Chapter 2: The mysterious man.
Guinevere slowly opened her eyes as she regained consciousness once more. The first thing she saw was the figure of a man crouching directly over her. When he saw that she had opened her eyes, he moved back a little to give her some space. Immediately, she started coughing violently, then turned around and vomited most of the water she had swallowed.
She felt weird and her mind was fuzzy. Panting heavily, she began to recall everything that has happened to her moments before. She had foolishly attempted to cross the river by going through it and had been swept away by the powerful current. She would have died, if not for... oh yes, the man that she saw diving in after her. There was no one else around. He must have somehow heard her cry for help and come for her, she thought.
Slowly, still on all fours, she turned around to take a look at the man that had rescued her. He stood not far from where she was, watching her closely. She couldn't quite see his face clearly but she got a glimpse of it. She, however, took note of the figure. He was a tall man, muscular too, and he had this long hair that went all the way down to his shoulders; those were the first features Guinevere took notice of. She wanted to say something to him, but the words didn't come. She didn't even know what to say.
"Are you okay?" The mystery man asked in a deep voice. In response, Guinevere nodded in affirmation, them managed to mutter a weak 'yes'.
In response to her answer, he nodded his head a little. The next thing Guinevere knew, the man turned around and dashed off. Guinevere was taken aback! She had never seen him before in her life. She didn't even have the chance to thank him properly or at least, get to know him, after all she owed her life to him now after he saved her life. To that end, she suddenly began calling out after the man as she managed to get up in her feet, asking him to stop, but he paid no heed. In a matter of seconds, he had disappeared.
Disappointed that he didn't stop, she sighed and turned around, only to see her wooden buckets right on the ground, with the yoke attached to them. She had thought that she had lost them to the river, but there they were. In addition, the buckets were both filled with water. This man, whoever he was, had not only rescued her, he had also retrieved her buckets for her and even filled them up with water for her once more.
It turns out that when Guinevere had begun screaming desperately for help, the man had somehow heard and quickly made his way over to the river, just in time to catch sight of her sinking down the water. Quickly, he had jumped into the water, not minding the powerful current, and had resurfaced with an unconscious Guinevere moments later. Seeing as she was unconscious, he had tried his best until he finally succeeded in reviving her, using both hands to press down repeatedly on her chest and giving a mouth to mouth resuscitation before she finally came back to life.
Guinevere was as puzzled as she was thankful that her life had been saved. Who was this mystery man, she wondered. How had he managed to hear her cried to help, and then, amidst the surging waters of the river, dive in and save her? Most importantly, she didn't get a chance to thank this man for saving her life. She had to find him and thank him properly. With that thought in mind, she picked up her yoke once again and slowly trudged home.
Her father was already worried by the time she got back home. She had left the house over two hours ago and had not come back until now.
"Where on earth were you, Guinevere? I was getting quite worried about you, I didn't know where you were? Why the delay..." Kendryck started questioning, but stopped when he saw that his daughter was drenching wet, soaked from head to toe. In addition, her eyes were red and she looked really worn out.
"Wait, what is it, my love? What happened to you? Are you alright?" He asked with deep fatherly concern, approaching her and putting his right hand on her shoulder.
Guinevere initially didn't want to tell her father what had happened to her because she knew that that had been a really foolish move on her part, trying to go through the river despite the torrent. She thought that he will scold her for such foolishness. But the way and manner in which he approached her and asked, she didn't even know when she started spilling out all that had happened to her, from when she had gone into the woods, to when the rains began, to when she almost drowned in the river and finally, how this man had shown up out of nowhere and rescued her. Her father listened to her with rapt attention. When she was done, contrary to what she thought, he didn't scold her for her apparent foolishness or accuse her of trying to kill herself. Instead he was really sympathetic towards her plight. Now wasn't the time to blame her, he could see that she was still shaken.
"Thank God that you're alright Guinevere, and that I didn't lose you today. If I did, I don't know what I would have done. Now you just go in and change those wet clothes of yours and put on some dry ones. I'll make some hot tea for you to warm you up. You must be really cold."
