The Princess And Her Alpha Bodyguard

45~ FALSE RUMOR

"Sister-law, I'm only asking about Ralph. Why are you crying? What's wrong?" My lips tasted the saltiness as tears flowed into my mouth. 

Judging from Lydia's reaction, even a child knew something terrible had happened. But the question was… how bad was it? What happened to my brother? Was he…

No. Stop speculating, Lae. An inner thought stopped me from thinking of the worst scenario. 

"Lydia, please. Stop crying and tell me. I can't take this anymore." I knelt next to her chair and held her hand. "Please. I beg you." 

She nodded in agreement. I waited for her to adjust her breath while my fingers wiped the tears off her face. 

"Alright," she said after taking a deep breath. "But before I tell you, you need to promise me one thing." 

"Why a promise?" I frowned, wondering why I needed to do that. 

"Promise me, Lae. If you don't give me your words, I won't tell you." She looked me in the eye. Her hazel brown eyes showed no sign of wavering. It was different from her usual gentleness, leaving me taken aback somehow. 

"Alright. You have my words, sister-in-law. What is it?" I said in a firm voice, showing how serious I was.  

"Say that you won't act recklessly. You'll consult with King Valdemir and come up with a plan," said Lydia. 

My frowns deepened as Lydia's words kept confusing me more and more. Still, I had no choice but to promise her. Or else I wouldn't know what happened to my brother. "I promise I won't act recklessly."

"Alright. Here is the thing." She bit her lips, looking like she was on the verge of tears. But she held it back by lifting her head and looking at the roof. It was as if she tried to prevent them from falling. 

I was dying to know the answer, but I held myself back. I couldn't force her when she was already in this condition. There was nothing I could do besides wait in silence. When she finally regained composure again, she looked at me and said, "Ralph is in Zariya. Iory had him." Her voice cracked again soon after she finished. 

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed in shock. Strength left my body as I slumped into the cold ground. "Did you mean… he got captured by Iory?" 

Lydia nodded. The movement of her head made the warm, crystal droplet splash into my hands. "It was all my fault." Her shoulders trembled as she broke down into tears. 

"I don't understand. How did that happen? Didn't you say Valdemir's men helped you out of the hiding and brought you here? That meant you were already under protection. How did Ralph get captured? Did you get an ambush?"

"No. There was no ambush." She shook her head. Then she wiped the tears dry and continued, "our travel was discreet. Basically, we can't have an entire army doing the escort, so four men were with us. It was as if two of them were assigned to each of us. We'd always kept a low profile, so I doubted anyone noticed us." 

"But then—"

"He snuck out." She cut me off. 

"Why did he do that?" I asked. Things started to become a messy puzzle for me that I couldn't put the pieces together. 

"We took a detour when coming here, making our journey take longer than the usual route. We didn't travel through Gantrick because it'd already fallen under Iory's hand. That means spies could be everywhere. For the safe side, Valdemir had us take another route. The long journey fretted Ralph. Not to mention the slow process because of my pregnancy. Even though he didn't say anything, I could tell that he was anxious. It was even worse when he heard the news that you returned to Zariya."

"What did you say?" My body jolted at this shocking news. I was no longer sitting on the ground but knelt like before. 

"When we were halfway to Ascian, we heard a rumor that the wedding of the queen of Zariya and the prince of Izles would resume soon. Ralph was scared when he heard this. He thought Iory had captured you." 

"It doesn't make sense. How could he capture me? I already explained everything in the second letter, didn't I? I wrote that I'd stay in Ascian and train to become a warrior. I'd be under Valdemir's protection. Besides, Ralph knew that Ascian was a secret kingdom that no one knew. He also knew that outsiders could never invade it. There was no way Iory's men could capture me. This must be that jerk's plan. He wanted to lure you out." I gritted my teeth in exasperation when reminded of my so-called ex-fiance. I'd never thought he could come up with such an evil trick. That guy must be a reincarnation of a devil. 

"Well, about that…" she trailed off. The look on her face showed she hesitated to say the next things. 

"What is it, sister-in-law?" I prompted her. "Please. Say what you have to say. I need to know everything. What made Ralph fall for this trick? He'd always been a sensible person."

"Your brother and I didn't believe this at first. But after discussing with each other, we have our doubts. You'd always been pampered since you were born. There was not a day that you'd experienced hardships. Now that Valdemir put you in that situation, we thought you couldn't endure it. We thought—" 

"You thought I ran away?" I cut her off. 

"Yes." She nodded. 

I sighed. Not that I could blame them for thinking like this. If going back to the old me from a few months ago, I really would have run away. There was no way I would put myself in these situations: sweated from head to toe, wore plain clothes, got callouses on my hands, and was bullied by some mean werewolf girls. The old me would never last a day. 

But things were different now. 

I'd committed to change for the sake of Zariya's people, my brother's family, and, of course, myself. From the second I accepted Valdemir's condition to become his servant, I already dropped the queen status out of my head. There was no gain without pain. I'd do everything in my power to better myself. 

This was the new me. 

