The Cursed Prince

Their two horses walked side by side unless the road became too small to walk together. Each horse dragged a stretcher with three wolves on it. Because of the heavy loads, Gewen and Kira took things easy to get out of the forest and returned to Castilse.

It was quite a sight to behold. Gewen was a really handsome man, looking valiant and dandy, riding together with Kira, an aloof girl with a scary snake tattoo on her arm, dragging six wolves combined.

A few hunters who met them on the way took a second glance when they saw the unlikely pair.

On the road, Gewen decided to ask Kira about herself since he was curious to know how a woman could be so badass like her.

He had been wondering about who she actually was. Several times, he stole a glance to his side and checked Kira.

Was she a knight? Hmm.... it didn't look like it.

Judging from her appearance, Kira actually looked like an adventurer or... a female thug. Her snake tattoo was quite striking and Gewen wondered if it had any meaning behind it.

Another thing that got him curious was the fact that Kira could speak his language. 

Being alone and lonely in a foreign country made Gewen feel kind of sad, especially because he knew he came here to sacrifice his life for his country. So, seeing some familiarity here truly brought some relief to his soul.

"Are you from Terra?" Gewen decided to start a conversation after they rode together for half an hour in silence. "Where in Terra?"

Kira turned to him and replied nonchalantly, "I am not from anywhere. What makes you think I am from Terra?"

Gewen was surprised to hear her answer. "Oh... so, you're from here? I thought you are from Terra because you speak my language. I am sorry for being presumptuous and just assume your origins."

Kira shrugged. She was chill most of the time and Gewen asked that question because he was honestly curious. So, she replied leisurely, "I speak a few languages, not all fluent but enough to survive and understand when someone calls me a stupid foreigner to my nose."

Gewen crinkled his nose at her sarcasm. He was immediately reminded of the pickpocket who stole all his money and called him stupid, and he let her walk just because she was beautiful.

This made Gewen feel so dumb and want to kick himself on the head.

"Oh.. so, where are you from?" Gewen asked again.

"Why do you want to know?" Kira asked back.

This made Gewen scratch his head. Usually, any woman would be happy that he talk to them, and would gladly tell him everything he needed to know... and more.

But this one woman was so different. She didn't pay him any heed.

Why wasn't she interested in Gewen?? She was not blind, was she?

No.. she could see just fine. She knew Gewen was robbed earlier and she also killed those wolves easily. Her vision must be great.

So, did people where she came from have different standards for beauty?

This made Gewen feel more curious than ever.

"I am just curious. It's okay if you don't want to tell me." Disappointed, he stopped trying to probe Kira's origins.

Silence ensued between them.  For the first time in his life, Gewen didn't have any topics to talk about. This felt really strange.

He didn't want to talk too much about himself because it might risk his disguise being exposed. And it was hard to talk about the other person when she acted like a wall who didn't bother to respond to his questions.

Gewen also didn't want to make Kira feel annoyed by his questions and then decided to kill him like she just killed those wolves in cold blood.

Even though Gewen was ready to die, he didn't want to get killed before he accomplished his mission.

"What about you? Where do you come from and what are you doing in a country which you don't speak the language?" Fortunately, after a while, Kira felt bored and she decided to chat up Gewen.

Her question made the man's face beam with happiness. He gushed, "I am from Draec. It's a beautiful country in Terra Continent. Have you ever heard of it?"

"Yeah. A good friend of mine came from there." Kira nodded. Then, she facepalmed herself and quickly corrected herself. "No, not Draec. She actually came from Wintermere."

"Oh.. that's not far from my place," Gewen said with a smile.

He was actually very wrong because Wintermere was at least one month away from Draec, but since he was now in Summeria, which seemed like the end of the world from home, Wintermere felt like his neighbor.

"Really? My friend said it's one month journey from Draec," Kira said.

"Ah.. well..." Gewen scratched his head. "Maybe it IS really one month away..."

Kira shook her head, thinking this man was really dumb, for not being able to tell distance. "Your concept of 'not far' is questionable."

"To be honest, this is my first time going so far away from Draec," Gewen admitted. "Everything else seems so close to home compared to Summeria."

"Ahh.. that makes sense," Kira nodded. She then added, "So, what brought you here then?"

Gewen cleared his throat and then repeated his lies about being the son of a salt merchant going to Summeria to expand his family business. Kira chuckled when she heard his explanation.

"So... of all places in Atlantea, you think Castilse lacks salt?" Kira asked him. "Why don't you go to smaller towns which are far from the ocean, and don't have easy access to salt? Castilse is a really big and advanced city. You can find anything easily here."

Kira was not an educated woman but her pirate group often robbed salt merchants' ships and those merchants usually didn't operate the way Gewen explained it to her.

Gewen's admiration for this woman grew even more when Kira confronted his lies. He realized his salt merchant story wouldn't work, so he decided to tell Kira at least some truths about his mission.

"Well.. you got me," he smiled broadly. "I am indeed a salt merchant's son, but I didn't come here to explore the market. I actually have a mission to help my good friend's love life. I just thought you will find it silly, so I didn't tell you earlier."

"Tell me now then," Kira said. "I already think you are silly. My judgment of you couldn't get any lower."

Gewen pursed his lips when he heard her heartless words.

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NovelFull just changed the whole book tags, so I have to redo tags for "The Cursed Prince" and all my other books. Unfortunately, the tags available are quite limited, so maybe the ones I chose don't really represent what I want. For example, there is only 'princess' and no 'prince'. Not even 'magic', only 'magicworld.' Sigh.

Anyway, would you be so kind as to help me tick the tags in the synopsis to help this book get to its intended audience? See my comment for picture instruction.

Thank you so much! xx