Chapter 266
266 Chapter 266 : Far from a blessing
Eira ducked out if sight and slowly began to tiptoe her way towards the dense forest. Who were those men just now? And did they just call Elric a Prince? Her mother had not mentioned anything about him being a Prince when she was telling her story. Eira hoped the men were not looking for the silver haired lycan to bring him any harm or trouble, he was going through a lot as it was already.
As Eira was tiptoeing towards the forest she felt someone suddenly grab her. One arm firmly wrapped around her waist and the other covered her mouth. The princess almost screamed until the person who was holding her spoke.
“What the hell are you doing here princess?” Elric asked the redhead in a whisper. “I thought I told you never to come here again. Why the hell are you so stubborn?!”
Elric quickly hoisted the prince is up in his arms, and rushed towards the thicket of trees not too far from his cabin. When they were well out of sight, he put Eira down, took a few steps back, and glared at her angrily.
“Is your sole purpose in life to bring me trouble Eira? Why the hell did you come back here? Has your father sent you to come lure me into some sort of trap?”
“Of course not -”
The silver haired man covered the redheads mouth and brought a finger to lips telling her to shut the hell up. “Will you please quiet down,” Elric hushed the woman, “are you trying to get us caught?!”
The princess shook her head, and Eric responded by lowering his hand from her lips.
“Who are those people back there?” Eira whispered.
.....
“I will explain everything later, right now we need to get the hell out of here before we are spotted.”
Eira racked her brain thinking of a place where she could teleport both of them. Where could they possibly go where no one could give them any trouble, and they could talk without any interruptions?
The princess walked towards Eric and held both his hands.
“Wha- what are you doing?” The lycan asked in a high-pitched tone of voice.
“If I’m going to teleport us both,” Eira responded, “I need to make some sort of contact with you, otherwise it’s not going to work. Now hold on.”
Before Elric could protest a second time, they vanished from the forest and materialized in a room filled with people. There was music playing in the background, and some people singing to it. Voices of people talking and laughing could be heard from all corners of the room, and the smell of ale and Wine wafted in the air.
“Did you just bring us to a bar?”
“This is the only place I could think of where no one would bat an eye when they see us,” the princess responded as she walked towards an empty table and sat down on a stool. “We will be able to talk here for a while.”
“Talk?..” the man walked towards the table and pulled out a chair for himself. “In case you haven’t noticed princess, you and I talking is what got me into this mess in the first place.”
Eira nodded her head, “I know that, and I am sorry. I don’t know how many times you want me to apologize for causing you trouble, this is why I want us to talk Elric. I want to be able to help to make this life easier for you.”
The lycan scoffed and turned away from the princess. Make his life easier? What a joke, his life was very easy before she came into the picture.
“My mother told me everything,” the redhead continued. “I vaguely know what happened between you and my parents.”
“Well if you know how terrible of a man I am, why do you still want to help me?”
Elric knew for a fact that Melissa had not said any good things about him, and he really couldn’t blame her. He let his emotions control him the entire time he was with her, subsequentially acting reckless and inconsiderate their entire relationship.
The feel of Eira’s soft hand landing on top of his, made the lycan jolt his head up in surprise. There was a very strange sensation that he felt when her hand made contact with his, and out of fear more than anything, Elric pulled his hand away.
The princess sighed and slowly retracted her hand. It was clear that the man shunned any connection of any sort with anybody. He must’ve gone through a lot of emotional trauma to be this closed off, and Eira couldn’t help but think somehow this was her mother’s fault.
“I don’t think you’re a terrible man,” she spoke softly. “It would be unfair of me to judge you based on my mother’s point of view. That’s why I followed you to your home today, because I wanted to know your side of the story.”
“What does it matter?” Elric responded. “You are just one person Eira, you cannot change the perspective of how people see me on your own. I came to terms with being called a monster a long time ago, it’s high time you do the same.”
“But aren’t you tired of living this way? Don’t you want to be able to be out there and live your life like everybody else?”
“I just want to live in peace,” Elric responded. “that’s it.”
The red haired woman sighed and looked down to her lap. Elric was stubborn, but she was not going to give up on him, not just yet.
“Can I ask another question?” Eira spoke sheepishly.
The man sighed before looking up at the smirking woman. Did a cross between Gareth and Melissa really give rise to someone so stubborn and hardheaded?
“I know you’re going to ask me regardless,” Elric replied. “So go on ahead.”
“Back at the cabin, I heard the men who are looking for you refer to you as a Prince. Is that true?”
“Have you ever heard of the silver pack of the snowlands?” The man asked the princess Who responded with a nod of her head.
“And have you ever heard of king Bradley Aldos of Meria?”
“I have heard stories of him yes,” Eira responded, her interest peaking every passing second.
“Well,” Elric explained. “I am the son of both the alpha of the silver pack, and King Bradley Aldos of Meria.”
“What? Then why are you living like this?!” Eira squealed in surprise. “You are the heir to two powerful kindoms, if you wanted a peaceful life you honestly could just demand it.”
“Has it occurred to you that renouncing those titles is my way of being at peace?”
“But-”
“Listen Eira,” Elric interrupted. “I understand your need to help me, you’re a good person and for some reason best known to you, you feel the animosity between your patents and I should come to an end. But you should know that the more you try to help me, the more trouble you’re actually causing me.”
Elric looked into Eira’s naive amythest eyes. She definitely was Melissa’s daughter alright, as beautiful and as enchanting as ever. And the lycan didn’t know how to feel about that.
“If you really want me to live happily and peacefully, you need to stay away from me.. do you understand?”
Eira felt disappointed, was that really what would bring Elric peace? Was his secluded life something he relished and she was just someone who had ruined it for him?
“If that’s what you want,” the red head responded. “And if it will really bring you peace, I will stay away from you. But where will you go? Those men at your cabin are probably waiting for you.”
“Let me worry about them,” the lycan responded. “For now, you need to head home before your father thinks I kidnapped you.”
“Alright, I’ll go,” the princess mumbled. “After a drink..”
“Eira go home!”
“Alright.. alright..” Eira spoke as she stood up. “No need to shout, I know when I’m not wanted.”
Elric frowned when the other men in the bar turned to look at him. They all must have thought he was crazy or interested in men to be chasing away such a beautiful woman. He sighed when he saw the smirk on the princess’ face, clearly she knew exactly what she was doing.
“Alright fine,” the lycan conceded, “we can have one drink, only because it’s your birthday.”
The sparkle in the red head’s eyes told Elric that he was right, so it really was Eira’s birthday after all. He watched her take her seat and call over the bartender who happily came to her aid, Elric couldn’t help at chuckle at the irony, why her? Why Eira of all people? This was definitely a way the world was punishing him for the things he had done in the past, because being drawn to a woman whose parents and everyone related to her wish you dead, was far from a blessing.