Guinevere nodded in affirmation.
"Alright, I'll do just that. After you've had your tea, you go get some rest. Would you still be able to meet up with Prince Owen later tonight? I know the both of you were supposed to meet today." Kendryck said.
"Yeah, I think I'll be able to make it. I just need to get some rest first. I'll be fine." Guinevere answered.
"Alright. And yes, lest I forget, the man who rescued you today, you have to find him and thank him too." Kendryck concluded, to which Guinevere nodded in agreement.
******
That evening, after the sun went down, Guinevere left the house to go to the restaurant in town where she was supposed to meet up with her man, Prince Owen. That was after she had taken what her father had prepared for her, rested up and was feeling much better.
Guinevere lived in small medieval kingdom of Llanrwst, a small Welsh kingdom ridden by rivers and surrounded by forests and mountains. The people of the kingdom were either mostly farmers, who cultivated the fertile soil that the kingdom was blessed with, or fishermen. Guinevere's grandfather, Irving, was a fisherman. It was in this kingdom that she and her family had grown up. Now that she had blossomed into a undeniably charming woman indeed, she no doubt captured the attention of many of the men of Llanrwst, many of whom had fallen hopelessly in love with her breathtaking looks. Many of them had already done their best to get her attention and win her love, but had been unsuccessful as she didn't really fancy any of them. That is, until she met Prince Owen.
Owen was the first child and only son of King Maddox, his other child being a girl. As such, he was next in line to becoming the king of the kingdom of Llanrwst. Owen was also a good-looking young man, with light-brown hair, brown eyes and a moustache. He was also tall, and more than anything, he loved to look good, and so he was always dressed up exquisitely and perfectly, in garbs befitting of royalty. In addition, as the king successor, he was a very popular individual, and not to mention rich. It was no wonder, then, that many of the maidens of the kingdom of Llanrwst had their eyes set on this sterling young man, seeing him as the ultimate prize any of them could have, the 'perfect man'.
Owen had met Guinevere for the first time one afternoon when he was out riding in his carriage with his company. She was on her way back from the river, with her buckets of water balanced on both sides of the yoke she carried on her shoulders, when unexpectedly, Owen's company passed by her. On sighting Guinevere, he ordered his men to stop the carriage immediately, then opened the door so he could talk to her. Immediately Guinevere took notice of the fact that the carriage had stopped on her account, and that it was in fact Prince Owen inside, she dropped the yoke she was carrying immediately, went down on one knee and, with her head bowed, greeted him with the words: "Good afternoon, Prince Owen."
"Oh no no, please get up, my fair lady. Please." Owen had immediately beckoned onto her, to which she listened and got back up on her feet.
"Good afternoon, my lady. How are you today?" Owen asked her, to which she replied that she was doing fine.
"I don't think I've ever met you before. Tell me, what is your name, milady?" He inquired further.
"Guinevere, my prince." She answered
"Guinevere huh? Hmmm." He said and then trailed off, appearing to search his mind for something in particular.
"Yes, my prince. I am the daughter of Sir Kendryck." She added. As she did, Owen's eyes lit up, as if he had suddenly recalled something.
"Sir Kendryck? You mean Sir Kendryck of the church?" Owen questioned.
"Yes, my prince." Guinevere confirmed with an affirmative nod.
"Wow. Although not very well, I know Sir Kendryck. I never knew that he had a daughter though, much less one as exceedingly beautiful as you." Owen commented, complimenting her. In response to that, Guinevere smiled, lowered her head a little and replied with a shy 'thank you'.
"What about your mother? Who is she?" Owen curiously asked.
"My mother's name is Ariana. However, she's late now. She died a couple of years ago." She answered.
"Ohh. I see. Such a shame. My apologies for asking about it. I didn't know." Owen apologized.
"Ohh no, you don't need to apologize at all, my prince, you didn't know. Besides, it's no problem at all. I had no problem talking about it."
