章節 2: Adventure in the palace
Natalia gasped at the realization that her mate was somewhere in the palace. More than anything, she was overwhelmed by the possibility of having a mate.
Like every other wolf out there, she craved a partner. Someone to call her home. She wanted someone she could find comfort.
Most of the time, she was surrounded by corpses rather than actual living beings. Not that she worked in a mortuary. More like she killed for a living. Considering her line of work, she needed a partner to keep her sane.
Most of the people she knew found their mates a long time ago, some already had their pups and lived happily ever after.
Truth be told, she also longed for that kind of life. She was an orphan, and her childhood was something she tried so hard to forget but couldn't.
Regardless of how ugly her past was, she was ready for the future. She was willing to give up her present lifestyle with the right person by her side.
Hence, Natalia was on cloud nine at the thought that her mate was nearby. The mate pull was like a string attached to her, pulling her closer.
It made her willingly stride toward somewhere she knew nothing about. Her steps were feather-like, as her entire being was high on excitement.
However, the feat of tracking her partner proved to be rather difficult. It was far from her wild imagination of chance encounters under the romantic sunset setting.
As she walked further into the palace, she began to feel exasperated. The scent was getting stronger with each step, yet her destination wasn't open for everyone to reach.
Especially a commoner and rogue.
Palace guards and Imperial Knights were everywhere and the security was tight.
An outsider like her was never welcome, especially in this part of the castle– the inner courtyard of the palace.
But what could she do?
The pulse and scent of her mate were getting stronger. She had to remain hidden in the shadows, yet some places were difficult to hide in.
At such moments, she was forced to take care of the obstacles on the way. It wasn't part of her initial plans but what could she do? She needed to get to her mate.
Upon seeing a maid's uniform that was conveniently lying on the ground, she quickly wore it and sauntered out to blend in with the crowd.
When she reached the second floor of the castle, a neat line of palace maids marching toward her caught her attention. Their moves were stiff yet synchronized as though they were soldiers parading for battle rather than palace chores.
Natalia immediately stepped aside and bowed her head to give way for them to pass.
However, the marching maidens stopped a few steps away, and the one in front turned around to look at her.
"Hold on!"
She flinched upon hearing the command.
Her palms suddenly became sweaty when she saw from the corner of her eyes that a lady was now approaching.
'Oh, shit! Did they find out the truth? How should I silence them? Snap their necks or just make them sleep with my sleeping potion?'
She was busy thinking about all the possible ways to escape. Her hands cracked at the thought of where she would strike first.
"You! Why are you in this part of the palace when you are just wearing a commoner's uniform? Are you not supposed to help out with cleaning the lavatory?"
She almost whistled her sigh of relief upon hearing the maid's question.
‘Ah, so I took the commoner's garb?’ she thought and checked the sleeves of her new outfit. It was a blessing in disguise, though. She could just pretend to be lost and stupid.
Then, it came to her attention the shade of the outfit the lady in front of her was wearing.
When she was still young in her mercenary career, she heard the patrons at the local pubs talking about how captivating the palace maids' uniforms were.
Their position could be identified based on the colour of their garb; caramel shade for commoners tasked to do all the dirty jobs. Most of the maids in caramel shade were from poor families or slums.
Those who wore white were maids tasked to help out in the kitchen, to clean the premises of the inner and outer courtyard where all the concubines and the king resided. They were mostly from middle-class households.
Those who didn't do much work but bullied the majority of the palace maids wore rose-coloured garb and were called "superiors." Most of them were from noble houses. And if a concubine did not bring a lady-in-waiting with her, this higher tier of maids would be assigned to serve her.
And right now, the one who was interrogating her belonged to the highest tier category. The way the maid looked at Natalia was as if her presence was like a stain on the immaculate cleanliness of the inner palace.
"Ah, please forgive me!" she humbly said and bowed down deeply. "I-It's my first day of duty a-and I got lost. It won't happen again!"
"How stupid! You should never enter this sacred ground. Such riff-raff must know their place! Go back to the rear end of the palace and continue cleaning shit. It is where you belong!"
Veins popped on her forehead and neck, and her face flushed from the insult. She might be an orphan, and there were even times in her life that she lived on the street. But she was never insulted like this ever before.
She looked up and stared at the woman's face, etching her features in her memory.
The woman raised one of her carefully made eyebrows and snapped at her again. "What? What are you staring at? Do you not know the rules of the palace? You are not allowed to lift your head and look at your superior. Do you not know who I am? I am the lady-in-waiting of concubine Beatrice, the most favored concubine of the King. All the maids in the palace treat me with respect!"
Natalia silently tucked her head low again. She closed her eyes and gripped the hem of her apron. She was tempted to punch the woman's face to get rid of the irritating smug on her lips, but she fought to keep her composure.
She had a purpose for coming here. And no one, much less an entitled palace maid, could stop her from meeting her mate.
"I understand. I shall take my leave now," she curtly said and left, but not without an oath in mind that she would get back to that bitch maid one of these days.
On the street, she already made a name for herself. And though most of the gangs thought of her as crazy for carrying the name Natalia, they revered her and dubbed her 'Black Storm.' Whoever dared to provoke her and step on her tail would face calamity without a hope of coming out unscathed.
And she wouldn't be living up to her name if she couldn't bring the same storm above that arrogant maid's head.
Wishing to have a good bird's-eye view of the castle's premises, Natalia situated herself at the edge of the spire of a tower, crouching and focusing on where the scent of her mate was coming from.
The soft sound of the blowing wind pulled her into a state of tranquility. Her senses were sharp and ready for the task. Her ears perked up, listening for anything out of the ordinary.
"AAARGH!"
"NO! Please forgive me. Spare my life, I implore you... I-I don't want to die yet— ARGHHH!"
Natalia opened her eyes with a start and faced the direction of that disturbing sound. She adjusted her position at the stripe and squinted her eyes to make out the forest down yonder despite the heavy fog seeping out from its entrance. And the eerie vibe it gave off.
And what's even more horrifying was the fact that her mate's scent was strongly coming from there.
‘He felt so near, yet so far, goddamn it!’ she grumbled under her breath due to these emotions.
‘Damn, perhaps she was asking for too much. Didn't she say, not too long ago, that she would give up everything just to find her mate? Didn't she also arrogantly declare that no one could stop her from meeting him?’
‘So what was she yappin' for? Guess she must have gone crazy, indeed.’
"Well... you better be worth it," was all she could utter as though she could see her mate right in front of her before she took that leap of faith and did a free fall from the summit of the clock tower down to the small hill of a haystack on the ground.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, she sprinted like a speeding cannonball aimed to reach her target– the forest entrance.
Multiple movements could be heard close by, so she decided to stay in the shadows and hid behind a huge tree trunk while patiently observing the situation.
There was a woman, beautifully dressed, standing on the side while carefully watching the man by the lake. However, Natalia could only see the broad back of her companion.
But even from her vantage point, she could sense the domineering and dangerous aura of the man. On his feet were multiple corpses and a pool of blood, slowly but surely painting the lake red.
She saw the man brandish his sword to take off the blood that smeared on it, but he abruptly stopped halfway and sniffed in the air.
He shook his head as though he was trying to fight something in him. Then he suddenly turned around and his focus landed on her.
Natalia went stiff when golden eyes met hers.
She felt like time stood still... yet she wished for nothing but to escape reality.
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