The Crown's Entrapment

Princess Xenia looked toward Darius’s direction, but the king seemed to be busy reading the book he managed to snatch out of his hand. Osman knew well that it was nothing but a facade, however. Deep inside, his King was surely battling his inner struggles to keep himself from interfering with the Princess’s Training.

Osman drew in a few breaths. This was why he suggested that he do the training with the Princess alone, but everyone knew that having the king agree to it was an impossible suggestion. King Darius was simply too drawn to his mate to even think about leaving her alone with anyone else.

“He’s dead serious,” the Princess murmured.

“Indeed, milady. I’m sure that deep inside, His Majesty is suffering while watching you,” Osman reminded her. “Still, you need this training to ensure that you will pass the four trials. And again, we’ve only just begun…”

Giving out the signal for his men to start moving the cage, Osman watched

as the Princess seemed to be at peace within her confines. He turned to the king, who only gave him a nod before the admiral gave out his signal to release the hold on the cage._.

And with that, the cage has been dropped into the ocean. Osman sighed as he watched the Princess fill her lungs with air just before she was fully pulled into the depths of the ocean, the impact of the cage hitting the ocean filling the atmosphere with saltwater before she completely disappeared beneath them.

Having done his job, Osman immediately walked toward his King, giving out the signal for the ship to move away from the spot where they dumped the Princess. King Darius sighed. He was closely staring at the spot where they dropped the Princess.

“This is way harder than I imagined,” Darius complained. “You’re right, watching it like this will be a dilemma. Here, such a boring book, this won’t keep me occupied enough.”

With a word, King Darius handed him his book back.

Osman smiled as he grabbed the book from His Majesty. “I can see the unbending determination in her eyes, Your Majesty. You can endure. And I’m sure she’ll do just fine.”

Osman shook his head. The King would do his best not to interfere and simply watch and guard his mate to make sure that she wouldn’t be in any unavoidable danger. As promised, he would only interfere if he saw the need for it, but hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.

After all, as he said to the Princess, this was only the start of their training. There was still more to come, and what’s in store for those parts of her training would be considered to be really dangerous for her kind.

“Hmm… Have you thought about asking Gilas for help?” Osman reminded.

Gilas could probably teach the Princess some vital core values. Gilas was a hybrid, one born from a pureblooded werewolf father and a human mother, but he still had the exceptional strength of his heritage. It was because he managed to master and manipulate the energy of Aether to his advantage, giving him the equivalent strength of a pureblooded werewolf like His Majesty.

Instead of replying, the grim expression on the king’s face more than answered Osman’s question. As he expected, King Darius wouldn’t ever entrust Gilas to help the Princess for such a vital part of her training. Still, Osman strongly believed that Gilas’s knowledge could help her. She was only human, after all.

“We’re not even sure if he’ll even teach Xen his secrets,” Darius reasoned out with a sigh. “If he did, then he’s simply giving away his weaknesses.”

Osman nodded. The King had a point, not to mention that Gilas’s father was Nasser.

“Where do you think he learned that from, Sire?” Osman inquired.

“No one knows except for Gilas alone, Osman,” his liege replied. “But one thing was for sure… Gilas would most probably keep it to himself. That kind of knowledge and power is too important for him to divulge. They’re his lifeline.”

Osman couldn’t help but agree. Pureblood werewolves like his King had this innate ability since they were born, thus, there was no way for them to share how they developed their strengths. In the end, the King’s only option was to give the Princess a training regimen so extreme that she’d be able to endure and adapt to the power of the elements by the time she was done with them.

Still, if only the Princess could learn how Gilas managed to get a hold of the aether element’s techniques, then things would be so much easier. Fire was hot and dry, Air was hot and moist, Water was cold and moist, and the Earth was moist and dry. Against all these, Aether was neither hot, cold, moist, nor dry. If she somehow mastered the fifth element, she would surely succeed in the four trials without too much trouble.

“Osman, I believe in you. I’m sure that with you around, we can at least make sure that the Princess can escape the Element Forest in one piece,” the king stated before he stood by the side of the ship. “Just continue with the training as you see fit. Don’t hold back at all.”

And with that, his king then jumped off the ship in one swift motion.

Sighing, Osman looked out to the vast ocean where his Majesty had just jumped off. He would probably watch over the Princess like a shadow, making sure she was safe and sound during her training.

“Those two are giving me headaches,” Osman complained with a frown. Despite it, he understood why His Majesty had tasked him to conduct this training for the Princess.

It was for the fact that he, himself, had accidentally experienced the four trials by entering the Element Forest while he was on the run. He miraculously survived them, all of that while he was still a human. It was a streak of dumb luck, and he still had the marks all over his body as proof of his experience.

He was barely alive by the time he managed to come out of the forest. He would’ve been a dead man if he wasn’t lucky enough to be saved by young Darius at that time. The King turned him into a Lycan to save him, giving a notorious pirate like him another chance in life.

He had turned rogue once, but the young Darius still personally looked after him to make sure he became the Lycan that he was now; a respectable man who was also lucky enough to continue doing what he loved most: exploring the waters and enjoying the high seas.

Osman closed his eyes and smiled as he filled his lungs with the fresh air coming from the ocean. Letting out a deep breath, he opened his eyes, the smile on his face fading as it was replaced with a grimace…

Looking at what’s to come, Princess Xenia wouldn’t have the same luxury he had… Her trials to become a Queen would be considered a failure the moment King Darius would have to interfere to save her life.