“I told you not to enter my room!” His voice, while not quite a shout, was loud enough in the small room to echo. The raven flittered its wings as it jumped.
Closing my eyes, I touched my forehead. Why was he so distraught? Why was my entering his room in the middle of the day so terrible that this, of all things, was what got him to kick me out?
I froze. I’d entered his room, hadn’t I? It was improper—and a huge infringement of his privacy. The very act I’d been so abhorred by. Though I still felt he was overreacting, I had to remind myself that Shao was as unsocialized as a human could get.
Meaning to apologize, I opened my mouth—
“You lot are all the same,” Shao muttered, taking a forceful, threatening step towards me as he straightened his back. I flinched away.
Oh, I’d heard that line so, so many times.
Always from jeering, taunting nobles—filthy, twisted nobles.
At that moment, Shao’s face layered under the sneers of all the bullies and wicked nobles I’d ever met, and I wanted to throw up.
“Oh, and you think you’re not?” I said because he’d just confirmed what I should have known all along.
He was just like all the other nobles, and he’d take every opportunity to mock me before abandoning his promise to save Father. I was here not for companionship, but for entertainment in the form of humiliation.
If the raven could carry letters back and forth, perhaps the real reason the beast had been cooped up in his room for so long and refusing to see me had been so he could devise some trap with his blueblood friends to best shame me. Or perhaps he was waiting until they arrived, so they could all mock me together.
(But then why was he letting me go?)
(A last-minute pang of guilt? I didn’t know, and I realized it didn’t matter.)
Shao crinkled his brows. “What are you—”
“Don’t you dare plead ignorance,” I seethed. “What’s the real reason you invited me here?”
“What does it matter when I’m kicking you out?” Pinching his forehead, he heaved a sigh. “Please. Just go.”
I huffed, and it took every cell in my body to keep myself from stomping my foot as I pivoted around.
Though I fought to contain my tears, I couldn’t keep my voice from wavering. “You’re the worst, and I don’t know why I bothered to try trusting you.”
I heard an offended grumble behind me, but I paid it no heed as I rushed out. The last few words I heard: “You dare insult me? I’m the one who—”
Whatever.
He could feign ignorance and offense however much he wished, but it was meaningless.
I’d been a stupid idiot for trusting him.
My gait accelerated to a sprint, as I couldn’t bear to spend even a second longer in this house with all the reminders of my idiocy, and I clutched my letters for dear life, only to be blocked by the gates.
For a moment, I gaped at the towering gates, fearful that I had to climb it again, and I grunted as I reached out to grip the bars with my free hand—so I could bang my head against it.
Instead, a strangled yelp tore out of me as the gates rushed open from my touch, causing me to almost lose my balance. My back arched painfully as I dangled from the hand attached to the bar, my feet dragging behind me like I were being pulled by horses for some unforgivable crime.
Finally managing to regain my balance, I coughed unceremoniously and pat the dirt from my dress. I swallowed, then glanced back towards the mansion’s door.
Okay. Good. Shao wasn’t anywhere behind me to laugh at that embarrassing situation.
I chastised myself for suspecting he would be. He may have wished to humiliate me, but he’d let me go, so why would he be chasing after me? It wasn’t like he could have expected I’d embarrass myself like this.
What, had I wanted him to chase after me or something?
Of course not.
My breath long and wavering, I took a final glance at the field of golden roses as I continued my run. Even if the nobles wouldn’t pay a handsome sum for them, I still wanted to risk it—and to spite Shao by stealing them.
Surely, he couldn’t jump down from his room, shattering his window, to chase after me if I snatched some and ran…
I didn’t know what stopped me.
The knowledge that such an action was futile? That Shao was likely right, and the nobles would likely disappear me rather than part with any of their treasured coins?
That had never stopped me before.
If anything, I’d never even get to the nobles. My family lived in a desperate, starving neighborhood, and any of the townsfolk who saw would have risked anything to reach the roses first if they found out, including attacking me to steal it for them.
But I could be secretive.
What was the reason, then?
The way Shao had seemed so genuinely destroyed over the thought of any golden roses being plucked?
Impossible! Why would I care about that?
There must have been another reason behind my guilt and my unwillingness to move forward three steps to snatch a cursed rose.
A reason I couldn’t think of… yet, but it had to be a good one.
My subconscious must have been warning me for a reason.
Suppressing a sigh, I began turning back to the forest—then had the misfortune of noticing a rust-dripped window on the second floor.
Where Shao stood close behind, his eyes crinkled and his lips shaking.
From laughter, no doubt.
How long had he been laughing at my unfortunate slip?!
Heat flushed up my cheeks and this time, I actually did stomp my foot in frustration, desperately wanting to tell him off but unsure how since he couldn’t hear me.
With a heavy swallow, I turned back and ran away far faster than I’d ever thought possible, unwilling to regale Shao any further with more stupid acts.
The forest enveloped me with its trees within seconds, and I suppressed a shiver when it grew dark, the trees’ foliage blocking much of the afternoon sunlight.
