Rosangela: The Runaway Princess (Book #2)

Meanwhile, at the same time, in the kingdom of Clanbella, a man was hanging from the ceiling in one of the cells in the dungeon. His arms raised over his head as his wrists were secured by the shackles that were attached to chains that were bolted to the ceiling. His feet were also chained to the floor.

It had been one year since he was thrown into this dungeon and left to rot here. No one ever bothered coming to feed him, but he didn’t mind. It’s not that he would die of starvation. Vampires could survive without food for years. However, it would make them weak. And that’s exactly what he was feeling right now: he felt very vulnerable and completely exhausted. But he wouldn’t complain because deep down he knew that he deserved it after the betrayal that he had done to his king.

Yes, the man who was imprisoned in this dungeon was Sigmund.

Sigmund casted his minds back to the time when he betrayed his king. That night was Princess Mirabelle and Prince Maximilian’s wedding day. He went to fetch Princess Mirabelle from her bedroom. The princess was very beautiful in her white wedding dress. However, her eyes weren’t shining with happiness like it ought to be. She looked upset instead. Sigmund knew that the princess didn’t want this wedding, but he could do nothing to stop it. If the king once decided to do something, no one could change his mind.

Sigmund held Princess Mirabelle by the arm and then escorted her to the wedding hall. Once they reached in front of the room, Sigmund lastly let go of the princess’ arm and gave her a gentle push on the back to tell her to enter the wedding hall. Princess Mirabelle took a long breath before reluctantly walking into the hall. She was immediately greeted by her grandfather.

Not long after that, the music started. Then, two flower girls came out and lined up the path with white rose petals. King Bellamy put his arm through the princess’, and he walked his granddaughter down the aisle.

At the end of the aisle, the vampire king hugged Princess Mirabelle and whispered something in her ear. From where Sigmund was standing right now, he couldn’t make out what the king was saying to the princess. But he guessed that the king told his only granddaughter how much he loved her.

After they pulled away, King Bellamy presented Princess Mirabelle to her groom, Prince Maximilian. King Bellamy placed her hand in Maximilian’s and smiled.

Sigmund was taken aback seeing the king’s smile, and everyone seemed to feel the same thing as him. Since Princess Claribelle passed away, the vampire king seldom smiled in front of his people. And this was the first time he showed his smile to the public again after 17 years.

Before he walked away, King Bellamy patted Maximilian on the shoulder. Prince Maximilian responded him with a smile.

Prince Maximilian and Princess Mirabelle turned to face the priest. The priest began his speech and everyone listened to him carefully. When it was time to exchange the wedding vows, suddenly they heard the sound of breaking glass. Everyone turned to the direction of the sound and saw so many werewolves entering the wedding hall through the broken windows.

Princess Mirabelle tried to break for her father who also came to her rescue, but Maximilian held her back. “Don’t!” he warned her, shaking his head.

When fighting between the werewolves and vampires broke out in the wedding hall, Sigmund hurriedly approached Princess Mirabelle and Prince Maximilian.

“Maximilian, take Mirabelle to a safe place!” King Bellamy barked out an order.

“Sure,” Maximilian responded.

“Sigmund, you come with them!” The king commanded.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Sigmund replied.

Prince Maximilian and Sigmund each got a hold of Princess Mirabelle’s arm, and the three of them ran away from the wedding hall. However, their way was blocked by four werewolves.

Maximilian and Sigmund pushed Princess Mirabelle behind their backs, shielding her from the werewolves.

When the werewolves advanced on them, Sigmund said, “Maximilian, stay with Princess Mirabelle! I’ll fight those werewolves.”

“Okay.” Maximilian’s head nodded in agreement.

Prince Maximilian and Princess Mirabelle watched Sigmund fighting against those four werewolves by himself. All of a sudden, five more werewolves appeared and came at Prince Maximilian and Princess Mirabelle.

“Stay here, Rosanne! Don’t go anywhere!” Prince Maximilian said before he launched an attack on the oncoming werewolves.

While Prince Maximilian was busy fighting against those werewolves, Sigmund, who had just defeated the werewolves that attacked him, came over to Princess Mirabelle. He got a hold of her hand and pulled her along with him, leaving Prince Maximilian behind.

Princess Mirabelle told Sigmund to come back and help Prince Maximilian, but Sigmund refused. He convinced Princess Mirabelle that Prince Maximilian would be fine and he would join them later.

Sigmund brought Princess Mirabelle to a secret passage leading to the back of the palace. Once they were inside, he gave the princess a potion that would bring her voice back. But Princess Mirabelle refused to drink it because she thought that the potion was spiked with poison. Sigmund convinced Princess Mirabelle that it wasn’t poisonous. Although the princess didn’t believe him, she reluctantly drank the potion. It took a little while for the potion to react, and the princess finally got her voice back.

The two of them then walked deeper into the passageway. After a few minutes, they ran out of candles, and the passage was plunged into total darkness.

