Pampered by the Villainous Tyrant King

Chapter 50

A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!

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"Your Majesty, we could have chased them all the way to the border to ensure that Kiran never steps forth in our land again. Why was your decision to stop?" Grover asked.

Percy didn't know how to explain it either. "Intuition." He finally said. "It felt like a trap. And Princess Alana hasn't been in battle for the last few times. Don't you think something is off?"

"That is true." Grover scanned the troops who were in the midst of organizing themselves and healing the injured. "Maybe she was injured in battle?" He asked hopefully.

Percy recalled the glare full of putrid hatred Alana had sent him the last time they had met before Alana and her soldiers retreated. Unfortunately, she had been unharmed at that time.

After the victories in battle and the successful flushing of spies, the generals didn't question Percy's order of withdrawing. But the question remained. Where was Alana?

"Your Majesty!" Sir Rachel had arrived.

Her troop of soldiers followed behind, all panting and flustered. Had there been a skirmish? Percy glanced over them but other than some minor injuries, Sir Rachel and her knights looked fine.

"Report," ordered Percy.

"There is someone who wishes to meet with you."

Sir Rachel glanced nervously behind her. The soldiers spread apart as someone emerged from behind them, held up by a junior knight.

The stranger was not someone Percy knew, but some of the features in her face looked familiar as though he had met her quite recently. But Percy couldn't recall ever meeting this person.

The woman looked gaunt and with an unhealthy yellow pallor to her skin as if she had been ill for the majority of her life. Her dark hair was dry and limp. Yet, the woman's expression was regal, and age and sickness had not fully diminished her beauty.

"Greetings to Your Majesty, King of Eldoris." The woman gave a small smile. "I am the real Princess Alana, heir to the throne of Kiran."

Percy's hand flew to his sword.

"Peace." The woman claiming to be Princess Alana raised her hand before coughing. "I mean no harm."

Percy narrowed his eyes, his guard still up. "Why should we believe you?" After all, this could all be a trick. Princess Alana was surely in her early twenties. This woman looked to be in her early fifties.

The woman coughed again. "I truly mean what I say, and I will not use my powers to bewitch you, lest you mean me harm. I came to warn you. Your queen is in danger."

Annabeth! Percy's senses tingled.

"My mother, Circe, is the one who switched our souls eight years ago. She is in my body, while I am trapped in hers. That is why I look the way I do now." The woman gave a sardonic smile.

Naturally, it was hard for Percy to believe this woman's words. He knew that the Kiran Queen was a great wielder of light magic who had passed her powers down to Princess Alana. Annabeth was not related to the queen of Kiran, and so did not inherit such powers. The queen of Kiran was allegedly in ill health since eight or nine years ago and rarely showed her face outside of her chambers. This woman was ill, but to claim to be Princess Alana was a little too much on the lying side.

"We do not have much time." The woman continued to warn. "My mother is on the way to the Eldoris palaces now to capture my sister to use her as a hostage."