However, Ralph and Lydia didn't know this. I meant, I already told them in the letter. But they didn't see with their own eyes how I made progress. The last thing they remembered about me was the spoiled Laelia Adelaide, princess of Zariya. 

"So, what happened next?" I asked, waiting to hear the rest of the story about how Ralph got captured. 

"He was depressed. He could neither eat nor sleep. I knew he was weighing between going to you and staying with me. He didn't want to leave me alone with our unborn child. But another part of him was thinking about your safety." 

"Ralph…" I murmured his name. I couldn't fathom the depth of his difficulties at that time. He must've had a hard time deciding since one was his sister and another was his wife. 

"This was where I was at fault," said Lydia in a low voice. 

"How could all of this be your fault, sister-in-law? You're overthinking things."  

"You don't understand. I was the one who talked him into it. I helped him sneak out. All of this wouldn't have happened if I didn't do that. He'd have made it here with me safely." She lowered her head. 

"What do you mean?" I tilted my head to the side in confusion. 

"I encouraged him to go to you. I told him that I'd be alright since King Valdemir's men were with me. So, we decided to part ways. I'd be coming here with the escorts while he went to Zariya alone to check if the news was true." 

"Wait. There were four guys. Why didn't you take two each? Or maybe you took three, and Ralph took one? Why did he have to go alone?" I asked. 

"Because they didn't agree to let your brother leave. They said King Valdemir asked them to bring us straight to Ascian. Even when Ralph explained the situation, they refused to yield. They said if we wanted to do it, they had to ask their king first. Still, your brother's patience was running low. So, we came up with a plan. He snuck out when I distracted the men. Don't you see it, Lae? I-I… I was the one who made him fall into this tragedy. I-it.. it was me." She choked on her words as tears formed in her eyes again. 

Now I understood why she said that it was her fault. Taking a deep breath, I squeezed her hands, hoping it would reassure her. "Sister-in-law, don't blame yourself. You weren't in the wrong. You were only trying to ease my brother's emotional suffering. He couldn't decide what to do, but you gave him a push. You showed a selfless decision by telling him to come and save me. It isn't what every wife can do, sending her husband away like this." 

She lifted her head and looked at me with a tear-stained face. "Are you not going to blame me?" 

"Blame you?" My voice came out in surprise. "Why would I blame you? In fact, I should be the one to thank you. Even in such a dangerous situation, you still care about me more than yourself. That explained why you chose to let my brother come to Zariya while you traveled with Valdemir's men alone. Sister-in-law, your kind heart never fails to amaze me." I moved closer and put my head in her hands. "Thank you so much." 

"No. Thank you, Lae. For not blaming me." She patted my head gently, just like what my late mother had always done. It almost brought tears to my eyes, but I held back. 

"Don't worry, sister-in-law. I'll discuss with Valdemir and come up with a plan to help Ralph." I lifted my head and looked at her with a smile. "Iory won't hurt Ralph. He had no reason to kill him. He just wanted to use him to draw me out." 

"Yes. King Valdemir said so, too. Still, if anything happened to him, I'd never forgiven myself. I'd…. I'd…" She broke down again. 

I knew we were in a tough situation. Still, I found Lydia seemed to cry so easily today. From what I'd remembered, she wasn't like this before. I wasn't sure, but I guessed it was pregnancy hormones. I needed to do something.

"Please. Don't cry, sister-in-law. It isn't good for the baby. I know it's hard to smile at a time like this. Still, you have to. Only when the mother is happy can the baby be healthy. I believe my brother doesn't want to see you sad like this. Besides, crying can bring wrinkles to your face. If he returned and saw them, he'd scold me for not taking good care of his wife." I smiled, hoping for her to smile back since she'd always done whenever people smile at her. 

However, what I got was something unexpected. 

Instead of curving her lips into her smile, her brows furrowed. Then, she squeezed my hands tightly that I couldn't help but yelp in pain. 

"Ouch. Not so hard, sister-in-law. You'll break my hands," I joked, thinking she was teasing me. 

"Lae, it's my stomach," said Lydia through gritted teeth. "It hurts."

"W-what?" I widened my eyes in terror. In this situation, we should call for a doctor, right? But as far as I remembered, Lumina told me that no one here was practicing medicine since werewolves could heal themselves. What should I do?  

That's right. Valdemir is waiting outside. I'll ask for his help. A thought popped up in my head. I knew it'd be weird to go to a man for this problem, but I had no choice. After all, Lumina wasn't here. 

"Sister-in-law, please wait here. I'll go get Valdemir," I said and turned around. But when I was about to run toward the door, he was already next to me since who-know-when. It was as if he knew I needed his help. "Valdemir?" I blinked in surprise. 

"No time to lose. We need to hurry." He rushed to Lydia's side and scooped her up in his arms. "Come." 

We dashed out of the greenhouse with me running close behind. "Where are you taking her? I thought there was no doctor in Ascian." 

"No," he said. "But there is someone who knows how to treat almost all kinds of injuries."  

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©️StellaKMary | The Princess And Her Alpha Bodyguard

A/N: In case you've forgotten, Iory's kingdom is called Izles. xD Btw, another old but new character will be introduced in the next chapter.