Princess Mirabelle suggested them to get back and take some candles with them because she didn’t want them to get lost. Sigmund who could see perfectly fine in the darkness refused to bring candles. However, he had known the secret passage like the back of his hand, so he was sure that they wouldn’t get lost.

Even though the princess had known it, she kept insisting that they had to take some candles with them. It was finally revealed that she was actually afraid of darkness. That’s why Sigmund had to hold her hand all the way to the exit, so the princess didn’t feel afraid anymore.

Several minutes later, they lastly managed to get out of the secret passage. Afterwards, Sigmund led Princess Mirabelle towards the forest.

Princess Mirabelle thought that Sigmund intended to kill her in the middle of the forest, that’s why she tried to run away from him. But before she could get far, Sigmund caught her, and then he dragged her deeper into the forest.

After walking for ten more minutes, they lastly stopped.

“You can come out now. The coast is clear,” Sigmund shouted.

All of a sudden, someone emerged from behind the trees. Because it was dark here, Princess Mirabelle couldn’t see the person’s face and it frightened her. She tried to wrench herself free from Sigmund’s grasp, but he kept a tight grip on her arm, so she couldn’t go anywhere.

“LET ME GO, Sigmund! LET ME GO!” the princess screamed as she kept struggling to free herself.

Tightening his grip on her arm, Sigmund grumbled, “For goodness’ sake, can’t you stop screaming, Princess? If I knew you would be this noisy, I wouldn’t have given you the antidote to get your voice back.”

She ignored him and kept trying to wriggle herself free while screaming out in terror. However, as the person drew nearer, the princess’ scream soon died down.

“Dad?” she said in excitement when she recognized who the person was.

Donovan’s lips curved in a smile. “Hi Rosanne.”

Yes, Sigmund brought Princess Mirabelle to meet her father, Donovan Grandville.

A day before the wedding, Donovan managed to smuggle a letter for Sigmund into the kingdom of Clanbella. He demanded Sigmund to secretly see him at the forest in the evening.

Sigmund was curious to find out what Donovan wanted to say to him. That’s why he agreed to have a secret rendezvous with Donovan that evening.

“Donovan, I’m here. Where are you? Show yourself now!” Sigmund shouted as soon as he arrived at the place where he and Donovan had promised to meet.

Sigmund heard a faint rustle in the bushes. Not long after that, a large brown wolf emerged from behind the bushes. A pair of trousers was wrapped around its hind right leg.

The wolf marched over to Sigmund and stopped a few feet in front of him. Afterwards, the wolf shifted into its human form. He unwrapped the trousers around his leg and hurriedly put it on.

“Oh Sigmund, there you are at last! I thought you would never turn up because you’re afraid to meet me by yourself,” Donovan said teasingly.

“I’m not a coward, Donovan. I’m not afraid of meeting you alone,” Sigmund scoffed.

“Yeah, yeah, I see,” Donovan said with a mocking smile.

“Now tell me! What do you want to talk about with me?” Sigmund demanded.

“I’ll come straight to the point. I want to ask you a favour, Sigmund,” Donovan replied in all seriousness.

“A favour?” Sigmund’s brows were knitted in confusion.

“Yes.” Donovan nodded. “I want you to help me get my daughter out of the kingdom of Clanbella.”

Sigmund gave him a scornful laugh. “You can’t be serious! Do you think I’m going to help you? In your dreams!”

“I have a feeling that you’ll eventually help me.” Donovan smirked confidently.

“No, I will never help you. Not on your life!” Sigmund said with emphasis.

“Come on, Sigmund. We both know that Rosangela doesn’t want this wedding. Not only that. She doesn’t want to live in the Clanbella kingdom either. She doesn’t belong to the vampire world,” Donovan said.

“And do you think she belongs to the werewolf world?” Sigmund asked fiercely.

“I admit she doesn’t belong to my world either. That’s why I’m thinking of sending her to where she belongs,” Donovan answered.

“Where is it?” Sigmund inquired.

“The human world,” Donovan replied.

“But she isn’t human,” Sigmund scoffed.

Donovan gave a shrug. “She isn’t a vampire either.”

“She is a half-blood vampire,” Sigmund countered.

“That’s right. She’s only a half-blood vampire. It means that a part of her is human too, right?” Donovan said.

Sigmund lapsed into silence because he knew that what Donovan said was true.

“Rosangela never wishes to be a vampire princess, Sigmund. She just wants to be a normal teenager like her friends,” Donovan added.

“You’re wrong. Every girl must be dreaming of becoming a princess, including Mirabelle,” Sigmund refuted.

“If she really wanted to be a princess, she wouldn’t try to run away from the vampire kingdom, right?” said Donovan.

Sigmund hated to admit it, but Donovan was right. Again. Princess Mirabelle had tried several times to escape from the kingdom of Clanbella, from her grandfather. It proved that she didn’t want to be here and become a vampire princess.

“I just want my daughter to get her old life back, Sigmund. And I’m sure that it’s what Claribelle wants too,” Donovan said.

At the mention of Princess Claribelle’s name, Sigmund softened.

