章節 28: The Hog-Head Rogue Queen

[RANIA]

'Someone's here, great!' That should have been Rania's first line of thought, but the scent that hit her nose, made her curse in all seven ways to hell. The realization itself made her want to puke her guts out. This wasn't what she had expected and yet it was happening.

How the hell was she supposed to describe how fucked she currently was?

"You stupid bitch! I swear to the fucking deities, I will strangle you myself. I will beat you up in ways that haven't been invented yet, and I will use your bones as chopsticks for the meat festival. I will kill you, I swear.

"If I get out of here, I'm taking you to hell with me—" Rania angrily let out, in a quiet and controlled tone, one that got her even shocked about it all. She had never thought that with all her madness, she could be this composed. Was she possessed?

How she managed to do that, was something no one would ever understand. She was crazy, they all knew it, but her calm, angry, and collected threatening self was something that no one expected, or maybe the person who was on the other side of the werewolf hole already knew that.

"You are calm, today, I truly am surprised Rani," the woman on the other side said as she listened to the lid of the hole.

She did it so roughly that some of the soil that had been counted, found their way right into the hole and on Rania, though Kim Rania was protecting Jihoon from the hit.

"Oh, this is gold," the woman said again, when she saw what Rania had done. It was almost instinctive, and this woman clearly knew what was going on with Rania and Jihoon.

She was a rogue fifty-year-old werewolf with hair greyer than Rania's porridge trials that always had Dalrae whipping Rania off the kitchen areas. She looked happy though the creases on her face were almost impossible to see, at least for the angle Rania was staring at her in.

However, that didn't stop Rania from taking a jab at the woman.

Of course, after she got her hands off of Jihoon and carefully rested the man's head on the wall. She did it with so much care that anyone who didn't know that those who were mortal enemies, could have assumed that they were best friends, if not mates.

"I'm smart enough to know when the odds aren't in my favor, you ugly wretched Paloma," Rania said, and the woman growled at her. Rania on the other hand, just let out a snarky scoff, making Paloma angrily lock the lid of the hole Rania was in.

Paloma then proceeded to stomp on the hole in the hope that it would make Rania panic, but Rania knew Paloma and she knew that the woman never took prisoners, and if she did, it was on the rare occasions that she wanted more than just the bounty on the prisoners' heads.

Kim Rania and Jihoon were never hunted by anyone, which is why Rania had already known that this was personal. Somewhere along their very chaotic lives, Kim Rania and Jihoon may have wronged her.

It wasn't that hard to know that the perpetrator was Rania. Otherwise, she would be worried sick about what the woman would try to do to her.

'At least we are together even in hell,' Rania muttered to herself as she looked at the still-unconscious Jihoon.

"Does that make you feel like a real werewolf queen, my dear Paloma, because from where I'm standing, you look like a lost elephant trying to fit in the damn hole? Are you sure you're okay?" Rania asked and Paloma continued her stomping.

She didn't care that Rania was baiting her, maybe because everything about Rania made Paloma's blood boil, and the worst side of it all, was that Rania loved every bit of it. It was almost like she took pleasure in riling up any and everyone she laid her eyes on and didn't like.

"I'd love to see you get out of there, you little uncultured swine!" Paloma shouted and Rania just let out a laugh. She was seriously enjoining all of this and that wasn't going to help her case if she wanted to get out of here alive.

"I know I won't get out of here, Pa; oma, I know that," Rania said quietly, and Palo may have thought that she was giving up. However before Paloma could say anything else, Rania spoke up.

"— Because I know you will let me out of here, yourself when you're done being a stupid ten-year-old stomping her feet on the ground. Need I remind you that you are fifty years old, and your bones have become a little too strong.

"That also means you could fall in here, I would love to see whether your people would get you out, given your bitchy attitude, or if I will be using you as a human ladder and walk my way out of here."

"You Are so annoying, Rania. So so annoying."

"I've been told by many, and even the stupid werewolf queen thinks the same too. At least you bunch of hotheads for queens can come together and use your half-brains, no?" Rania was not leaving without a fight.

She was cruel and uncultured, but that was her strongest suit.

She was deliberately trying to get Paloma's attention from Jihoon. She needed to know whether Paloma had hurt Jihoon, or if this was the result of the berries they had eaten out in the wild. One thing was certain now.

If Paloma had been the one who knocked Jihoon unconscious, she could have started with that. So what was it that Rania was missing out on?

Was she missing time?

What had happened to them out there when they had decided to use the long route to the vampire kingdom, Drarun?

Was this Nathaniel's doing?

"This is why no one likes you," Paloma said angrily as she roughly stomped on the hole lid and walked away, leaving her people to do the rest.

Rania sighed as she slumped her shoulders. Once again, she was thankful for the werewolf's sight and hearing, because otherwise, she could have gone crazy frog worrying too much.

With Paloma in her sight, Rania knew she was in the rogue lands with Jihoon. That also meant that they were still on the right path to Drarun. Heaving a sigh of relief Rania let herself relax and take in all she had learned.

She could tell from Paloma's anger that this was personal for the woman, and the fact that she hadn't mentioned Jihoon one bit, was proof that Paloma was here for Rania. That also meant that whoever brought them here, hadn't told the woman what they had done to Jihoon.

Or maybe Paloma did know what was happening already and wanted Rania to suffer more.

Goodness, she probably knew that Rania would die out of curiosity, considering it had been clear as day that Paloma had seen Jihoon beside Rania. So what was the woman playing at?

"Hey, I think I got us in more trouble again, haha," Rania laughed nervously as she looked at Jihoon's head resting on the wall of the hole. Gently, Rania took Jihoon's head and lay it on her shoulders, making sure to get the soil off his hair.

"I know I do that, a lot, and I know I'm always a lone wolf, but I think I may need your help with this one. I've tried finding reasons why you are in this state, but I can't find any. So I guess I'll work on my last card.

"If this doesn't work, I'll assume you're a vegetable," Rania laughed sadly and nervously, before quietly saying, "Please don't hate me more than you already do, Park, please."