Taking note of the footsteps I’d followed to the mansion, I ran after them and soon reached the small clearing where the carriage had parked. It would be easy to return home; I only had to take care to follow the imprints in the ground of the horses’ hooves and the carriage’s wheels.
Alas, if it were that easy, who wouldn’t have made it to the beast’s mansion for his roses?
Whether from nature’s evil designs or the driver’s protective intentions—I strongly suspected the latter, considering his career depended on his master’s survival—the tracks had been brushed away. Shortly past the clearing, the signs of man and horse grew nonexistent.
The paths, however, were endless; I felt as though I were in a maze of trees, each of them as likely as the next to lead me to my doom and destruction and death.
Hugging myself, I felt goosebumps all over my skin, which I refused to acknowledge. My pace was slow and deliberate now as I ambled around, my back hunched so I could peer closer at the ground, trying to discern the best path.
But all my efforts were worthless, and I screamed at myself mentally about how I’d dared to fall asleep on the carriage ride rather than fighting to memorize every path taken.
It was too late now.
I considered returning to the mansion to demand Shao fetch me the driver, but my unfortunate, uncharacteristic surge of pride—particularly following my inconvenient tumble at the gates—kept me far, far away.
Having no choice but to continue, I consoled myself with the fact that people had lived to return from the forest to tell the tale of the golden roses.
With how popular the roses were with their disgustingly inflated price, I had a strong suspicion I’d come across numerous other hunters.
All I needed to do was make enough noise while trying to escape that one of them approached me, assuming I was the beast or something.
I’d convince them to help a poor, stranded girl home.
/>
Chapter 7
My legs soon grew too tired for me to continue running, and since I didn't see a need to, I hummed as I trekked around the forest, looking and listening for evidence of anyone else.
Yet all I saw were the occasional footprints of wolves and small creatures, which scared me, although—whether by luck or divine interference—I hadn't yet come across any dangerous beasts.
I saw several rabbits, deer, and birds, however.
And heard them, too.
Every time I heard rustling in a bush, a rattling caw high in the sky, or heavy pelting against the ground, I'd clutched the nearest tree branch for support, my breaths freezing in my chest.
But they'd revealed only harmless creatures or nothing… for now.
I considered shutting up and hiding in a tree or something, in case my humming lured the ravenous wolves to me—their easy target.
But if I did that, I'd lose the single method I had to help lure any humans towards me, too, and I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to get home.
As the time passed, my stomach dropped, and my heart plummeted with fear I'd never make it out.
I couldn't make it back to Shao's mansion either to humiliate myself by begging him to help me home. I'd been traveling too long. Grass carpeted most of the ground, and the few patches of dirt weren't damp enough for new footprints.
Fearful that if I stopped, I'd fall asleep and make myself even easier prey to wild beasts, I continued my worthless travel until I reached a strange patch of endless towering trees that I'd have to squeeze myself quite uncomfortably to make it through.
Curious, I forced myself through (and squealed when the rough bark scraped at my back and stomach), dropping to my hands as I made it in. When I realized I was now in a clearing the size of a small bed, I gasped.
I lifted my head and glanced around.
Intertwined trees encircled me, and the light shifted through the layers of flickering tree leaves in bright golden speckles.
Just how much time had passed since I left? The sunlight was far too bright for it to be anything other than early in the day.
Throughout most of the forest, the endless millennia-old trees had hogged all the sunlight for themselves, preventing any method of gauging time. As realization dawned on me that I must have walked through the entire night without food or rest, I felt my hunger and fatigue pummel into my gut.
Well, at least wolves wouldn't be able to attack me here, unless they wanted to defeat the thick, strong army of trees first.
Monkeys, on the other hand—well, a single monkey had never been sighted in all of Perintas Kingdom, so that was irrelevant.
Swallowing heavily, I leaned against the largest, most gnarly oak tree, and gasped when I felt my legs collapse from beneath me.
I crashed to the grass, my limbs tangled and worthless. My letters scattered all around me, and I remembered their existence. My mind had been too caught up by thoughts of escaping the forest.
Expression knit, I took several raspy breaths and readjusted my position before picking up the letters one by one.
As I tore through them to read my family's messages to me, I began humming weakly again, as some desperate, fervent, and twisted prayer.
“Bea, dear, you've always been gullible”, the first letter started in the loopy handwriting I recognized as Mother's. My fingers spasmed, causing the letter to crumple at the edges.
I forced myself to relax and read on.
“Please, abandon your silly quest and come home.”
I'd be doing that anyway. Her letter hadn't been necessary.
Read more, Beatrice, I chided myself.
“You're much more useful here than you are wherever you're being conned. You're so easily blinded by your whimsies; I've always feared for you…”
I couldn't.
I couldn't force myself to continue.
Not right now, when she'd been proved correct, and I'd been reminded just again of how stupid I was.
Frustrated, I flung the paper away, but it flittered down inches away from me like a feather, and I buried my face in my hands.
Perhaps a different letter would be better.
The next letter was Constance's, and I knew that in the way she still dotted her i's with hearts. Her handwriting had grown a lot sloppier over the years, though, which made sense considering how long we'd gone without having to scribe a single thing down.
