"You thought you could limp away from me?"

Limp.

Ella was limping.

She was limping when she scurried up the stairs after kicking Prince Theodore in the stomach. She was limping when she locked herself in a room and snooped around looking for some weapon to defend herself with and she was limping when she stomped on Prince Emmett's foot, so hard that he stumbled and fell.

But why hadn't she noticed the blue-ish purple blemish that guided around her ankle?

How could she sprint around and boot with a foot that now, ached like a large rock crushing it to pulp time and again?

Maybe this was a caution.

A warning from the heavens that she had finally gone bananas.

Everything surrounding her was uncanny, she had schemed her entire plan into action to meet the king, to hunt for the answers she had long been in search of. But instead, her dense self had only succeeded in hooking her hair in another Empire's crown prince's button and her heart on his younger brother.

By all means, she hadn't forgotten her newly formed royal nemesis, Princess Irene. Out of everyone, she was the most grinding.

"And whose fault do you think that is? If you hadn't tossed me upon your shoulder like a rag doll, I wouldn't have twisted my ankle after hopping off you."

Ella threw a stabbing glare at Prince Theodore who had his one hand wrapped around her waist and the other carrying her silver pair of heels.

She had decided to spare Prince Theodore's former animalistic behavior since he now helped her to his room like a decent human being and not a life-less dummy he could hoist or hurl whenever he wanted. He moved with Ella's arm swung around his light-toned neck, his musky scent lingering on her skin and her sprained foot resting on top of his brass-buckled, brown leather shoe.

"How did you do it?" Ella asked tilting her head, her brown curls slipping past her shoulder and descending her waist, hovering over Prince Theodore's creamy-white fingers.

"What?" Prince Theodore responded as he balanced Ella's slender figure that almost leaned upon his.

"How on earth did your dart, pierce through my small piece of earing among the hundreds that were displayed on the wall?"

Ella questioned again, her mouth hanging open and her hooded eyes scanning his rounder ones.

Prince Theodore chuckled as he paused in his track, he too cocked his head towards her, their noses less than a meter apart and his muscular arm further tugging Ella into him.

"When the world wants two lovers to be one, it would make anything, even something as small as your earring, the cupid with its love-blooming arrow."

Ella raised her brows, the grip of her palm tightened around his neck, and her heart pounding like the thundering hooves of a thousand wild stallions.

"You nailed the dart in my earring and then spiked it to the wall after you stole it from me, didn't you? Ella rolled her eyes.

"Or that." Prince Théodore shrugged, his brunette strands tumbling in front of his eyes.

"And what "lover", you moron!" Ella howled as she pushed down her injured foot harshly upon Prince Theodore's. He grimaced in pain, his eye almost peering from the painful impact.

"Ah ~Your foot looks fine now, about time you get off me." Prince Theodore retorted as he nudged the door ahead of him.

He walked Ella inside the room and placed her gently on a fluffy red cushioned, wooden chair.

She pulled down her arm from around his neck and lifted the creased skirt from her wounded foot. Ella inspected it while stroking it with the tip of her finger. The corner of her eyes blinked with tears but she shook her head and took a deep breath.

It did hurt like hell, and sandwiching Prince Theodore's foot with her bruised one just added on to it. But if it meant afflicting Prince Theodore with the pain he deserved, Ella would willfully place her other foot on a silver platter and present it for another damage.

She whipped her head around, her orbs wandered around the room, the same room she escaped into back then. Ella had started to anticipate that this place was a bad omen because her luck had expired ever since the moment she stepped in.

Her mind sauntered back to when she found the portrait of Queen Helene and Princess Irene under the bed. Maybe this time she could take a much observant and closer look to it. Ella ducked down, her locks curtaining her face as she scooted nearer to the bed and elevated the sheets to search for the Photo frame.

It wasn't there anymore. Weird.

Ella squinted her eyes, dragging herself further, it was there about an hour ago. It as if it had vanished in thin air. Had she left it somewhere else and forgotten about it?

"What are you doing?" Prince Theodore peeked over his shoulder and witnessed her hair carting past her exposed back and cascading in front of her shoulders. The sight of her bare skin made him gulp and avert his eyes. He instantly grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back on the chair.

".....Nothing." Ella answered as she yanked his arm off her elbow and eyed him wearily. Her orbs traveled over to him as he jerked a compact stool from behind the bed and seated himself on it. She watched him draw out a white nylon bandage-wrap and a grey lidded bottle.

Ella's eyebrows upheaved upon realization. She dangled her legs away from him and extended her hand.

"Hand me the supplies, I'll bandage myself."

In no way was Ella letting Prince Théodore owe her another favor. He had already fetched her up to this room and brought her the cure. If she let him tend to her ankle too, he might desire something equally dreadful as payback. And knowing him, she could expect all sorts of lewdness and vulgarity from his lecherous self.

