Chapter 46: Trust No One.

Seeing the challenge in his eyes and how he was approaching her with purposeful strides, Alicia stood her ground as she waited to see what he wanted to do this time.

Once Harold got to where she stood, he stopped when he noticed the defiance in her stance. Instead of throwing her over his shoulder as he had planned to do, he decided to try a different approach.

He took in a deep breath. "Just to be clear on this, there is no place you can run to in this kingdom to hide from me. And if I want to harm you, I won't need to take you somewhere hidden to do so. Anywhere would be good enough for me. So running is useless," Harold said as he looked down at her.

Listening to him, Alicia swallowed nervously. She could tell from the look in his eyes that he wasn't merely bluffing. She had heard he killed his brother and the king was too scared of him to punish him. She had to be careful. 

"Come with me," Harold ordered again, and this time he reached for the doorknob without waiting to hear her objection. Alicia quickly moved away from the door as he opened it and walked out of the chamber.

She contemplated it only for a moment before her curiosity got the best of her and she followed him. 

Harold didn't need to turn around to know that she was following him. Although she didn't try to catch up with him and match his pace, she left some distance between them, and Harold liked it that way. The last thing he wanted was for people to see them walking together and begin to assume that he liked her or something. That would only put her in danger. Not that he cared anyway. Caring about people never brought anything good, especially humans who were weak and could easily be broken.

As the couple walked past some of the guards and maids, they could not help but be surprised, as they wondered where they were going together and how come they were walking together without bickering? Alicia, on the other hand, could not help wondering where they were going once he led her out of the palace building.

She followed quietly as he led her to the backside of the building, where another tall and dark building stood with two guards standing by both sides of the entrance.

They bowed when they saw Harold approaching, and immediately opened the gate to grant them access while one handed Harold a small lantern.

"Why are we here?" Alicia asked nervously as they got closer to the building, which gave her a feeling of foreboding.

"You will see soon," Harold said without breaking his stride, expecting her to follow him as he walked through the gate.

Alicia looked around her as she hurried to keep up with him, and then took a deep breath before walking inside the low-lit building. Once she did, the pungent smell of urine and some other things she didn't know hit her hard, and she almost gagged.

Where was this place with such a horrible stench? She wondered as she raised a hand to cover her nose. The smell was seriously upsetting her stomach.

She tried to adjust her eyes to the low lighting as she continued to follow him. Once they had walked for some time, he took the left turn, and she could finally hear the weak cries of different people. Some sounded like they were growling, while some were whimpering. They all sounded like wounded animals. Inside the cells, it was very dark, so she could not see anyone else except Harold, who was holding the lantern, but it immediately occurred to her that he had brought her to the place where prisoners were kept. Why?

"Why are we here again?" She asked with a slight frown and stepped back. He was not planning to lock her up, was he?

"This... might be your home if you continue the way you are going. So I thought you should pick a cell just in case," he said without looking at her until he stopped by one of the prison doors, and then turned to look at her.

"Since marriage to me is the reason you ended up in this kingdom, I'm going to give you this advice only once. Even if I don't end up killing you, someone else might. People who behave recklessly the way you do either end up here, or worse, dead," Harold said as he looked at her with serious eyes.

"The more you continue this way, the more you endanger your life. Do not let the king's kindness towards you make you believe that he can save you. He can't save anybody," Harold said in a cold tone as he continued to look at her. He really did not like what he was doing, but it was something that needed to be done. She was his bride, and it was best he let her know that she was endangering her life with her foolish braveness.

Alicia swallowed as she listened to him.

"If you want to live long enough to leave this palace as I believe you plan to, take your classes seriously and act appropriately."

Alicia's eyes widened slightly as she looked at him. How did he know she was planning to run away? Did he read minds? No, that wasn't possible.

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"...And just so you know, if you are caught trying to run away, the penalty is death," Harold added.

Alicia clenched her fists beside her as she listened to him quietly. She knew running away was only going to cause her death, but what would they have her do? This was not her home. She was unfortunate enough to find herself in this world, and the moment she woke up, she kept moving around until she ended up here, and now she could not leave here either? 

"Be wary of everyone. Trust no single soul. Not even me." He lectured seriously. "Your closest ally may end up bringing your downfall." 

Since he believed he was done with what he wanted to say, he walked past her but stopped when she asked, "Is that how you live here?" 

He didn't say a word. 

Alicia turned to look at his back and asked again, "Living like that, having no one to trust or lean on. Is that how you live?" She asked softly, wondering what kind of life that was. She had watched enough movies to understand what he was trying to say, but the reality felt even more sad and lonely than she had thought.

He turned around to look at her, "It's how you should live too." He said before he continued walking, and she quickly followed him. The last thing she wanted was for those mean guards to lock her inside after Harold leaves.

When she returned to her room that evening, she sat on her bed dejectedly. Why was she suddenly worried about Harold? He wasn't her business. Amber was married to him, not her. But she could not help worrying and feeling sorry for him. She had been tempted to tell him that he could trust her, but that had almost made her laugh. She wasn't even in her real body and she was still making plans on how to leave this place. So how could she tell him to trust her when she was going to disappear one day? 

She was brought back to reality when someone knocked softly on the door. 

She waited for the person to enter, but when the person didn't, she went to open the door but found no one there. She looked around at the hallway that only had a few guards patrolling and was about to return inside and close the door when she saw something on the ground. 

It was a box wrapped with a piece of black cloth. Confused, she picked it up and went inside her room after closing the door. 

After untying the cloth, she opened the box and saw a bottle of balm inside that looked like the type Paulina was given. 

She looked at it in confusion, wondering why someone had left it there for her. What was she supposed to use it for? She wasn't hurt anywhere. The injury she had was almost completely gone, which she still found strange until now, especially since she hadn't been medically treated for tetanus. 

Then her eyes fell on her wrist, and she pulled up her sleeve and saw the red bruise that Harold left when he gripped her arm. 

"This is not from him, right?" She asked herself as she looked at the healing balm. But who else would have dropped it and done it in that manner? 

"STOP CONFUSING ME!" She yelled with her hands on her temple. 

"Are you a good person or a bad person?" She asked an invisible Harold before sighing. She had to leave here immediately before she started worrying too much about someone she was not supposed to concern herself with. 

"Milady?" 

She heard Paulina's soft voice outside the door and hurried to open it after dropping the balm on the bed. She had been meaning to have a chat with her. 

"Come!" Alicia said as she pulled Paulina inside until the two sat on the bed while Paulina looked at her in confusion. Alicia did not fail to lock the door with a key before she went to close the windows too. 

"Are you okay? You were talking to yourself earlier." Paulina said, looking worried. 

"Enough about me," She shook her head and looked at her seriously.. "We have to leave this place."

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