211 Marry Me!

AUTHOR'S POV

It's past dinner when Stellan called it a night as he toss his black armor on the floor. His entire fleet of men fell on their backs with extreme exhaustion as soon as he left the training grounds. They were all set to wake at early dawn to continue the torturous training, making them all feel anxious if Stellan would still act the same way as today.

Stellan intentionally skipped meeting his parents at dinner, and proceeded to his room straightaway. For a while, he sat in his balcony looking at the cloudy night sky abounded with fog. How could the weather purportedly show exactly how he feels, he thought. Tossing his shirt on the floor, the servants were preparing his dinner in his receiving chambers while his butler, Radovid, is preparing the bath. "Leave", he said, coldly… despite the servants aren't done yet.

Then, he walked into his bath and stared at his reflection in the mirror. All he sees is a failure and a pathetic man who let himself lose the only woman who makes himself whole. As his rage consume him, he mindlessly smashed the mirror with his fist as it break into pieces. Now, he thinks that his reflection in the shattered pieces of glass is the rightful depiction of how broken he is. He didn't mind the throbbing pain in his fist, not even the dripping blood tainting the marbled floor.

Barenaked, Stellan went into the shower area and opened the water faucet as he let the water cool down the heat of anger growing in him. He tried to wash off his pain, as he sniveled his heartache. For the first time, he shed a bucket of tears for a woman. Tears only for Helena.

Stellan used the soap with the same exact scent which Helena used back in Brandenburg. He remembered how the fresh scent of roses imbue in the entire room everytime she's there. It was so calming that he had to get the same fragrance for himself. And then he realized it was not the scent that he get addicted with… it was actually Helena alone.

As he was about to finish rinsing off all the slippery feeling of soap on his skin, a pair of hands suddenly caressed his broad back. He turned and grabbed the intruder's slender arms that startled her making her gasp. Princess Eirah who's completely naked entered Stellan's chambers with a plan to join him in his bath.

"What are you doing here?", Stellan grunted with furrowed brows as he grasp Eirah's arms tightly.

"How long have I waited for this", her soft eyes gaze at Stellan, as she boldly bare it all for the paladin knight. She attempted to rub her nakedness on Stellan's body, but the paladin knight positively rejects the advances of the princess.

"Princess Eirah please. Get out or I will", Stellan said as he let go.

"Why don't you accept me? Am I not worthy? Am I not beautiful in your eyes? Why don't you love me as I do love you?", Eirah rested her small hands on Stellan's hard chest. However, she only received cold stares from him, freezing as the water running on her fair skin.

"Please do not humiliate yourself more. The marriage deal is over when I accepted the task to Caluso. You know that", Stellan removed her hands on his chest as he cut off the water faucet. Walking out of the shower area, he took a clean white towel and dried himself at once, and tied it around his waist.

"But the King is dead!! There's no way that's still valid enough to be cancelled..", Eirah blatantly embraced Stellan's back. "I love you Stellan, marry me!", she plead.

"Would you like to be married to a man who'd only treat you as garbage?", he asked without moving.

"You will learn to love me", Eirah tightened her embrace around Stellan's waist.

Stellan held Eirah's wrists and faced her. He met her bawling eyes with her lips trembling uncontrollably. "Eirah, I'll never see your value, and never will I appreciate your worth. You will always look nothing to me. So, save yourself from more humiliation, and leave my room or better yet, leave the castle of Hesam", Stellan coldly said as he leave the privy, letting go of her wrists. He stepped out of the bath, and met the eyes of Alesso who's taking a bite of an apple.

"We came as soon as we're... oh you're busy", Alesso was taken aback when Stellan came out of the bath, followed by Princess Eirah who's completely drenched in water wearing only a thin long laced robe.

"He's not", Vesta blinked her eyes a few times, standing by the door. "Princess", she nodded at the princess with red eyes and flushed skin. Embarassed, the princess lowered her gaze and left the room hurriedly without looking back.

"Don't ask", Stellan put on his clean set of shirt and trousers. Then, dried his hair with a towel. A loud slam on the door made Alesso and Vesta figure out what just happened between the princess and Stellan.

"Okay, welcome back. I think you forgot to shave", Alesso jumped on Stellan's ebony canopy bed covered with scarlet sheets. Gladdened to see Stellan cope with a missing piece in his life, Stellan looked better than the last time saw him.

"And get a haircut", Vesta leaned against the wall with her hands inside her pockets. Being friends with Stellan for a long time, she could tell that this is the lowest of low she have seen him.

Stellan sat in the corner where his dinner was served. It has turned cold as it has been waiting in his bedchambers for a while. "What's the plan?", Stellan sipped his glass of wine and took a piece of grape from his plate. He knew that these two would not simply barge in together just to tell him to shave and get a haircut.

"Umbriel, Atrius and Jac are kept deep in the palace with extremely high security, day and night. No visitors can go in. It is believed that some soul travelers are also imprisoned there. We need a distraction to get them out", Alesso straightforwardly said.

"You missed one. Where's Ottis?", Stellan asked, as he spat out the cold bite of meat.

"Ottis is not with them. He was never captured", Alesso shook his head.

"What about Celeste?", Stellan squinted his eyes mentioning the name who buried them in the ice.

"She never came back. But there's this creepy girl named Cintra who's now the high priestess", Vesta casted her doubts on the real identity of the new high priestess.

"Wiccan? I thought they're extinct", Stellan supposed.

"Well, Freya escaped so, maybe this girl escaped too. Do you think she's Celeste?", Vesta assumed.

"You tell me", Stellan put the cover of his unfinished meal back. "That sorceress? Anything is possible".

"Celeste or not, Galen has a witch beside him… which makes him capable of doing a lot things. Including war.", Alesso sat at the edge of the bed. He opposes to start a war as what Galen ordered.

"I'll deal with Vierme. I'm not in the mood for war too. King Desmun communicated several times for peace. Galen is too thirsty for blood these days", Vesta said.

"Galen knows something. He's been searching for all women with gray eyes. It only means that Helena is still alive out there, and she's here in Nether.", Alesso gazed at Stellan who's eyes stared back at him hearing Helena's name.

"He is?", Stellan asked, as he feel as if Galen is one step closer in finding Helena.

"Galen wants to be entertained? Well, we'll let him see what he wants to see. Let's be discrete as much as possible, there's a dark healer roaming anyway. But first, let's find a way to get Umbriel, Jac and Atrius out", Alesso explained, tossing the apple to Vesta.

"They got eyes on us. There's this black bird hovering around wherever we go. Let the rats talk, the faster the better", Vesta planned, leaving the the apple on the table.