Rosangela: The Runaway Princess (Book #2)

Apparently, Prince Xavier wasn’t kidding when he said that I had to stay by his side for 24/7. Because he made sure that I kept close to his side from the moment we woke up the following day.

Having to spend the whole time with Prince Xavier really annoyed me. What got me was having to do the same thing with Xavier day after day. Prince Xavier would normally shut himself away—Correction, he’d shut himself and me away— in his study while reading and signing a pile of documents. Whilst the vampire prince was busy with his work, I basically just sat next to him and did nothing all day. If Xavier didn’t spend the whole night in his study, the prince would be in a meeting all evening, and he always dragged me to those meetings with him. To tell you the truth, the meetings were big yawn from start to finish. I usually ended up nodding off in those meetings.

Today was no much different. Prince Xavier forced me to accompany him to another boring meeting again. The meeting was scheduled for tonight at 8 o’clock.

Prince Xavier and I, along with several guards, were at the door to welcome the delegates from another kingdom, who were going to meet with the prince tonight, as soon as they arrived.

The vampire prince shook each of them warmly by the hand. “It is a great honour to welcome you all to our kingdom tonight,” he said with a friendly smile.

“Thank you for your warm welcome, Prince Xavier,” an old man said. I took the man to be their leader.

“It’s a pleasure,” Xavier responded.

Prince Xavier then showed the delegates into the meeting room. Reluctantly, I trailed after them.

“Please be seated!” Prince Xavier said politely.

After all the delegates seated themselves on their chairs, Xavier settled himself comfortably in his usual chair, and I sat beside him.

As expected, this meeting was extremely boring. I couldn’t help yawning during the meeting.

Prince Xavier, who was sitting beside me, apparently noticed it. He then gave me a gentle nudge in the arm to tell me to stop yawning because it was considerably impolite.

“Sorry,” I mouthed.

Without uttering anything else, Xavier turned his attention back to the meeting.

I stifled another yawn and tried hard to look interested in what the speaker was saying. But it couldn’t last long. After a few minutes, I yawned sleepily again, in spite of myself.

“I have to get out of this place now before I die of boredom,” I thought.

“Prince Xavier?” I tugged at the vampire prince’s sleeve to get his attention.

He turned to look at me. “What?”

“I’m sleepy. May I come back to my room to have a rest?” I whispered pleadingly.

“That’s my bedroom,” he also spoke in whispers.

“Your bedroom is mine too now. Remember?” I reminded him.

He snorted with annoyance because he knew that I was right. Meanwhile, I just grinned at him.

“No, you’re not allowed to go back to my room,” he hissed.

“But I need to use the bathroom too,” I made up an excuse, “Please let me go now! I promise I’ll come back here again later.”

Just for an instant I thought he was going to refuse. But surprisingly, he said, “Fine. You may go to the bathroom. But I expect you to come back here, pronto!”

I suppressed a smile. “Don’t worry! I won’t take long.”

“OK, go!” Prince Xavier dismissed me.

Getting to my feet, I excused myself and left the meeting room hurriedly.

It was a relief to be able to be away from Prince Xavier for the time being. You know what? All this time, I felt suffocated because I had to be stuck with the most annoying vampire prince in the whole supernatural realms.

Now, I’d better find something more interesting to do so that I could relieve my boredom before going back to the meeting room.

I skipped happily along the corridors. My steps came to an abrupt halt when I caught Mariana bawling a young maid out for doing something wrong.

The maid mumbled an apology and tried to explain, but Mariana wouldn’t listen. Instead, she took a swipe at the young maid that deposited her on the floor.

Tears began to spill out the maid’s eyes. But Mariana didn’t show her any sympathy at all. Even worse, she rebuked the poor maid again.

All of a sudden, I felt obligated to help the maid. How could I just sit by and watch this violence happen?

I hurried across the room and crouched down beside the poor maid.

“Are you OK?” I inquired anxiously.

She nodded her head and gave me a reluctant smile.

“Come on, let me help you up!” Rising to my feet, I held out my hand to her.

The maid shifted her gaze from Mariana to me timidly.

I nod encouragingly at her.

Hesitantly, she took my hand, and finally, I helped the maid to her feet.

I turned and faced Mariana. “What’s going on here, Mariana? Why did you hit her?” I demanded wrathfully.

“I should be the one who ask you. What are you doing here, Angela? You ought to be with Prince Xavier now, right?” she asked me in return.

“Don’t sidestep my question, Mariana!” I snapped at her, “Answer me now! Why did you hit that maid?”

“It’s none of your business,” she said spitefully.

