章 4: First Kiss
She replied, and Yuri stared at her for a few moments before a warm smile spread across his face.
He gently gripped her cheek and leaned down a bit so his face was close to hers.
"Well, Yennefer, I am not exactly one that helps people, but there's something I see in you that I just can't explain. It's not ordinary, yet I can tell that it is amazing."
"You see, I can give you both. Your desire and a new life. The decision is up to you."
"I know that deep within you, you want to have your first kiss with someone you love, but you see, sometimes we have to sacrifice to get what-"
He had yet to finish his words when Yennefer gripped him by the neck, pulled him in, and, ever so gently, she locked lips with him, her body instantly going still in the next movement.
This was her first kiss, and it honestly wasn't how she thought it would feel.
It felt different and much more than she expected.
There was this sudden wave of peace and relief that she felt within herself.
It was as though she was finally in the embrace of warmth, peace, and comfort and she felt like she could finally breathe for the first time in her life since she was a kid.
Her lips curled into a smirk, and she closed her eyes to delve deeper, to enjoy this kiss a little longer, but the sudden noises of something hitting steel rang through her ears, causing her to slowly blink her eyes open.
"Yuri..." She called, but the moment her eyes cleared and she looked around her, her body stilled and she stared in shock at what surrounded her.
They were men clad in clothing that resembled that of royal guards, and seated on the floor beside her within what seemed like a dungeon were slaves who looked just as tattered as she.
"Wait..." As though snapped back to reality, Yennefer quickly looked down at her body, and her body shook on seeing that she was clad in nothing but black ripped clothing.
"What the fu-?" She immediately went silent in shock when her eyes fell on her white, very long, silky-textured hair.
White hair! What the hell! She doesn't have white hair! Her hair was black in color, not white!
Her eyes blinked rapidly, and within her, she began to panic, unsure of what exactly was going on.
She looked around her and immediately became startled when one of the royal guards abruptly grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up from the floor.
"All of you, out for your trial!" The royal guard yelled, and the criminals on the floor immediately stood up and followed behind him as he began to drag Yennefer away.
"Let me go, you creep! Let go of me! "
Yennefer struggled to free herself, but the guards angrily stopped and slapped her hard across the face to the point that it felt like it touched her soul.
"Shut up and move!" He glared at her, and Yennefer breathed heavily, unable to comprehend what was happening.
How did she get here? Why had the world changed and looked as though she had gone back in time and not even in her own body?
Just what was going on?
She asked herself and the royal guard, who was annoyed by the fact that she wasn't moving, grabbed her harshly by the arm and pulled her up from the floor.
"If you don't want your head off your neck, then move!" He said to her with his teeth gritted, and not wanting to lose her head in a place that she didn't even know or come from, she obediently followed behind the guard and they walked out of what seemed like the palace dungeon.
They arrived outside on the palace grounds, and harshly, the royal guards chained their wrists and ankles, then pushed them into the slave carriages that were parked in a neat line.
However, the weird thing here was the fact that there was a special carriage kept for just Yennefer.
Unlike the others that were put with other slaves, she alone was locked in this one cage with her hands chained to it.
"Move!" The head royal warden ordered, and the guards began to ride the carriages toward the palace gate.
The gatekeepers above rolled up the gate and they rode off, making their way into the center of the empire where their trials were to take place.
Yennefer stared at the citizens of the empire who were gazing intently at her with ridicule, hate, disdain, and irritation in their eyes and immediately recoiled in fear when they suddenly began to throw stones at her.
Cursing and hating on her.
[Finally, good riddance. I will witness your death with my two eyes!]
One of the crowds shouted and threw a stone, which went through the space in the cage and hit her forehead.
[We will no longer be afraid of you, devil incarnate!!]
More hateful words exited the mouths of the crowds, and Yennefer, who couldn't bear this anymore, gripped her head and began to scream, hoping to wake up from such a nightmare and return to the liquor store.
But it dawned on her that it wasn't a nightmare when more stones and hateful comments from the crowds hit her.
"Where am I? What is going on?" She asked herself, and as though suddenly struck by the realization, her body shook and time instantly stopped before her eyes.
Wait!
Yuri….
Her first kiss...
A new life...
Could it be that this was the new life that Yuri talked about?
But... this was not exactly what she thought her new life would be. In another world and in someone else's body!
When Yuri said, "new life," she thought he meant to give her a new life where all the bad things happening in her life would disappear.
She didn't think it would be to literally send her back in time or something, and worse, in someone else's body who seemed to be going through an ill fate.
A deep look of stress emerged on her face, and she immediately snapped back to reality when the carriage abruptly stopped.
"Bring them down!" The warden ordered and the lower-ranked guards moved to each of the carriages.
They unlocked it and yanked the criminals out.
They pulled Yennefer out and, with her wrists and ankles still locked, they walked towards the wooden stage, which had at least a thousand people surrounding it.
Harshly, they pulled her up the stairs towards the weapon that would be used for her execution, and at the sight of her, the hundreds of crowds screamed in hate, hardly holding themselves back from throwing stones at her.
Yennefer looked around her with confusion in her eyes and became even more confused when she sighted a man among the crowds clad in a cloak with his blue remorseful eyes staring at her.
Who was he? And why was he staring at her with guilt in his eyes?
She questioned herself and immediately turned her head when the crowds, including the royal guards, went down on one knee with their heads bowed in respect.
"His Majesty, the emperor and the crown prince William, of Gavaria."
The royal announcer announced, and everyone bowed deeply three times before they rose to their feet.
A slight smile formed on the emperor's face, and with his brown eyes moving through the entire crowd, he walked towards the enormous shed set up for him and the crown prince and sat under it.
The crown prince took his seat as well and raised his head to look at the ten criminals who were ready for their trial and execution.
His gray eyes filled with disdain looked at all of them but halted on Yennefer, who had a confused expression on her face.
"Is that Gavaria's famous assassin?" He asked his trusted personal guard, Luthiel Winston, who silently nodded as though he was mute
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