Prince Theodore sealed his lip into a narrow line, his eyes shifting between Ella and her elongated arm. He placed the equipment on his lap and whisked both of her legs, back to him, with one hand.

Ella jostled back on his cold touch, her spine slanting into the downy chair and her hands stiffly grasping the arms of it.

"This is enough touching for one day, Prince." Ella spoke with as much composure as she could muster. Her bottom lip quivered intensely, even when she had her front tooth sunk deep into it to cut the tremble.

Prince Theodore smirked and tipped one of his brows up at her startled reaction.

"For one day? It has hardly been an hour, my dear."

Prince Theodore stated smugly, he proceeded to capture both of her thighs in between his own brawny ones and squeezed them shut by pressing them against each other, causing the equipment to dive from his lap and land to the floor.

Ella widened her eyes, a small blush crept up to her ears and her lips separated in a jolt. She breathed heavily and repeatedly slammed her tiny fists on his well-built thighs in hopes to part them.

This was the final straw.

The final straw for Ella to swallow that her strength, which she had prided herself with throughout her years, was a sick little joke in front of Prince Théodore's.

He was unbelievably strong.

"Relax, will you? You're only making it harder for yourself."

Prince Theodore grabbed both of her slender wrists with his single hand and crooked down to collect the tools which popped on the ground.

Ella laid her head on the chair and sighed, her stinging foot had already worn her out, within her remained no more power to fight back. She sloped her head sideways in an idle manner and released her bottom lip from her tooth's clasp. Her last resort was giving in to him, even if that was everything she had once sworn she would never do.

Screw this, why was she even trying? it was his blunder, to begin with, and Ella should let him deal with it accordingly.

Prince Theodore observed Ella's loosened up stature, his hold unfastened the grip around her wrists and upraised her throbbing foot gradually. He examined her bruise that had swollen up like a bubble and darkened in color. His finger slightly caressed the sprain to check if it had hardened or still a bit squishy, earning a low wince from her.

Ella felt her leg slide up as he placed it on his right arm, his left hand uncapped the grey bottle and lead out a gooey-transparent paste.

His index finger gently messaged the liquid around Ella's sore ankle and blew on it frequently to dry out the medicine. Ella shuddered from the warm breath that ran from his mouth and gusted on her foot. She recollected her thoughts to the day of the tournament, when he smashed the contestant's oath, his pendant, under his boot without an ounce of remorse reflecting on his features.

So how?

how could he position Ella on a comfortable chair while he settled himself on a tattered stool full of holes?

How could he care for her foot, with such innocence and humbleness when he gives no second thought to the people he beheads on the battlefield?

How could he act like a saint when he was none other than the Satan himself?

Ella's eyes now peeped on her aided foot, she couldn't help but appreciate his professional assistance, the bandage was so precisely and neatly cloaked.

Did he do it often?

"You learn to suture your injuries when you deal with them all by yourself." Prince Theodore uttered as he placed the medical material in his jacket's inner-sewn pocket and switched her leg to the floor.

A herculean Prince Theodore was one thing

and a doctor Prince Theodore another,

was he a mind-reader too now?

"It's written all over your face." He giggled.

Oh.

Ella took one last glance on her feet and covered it back with her wrinkled skirt. Even though her face was still and tranquil but her pensive brown eyes could easily disclose the discomfort she was withholding. The pain hadn't reduced down yet and she only expected it to sky-rocket by the end of this awful night.

"Want me to kiss your foot better?" Prince Theodore veered towards her, the corner of his mouth hanging up in a teasing smile as he spotted her uneasy impression.

"Only if you want it to rot and fall-off." Ella scoffed, her hands dusting-off the dirt chucking to her dress as she tried to stand and exit the room.

Not another second was she spending here, with this fool.

Prince Théodore towed Ella back to the chair with his hand swiftly pulling down her elbow.

"You know you have me wrapped around your finger, never in my life have I ever chased women with her shoes dangling in my hand."

He got down on his knee and gleaned her silver heel from under his stool.

"And never have I ever clipped it around her feet either."

He strapped the shiny shoe around her un-bruised ankle firmly and looked up to match his piercing gaze with hers.

"Oh, what finger? this one?"

Ella countered back, her eyes glinting with mockery and sass as her hand hung by her head jacking her middle finger in the air.

Prince Théodore laughed, his eyes narrowing down like moon crescents as his milky-white bunny teeth unveiled.

He plucked Ella's chair towards him causing her to slip and hit her back on it, he towered over her, his glassy orbs boring into Ella's bewildered ones. He pinned her middle finger down with his thumb and humped,

Her ring finger up Instead.

"No, this one."

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