Donovan went on, “Rosangela isn’t happy in the vampire kingdom, Sigmund. You don’t want Claribelle to feel sad seeing her daughter unhappy like that, right?”

Sigmund clenched his fists. All he ever wanted was to make Princess Claribelle happy. But now, he felt he had failed Claribelle because he couldn’t bring happiness to her daughter’s life.

“Please help me get Rosangela out of the Clanbella kingdom, Sigmund! It’s for Claribelle’s sake,” Donovan pleaded.

“I wish I could help you. But If I helped you, I would betray my kingdom,” Sigmund said.

“But if you didn’t help me, you would betray Claribelle’s trust,” said Donovan.

Sigmund remained silent.

Donovan continued, “Claribelle had known that sooner or later her father would find our daughter, that’s why she entrusted our daughter to you, right?”

Donovan was right. Before she died, Princess Claribelle requested Sigmund to protect her daughter, and Sigmund swore that he would grant her last wish.

Now, he was determined to keep his promise at all costs. Even if it meant that he had to betray his kingdom. He would protect Princess Claribelle’s daughter from anyone who wished her harm, including from her own grandfather.

“Fine. I’ll help you, Donovan. But I’m doing this only for Claribelle, not for you,” Sigmund emphasized the last part.

“Of course!” Donovan grinned victoriously.

“Do you have any plans for this rescue operation?” Sigmund enquired.

Donovan finally explained his plan and reluctantly Sigmund acquiesced.

Sigmund relinquished Princess Mirabelle’s arms, and she quickly ran towards her father and engulfed him in a hug. Donovan soon hugged his daughter back.

Sigmund’s face cracked into a smile. The meeting of father and daughter after so long was a joyous occasion. And he was lucky because he could witness it.

Princess Mirabelle asked how her father could know that she was in that forest. Donovan pointed in the direction of Sigmund.

“Sigmund?” Princess Mirabelle asked in disbelief.

Donovan nodded.

Princess Mirabelle approached Sigmund and demanded why he helped her.

Sigmund replied that it’s all because of her mother. According to Sigmund, he and Princess Claribelle were once lovers until the vampire princess found out that Prince Maximilian was her mate. However, Princess Claribelle rejected Prince Maximilian and she chose Sigmund over him. Knowing this, King Bellamy was furious and then he banished Princess Claribelle to the human world as punishment. Princess Claribelle met Donovan Grandville in the human world. They fell in love with each other and finally got married without King Bellamy’s consent.

Sigmund told Princess Mirabelle and Donovan to leave soon. The princess asked him to go with them, but Sigmund refused. The Kingdom of Clanbella was his home, and he didn’t want to leave it behind. Besides, he also couldn’t leave King Bellamy alone. That vampire king didn’t have anyone except for him, that’s why he had to stay and look after the king. After the betrayal that Sigmund had just done, he knew for sure what would happen to him if he kept staying in the kingdom of Clanbella, but he wasn’t afraid and was ready to face it.

After Princess Mirabelle and her father left, Sigmund returned to the wedding hall. He stood aghast at the sight of the wedding hall. Once a beautiful hall now had turned into an utter mess. The walls were splattered with blood. The chairs were turned upside down. Bruised and battered bodies were scattered here and there on the floor. They were all lying in a pool of their own blood. Their eyes were closed, but Sigmund knew they were still breathing, only unconscious.

“Sigmund?” He heard someone calling his name.

Sigmund turned around and saw Prince Maximilian making his way towards him.

“What are you doing here? Where is Rosanne? Why did you leave her?” Prince Maximilian bombarded him with a lot of questions as soon as he stood before him.

Before Sigmund could give an answer, King Bellamy joined them. He asked, “That’s right. Where is my granddaughter, Sigmund?”

Sigmund hung his head in guilt. “I’m so sorry, Your Majesty.”

Those five words were enough to make the king understand what he had done.

The vampire king landed a blow on Sigmund’s face. The punch sent Sigmund flying and he didn’t stop until he hit a wall before he fell onto the floor. There was a trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth. Sigmund wiped it with the back of his hand.

“Sigmund! How could you betray me after all I’ve done for you?” King Bellamy asked furiously.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but I think it’s better this way. We all know that Princess Mirabelle never wants this wedding. That’s why I took her to her father. I did it not because I’ve gone over to the enemy, but it’s for Princess Claribelle’s sake. I don’t want Princess Claribelle to feel sad knowing her daughter unhappy here,” Sigmund elaborated.

King Bellamy clenched his fists, trying to subdue his anger. “Guards!” he yelled.

Several guards approached them immediately.

“Throw him into the dungeons!” King Bellamy barked an order while pointing at Sigmund.

The guards moved in on Sigmund. Two of them got hold of Sigmund’s arms, and then, they dragged him away.

And that’s how Sigmund ended up in this dungeon until now. He didn’t know how long King Bellamy was planning to keep him there. But he knew sooner or later, the king would eventually release him. King Bellamy never stayed angry for long. Whatever mistake Sigmund had done, at the end, the vampire king would always forgive him.