After asking her a couple of more questions, including where she lived, what she did for a living and all of that, he promised to keep in touch, then left.
That was how Owen and Guinevere had met for the first time. True to his promise, he had kept in touch with her, paying her regular visits and even inviting her to the castle on one occasion. And then, when he had gotten to know her better, he had requested that she date him. The decision whether or not to date him proved to be one of the hardest she had ever had to make in her life. She didn't really have interest in forming close, romantic bonds with any one at the moment. She wasn't interested in having a man in her life at the time.
But then, this was Prince Owen! The prince of the kingdom of Llanrwst and in fact, the next king. He was a handsome man, and quite charming in fact. In addition, he was also really wealthy indeed. He seemed so perfect. Perhaps being his woman wouldn't be so bad, she thought. To cap it all off, he was showing an interest in her! Of all the women in the kingdom of Llanrwst, he had chosen her. All those women dying to have him in their grasp, clamouring for his attention, and yet here he was generously giving it all to her, even going as far as asking her to court him. Any other woman in Llanrwst will gladly jump at this opportunity that she had, and she knew it. So confused as to what to do, she had gone on to ask her father for advice. The answer that he had given her was a quite simple and short one:
"Do what your heart tells you to do. If you feel within you that he is the man you want to be with, then sure, why not? I will support you wholeheartedly."
Guinevere, although she greatly appreciated her father's advice, was still not entirely satisfied. And so she had gone on to confide in a friend of hers, Jenna, who worked at the same place that she worked. Jenna had told her to go for it.
"By the gods, Guinevere, are you crazy? You're asking me what you should do? Go for it, girl. Go for him. I know that if it were me in your shoes, I will gladly jump at this opportunity to be with the prince of this kingdom. I mean, why would I pass up an opportunity to be the wife of Prince Owen, and possibly become the queen of this kingdom in the future?"
"You really think so?" Asked Guinevere.
"Yeah, I mean, why not? I tell you girl, you don't even know how lucky you are right now, you don't know what you have. Ahh, I'm so envious of you right now." Jenna replied to her, sounding really excited for her friend.
"Besides," she added, "if you declined his request, after he, being the prince that he is, expressed his desire to you directly, then that would make you seem like a proud, arrogant person."
Not long after that, Guinevere made her decision known to Prince Owen, and the two had become a thing. All this was close to two months ago. So far, it has been going quite good between them.
Guinevere got to the location where she was to meet up with the prince, a restaurant belonging to a townsman who happened to be a friend of the king. Perhaps that was why Owen favoured this place. Not long after Guinevere arrived, Owen showed up as well, elegantly dressed as always. After greeting her with a kiss on the cheek, they sat down to enjoy their dinner and have a good time.
Throughout the evening, all the while they were there, her mind was hardly on Owen, or what he was saying to her, their small talk and all of that. Her mind was focused who the man who had saved her from the hands of death earlier today, the mysterious man with the long dark hair and well-built frame. Who was he? Why did he disappear as soon as he rescued her? Where could she find him now? These questions all ran through her mind as she sat there facing Owen who was directly opposite her. Yes, she was right there, smiling and all with him, but her mind was far away. Wait, why was she even so obsessed with this man and who he was, she thought to herself. Was it because he saved her life? Or was it something else? She couldn't really explain why, but she just was.
"Uhmm... are you okay, love?" Owen voice came suddenly to her, immediately snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Oh yes. Yes I am. Why'd you ask that?" Came Guinevere's reply.
"Well because you seem so off today, like your mind is someplace else. You aren't even saying anything. Are you sure you're okay? Did something happen to you?" Owen pressed further.
"Ohh no, nothing at all. I'm good, just tired." She lied.
She had considered telling Owen what had happened to her that day, but had ultimately decided against it. He didn't need to know, she thought. She had already told her father, there was no point telling him too. Besides, this had to do with another man rescuing her. Who knew how he would react.
One thing was certain though, whoever this man was, she was find him out, she promised herself that. With that in mind, she went ahead to try to enjoy the rest of the evening with Owen.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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