Rosangela: The Runaway Princess (Book #2)

“Your Majesty, Princess Mirabelle accused Prince Xavier of snitching on her to you,” Pablo reported to his king.

“Really?” King Joaquin had an interested expression on his face.

The guard nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Well, that’s very interesting!” King Joaquin commented.

“I feel sorry for Prince Xavier, Your Majesty. If only Princess Mirabelle knew that Prince Xavier has never blabbed to you, but I have,” Pablo said drearily.

Flashback

After he voiced his suspicions in front of King Joaquin, Queen Estrella, and Prince Xavier, Pablo was perplexed how he could prove Angela guilty. After working as a guard for hundreds years, he could smell a liar a mile off. And he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Angela must be Mariana’s attacker. Only he didn’t have any evidence to support his allegation. And he didn’t have a witness to the attack either.

For days, he shadowed Angela, but he didn’t find anything suspicious in her behaviour. Until at the night of the ball, he saw Angela rushing out of the ballroom alone. An evil plan immediately formed in his head.

He approached a drunken guest and influenced him to attack Angela. He was certain that if disturbed or cornered, she would eventually show her true colours.

Nevertheless, he guessed wrong. Instead of fighting back, Angela ran and screamed for help. He couldn’t tell whether she was really unable defend herself or she was just putting on an act. So he told the vampire to push her to the limit. However, before he could see how she would react, Prince Xavier suddenly came to her rescue and thwarted his plans.

Yesterday night, while he was patrolling the royal bedchambers, he overheard a conversation between Prince Xavier and his friend, Dr. Benedict. He was flabbergasted to know that Angela was actually a half-blood vampire and what astonished him even more was the fact that she was apparently Prince Maximilian’s fiancée. Everyone knew that Prince Maximilian was engaged to King Bellamy’s granddaughter, Princess Mirabelle. Therefore, it turned out that Angela was the princess of the Kingdom of Clanbella.

Without wasting time, he hurried to report his new-found information to King Joaquin.

“What brings you here, Pablo?” King Joaquin questioned as soon as the guard walked into his study to see him.

“Your Majesty, there’s something I have to tell you,” Pablo replied.

“You want to tell me something? OK, shoot!” King Joaquin encouraged him.

“It’s about Prince Xavier’s pet, Your Majesty,” said Pablo.

“What’s with her?” King Joaquin asked curiously.

“You’ll never guess what I’ve heard, Your Majesty. You know, Prince Xavier’s pet is actually a half-blood vampire. And she turns out to be Princess Mirabelle, Prince Maximilian’s fiancée and also the granddaughter of King Bellamy,” Pablo told him.

King Joaquin’s eyes dilated with surprise. “You meant King Bellamy, the ruler of the kingdom of Clanbella?”

Pablo nodded. “That’s right, Your Majesty.”

The vampire king’s face broke into an evil grin. “That’s great news! Now that we have Princess Mirabelle in our clutches, we mustn’t let her go. We should use her to our advantages.”

“You can say that again, Your Majesty!” the guard agreed with him.

“You don’t have to feel guilty, Pablo!” said King Joaquin, “Before you told me about it, I’ve already known that my son’s pet is actually a half-blood vampire. Though I didn’t expect him to be King Bellamy’s granddaughter.”

Pablo’s eyes widened in surprise. “How come you know that she’s a half-blood vampire, Your Majesty?”

“I know it from Mariana,” King Joaquin replied with a smirk.

Pablo’s face wore a perplexed look. “But how can it be possible? I mean, Mariana is still comatose at the moment, right?”

Out of the blue, Mariana appeared through a door at the far end of the room.

“Who says I am in a coma?” she asked with a smirk.

Pablo gaped at her. “Mariana? So you have regained consciousness?”

“Yes,” Mariana responded, “Nobody knew that I actually have recovered consciousness soon after His Majesty gave his blood to me.”

“If you have woken up since a few days ago, why did you have to feign slipping into a coma?” Pablo demanded.

“I’m the one who ordered her to pretend that she was in a coma so that we’re able to investigate who my son’s pet is exactly,” King Joaquin answered for her.

Flashback

King Joaquin blew a gasket when he heard that the head maid in the palace, Mariana, had been attacked by someone. It’s said that Mariana was fatally injured, and she had not regained consciousness yet until now.

The vampire king immediately appealed for anyone who was involved in the incident to gather in the throne room. After the king interrogated all of them, unfortunately, nobody knew what really happened to Mariana because there weren’t any witnesses to the incident.

Out of the blue, one of his most loyal guards, Pablo, accused his son’s pet, Angela of being the attacker. The reason was because she was the first person who found Mariana.

The human girl denied the accusation and his son, Prince Xavier stood up for her.

