Freya, along with Gideon and Osman had already heard the news about the current situation inside the Elent Forest from Cordon Arena, where the three of them had just wrapped up the tournant.
"Do you think my brother's awake now?" Freya asked. "We should hurry back to the castle and find out."
Gideon nodded. He then looked to Osman and said, "I'll have Freya riding on my back. We'll be traveling in my wolf form." He chuckled as he teased, "Do you want to hop on?"
"You two go on ahead," Osman shook his head in mirth. "I'll feel weird riding on your back. Besides, I still have a stopover to do." Gideon nodded in understanding, and the two of them promptly left the premises.
Left alone, Osman sighed as he looked in Bartos's direction. He was way too worried for Bella's well-being, and he wondered if there could be a way to pull her out of the competition without too much trouble. After so ti witnessing the tournant along with the contenders, he could feel that sothing was off.
Their King was right, Nasser would surely try and manipulate the tournant to his own advantage. And based on his observations, most of those who qualified seed to be Nasser's allies from different smaller packs.
'These traitors,' Osman annoyingly mused.
"Aren't you heading out?" Bartos asked when he passed by him.
"I was, but I decided to wait for you after a while," Osman replied. "I'd like to have a word..."
Bartos nodded, and the two of them started walking.
"I have to make my way to the market to buy so things my wife needs," Bartos nonchalantly comnted. "How about we talk while you accompany ?"
Osman agreed, and the two headed out to the markets. There they could hear the sa topic from every angle as they passed by. Almost every Cordonian had the sa talks regarding the current situation inside the forest, and it was clear that Xen's actions had sparked a bit of a buzz throughout the kingdom.
.
...
"They both fell in! She jumped in for him and scread out His Majesty's na! That ans she recognized our king!!! She didn't leave him behind even if he was wearing the face of another man. I'm sure she passed that trial!"
"But how cruel can those guardians be?! How can they stop the vision right after that blazing white light erupted?" complained most of those who watched the vision. Rightfully so just as the scene was about to make them rise out of their seat, it stopped the mont that blinding white light filled the vision.
.
...
"I'm sure he's back to us already. My wife predicted it yesterday, after all," Bartos proudly stated. "She said that the Princess had definitely already recognized His Majesty and that by today, our King will co back to us safe and sound."
Osman chuckled. "I heard the Princess and your wife are like sisters, so I guess Lady Jayra knows Princess Xenia well enough," he nodded in agreent.
"I've seen the determination of the Princess myself during her training, so I'm also quite confident she'll do fairly well inside the forest. Plus, we now know that she is soone that has sothing special inside her. As we've seen, her powers have already been activated..."
Bartos nodded in agreent.
Stopping by a particular stall, Bartos began picking up so of the things his wife supposedly needed. Likewise, Osman saw the opportunity to do so window shopping for himself.
He found a nice hairpin that he thought would look well on Bella, but it had quite a few colors to choose from, and he found himself wondering as to what color Lady Bella would prefer.
"She loves bright colors by the way," Bartos nonchalantly chid in as he continued on with his shopping. "Anything bright attracts my sister, I an..."
Heeding the advice, Osman smiled as he picked up a hairpin with a bright red flower design on it. It would definitely look good on Bella's black long hair.
"About Bella, is there a way we can pull her out or disqualify her from this tournant?" Osman suddenly asked as they made their way to another stop.
"I know I have no right to ask of this, and that ddling with the tournant could be considered as stepping out of the line... It's just that this tournant is very dangerous, and I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."
He grumbled, "It's not confird yet since our n are still investigating the matter in the shadows, but I have a bad feeling about most of those who passed the first few rounds."
"I know what you an... And trust , my sister has probably already noticed sothing off in this tournant," Bartos let out a long sigh as he explained.
"Instead of scaring her off, it'll just give her more of a reason to stay and fight. She might look like soone who's carefree or doesn't have a care in the world, but Bella's a lot more than that. She now knows how important the Princess is to her sister-in-law, so she'll definitely not back down just to watch the Princess's back... And Clara..."
Another sigh ca out from Bartos. This ti, he stopped walking as he turned to Osman and said, "Bella loves Clara like a sister. Those two might've had so misunderstandings in the past, or even up until now... but Bella won't just sit still knowing that soone she cares about will be in danger."
"So even if we wanted to protect Bella, we can only monitor the situation and make sure that every opponent she'll fight will do so square and fair," Bartos further explained. "That's why I'm making sure to check for all the weapons that they're using; to see if there are any traces of poison or anything else that could be lethal that will go against the rules..."
He then flashed a faint smile and scoffed, "Still, I can't believe what I'm doing and saying right now. I guess my wife would be happy if she happened to witness coaching you like this..."
Osman chuckled. He wasn't naive, and he understood what Bartos ant with his words. He had already noticed how Lady Jayra seed to favor and help him out regarding Bella, and he appreciated the gesture.
"Well, I'll be forever grateful for this either way," Osman declared in a straightforward manner. "Rest assured that my intentions for Lady Bella are pure and sincere."
"Well, I hope so," Bartos chuckled. "If not, I might just kill you."
Sharing a laugh, the two of them continued walking on the streets. They were almost about to pass a corner when a familiar carriage passed by.
"Nasser," Bartos grunted with gritted teeth.
It was indeed Nasser who was inside the carriage, the sa one who picked up his niece Pinra from Cordon Arena. Inside the carriage, the man was sitting opposite Pinra, his face dim with dismay due to how things turned out with the trial inside the forest.
"I'll make sure that most of the contenders that will enter the finals are from our group. That way, you'll have so assistance in executing our plans," Nasser said with a frown.
"Rember, your main goal is to kill the Princess of Ebodia if she ever happens to co out alive from that realm. If we're lucky and she dies, then kill everyone that cos your way to get the crown."
Then, with a smirk, he handed sothing to Pinra and said, "Use this to achieve our goals."
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