“Remember the time you believed the noble toddler who said he’d make his parents give you a rose if you babysat their puppy for a day, and his parents freaked out, thinking she was stolen?”
While that had happened, he'd also been five at most. Who doesn't trust little kids with chubby, angelic faces?
I assuredly shouldn't have, considering what a wicked little child I'd been, but one look at his pouty puppy face, and I couldn't stop myself from believing him.
“Or when you went to the public bazaar and flapped your arms and quacked for hours because the foreign prince and nobles promised you a cure?”
Th-that had happened, but…
Wasn't it better to be swindled and humiliate yourself than to risk allowing your father to die unnecessarily for the sake of something as silly and worthless as your pride?
It wasn't that I was gullible. It was that pretending to fall for the filthy nobles' tricks was a small payment for the nagging chance that someone would eventually take pity on me and offer a cure.
(But I'd brought myself to believe Shao, hadn't I?)
(How could I not have, when the circumstances were so bizarre? Anyway, it didn't matter now. I'd been wrong.)
“There have been so many more of those instances, and I’d rather not dwell on them. Bea, really. You should know better by now. Stop being gullible and come home.”
I couldn't keep myself from tearing up the letter as heat rose in every part of my body and skin, then filled my gut with painful, knotted flames.
When the paper was half torn, I stopped myself with shaky hands, unable to destroy anything from my family.
I gave most of the other letters a cursory glance, but they were more of the same.
Constance and Mother did also write about how worried sick they were, which did console me the tiniest bit. While their care for me was a given, the reminder and reassurance was nice.
Each wrote the other had been hardly eating until they got my letters, which had appeared as if by magic on my father’s bed one day, and they wondered if I’d returned home only to leave again.
I'd have been vindicated by their shock enough to giggle if I weren't so lethargic and drained.
Regardless, their firm disregard for me—and, more importantly, the fact that they were as correct in their condescension and judgment as they always had been…
I didn't know how to feel about it, so instead of thinking about that, I just dipped my head up to prevent my hot tears from trailing down my cheeks.
Just as a sob tore out of me, I heard a sharp whistle—and an arrow wheezed a petal's distance from my ear, slicing into the tree with a loud thud.
I shrieked.
And yet… my heart pounded with not only fear, but also blossoming hope.
“I'm here!” I shouted as loudly as I could manage. Evidently, that wasn't very loud, thanks to my tiredness. “I'm human, and I'm lost! Please come save me!”
Hearing a masculine series of grumbles and curses rather than another arrow flying by, I heaved a sigh of relief. I would be okay.
I heard footsteps approach me, although in my adrenaline-addled state, I couldn't quite make out where from.
Not long after, a brown-haired man camouflaged in ragged brown attire approached from behind the shades of trees. He removed the arrow from his bow before lifting his arm to dip it back into the container at his back.
Moving his bow beneath his right arm, and he held out his free hand to me.
Glad for the friendly gesture, I smiled as I lifted my arm to shake it.
“Sorry,” he said, pee
ring at me through his long bangs. He looked familiar, although I couldn't quite place him. “I didn't expect there to be anyone else here, and I expected you to be deer or something.”
I forced out a small laugh. “With my bright hair?”
He snorted. “I did say I wasn't paying attention.” As if noticing something, his eyes drew closer together. “Wait a minute. You're Connie's sister?”
I flinched at his use of my childhood nickname for her. It had grown out of favor after Father fell ill and our family became a distorted shadow of itself.
“You know her?” I gathered together my letters, and I rose to stand in front of him.
“You should be dead,” he said, ignoring me.
I laughed awkwardly. “Well, I'm here, aren't I? But if I stay here any longer, we might both die from beasts. Could you please help me home? I'm a bit lost, as you can see.”
He shook his head. “You should be dead.”
I took a step back. “You've already said as much.”
His gaze was sharp when he looked at me again, his expression shifting as if he was seeing me for the first time.
“Connie said you were delirious when you told her you met the beast,” he said. “But you were telling the truth, weren't you?”
“Umm…” I nibbled my lip, not liking the lead in his tone although I was grateful he believed me. “She told you that?” I'd written to her a million times not to tell anyone, and then underlined it a thousand times more for impact.
“We're close,” he said dismissively. “Where are your roses?”
Embarrassment flooded me again at the reminder that my stay with the beast had been utterly useless. I'd cost my family so much in caretaking fees, whether they outsourced the job or took time off work for it. I'd stolen money and a knife.
All I had to show for it was a week of reading fairy tales.
“I'm sorry,” I said, and I gestured towards myself. “As you can see, I have nothing—”
“You're lying,” the man barked, his jaw tensing. I gulped.
“No, you can see me fine, can't you? Where would I be hiding the roses?”
“Between some of your sheets of paper, maybe. I don't know. But I refuse to believe someone reckless enough to enter the beast’s forest would forget to take the very thing she needs.”
A Kiss like Roses: Fairy Tale Synergy Book 1 Page 5
