Marrying the Vampire Prince
chapter 22's

"I never thought that my wife was a very good archer." Gavriel's proud and gentle voice echoed, but Evie did not move even to glance at him. 

He was just standing there, tense, as his heart suddenly started pounding fiercely within his ribs.

He could hear the servant and Elias greeting him. He knew that politeness required him to give his greetings as well. 

But Evie is completely overwhelmed with the tempestuous emotions within her – anger, longing and.

 Wh why? Why does he feel like this? What did she do to him so that his presence alone could shake him to the point?

Slowly, Evie steeled herself and as she turned towards him, she smiled at him. 

He stiffened as he looked at the heartbreaking smile that had haunted him since last night and then the entire day as well.

Stiff, Evie did not move or say anything. He can't. But when he took a step towards her, he took a step back automatically before he even realized that he had done so.

The prince's eyebrows frowned slightly, and his smile faded at his reaction. 

However, he still continued to step closer to her. This time, he managed to set his foot on the ground and stood firm. Uncontrollably, his heart was pounding faster inside him, and he found himself getting more and more nervous.

 His body continued to react in ways he did not recognize or like.

But he stopped just three steps to reach it as if he sensed someone's presence. Levy lands behind him, causing him to turn away from Evie.

"What's that?" he asked in a soft tone, looking back at Evie.

"Your Majesty, General Alcan and his daughter are here" Levy and Gavriel looked slightly surprised.

Silent for a moment, but Evie felt like there was a secret conversation between the men that was unknown to all of them.

When Gavriel faces him again, he sees his training target. 

"I think you've played enough, wife. You need to rest now. See you at dinner."

After saying that, Gavriel immediately left. A general visits the prince's palace at this hour ..if they are human, this hour is considered to be near dawn.

The Alcan general was definitely a very important guest which caused Gavriel to leave in a hurry, he thought.

Sighing, Evie silently faced her target again. He was very nervous when he was here but when he left, he almost called and said 'wait'. Gripping his bow, Evie picked up the arrow again and then took a deep breath.

"Is .." he started. 

"Is General Alcan an important ally of His Majesty?" she asked and the silence of the servants made Evie stop her shot and glance at them from behind her shoulder.

"No madam. Actually ..." Fray stopped hesitantly. 

"General Alcan was known as the most loyal subordinate of the emperor. He's Lady Thea's father."

Evie's eyes widened and quickly, she hid her face from them. Once again, he felt his pulse beating at such a fast tempo before Gavriel arrived.

 This time it was much worse. He was glad he didn't face them because he could no longer keep his face calm.

"Sir Levy said he was with his daughter. She only has one daughter and that's Miss Thea, right?" Fray said to Gina in a soft voice.

"Oh no, could it be that he is here to force His Majesty to marry his daughter?" answer Ghina.

"But the general is loyal to the emperor—"

"What if the general swears allegiance to prince Gavriel now that His Majesty has married his daughter?"

"Geez, now that you mention it .. it's possible, Your Majesty really needs an ally—"

Suddenly, the servants gasped when they saw Evie. Their faces apologized and worried. They tend to gossip like this all the time before their women arrive that they have forgotten their woman with them and can hear them discussing it clearly.

"Uhm... miss...it—"

"Fray, Gina ..." she cut off her servant. 

"I want to go to that little forest. I could hear birds singing from there, I thought I could hunt with this bow." Evie's voice was unusually calm.

The servants looked at each other.

"I'm going to shoot one first before I go back to my room" he continued, picking up an arrow and then, straightening his shoulder, he walked away and headed towards the nearby small forest inside the castle building he mentioned earlier.

"You two please wait here. I don't want the birds to be surprised by so many people and end up running away so don't follow me. I'll be back as soon as I catch one." Evie's voice was light and cheerful. However, Fray and Gina did not know why but they felt her expression was strange.

Fray and Gina looked at each other again but they ended up bowing obediently to her as they saw Evie enter the forest. 

They hesitated a little at first but seeing that he looked fine, they sat down on the grass and waited.

Once Evie was inside the forest, she hid behind a tree trunk and leaned her back against the tree. She could not believe his reaction a moment ago after hearing what the maid had said. 

