The Lady is a Stalker

Chapter 12

On the next day, I decided to use the remaining of our 3-day provisions and replenish the rest of our supplies that I could find from the forest. The forest where the monster lived felt alive somehow. As I looked around uneasily, a soldier next to me came up to talk to me.

"What is it? Do you feel unwell?"

"…actually it's the monster."

At the same time, I started to feel something wrap around my ankle. The feeling on my leg made me want to freak out. No way…

Their grip was so tight that I couldn't scream. I looked around, scared, and the Prince looked back at me.

"…?"

He gave me a strange look.

I was so frozen and I couldn't even think of what to do, but it seemed like he noticed something was amiss. The thing on my leg felt like one of the monsters, which had a habit of dragging their victims from behind, I read in the novel.

I willed my lips to scream but I was too much in shock.

"You…" The moment the Prince tried to say something, the tentacle on my ankle yanks me back.

I opened my eyes to somebody shaking me roughly. Thank G.o.d it was the Prince and not the monster.

No, not thank G.o.d. It would be better if it was the monster instead because when I came to my senses, the Crown Prince was looking at me furiously. He growled out a reproach, "You idiot, you should have screamed! Why did you keep silent? You were so expressionless that I didn't know you were caught!"

The Prince's angry voice echoed.

Are we in a cave?

We came with a lot of Distinian soldiers but it looks like the Prince and I were the only ones left.

When I blinked blankly at him, the Prince snapped at my shoulders as if to make me come to my senses.

"Aah!" I suddenly felt a stabbing pain and screamed and hit the Prince's hand out of reflex.

The Prince, however, was even more surprised at my reaction.

He looked down at his rejected hand and quickly came to his senses to ask me, "What? Are you hurt? Please show me. I may not be able to heal it fully, but I can use a bit of divine magic."

"Ah, no. It's okay."

He reached towards me, but I pretended I didn't know he was coming and slipped back to avoid his hand.

When I rejected him again, he looked a little defeated.

It seems that I really need to avoid the Prince no matter what. My shoulder wounds weren't due to the monster, but because of the Prince after all.

Last time, I didn't know the full extent of the damage the Prince caused when he grabbed my shoulders. Or maybe, it was because I didn't expect to get hurt by just that. But still, the Prince shouldn't underestimate his grip strength. He may be 14 years old and was surrounded by strong soldiers, but shouldn't he know to treat women gently?

Whatever the reason, the Crown Prince believed that the wound on my shoulder was caused by the monster. So he looked at me with an incomprehensible smile as I cradled my shoulders and took a step back.

When he moved closer, I took 2 more steps back.

No matter what, I couldn't show the Prince I was hurt.

When I got home on that day, I saw that the wound from the bathroom mirror was worse than I thought. At first only the Prince's handprints showed up, but then it started swelling, bleeding and looking really gross.