Chapter 20: His Left Eye

The exact time her foot stepped into the dungeon, she felt an irregular cold swallow her whole body to the extent that she had to fold her arms together.

The more she walked into the dark dungeon, the more the plan she had in her mind kept depreciating. Now that she wanted to meet that cruel leader, the one everyone in her clan had rumoured to be a psychopath, she did not know why she felt like going back.

What would happen if you annoy a psychopath, especially in their most energetic moment? The answer was glaring and was enough to stop her gut.

Truly to what the guard had informed her, the more she entered inside the dungeon, the more she became aware of a series of candle lights, arranged on each of the closed windows that she came across.

She looked around and saw that there was a staircase leading downwards. Not knowing where else to pass, she walked down the staircase, everywhere becoming colder than it was in the first place that she was there.

As long as her people did not want to believe that she might be infected by the pandemic, it did not stop her from feeling one of the symptoms. That was cold. Now, she was freezing. She wondered what could be in the dungeon that made all the warmness in her body vanish into thin air.

Or could it be as a result of having worn a cold gown previously?

That did not make a bit of sense.

When she got to the end of the staircase, not so far from where she was staying, she could see a silhouette of a man standing beside the window.

Just by that image, her whole body shook on its own.

She slowly walked carefully to where he was, feeling that, he was definitely the person she had come to meet.

When she had gotten to where he was, a few feet away from where he stood, she finally uttered, "Your Highness, you called for me."

The man only kept looking at the bare window. Hazel could see the full moon, striking its beauty on him. The candlelights that she had seen the other time were not around here and all that was giving the source of the light on this dreadful part of the dungeon was the full moon.

This dungeon had no pungent smell like the previous ones she had been in, instead, it send chills down her spine. The cold she had felt while walking past the stairs was still encompassing her whole body, but it seemed that she was already getting used to it.

The man remained silent, he had not even raised his head to look at her but she could already sense that he was a lot older. He had short hair which was considered long for men, as his own reached his shoulders. And then his well-built back, she could not forget as she had stared at his back when he walked away from where they tortured her.

Even now, she could not see his face properly but she could see the left side of his face which was covered with his hair. His hair covered the middle of his forehead to his left eye, making him look a bit scary. It reminded her of the books she had read when she was still in her middle teens when she wished all that she had read about handsome monsters were real. And she had no reason why there was a little, curiousness stuck into the deep chamber of her heart about what she was going to do today.

When she stood there waiting for his reply that did not come, she was getting tired of it and she greeted him once again. "Good evening, Your Highness."

He still did not reply to her and she got a bit scared. Or was this not the man that she was to meet? Could this be someone who had come into the dungeon just to capture her? This could not be a horror! It was real and she did her best to think less of that.

When she was fed up, she decided to walk closer to him but his sudden chilling voice ruptured her confidence and she just stood still. "Do not come nearer."

His voice was the same. He was the one who told them to put off the coals. She had no reason why she felt that this man might not be as bad as she thought. For him to have pardoned her meant that he still had good flesh on him compared to his beta. That horrific monster that does anything and whatever he feels is right at any time.

She remained still, waiting for him to turn to her but then, he just kept looking at the full moon still.

There was a small wind that blew inside the dungeon, intensifying the cold that she already had but then, that same wind swept a few strands of his hair off his left eye and she narrowed her eyes, trying to look at it.

"Don't stare!" A sudden voice came out again and it shook her to the core.

She had no idea if this man was half blind because she could not see his left eye properly when the wind blew part of his hair off his face.

"I am sorry, your highness."

Just after she said his words, he turned slowly to meet her gaze.

Hazel's heart skipped a bit when he saw his face. She had no idea why his face looked so familiar even when she was sure that she had never set her eyes across him.

His grey right eye looked metallic as he stared at her slowly.

She felt like there was an invisible spell that had been kept in his eye to make sure that anyone who meets his eye remained entrapped in his gaze forever.

She wondered what it would have felt like if his left eye was not kept beneath his hair.

She would have become engrossed with his eyes for some minutes, that was yes.

There was a sudden silence between the both of them as they kept staring at themselves, different thoughts walloping in their minds.

While Hazel was thinking about how she would be able to do whatever she wanted to do to him, she could not guess what he was thinking about.

"Do you always look this ugly?" He asked and the middle of her eyebrows furrowed.

Was that a question she should answer?

Hazel had no idea what to say. She asked herself again, was that a question she was supposed to answer?

Most importantly, did she look ugly because her pale skin had turned into that coal-colored skin?

Apart from that, was that really what he was supposed to say first?

What should she say then?

When she had nothing to say and only looked downwards, she senses his proximity toward her and she stepped back a little.

"Never keep quiet when I ask a question." His words again resonated and she raised her head slowly. He was threatening and she could not understand the exact reason he could be annoyed just for something as little as that.

Not trying to get on his nerves, she immediately apologised, "I'm sorry, your highness."

Her eyes continue to pierce at his face.

This man looked really handsome. She could not describe his beauty because it was something she was the first time setting her eyes on but then, what is the point when they were only clothed with human skin while they were monsters in reality?

"Now tell me, do you really want to survive in this palace?"