The Blade Princess

---Brutal Games---

I was bad at hand to hand combat. Agreed, I trained with Gerald. Agreed I knew some moves and maneuvers but I was still not a soldier on field hardened with brutal training, I still had the softness and delicateness that came with being a Princess.

So when I say my knuckles were bleeding, my forearm ached and I don't even know how many injuries my back had by the times I was thrown on the sand. And the worst part was I didn't even know why I was tolerating so much pain and training.

I was best at handling a sword among everything I was being taught at the moment.

But for some reason, the dark prince was being more dramatic than usual. He was colder than before and he didn't even bother looking at me. For crying out loud I saved his life but this is how he repays my kindness. I did save him to use him later but he didn't know that.

As I tried to actually land a punch or a kick on him he swiftly moved to oblige me with being visible during the whole training.

"Scared that I will hit your injuries Prince or your heart," I said just to provoke him and also to check how his injuries were.

But I guess my provocation worked quite well as he gripped my neck suddenly with his gloved hand, choking me mercilessly. My eyes widened as I gasped for air. His image blurred and now my father was standing in front of me.

For a moment I forgot that he was dead or that I was a prisoner. For the moment I just looked at him, the furrow between his brows, the little mole on the tip of his nose but I knew he was not my father but just an illusion because he was still choking me and it hurt more than I thought it would.

"Is this a game to you?" He bellowed in an angry voice, voice of my father but it was words of the dark prince.

"You think you can be a princess and threw tantrums. You will break before you can count till five, that's how harsh the world is." And with that he let me go.

I gasped for breath and fell down on my knees, the haunting image of my father etched in my mind now. Bretrarum was nothing but evil. He used people's weakness to get to them. And like a fool I sobbed hard right in front of him.

I should have killed him when I had a chance.

I didn't look up at him but I can hear his angry hit made by the sword on a wooden target as he repeatedly hit the target without using an ounce of his power. Some said he was the greatest mind manipulator but it didn't seem like it because I could always know that the image I was seeing was not real or maybe he was not using his full power on me, yet.

"Are you going to get up and fight back?" He said in a calm but dangerous tone.

Wiping my tears, I wanted to tell him to get lost or that I hated him but all those words were waste of breath on someone like him.

"Kill me," I said because it was already difficult to come to terms that my father was dead and I had no family.

A regular torturous reminder like this is not needed. It breaks me all over again.

"What?" He asked and surprise flickered in his eyes.

The only thing that was open about him was his eyes and they held all the mystery in the world and had some kind of alluring power. Had he not been evil, I would say he had beautiful eyes.

"Kill me, get over it. Just kill me as you did to all the other people in my kingdom or like how you left those poor girls at the brothel to die or like so many you have killed." I yelled.

And next thing I knew, he was holding a sharp dagger to my throat.

But surprisingly I didn't flinch and stared right back at him.