“Of course, I shall make it my business. How can I just close my eyes to the violence you have done to this innocent girl?” I said stoutly.

“Innocent you said?” she sneered, “You know what? She has made a big mistake, that’s why I punished her.”

“Even if she’s guilty, it still doesn’t give you an excuse to beat her like that,” I snarled.

“Stop defending her! You don’t know anything about her,” Mariana yelled angrily while pointing at the maid, making the poor girl cringe in terror.

“I think I should leave the maid out of my and Mariana’s quarrel. She looks so frightened,” I thought.

“You may go now,” I told the maid.

“But...” Her voice tailed away. Anxiety was written all over her face.

“Don’t worry about me! I’ll be all right,” I assured her.

At last, she murmured her thanks, and with that, she reluctantly turned on her heel and scuttled off.

“Why did you dismiss her? I give the orders around here, if you don’t mind,” Mariana protested indignantly.

“I know you’re in charge here, Mariana. But I deliberately dismissed her for fear that you might want to punish her further.

Look at her! She appeared to be scared stiff and so traumatized by your punishment. I don’t want you to frighten her even more,” I stated firmly.

“Now look here, don’t blame me for punishing her. It’s indeed my job to enforce the law in this palace and to punish those who have broken the law,” she defended herself.

“I understand that you have responsibility for ensuring that the rules are enforced. Yet it doesn’t give you the right to hit her like that. Rather than using violence, why didn’t you give her a written warning or fine her or something else?” I advised her.

She pushed me roughly until I stumbled back an inch or two. “Who are you to tell me what to do?” she bellowed at me, “How many times do I have to remind you that you’re only a pet? A worthless pet! You have no right to order people around. All you have to do is obey orders from your master.”

I gave a short, derisive laugh. “You think you’re far better than me, Mariana? But the fact is you’re just a maid—”

“A head maid,” she corrected, cutting me off.

“Same difference.” I gave a shrug. “What I’m trying to say is you’re no different than me. You said I had to obey my so-called master’s orders, right? Just like me, your job is also to obey orders from the royal family. Whether you want to admit it or not, but we’re equal, Mariana.”

“Don’t you dare compare me with you!” she hollered, “I’m definitely not like you. Bear in mind that you are only a pathetic human, the lowest being on the food chain. Meanwhile, I am a powerful vampire; I’m certainly above you in rank.”

“You’re right. We are different, Mariana. Because unlike you, I would never stoop so low as to hurt weaker people,” I emphasized.

Unexpectedly, Mariana slapped me hard across the face. My mouth immediately filled with the metallic taste of blood and I accidentally swallowed the blood. At that very instant, I felt my eyes change colour from brown to red and a strong power surge through me.

But I tried to keep my power at bay because I didn’t want to make a scene in this place.

“I’ve just about had enough of your lip, Angela! Have your parents never taught you to respect people in a position of authority? Oh sorry, I forgot. Your parents are pathetic human beings just like you. The uncivilized people like your parents will never teach their daughter to have good manners,” she mocked me.

My fists clenched slowly until my knuckles were white. “Don’t speak ill of my parents! You don’t know anything about them,” I flared.

“Why are being so angry, Angela? I’m just talking about the fact here,” she said with a mocking smile.

“That’s enough! I’m sick of your rudeness, Mariana. I won’t have it any longer!” I growled at her.

Before Mariana could react, I wrapped my hand around her throat and lifted her off of the ground, using an inhuman strength I did not know I possessed.

“What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing, Angela? Let go of me now!” Mariana shrieked in fright. She tried to pry my hands off her throat but failed miserably because I tightened my grip around her neck and squeezed her throat hard, obstructing her airway.

I gave an evil grin as I watched Mariana struggled for breath. Just as she was about to pass out, I let go of her.

Mariana fell forwards to her knees, gasping for air. Once she was able to breathe normally again, she bellowed at me, “Are you crazy? You could have killed me!”

“You deserve it!” I spat.

“You!” she snorted contemptuously.

Mariana scrambled to her feet and shot out her right arm to punch me. But before she could land her fist on my face, I caught hold of her hand.

She wrenched herself out of my grip and came at me again. However, before she could launch an attack on me, I delivered a blow to her face with all my force. Unexpectedly, the punch sent her flying. Mariana hit the wall before she fell head first on the floor. Blood was pouring from the wound on her head.

Seeing Mariana lying in a pool of blood, only later did I realize my mistake.

I gasped and my hand flew to my mouth. “God, what have I done?”

I rebuked myself for my stupidity. I shouldn’t have lost my temper. If I could keep my anger in check, I wouldn’t have to hurt Mariana like this.