How could he? 

How could he feel like this? 

Their marriage was never a love match. He hasn't even spent much time with her. It's only been a few days since their wedding!

Evie buried her face into her palm. The feeling he felt back then frightened him and at the same time, refreshed him. 

What was worse was that he did not know how to handle such strong emotions that he had never felt before.

He leaned the back of his head against the tree and closed his eyes and regulated his breathing to calm his chaotic mind. 

His fists on his sides clenched so tightly as he desperately wanted the absolute power to seal firmly his foolish, senseless, and rebellious heart.

As her breathing flattened, Evie filled her mind with the fearsome vampire faces she had encountered before.

 He recalled the moment the vampires attacked his chariot and he saw the corpses of their own soldiers, mutilated and ripped apart. And then he pulled out that one memory as he watched their soldiers return home tattered and covered in blood as they lost the war against vampires. 

He remembered how he felt that day when he saw how many living and confident warriors who had gone before were back marching home like walking dead. 

Evie has asked her mother how they can stop this from happening again and she has been told that the only way to stop the tragedy is to exterminate the vampires.

Evie gasped at the thought of annihilation and suddenly, the faces of the vampires in this place that she saw and encountered invaded her head. He imagines all their smiling faces, he sees them eating and dancing peacefully – go about their daily lives, as if they are no different from humans and he grits his teeth.

Realizing that her mind was drifting dangerously towards something she disliked, Evie closed her eyes and sighed tremblingly. 

He grabbed his bow and arrows and looked up. He realized that he felt angry again – was angry at himself.

A beautiful bird suddenly flew into view and he remembered what he had said to his servant. 

A bitter smile curled on his lips and he lifted his bow and aimed at the beautiful bird that was singing happily. And he started shaking.

 He can't even shoot animals. Even when he returned home, he knew that his skills in archery were useless because he could not use it. He can only shoot targets that are not alive.

Evie suddenly felt like crying. He stood there, alone and immersed in his gloomy thoughts. 

He did not even realize that it was already dusk until he felt a chill crawling his spine – which was not caused by the cold but by something else.

He turned around behind her and his eyes slowly widened in surprise.

A wolf was staring at him.

Evie froze in fear. He immediately remembered the beast that Gavriel had slain in the dark valley. This wolf was not as big as that ferocious beast, but it was clearly bigger and more terrifying than the normal wolves he used to meet and see at home. 

It took a step towards him and bared its fangs. 

With the next step, it growled at him and his red eyes were fixed on him.

As the wolf moved without taking his eyes off her, Evie's eyes followed her every move. 

He was overcome with fear, but he realized that he was holding his bow arrows and they were ready to be shot. 

His defensive instincts appeared and he raised his weapon and wasted no time in aiming it at the wolf.

He did not know how he succeeded but it seemed like his body knew what needed to be done. 

His hands trembled, his body so stiff but with the weapon pointed and locked on the wolf it kept the animal silent for a moment before it started to surround him. 

Evie followed his every move, never allowing herself to be distracted even though she felt sweat running down her back. He doesn't know what else he can do. 

He doubted the use of his cry for help after thinking for a while. Screaming would not be of much use since he was quite certain that the wolf would most likely reach him before his servant could even reach him.

One wrong move and he's done. And his hands are still trembling. He aimed at the area between his eyes, but could he attack with his current condition?

Evie almost smiled in total fear and disbelief. He can't believe what happened. He is ready to face the vampires and save himself from them. But that doesn't mean saving himself from a wild beast.

The forest became very quiet. Evie could no longer hear anything but her loud heartbeat and the sound of her extremely slow-moving footsteps as she continued the same spinning motion, following the predators that surrounded her. 

Is it really his destiny to come to a foreign land and die eating animals?

Evie held back her tears and somehow, the tremors in her hands subsided a little. However, the snarling wolf threateningly fell silent and a warning bell rang in Evie's head. 

It's going to attack now!

Shaking Evie started again as she carefully took a step back. Nah! Nay!

The next moment, the wolf moved. Time seemed to stop and before he realized it, the wolf leaped towards him. 

Her lips opened and she did not know why she mentioned the name Gavriel when she removed her arrow.