"Achoo!"
Cecelia sneezed as she felt a cold shiver run through her body.
’Why am I so cold and... Wet?’
Groggily moving her pruney hands, no doubt caused by prolonged water exposure, she tried to rub her eyes.
But for so reason, she couldn’t move...
In fact, her arms seed tied up for so reason.
As her eyelids slowly opened, she was greeted by the sight of an unfamiliar rocky ceiling.
"Where... Am I?"
It was then that a series of mories flooded her mind.
Everything from setting out for the mission, ambushed by the Coalition soldiers, to her eventual capture by the three enemy 2-Star captains.
As a feeling of panic set in, she quickly raised her body upright, awkwardly wriggling like a worm due to the hemp rope binding her.
If she woke up in an unfamiliar place, it was no doubt because she was kidnapped!
The rope tying her was more than enough proof of that.
Swallowing in fear, she looked around to study her surroundings.
Sohow, she had lost her glasses, but since they were fake, this didn’t affect her vision.
However, the sa couldn’t be said about her vicinity’s lack of light.
The dark cave surrounding her was next to a fast-moving current of water, which is probably why she was wet to begin with.
While she couldn’t see how far the cave stretched, she noticed that the only lighting source nearby was so kind of bioluminescent moss.
In fact, Cecelia could identify the plant’s exact species, as they weren’t too uncommon in underground bios like this.
They were beings that utilized surrounding mana as a makeshift source of energy instead of light and even produced light of their own as a byproduct.
As her eyes frantically darted around, it wasn’t long before sothing else caught her attention...
A sticky red substance pooled around her, sticking to portions of her rope and clothes.
It was blood.
Before Cecelia could even question where the viscous crimson liquid had co from, she was greeted by a horrible, stomach-churning sight.
A headless body.
Calling the body headless wasn’t just because the body didn’t have a head.
The head wasn’t just separated, but it wasn’t even there, nor anywhere else for that matter.
However, the pile of bones and fleshy pink matter provided enough of an explanation as to why.
Cecelia wretched, holding back an instinctive desire to empty out her stomach’s contents.
She had never seen such a horrible sight before.
The body’s uniform attested to the fact that the body belonged to a Coalition soldier, so it was most likely an enemy.
But what could have killed a 2-Star in such a... Grotesque manner?
While she pondered that question, Cecelia didn’t want to know.
Whatever it was... She didn’t want to involve herself with it in the slightest.
Instead, she focused on the several other questions burning in her mind.
Where was she?
Was there anyone else nearby?
And most importantly... Why was she still alive?
Craning her neck away from the grizzly sight, she noticed sothing else nearby.
A handso Ivory-skinned boy with auburn-coloured hair.
The boy had strong, chiselled muscles with a sleek, lithe fra.
His body seed to burst with power and speed as if trained to the absolute peak of human limits.
Everything from his sizeable biceps to his chiselled abs scread perfection.
Looking at this, the nightmarish corpse she witnessed earlier was quickly removed from her mind.
Not only that...
Cecelia could feel a particular sticky crimson liquid running down her nose.
She was having a nosebleed.
As the realization stuck in, Cecelia quickly beca aware of sothing else.
Why could she see all of this?
Shouldn’t his body be... You know... Clothed?
Involuntarily, her eyes began moving down his body... At sothing else.
But before she could catch a proper glimpse, she hurriedly shut her eyes.
’What the hell are you doing? You’re a princess, for god’s sake! Have so decorum!’
Internally chastising herself, Cecelia managed to control her raging emotions.
Though... She did feel a tang of regret...
People as handso as Blaine could be counted on one hand within the kingdom.
Being able to enjoy such a sight was a luxury that most people would never be able to experience in their whole life.
However, Cecelia had other priorities at the mont.
As her rationality slowly ca back to her, she opened her eyes again and looked away from Blaine’s body.
While she was in a difficult situation and had no idea what had transpired, she knew one thing.
She couldn’t just sit here doing nothing.
Whatever it was that killed the Kelonian soldier was most definitely still out there.
aning she couldn’t stay here long.
But in order to escape, she first needed to do sothing. Remove the hemp rope binding her.
Cecelia had always kept a single dagger on her person in case of ergency.
However, it was inside her shirt, and she couldn’t move her arms enough to grab it.
Instead, she was forced to do sothing else...
Sothing that she would much rather avoid if possible.
Unfortunately for her, Cecelia didn’t have much of an option at the mont.
Tossing an uneasy glance at the headless corpse beside her, Cecelia steeled her heart for what she was about to do.
Turning around, Cecelia moved her bound hands onto the dead body and began to feel around it.
Pieces of squishy matter, as well as several sharp fragnt-like objects, touched her hands, but Cecelia pretended that she couldn’t feel them.
She could sohow power through as long as she refused to acknowledge them.
Feeling around the cold, lifeless body, Cecelia finally felt her hands brush against sothing hard.
The item felt stiff, like the hilt of a blade.
’Finally!’
Quickly removing the object from the soldier’s person, Cecelia quickly pulled herself away from the grotesque body.
Holding a small combat knife in her hands, Cecelia tilted the blade and pressed it against the rope, binding her.
Then, with great effort, she began rubbing the knife’s razor-sharp edge against the rope, aiming to set herself free.
As long as she could get out... She would be able to at least move.
However, things weren’t that simple...
After all, the rope binding her wasn’t normal, but instead an artifact.
Sothing which Cecelia quickly realized.
Just as feelings of powerlessness and despair began to set in, Cecelia noticed sothing move in her peripheral vision.
Moving her head, she saw an auburn-haired youth emotionlessly staring at her.
Feeling the youth’s gaze peer into her, Cecelia sighed awkwardly.
"...Can you please help ?"
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