𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐑𝐄 | ✎

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟗

Days have passed quickly. Princess Elena gets married to Prince Marco tomorrow. It's night right now, and I can't sleep. Nothing new.

When I sit up, my stomach starts hurting me, and I have to lay back down for a moment. But I remember that I'm a bodyguard—I have to suck up the pain, or else there will be consequences. There were already consequences.

I need a drink.

After finally getting up, I wandered the dark corridors of the palace in search of the wine cellar. Occasionally, palace guards pass by me when they roam through the hallways, but they don't see me as a threat since they know me.

Eventually, I reach the cellar, feeling the cool touch of the marble floor beneath my feet. As I step inside, I can feel the chilly air on my skin. The wine cellar is a huge room filled with bottles of various colors and shapes. The air smells like wine, of course, and I feel like I'm in heaven. I take a few steps closer to a shelf and pick up a red bottle, examining its label. Sighing to myself, I uncork the bottle, taking a sip. The taste feels warm on my tongue, and I feel relaxed.

I'm not a drinker. I rarely drink, and I don't know why I'm doing it now. It could be the lack of sleep. Or the wedding. Or both. Either way, this is probably a bad idea.

One that I really need.

Before long, I've emptied an entire bottle of red wine and am on my way to finding another one. I start to feel my senses becoming blurred. I can no longer walk in a straight line, and my vision becomes foggy. My balance is off, and I stagger against one of the walls to keep myself from falling.

My hands fumble as I reach for another bottle of wine, and I fail to grasp onto it. Anger floods my senses, and I roughly take hold of the bottle. But then I threw it against the wall in a fit of rage.

I shove the rest of the bottles sitting on the bar to the ground, glass shattering everywhere. My head starts to spin, and I almost stumble onto the bar stool and cause it to collapse.

"DAMN IT!" I shouted, groaning and slamming back against the wall. My abdomen starts to throb fiercely, and I rip open my shirt to find my wound open once again.

I suck in and clutch my stomach in pain, panting rapidly as a burning sensation shoots through me. Everything is a blur, but I can see red on my hands, which I assume is my blood.

At the sound of glass breaking, the princess runs into the wine cellar, with one of the palace guards standing next to her. They both look around, taking in the scene, before Elena's eyes dart to my wound.

She gives me a wide-eyed, sympathetic glance before sighing and turning to the palace guard. "Leave," she mutters.

The guard does not respond to her order. He stays in place, and I have to squint to see that he's standing in front of the princess in a protective manner.