The Crown's Entrapment

Time passed, and the sun soon set with the moonlight replacing it with its beautiful glow. Xenia was outside the balcony, staring up at the stars in the night sky. She was sure she felt something was off a while ago during dinner. Darius was quieter than usual, and it was making her feel nervous for some reason.

"He didn't walk me back to my room this time," Xenia murmured with a sigh. "I wonder what's bothering him..."

Darius got caught up in a meeting with his men, so she decided to walk back to her bedchambers with Jayra and the servants assigned to her alone.

Reaching her door, she found herself turning to look at Darius's bedchambers, seeing as they both had a balcony connecting their rooms. Obviously, he still wasn't back in his room. Another sigh passed from her lips before she went back inside her own room.

Shrugging, she grabbed one of the books that Jayra lent to her and comfortably laid her back on the bed, randomly cracking it open and landing on a random page. She was about to- wait...

Her eyes widened as she jolted out of her seat. "What the hell is this?"

Still in shock, she grabbed a few of the books and opened them randomly, her expression of utter disbelief remaining as her eyes widened further.

"Why are these so lewd?!"

She couldn't believe that Jayra would give her something like this. Well, now that she thought about it, this was something that her friend could do for fun. Still, she at least thought that they would be educational books that'll help her make Darius fall in love with her. She didn't want books that only contained things about how to intimately please a man!

Fuming, she was about to storm Jayra's bedchamber for revenge, but she halted midstep. Giving the book in her hand a look, she begrudgingly returned to bed as she murmured, "Jayra wouldn't give me these if she thinks they won't be helpful for me."

Her face burned as she came to that realization. Walking back to her bed with the first book she opened, Xenia gulped as she decided to continue reading. The more she read, the more her body felt weird as she continued reading. Eventually, she came to the part where it detailed how the female lead in the book started seducing the male lead.

At that point, she came to realize that it wasn't purely a book filled with nothing but lewd stuff. Its main focus of totally seducing a man was through intimate gestures and words. It gave ideas on how one could also make a man fall in love by showing sincerity, by letting him know through actions and deeds how you cared and loved him.

'It all sounds so easy,' Xenia thought as she immersed herself in reading with unrestrained focus.

"Milady, Princess Freya would like to have a word with you."

Xenia almost jumped when she heard the servant outside call for her. Her heart racing, she quickly threw the books scattered around her under the bed while stuffing the one book she was reading under her pillow.

"Yes, please come in..." she answered as soon as she managed to quickly fix herself and sit on her chair.

A few seconds later, the door opened, Freya entering the room with a beautiful smile on her face. Behind her, servants with a tray of snacks filtered in, arranging the table for them as the princess assumed her position.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you, Lady Xenia," Freya politely asked before dismissing the servants around them.

"Of course, not. Please be seated, Princess Freya," Xenia curtly replied with a polite hand wave, sitting opposite Freya. "Also, feel comfortable addressing me  as Xenia."

With a thankful nod, Freya took the offer.

"I brought some snacks and tea with me. I was hoping to have a good conversation with you for some time," Freya promptly addressed. "I've heard that you'll be busy during the day, so I thought to visit you before going to bed." She smiled with a wink, "I'll call you Xenia then. So please call me Freya in return."

"That's so thoughtful of you, Freya," Xenia replied as she started pouring some tea for themselves.

"Hmm... Not at all. Besides, I also have some important matters to discuss," Freya waved Xenia's gratitude off with a chuckle before she continued. "My brother gave me this important task to help you out. It's about the possible contenders you will have to face in the gift trial. I will be your... Hmm... how do I say this?" She pondered with a small hum.

"I suppose I'll be your profile of information for those five female werewolves. You will need to know them more. Their characters, attitudes, and everything in between that might help you in winning against them."

Xenia blinked, knowing that it would be a hard task to start studying for her opponents. With a nod, she said, "I appreciate your concern, but you don't have to get involved. I'll talk to Darius and ask my mage-"

"Please... I want to do this for my brother as well. I mean, you don't even know how excited I was!" Freya excitedly pleaded. "There's no one better for this task than I because I'm Princess Freya; a royal who really should know her people. It's only natural for me to know every powerful female werewolf that wanted to be with my brother, you know."

"Wouldn't that be unfair since you'll help me and not them?" Xenia awkwardly voiced out.

Freya chuckled, "Of course, not! It's a family matter, and this is the least I can do as your future sister-in-law. I'm simply siding with my brother since he had a firm choice for his woman to be with him, and that's you."

She beamed, "Don't you see how my brother's addressing you as his Queen in front of everybody already?"

"Yes, I know," Xenia sighed. "And honestly, I don't even know why he's so confident about me..."

"Well, you're confident about it, so he just trusts your confidence," Freya shrugged with a smirk, sipping on her tea as she continued. "Besides, Big brother Darius is someone who always has a backup plan. So if in case you fail, he'll surely move mountains and do whatever it takes to make you his only Queen anyway."

She then added, "To be honest, there are already three werewolves that for sure would enter the fifth trial. It'll be Clara, Bella, and Pinra." Her smile widened. "I'll give you all the things I can find about them in a week as soon as you return from your training trip with Brother."

"Training trip?" Xenia puzzlingly asked. What training trip?

"Oh right, I was also tasked to inform you about that since it's confidential. No one knows about it except for me and his trusted commanders. Even Mother does not know," Freya pursed her lips in amusement.

"Anyway, you'll be leaving with him in two days after he's settled everything that needs to be settled in the castle. Really, I've never seen my brother this serious and desperate in a decade. The last time was when he was fighting for the throne."

"I won't let him down then," Xenia murmured with determination. Seeing all of the support she was getting, she was now more motivated to succeed, knowing how Darius was doing everything in his power to help her out.