorously. Am not a fool. And if I want to share a bed with someone, it wouldn't be a beast in human form.

He is probably disguising with an innocent, charming face. What a deceiver. Just one night of our first meeting and I already knew who he truly is.

"I said no." I reach for the door, pulling it strongly. "Somebody please help me open this door."

I was taken off-guard when he slapped my hands off the doorknob and dragged me along with him to the bed.

I thought it'll end there until he tied me on the bed with my wrists handcuffed above my head and my ankles chained sideways – causing my thighs to part ways.

I screamed for help!

No! I can't let him touch me. It's not right! This is not supposed to happen.

Where are my self defense tools? I foolishly abandoned them at the rooftop and chased after him.

God, please save me. I promise if I escape from here, I'll...

The least thing I expected was to see him back out to his side of the bed and that happened.

The beast tied me up on bed – with me thinking he was going to assault me, but he just shifted to his side of the bed and started scrolling his phone.

After a while, he kept his phone and faced the wall as he goes to sleep.

Damn! What about me? Am just here tied up like a man caught in a giant web.

I look up and down for hope to get out of this thing, but the more I adjust my body, the more the material stretches and my bones are down for pain.

Suddenly, a knock greeted us on the door. Without waiting for an answer, it opened and a middle aged man with powerful aura and grey mixed with black hair, walked in majestically.

His eyes grew big when they flick on me. "Oh my world!" He quicken towards me and started helping with the chains.

Unknowing to the beast beside me, he was very much fast asleep.

After I was confirmed free from the few minutes bondage, he went straight to the other side of the bed and gave the sleeping guy a loud resounding slap on his cheek.

Ow! I jolted.

And that made him jump out of nap instantly. The affected spot on his face, turned reddish.

"Dad!" He held his cheek tightly, lips pressed into thin line.

"How dare you tie your queen?" The king pointed at me – who was just staring at the scene.

The beast I thought was brave minutes ago, suddenly turned nervous. His hands were now shaking in fear and his lips trembling.

The king didn't end it there. He was violently furious. "You even had the guts to threaten her with fake phone call?" He pointed at the door. "I was there listening and your mother was with me a while ago. Explain that now or apologize to her right now!"

Goosebumps filled my skin pores when Prince Harry glared at me. His hand still clasp on his cheek.

So...…there was no Elsa Maurice and there was no THIS IS MY PALACE, and there was no ME BECOMING HIS MAID?!

Cool!

But I'm still eager to leave.

It took half a minute and he hasn't reciprocate or demonstrated yet. Is he that stubborn? Even in the presence of his father?

"Time up." The king clapped his hands twice and the door opened for two hefty guys who came in with strong whips. "Since you have refused to kneel and apologize to your queen, I'll make you do it in front of her."

Just one eye signal from the king and these men took hold of him.

Oh meh, you need to see how Prince Harry was weeping like a newborn baby. The whip hasn't started yet and he was already crying and pleading for help from his momma.

The king took his leave – allowing the men deal with his son while me enjoy the show.

There was absolutely nothing I could do at that moment to save him even when I knew he deserves to be beaten and tortured.

But am human. Blood flows in my veins not water. How can I stand him receiving pains for his stupidity?

The door shut and the men tied him to a table. Before I could open my mouth to beg on his behalf, two whips from both men landed on his back.

"Ye!!!!!!" He shouted in pain. My eyes bugged and I shifted on the bed. Another one entered again, "Aaaaaaagrhhhh! Mommy!"

My heart was troubled. Never in my life have I witnessed someone being beaten in front of me like this before.

What type of punishment is this? The king would have just locked him up in the basement for three days straight without food and water, other than to beat him up by his guards.

These merciless men with the whip. They're not even considerate.

It seems like they've generated hatred for him for years. Just look at how they're whipping the future king. The next heir to the throne. They have no idea now that their lives lies on his palm when he becomes king?

After seventy-four strokes of the whip, they made him kneel in front of me. He fell helplessly on his kneels like he has no strength or vital energy.

I look at his face, for the first time in my life, I was merciful. I pity the man in front of me. The man said to be my future husband and my king. My ruler, my everything someday.

Tears gathered in my red eyes. I felt like grabbing a bottle and smashing it on the men's head.

Look what they've done to him. He is breathing heavily and sweating badly. How could people be so cruel. They don't have a heart!

Is it all errands you run? At least, the king is not here, we both would have done something to make it feel real rather than hurting him.

I couldn't help but reach for his face and he held onto my hand tightly as if begging me to save him.

"Am sorry…..aaaagrhhhh!" Another whip on his back and I jolted at once.

That just made it seventy-five all together.

"Do it properly!" One of the men snapped at him.

"Baby, am sorry…." He cried. "It will never happen again."

Together, the men snorted and left.

I quickly got out of bed to help him but his next reaction made me wish they had just killed him instead.

"DON'T touch me!" He almost yelled – irrespective of how much distance the men had walked out the door.

What if they heard him and still come back? Should I act pitiful again?

I just stare at him, getting up from the ground. He went to the dressing mirror and took off his garment.

Few clot of blood are spotted on the back of his white garment. And when he took it off…..

"Oh my gosh!" I gasp with my hands covering my mouth. Are those marks of whips or scratches of cat's paws?

They were so red and fat, I couldn't look at it twice.

I quickly ran into the bathroom and rushed out with a bowl of warm water and a little thick towel.

I place it on the bench and went to him. "Please come sit let me –"

"Please leave me alone, please." He clasp his hands together. Pleading. "Enough is enough. I don't want you around me, I never sent for you or wish to get married now. Just be on your own. Stay on your own side of life and allow me be, please."

No.

"You are going to be my husband and I can't allow anything happen to you." I challenged him.

He chuckled sarcastically, "Did you just say you won't allow anything? I bet you just saw with your eyes how those son of bitches stomp one and you just sat there enjoying the free show."

I shook my head, "You don't understand. I was afraid to do a thing. Besides, it's an order from your father and if you haven't tied me on the bed, all these wouldn't have happened tonight. Moreover, you even dare to call me names and insult my ethnicity and made stupid phone call to threaten me. Thinking I'll fall for it."

Grandma use to say, speak out the truth and it shall set you free. And that was what I just did.

Any offense?

He paused for a while, busy staring at me. His lips sealed into a thin plain line. After a while of silence, he picked his garment from the floor, took a shower and marched out of his closet with a different garment this time.

He went to bed and turned off the lights without wishing me GOODNIGHT.

I guess my way somehow to the bed-bench in that darkness and laid there but after a while of inconvenience, I got up and settled on the free side of the bed.

Now that he has learnt his lesson, I have no fear of him touching me without my own consent.

I made myself feel at home on the bed. I can't remember the last time my body felt the softness of a bed like this. Unlike my bed in New Zeeland that has spring, dangling whenever I pounce on it.