Revenge of The Dragon Princess

#6 The Warning

One soldier dragged the young man, assuming he was the attacker, and the princess has somehow hurt him while he was attacking her. Just as they had yanked him a bit, he flipped, wrapping his bloodied hand around the soldier's neck. The move was so sudden that the soldier did not see it coming.

When the soldier tried to free himself from the clutches, the young man immediately strangled the soldier. The young man took out his dagger, placing it at the soldier's waist. The guy still looked injured, but he had a frown on his face. It was as if he was sparing all of them for dragging him a little while ago. They should be grateful towards him and not even in their imagination try to hurt him. It would be fatal otherwise.

Everyone gasped at the sudden change of events. From where did this young man get so much strength? Wasn't he crawling on the floor now? Perhaps he was a trained assassin, prepared all his life for such events. The pain could have been a dupe all along to distract everyone from his real motives. Chaos erupted, leading to murmurs and whispers.

Other soldiers were alert by then and circled him in an attacking position. They were anxious, but they were duty-bound. Some surrounding men hooted to kill the young man while a few women closed their eyes already.

Scarlett was too scared of the activities going on and could speak nothing. The attack shocked her and what was happening to his savior. It was all too fast for her to process and react. She wanted to tell it was this young man who saved her life, but she felt too exhausted even to utter a single word. She was already feeling dizzy. Everything was happening quickly.

Just then, Hilda arrived at the pot of chaos. She hurried to Scarlett’s side, holding her arms to give her some support. She asked some servants nearby to fetch Scarlett some water and inform the Emperor if the news of his beloved daughter getting attacked has already not reached him.

Finding her aunt beside her, Scarlett found some confidence. She tried and successfully overcame her nausea, regaining her composure. Scarlett glanced at the charged soldiers surrounding her savior. She asked the soldiers to leave the young man immediately, her voice coming feeble rather than her clear, loud one. It shocked everyone who could hear her! Why was the princess willing to save her assassin? Did they make some mistake in recognizing him?

After hearing Scarlett's meek voice, Hilda finally took a good look towards the young man. She was too furious with what she saw! How dare they presume him to be the assassin? They were lucky he had spared them all for falsely accusing him of something so heinous!

“Leave him now!” Hilda commanded the guards, grabbing everyone’s attention. She was loud, clear, and fierce while ordering the soldiers, unlike Scarlett.

Her aunt's reaction surprised Scarlett. She wondered if her aunt knew the young man from before. There was no hesitation like others. It was like Hilda was certain this man could never commit something like that. She adored the young man as if he was not capable of such evil. Before Scarlett, or as a matter of fact, anyone else could raise any concern, a butler announced the emperor's arrival.

The soldiers laid down their weapons in confusion, but they were ready to impose even with the slightest movement. They were waiting for the emperor's final say on this matter before actually releasing the fellow. The young man put down his knife as well. But he was more casual.

The emperor was in a hurry to check if his beloved daughter was fine. Until then, he did not respond to anyone's request, pleads, or recommendations. Once he felt fully satisfied that Scarlett was not physically hurt, he sighed. Being an emperor of such a powerful kingdom, he was not in luxury to show too much concern and fatherly love out in open. People would get an idea of his weakness and might use it against him. And he needed to be more careful when Scarlett was involved. So, he quickly composed his overwhelming feelings, beginning the inquiry to get to the bottom of the matter. It was treason and punishable by death to harm an imperial.

“What happened?” The first person he wanted to ask was Scarlett.

Scarlett felt nervous. She did not want to say why she was here. Scarlett sighed, trying to control her nerves. She skipped that part where she has to explain why she was in such a lonely corridor. She spoke only about what was relevant and how the young man everyone assumed to be the attacker has actually saved her life.

“Someone attacked me from behind. This brave man saved my life, father.” Scarlett acknowledged.

Whispers erupted from Scarlett's statement. Most of them were sure that the young lad was the assassin, especially the brawny princes, who were full of ego. It still managed to baffle the few of them who had heard the Princess earlier with the whole scenario.

The Emperor did not pay any heed to the murmurs of people around them. Their opinions hardly mattered to him, anyway. If his cherished daughter concluded that the young man was brave and saved her, then he believed it was the truth.

The only question that arose in the emperor's mind was if this guy was not the culprit, then who was it. His blood boiled while thinking that the original assassin escaped swiftly and is roaming freely. How slack is their security to begin? He will have to take care of that matter later. The attack was on his youngest daughter and that too inside the castle. Whoever was the enemy was sending clear fulmination messages with this attempt that it was powerful. It will not be easy to deal with the threat. The emperor frowned. He only hoped it was someone he knew rather than some unknown enemy or the impending menace he wanted to believe was false all along.

“Didn’t you hear her? Release the boy and take care of his wound.” The emperor ordered vehemently.

The emperor ordered everyone to leave and go back to what they were doing. He and Hilda accompanied Scarlett to her room. She was still scared and recovering.

Once they made sure Scarlett was asleep, Hilda had a questioning, and 'I told you so-' look on her grimaced face. He knew what Hilda was thinking. It was time for them to have some serious discussion. It was probably time. Ignoring it was certainly not acting on his favors. He had tried to evade even talking about this topic for years. Hilda was the only one who believed the threat was real, while he wanted to put a blind eye. He preferred to maintain what they do not see, or have not heard from centuries, can not be reliable. But he was wrong. It's all started now with this attack.

The Draconian knife was an indisputable message that can not get ignored!

They left to discuss somewhere, where even the walls would turn a deaf ear.