Sold to the Dark Lord

09| Someone to Rely On

Arabelle sat in the corner of the room hugging her knees. She looked so restless, her face puffy with eyes reddened from crying. Arabelle always gasped in shock and fear whenever someone knocked on the door. Everything that happened in the palace kitchen this afternoon was running around in her head and not going away in Arabelle's memory, the nails of the teenage werewolf girl who wanted to pounce on her were so sharp, the stifled growls echoed in her ears.

Her heart beat much faster, "Awsh..." She pressed her chest tightly.

Meanwhile, outside, Renha was seen pacing frantically because Arabelle did not open the door. Besides being afraid of being scolded by Alex for being incompetent as a servant to the King's woman, she also felt worried about Arabelle's condition, who had considered her as a friend.

Renha felt sad when Arabelle felt scared of her and ran, then locked herself in the room.

"How is this? It's already late but Arabelle still doesn't want to go out of the room." Renha looked distraught. "She must not have eaten anything since this afternoon."

Renha looked towards the king's room, which was at the end of the second floor hallway, then sighed. "His Majesty hasn't shown up either."

She looked at the other servants who had been accompanying her on standby in front of Arabelle's room.

"What?" The servant said.

"You stay here and persuade Lady Arabelle, okay? I'll look for His Majesty's whereabouts. We can't just stay like this," Renha said.

The servant looked unenthused, "You're serving her too seriously. She's not our kind, she's human."

Renha glared at her, "Shh! Don't talk carelessly. If His Majesty hears, you'll be in trouble. Besides, Arabelle is a good person. Our job is to serve her, so don't act up." She said warningly.

"Alright, hurry back. It's very late, I want to sleep." The servant said.

Renha ran to find Alexander. Even if she had to go around the palace, she would do it if necessary. Arabelle's condition had been weak since fainting this afternoon and was very shaken, locking herself up like this was not good. Moreover, there was no food or water available in her room.

With the energy left from working hard since morning, Renha approached the meeting room to find nothing. Alex was not there. None of the guards who passed by knew where their king was. Very frustrating.

"Where else should I look for him...?" Renha stopped to catch her breath on the back terrace of the palace. "I've looked for him in almost all the places he usually goes, but- the library. Yes, the library! I haven't looked there. Ah, how stupid I am... How could I forget about that one place." She hurriedly went there.

Renha kept hoping Alex was there. She had forgotten that her king liked to read books, it was not uncommon for him to escape from boring gatherings and hide in the library for hours.

***

"Argh! Shit." Alex closed the thick book in front of him. "These books aren't helping," he complained.

There wasn't a single book that talked about rituals for curse removal. He only breathed hope when he found Arabelle, but he was stuck again because he didn't know how it worked. No one knows.

What should he do to Arabelle to make the curse that he got 20 years ago disappear? He was so sick struggling with this.

Alex closed his eyes and let the memories of the past pull him. No matter how bad the memories were, Alex felt that he deserved them.

The image of Caroline feeling lonely in this ruthless palace made Alex feel guilty. If they hadn't accepted the arranged marriage and ended up in a bland pseudo-marriage, none of these bad things would have happened.

In the middle of the blows of the past, Alex was startled by a knock on the door. Since the distance to the door was quite far and he was too lazy to speak or shout from inside, Alex chose to get up from his chair and open the door himself.

The door opened and revealed Renha. She was out of breath with messy hair from running around.

"Your Majesty," Renha bowed respectfully.

"What's wrong?"

"M-my Lady... L- Lady Arabelle still hasn't come out of the room since this afternoon," she informed him.

Alex noticed, and nodded. "So, what?"

Renha was flabbergasted, what an unexpected response. "But she hadn't eaten anything. Last time she looked really scared."

"She'll get used to it." Alex was about to go back inside, but Renha again begged him to check on Arabelle.

With a courage that she didn't know where it came from, Renha held the library door with her foot as a wedge.

"You want to get yourself into trouble?" Alex looked angry.

"Whatever you want to do, please do it after confirming Arabelle's condition. I beg you, Your Majesty. Her body is already very weak, it's not good to let her lock herself up without food or water," Renha begged.

Exhausting. Alex felt that his efforts to remove the curse had become even more burdensome in his life, he had so many things to do.

"It's also Lady Ramisha Agra's fault. If she had not locked My Lady in the palace kitchen with a staff that suddenly turned into her wolf's side and almost pounced on her, this wouldn't have happened. She wouldn't have been so shocked and scared." Said Renha, who could not bear to hide the truth. She didn't care whether the kitchen staff would be fired or not, they had to take responsibility.

"What? You should tell me, I ask you to report everything that happened to Arabelle." Alex's mind denied it. But, considering the strangeness between the two in the dining room, this afternoon was suspicious. They didn't even introduce themselves to each other and apparently something had happened before.

Alex rubbed his face, frustrated. "So, that's what made Arabelle faint?"

Renha nodded, "How come Your Majesty didn't find out the reason Arabelle was in deep shock from the Physician earlier?"

Alex couldn't even accompany Arabelle until the examination was over because he had to rush to lunch with Ramisha. Stupid, how could something like this be overlooked?

"Does Your Majesty still not want to check Arabelle?" Renha asked, "The night is getting late, we-"

"You may go. I'll go check on her," Alex said.

Renha took her leave. Now, she could rest assured that her king would take over. Even if he had to break the door with the power of his body as the strongest Alpha, then no one would be blamed for property damage.

"You should check her now, Your Majesty. She needs someone to rely on. You brought her here," Renha didn't care whether her words were offensive or not.

Alex sighed heavily, "If I didn't need her, I wouldn't have to bring her to this kingdom and bother to ensure her safety."