The Crown's Entrapment

The King walked closer to her, and she instinctively stepped back. She was acting really weird as a man right now, and it was only making the risk of her exposing herself rise even higher.

'Xenia, snap out of it already! Why are you trembling like this?!' she silently scolded herself, feeling annoyed and confused by her own reactions.

"What are you doing, Your Majesty?" she managed to gasp out.

The King didn't reply. Instead, he continued his path on cornering her till her back hit the trunk of a big tree. She gulped when his arms then pinned her, caging her in his arms.

'This isn't good!' her mind shouted, 'Not at all!' She felt as if her frenetic heart was about to explode.

'Why am I feeling tense and nervous? And what is this strange and abnormal churning in my stomach for no reason!? This is not acceptable!'

Her mind kept talking to her as she looked at the king with wide eyes, her expression almost like that of a little rabbit trapped in a net.

'What the hell is wrong with this King?' she inwardly retorted, blaming her dilemma on the King's unusual movements.

Watching the bewildered expressions on her face, The King moved his face closer until it was just an inch apart from hers.

"Tell me, Xen, why is your face so red? Do you know how weird you're acting right now for a warrior servant?"

"I-I told you, it's my first time doing all this…" she stuttered. "I don't even know m-much about being a servant. If you only wanted a warrior, t-then I would definitely not be acting w-weird…"

The King's stare was so intimidating that Xenia honestly felt that she could melt and drown in his eyes at the drop of a hat. She unconsciously bit her lower lip.

Her face blushed even harder as the King's eyes darted to her lips.

Was she hallucinating, or was The King actually looking at her lips with a different glint in his eyes? Looking closely, her eyes widened, thinking about what she just saw in his eyes… Lust? Desire? Was her interpretation correct?

Did the Werewolf King desire a lad?! She was in a male disguise! Or maybe… Did he see past her disguise already!?

Xenia gathered herself and managed to push The King away with her palms on his chest.

'His chest… so strong and sturdy!'

Catching her thoughts, she immediately retracted her palms from his warm chest. She honestly felt like her hands were suddenly burnt by his hot touch.

"Your Majesty, we should move. We're stalling too much. And aren't you hungry already? It's almost noon," Xenia quickly explained, doing her best to not look at his face. She knew she looked weird right now, with her face turned sideways as she talked.

The King walked ahead and said, "Follow me! There's a village nearby. We will stop there to eat and get a horse."

"Wow, we truly did travel in a flash. His Majesty's wolf form is so majestic and cute, and you were fast as lightning when you ran," Xenia boldly expressed her amazement and admiration as she followed the king. She needed a great distraction from the tense atmosphere a while ago and hopefully striking up a light conversation like this would work.

"To be honest, that was my first time witnessing someone shapeshifting. More often than not… How would I say this… I've only witnessed the scary shape-shifting so far," Xenia hesitatingly added.

"That's the wolf-man form," The King immediately explained. "We can shapeshift into three forms; human form, the wolf-man form, and the wolf form. I suppose the scariest form of them all is the wolf-man form. However, we are more powerful in that state."

She simply nodded. Xenia was aware of it, but still, it was good to hear the exact details from a powerful werewolf himself.

"I see…" Xenia whispered. Her eyes then wandered out into the distance, noticing a small settlement peeking out of the horizon."I can see the village!" she excitedly burst out as she even ran towards it.

As soon as they saw the Emblem of Royalty on The King's cape, the villagers immediately paid their respect to him by slightly bowing down.

Inside the inn, The King sat on a vacant table signaling Xenia to sit in front of him. He then gestured to the innkeepers and servants to raise their heads as he instructed, "Serve us lunch and get us a horse."

"Just one horse, Your Majesty?" the innkeeper asked.

"Can you-"

"Yes, just one," The King firmly answered, cutting Xenia off from talking.

Xenia gulped. She couldn't hide her disappointment. She simply didn't understand why the King preferred for them to ride together when riding on a separate horse would be more convenient!

Hearing his request, the innkeeper nodded before excusing himself.

Xenia let out a sigh. She intently looked at The King and asked, "Your Majesty, isn't it a bit uncomfortable for us to be riding on just one horse?"

The King raised an eyebrow as he authoritatively replied, "And why would I let you travel on a separate horse? Who knows what you're up to outside my Kingdom? What if you decided to escape again and leave me all of a sudden? Your life is mine. As such, I want to make sure that I keep an eye on what is mine…"

Xenia blinked in disbelief. Does it mean that he had no plans of leaving her alone once they reached Ebodia? If that was the case, then she needed a plan to make sure that she could sneak out of his sight!