Because Pablo wasn’t able to provide any evidence to support his allegation, they couldn’t prove Angela guilty. After ordering his men to investigate the incident, King Joaquin dismissed all of them. They finally began to disperse, meanwhile, the king, his wife and son stayed behind in the throne room.

King Joaquin told his family that he intended to check Mariana’s condition. His son wanted to join him, while his wife chose to retire to their bedroom.

“How is she?” King Joaquin asked the team of doctors whom he ordered to examine Mariana.

“There is no change in her condition yet, Your Majesty,” replied one of the doctors.

“Why can’t Mariana heal herself, Dad?” Prince Xavier inquired out of curiosity.

“I’m afraid it’s all Greek to me, Son,” King Bellamy admitted reluctantly.

“If I may make a suggestion,” a doctor suddenly spoke up, “perhaps you should give Mariana your blood, Your Majesty. Hopefully, it will speed her recovery.”

“Fine. I’m going to give my blood to Mariana,” King Joaquin stated.

“But,” he added, “you all had better wait outside!”

The doctors exchanged glances and finally nodded in agreement before they piled out of the room. Prince Xavier followed those doctors out of the room, shutting the door as he left.

King Joaquin edged closer to the bed where Mariana was lying on. Hovering over her, the vampire king sank his fangs into his wrist until it drew blood, afterwards he let his blood drip into Mariana’s mouth. Next, King Joaquin waited for his blood to work its magic. At first, nothing happened. Then, a few minutes later, Mariana’s whole body started to shake and her eyes finally snapped open.

“I’m glad that you’re finally awake, Mariana,” King Joaquin said. There was an amused look on the his face.

Mariana scrambled to a sitting position and gave a slight bow of her head before her king. “Thank you for saving my life, Your Majesty,” she said with gratitude.

A shadow of a smile touched the king’s mouth. “It was no bother.”

Parking himself on the edge of the bed, King Joaquin demanded, “Tell me, who had attacked you, Mariana?”

“It’s Prince Xavier’s pet who had attacked me, Your Majesty,” she answered.

King Joaquin’s mouth fell open. “That’s impossible! How could a feeble human like her do it to you?”

“I can’t believe it myself, Your Majesty,” said Mariana, “But I can assure you that what I’m telling you is true. I swear Angela was the one who attacked me. She charged at me with an inhuman strength. I was too stunned to fight back. That’s why she managed to beat me easily, Your Majesty.”

Mariana paused for breath, then went on, “For a moment, I thought she’s a vampire, but then, I remember she doesn’t have the scent of a vampire. So she’s surely a human.”

“Besides her inhuman strength, did you notice anything peculiar about her, Mariana?” King Joaquin posed another question.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” answered Mariana, “I think there was something strange about her eyes.”

“What do you mean by that?” The vampire king looked confused.

Mariana elaborated, “For a split second, I could have sworn I saw her eyes turn into red, Your Majesty. But when I looked at her eyes one more time, they already changed back into its original colour. So I doubt whether it was real or I was only seeing things.”

King Joaquin thought for a moment before saying, “I can conclude from your explanation that my son’s pet is not a human, but we can’t call her a vampire either.”

Mariana frowned in puzzlement. “What is she then, Your Majesty?”

King Joaquin answered, “She is a half-blood vampire.”

Mariana’s jaw dropped. “What?!”

“Yes, but I think she’s not an ordinary half-blood vampire,” the vampire king added.

Mariana’s frown deepened. “What do you mean, Your Majesty?”

“An ordinary half-blood vampire wouldn’t be able to seriously injure an elder vampire like you, Mariana. Thus, there must be something special about her,” King Joaquin explained.

“So who might she be, Your Majesty?” Mariana queried in bewilderment.

King Joaquin gave a shrug of his shoulders. “Your guess is as good as mine, Mariana.”

“Then, what shall we do now, Your Majesty?” she wondered aloud.

“Look, Mariana! No matter what happens, don’t let anyone know that you have recovered consciousness!” King Joaquin warned her.

“But why, Your Majesty?” she asked in mystification.

The vampire king hastened to explain, “You ought to make believe that you have slipped into a coma, Mariana. I’m sure that’ll put the wind up her. And do you know what will people do when they are afraid?”

Mariana shook her head.

“When people are frightened, they tend to make mistakes,” King Joaquin answered his own question, “All she needs is make one mistake and it can blow her cover.”

“That’s a brilliant idea, Your Majesty!” Mariana enthused.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty! Your plan has met with a big success!” Pablo gushed.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without Mariana and you, Pablo,” King Joaquin said humbly.

“So the both of you are behind all of this, Pablo, Mariana?” someone suddenly chipped in.

The three of them turned their heads to the direction of the voice.

Mariana’s and Pablo’s eyes widened in surprise as they saw the man standing in the doorway.