Once A Princess, Now A Slave

49

Kelsie's POV

My thoughts were wondering. I am in the forest and my eyes are darting at nowhere. Should I tell Connor? He is already an alpha and it is his responsibility to keep everyone safe.

‘But the guy named Kleo did not do anything and just brought and just handed me a letter,' my subconscious said.

‘But he still sneaked in! If he managed to get in without the Scouts and Sentinels realizing it, then it means that the pack's security can be easily breached. This kind of problem is supposed to be known by the Alpha!’ said the other part of my brain.

"Arghhh!" I pulled my hair out of frustration and shake my head.

A girl walked past me with a bunch of different herbal plants in her hands. She's hugging them as if someone might steal them from her as she watches me mindlessly yank my hair.

I silently cleared my throat, removed my hands from my hair, and fixed my stance. I comb my hair with my fingers and innocently walk away with my chin held up high.

I studied the ambiance of the place. When I sensed that she was no longer on my radar, I took a peek at her by glancing at my shoulder.

She's gone. I sighed.

I need to concentrate on the test. I know this is just an easy one, but still, I shouldn't be complacent.

Look at what those brainless peeps did! They hoard the garden and maybe even the whole forest. I just hope the officials have a backup plan for this.

I decided to pick up the herbs for the cough and cold first. I chose to find thyme and raw honey. I know the ingredients that I choose for my cough and cold are hard to find. Thyme is a small herbal plant. I mean, most herbal plants are small, but thymes are not only small. They are also thin and almost invisible to the n***d eye when searching for them among groups of plants. On the other hand, raw honey is easy to find, but hard to harvest. I should have brought some safety garments with me.

I noticed some of the test takers are strolling and searching by a group.

I sigh and shrugged my shoulder. ‘I can do this alone.’ I just want to get this done.

I stroll the forest for about ten minutes and saw a small group of herbal plants. My eyes lit up. I guess the officials made a garden of herbal plants here in the middle of the forest for the test. I've been here most of the time since I was a kid and I never saw a group of herbal plants planted where they are right now.

I quickly approach it. I saw that the place where they are planted is handmade. I can still see how they gradually made the rectangular box for the other plants to not crawl in their place.

My eyes caught the Thyme and grabbed a handful of it-- just enough for a cup of cold and cough. Next, I saw a honey hive hanging on a not-so-tall tree. I went to it. I saw a small bee swirling and buzzing around its house.

"Shoot!" I whisper to myself. I just realize I don’t have a cup or a container to get my honey.

I bite my lower lip while watching the bee guarding its house. I know there are several bees inside but that's not my primary concern. I look around to search for a large leaf that can hold my ingredients. Luckily, this is a forest with a wide variety of plants. It became easy for me. I walk towards the tall plant that has a bowl-shaped leaf. I pulled out two leaves and rush back to the bee hive. I pick up a stick to scrape a honeycomb.

"This looks delicious!" I said as I successfully get a portion of the honeycomb from the hive.

My eyes glittered in amusement. I got a large portion and I am aware that this is too much for a cup of tea so I decided to take a bite.

I nod my head in a form of satisfaction as the honey melts in my mouth.

"It tastes good," I commented.

Now that I already completed my ingredients. I decided to grab the herbs that I'll use for mild wounds. One thing pops into my mind. Whenever I have minor wounds, I always prefer cold treatments. It either I will take a cold shower and put on a band-aid after, or I'll grab a towel and wrap a cube of ice to gently pat it on the wounded area. But since we are talking about herbs here, I think aloe vera will do. That's the only herb that I can easily find here in the forest plus, it has a soothing effect!

Aloe Veras are usually planted in a pot. It did not take me long to find them. I grabbed three big stripes.

I don't have a watch with me but I am certain that it did not take me an hour to grab all the things I needed.

I got back to the quarters and notice that almost all of them are already there. Some are already starting to make their medicines while others are still separating the herbs that they will be using.

I went to my place and mentally shake my head.

If they just thought of what plants will they use first, then maybe they won't have a hard time right now. Plus, it was too time-consuming.

I pick a wooden bowl placed on the table in front of me and started doing my test.

"Wow, that's smart!"

I lift my head and saw Veya on the table, my stepsister. They are smiling at each other. I do not know what Veya is complimenting since I can only see my stepsister grinding the turmeric with a mortar and pestle.

"What's so smart about that," I whispered while mixing all the ingredients for my tea.

I stopped stirring the wooded spoon when I realized that I said my thoughts out loud.

'Oops.'

Some of the test takers that are near me definitely heard what I said. Their heads turned in my direction. I acted as if I cannot sense them and continued what I am doing. Luckily, all of us are bust to even engage in drama. However, luck was never on my side.

"What did you say, princess?"

The way she utters 'princess' is full of mockery and disgust.

I lift my head and meet her blazing eyes. Everyone around us stopped as they watch Veya walking towards me. She stopped right in front of me. We have the same height. Our faces leveled.

Her eyebrow twitched and her forehead crumpled.

"I still haven't forgotten what you did to my sister, b*tch," she uttered, enough for the two of us to hear.

Confusion became evident on my face. What the hell is she talking about?

I stare into her face. I tilt my head, trying to think of where and when I had an interaction with her aside from this day.

Suddenly, a scene pops into my head. No wonder why she’s familiar to me. Her sister, Vera, the one that talked crap behind my back. I once confronted her and made her my shooting target as I use my arrows for training.

“Ohh… so Vera is your sister,” I stated the obvious.

Veya smirked with no humor. She crosses her arms over her chest while her eyes darted at me, blazing with fire.

“Good thing you remember the girl you bullied!” her voice slightly raise, getting the attention of some people around us.

I scoff. “Excuse you? Your sister was the one who bullied me. I just fought back,” I replied.

Veya seems nice at first. She smiles a lot and moved with class and formality. I thought she may be different. But now that she’s unveiling her true colors, I realized that people in this pack definitely dislike me. I bet I can only count on my fingers for those people who want my presence near them.

“Really? Then tell that to everyone who saw my sister get traumatized. She doesn’t even want to get out of her room because you embarrassed her!” I notice in my peripheral vision that some even stopped what they are doing to watch us argue.

‘Ohh, why would I forget that drama is the top most entertaining thing on this pack?’

“She embarrassed herself. Stop blaming me. Your sister brought it to herself.”

I know she’s annoyed and probably hurt by what happened to her sister. But she can’t fully blame me. What does she want me to do? Let her sister bully me?

Veya quietly looks around, observing if people are still watching. Her chest is rising up and down as she tries to calm herself down.

She advances towards me. Her lips are pressed together but I can sense the gritting of her teeth behind them.

“We’re not yet done…” she once again made a step forward until we closed the small gap between us. “I will make sure you won’t pass this test,” she whispered, enough for the both of us to hear.

She withdraws from me and turns her back and walks away. I shoot a brow up. I know she’s mad but isn’t it unprofessional for her to threaten me that she will sabotage my test just to get her revenge?

I wonder what she’ll do. This may not be my field of expertise, but I know what I am doing.

I shake my head as I watch her back while walking away from me.

People will always gather the wood and pour gas on it and put the full blame on you when you lit it with fire.

I mean, if you can start it, then why are they upset once I finished it?

Tss. Poor girls. Good thing I know how to stand up for myself. Imagine getting bullied every day and you’re scared to fight back. Ugh! That’s the kind of life I will never live in.

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Unedited. English is not my first language. My apologies for the grammar, sentence construction, and wrong spelling.

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Once A Princess, Now A Slave

By: Joanne Cristel

©2023