The Princess And Her Alpha Bodyguard

5~ COULD I TRUST HIM?

I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar overhead canopy of the four-poster bed; each side was decorated with thin, white draperies. There was no candlelight in the room, but strangely, it wasn't dark. The silver ray of moonlight that shone through the wide window was enough to illuminate the interior. And that was how I could tell this was definitely not my room.

I still remember the rows of Iory's portraits on the wall and the giant bed with a red canopy that he changed for our wedding night. But this room had none of that. There wasn't a single painting on the wall, and the bed was smaller. Even the sheet smelled different. I got a whiff of cedarwood instead of lavender.

"What is this place?" I sat up in a hurry after knowing I was in an unfamiliar environment. But I must have got up too soon because a wave of dizziness hit my head, making my body fall back to the upholder headboard. "Ouch." I yelped in pain when I raised my right hand to massage my temple.

What was that pain? Hold on. It wasn't only my hand. My entire body was sore. I thought to myself as I looked at my hand, thinking it might be a bruise. However, I was surprised to see a white bandage on my right elbow. Did I get injured? I frowned, trying to recall what had happened. I knew it couldn't be from the run this evening. I learned horseback riding since I was three years old, and I had been with Aine since she was a pony. I had never once got injured. There must be something else.

But what?

"I advise you not to move. You got bruises in multiple places, sprained your ankle, and a laceration on your right elbow," said a modulated voice coming from the corner of the room.

I gasped, surprised that I wasn't the only one here. I didn't see anyone when I was scanning the room back then. "Who are you?" I asked.

"Can't you remember?"

The voice was deep, so I assume the owner must be a he. Now I seemed to recall something. It was a shadow of the man I saw back then. But what came after that was a blur.

Could it be that he was the one who attacked me in the forest?

My body moved back automatically as the memory returned, fearing he would bolt toward me and attack again. Sadly, there wasn't much space for me to withdraw since my back was already against the bedhead. I wished I could leap out of bed and run for the door. But that wasn't the option, given how my ankle could barely withstand the pain of this slight movement.

"If you're worried about me hurting you, then there is no need. If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't go through the trouble of saving you, then bring you here to treat your injuries," he said.

"You? Saved me?" I said in disbelief. "You were the one attacking me. I wouldn't have ended up badly hurt like this if it weren't for you."

"This is why I hate saving outsiders." He murmured like he was talking to himself, but it was loud enough for me to hear.

"It was you, wasn't it?" I prompted, wanting to know if it really was him who caused me these wounds.

"Did you have evidence that I was the one who harmed you?" He returned my question with his own.

"I saw it."

"What did you see?"

"You ran toward me when I was on my horse."

"How did you know it was me? Did you see my face? Did you even see me hitting you?" He asked in a challenging voice.

"Well..." I trailed off, trying to recall back that moment. And when I did, it annoyed me to think that my answer to all his questions would be no.

No, I didn't see his face. And no, I didn't see him hitting me. Frankly, I wasn't even sure if that shadow belonged to a man. Never mind if it was him. After all, it was coming toward me in all four instead of two legs. It resembled an animal more than a man, which didn't make sense at all. It really looked like a normal human when it stood still.

"Step into the light," I said, wanting to test my theory. If that man wasn't the one I saw in the forest, he should walk normally as any man did. But if he went down on all four, then that shadow was undoubtedly him. After all, he was the only one presented when it happened.

"Why should I listen to you?" He asked in an authoritative voice. This tone proved he wasn't from an ordinary family. It showed he usually gave orders to other people, which meant he belonged to the high class, if not royal. Still, the decoration in this room gave me a feeling that it might be the latter.

"It's been a while since we talked, but I couldn't see you. Why do you keep lingering in the shadow? Don't you think it's rude to converse like that? People should look at each other when they talk."

"No," he said curtly.

Gosh. This was frustrating. He was the first guy ever that spoke only a few words in my presence. I was used to having princes talking to me until my ear hurt because they wanted to get my attention. This mysterious guy was the total opposite of the male species I had met so far.

"You refused to show yourself, and you didn't introduce yourself to me. How am I supposed to trust you? There is a person I have known for two years. I thought I knew everything about him, but he betrayed me in a cruel and unexpected way. How am I supposed to trust a stranger like you?" My voice cracked, remembering all the miseries I had encountered for the last seven days. I didn't mean to show my weakness. Still, the emotion within me resurfaced as if it had reached its maximum capacity. I looked down and tried to hide my face, making the teardrops fall to the blanket on my waist.

There was a brief silence from his side. I bet he was rolling his eyes and thought about how annoying I was to cry all of a sudden like this. But it surprised me when he finally answered not only with words but also with action.

"My name is Valdemir Braegon," he said in a softer voice than before.

I wiped the tears off my face and looked up at the sound of approaching footstep, watching how his dark shadow went brighter the closer he stepped next to the window. When moonbeam shone on him, what stood out the most was his silky red hair that he pulled into a high ponytail and secured with a golden hairband. And what matched the color of his hair were the pairs of red eyes that glistened from behind a wolf's shape face mask that covered his entire face, revealing not even his nose or lips. Then, my eyes moved to his neck—the only place that exposed the color of his white skin from the giant, black cloak. Next, it went further down to the broad shoulders and chest complemented his built body and towering height.

Look at his height! A voice echoed inside my head. Could my head even reach his chest if I were to stand next to him? I had always thought Iory was the tallest among all the princes I had met so far. But not anymore. The title of the first-place winner belonged to this man right here.

And shamefully, the only thing my brain thought about after I finished touring his body was... this guy was hot!

I knew this wasn't the right time and place to think about this. But come on. Who was expecting this? I was running for my life, yet I came to find a hot guy in the middle of the forest. This didn't happen every day, did it?

"You're now in Ascian's territory. That means you're under my protection. No one entered or left here without my order, so you don't have to worry about anyone coming to hurt you. I won't allow it."

"Yeah, no one can hurt me. But you can," I snapped out of my thought and confronted him. That was right. Regardless of how attractive his body was, it couldn't erase the memory of him trying to attack me.

He sighed and stepped closer to my bed. "Look. You were right. I was the shadow you saw in the forest, but I wasn't the one who attacked you." he paused as if allowing those pair of red eyes to convey how genuine his words were. "Can you trust me now?"

©️StellaKMary | The Princess And Her Alpha Bodyguard