Chapter 2 : On Its Turf.

In the morning, Ari opened her eyes slowly only to see the beautiful scenery of a well-decorated luxurious canopy bed.

Everything was made of fur making the bed soft and extremely comfortable.

Its colour was pure pink suitable for a girl like her. Its curtains were too thick that she couldn't see outside.

The light illuminated from outside passed through the thick curtain causing the beautiful brightness in the canopy bed.

She felt extremely comfortable that she could not help smiling.

'This morning is so beautiful.'

Suddenly her expression changed drastically as she realised that something was amiss.

This was not her bed and not even one of the beds at the palace.

This canopy bed was far superior to any of those beds at the palace.

Then her petite soft face turned ashen as she remembered the scenes from last night.

'Where am I? Has someone saved me from the creature?' She thought.

'But who has the guts to bring me here? Why didn't he send me directly to the palace immediately?'

Keeping the unconscious princess at his house might cause the king to misunderstand something and end up punishing that person.

She removed the blanket. Her clothes were unchanged making her slightly relieved.

She then crawled toward the exit.

As soon as she got out of the canopy bed. Ari realised that she was in a cave and the light was entering through a narrow path.

She began to tense up.

Then she saw something in the corner of her eyes. Only when Ari glanced at it did she realise that there were four tall and elegant dark-skinned men standing about three meters away from the canopy bed.

This was not her first time seeing dark-skinned people. She had seen some at the palace.

The four were very polite and lowered their heads. One of them pointed his hand to a pathway.

She quickly understood what he was conveying.

He was indicating for her to go that pathway.

Ari followed and walked through the pathway. She walked less than ten meters before arriving at another room.

Several other dark-skinned men were standing opposite each other forming a path to a canopy bed very similar to the one she had slept in.

The only difference was the colour of this canopy bed was the pure white colour.

All the men were bearded.

She began getting nervous and felt uncomfortable. All people here were dark-skinned, and they were all men. She wondered what these foreign people were out for.

Their attire was the same, they all wore knee-length think coats made of fabric and white fur.

They were most likely to be mercenaries, but it was also possible that they were criminals.

The moment she arrived one man yelled in a foreign language at the canopy bed. Ari could not understand the language.

However, she guessed that he was informing someone in the canopy bed about her and that was the case.

The canopy bed moved slightly indicating that someone from inside was moving toward the exit. In the next instant, a person emerged.

It was a handsome dark-skinned boy, not tall and not sturdy. He wore a white earflap on his head and a very long and thick coat both made of fur. She could barely see that he wore a white robe inside.

His coat was too long that it touched the ground and the whole of it was fur differing from the coats of the other men that were only fur from shoulders to the chest.

Everything he wore was pure white from toe to head.

His face was fresh and charming and seemed to be sixteen or seventeen years old. He had no beard.

He sat by the bed and glanced at Ari and smiled. Ari's heart skipped a beat.

'Oh my god! He's so cute.'

"Hi I'm Yeli, what is your name?"

Said the young man nonchalantly in a low but clear voice.

This time, Ari had a drastic change of expression, and the veins on her forehead were throbbing.

Ari recognised his voice. He was the terrifying creature she met last night.

Ari had now understood why she was here. It was not like someone had saved her from the creature but the creature had brought her here.

The reality was so frightening.

"Ah, what are you? What do you want to do to me? I'm telling you if you dare to lay a finger on me my father will have no choice but to kill you, monsters!"

Ari cursed and threatened.

"Hah, I don't want to do anything to you. I just need to get to know you and beg something."

Said the young man while smiling faintly.

"Hah, you think you can fool me. You're that ghoulish creature that climbed in the tree I was lying on, am I wrong?"

"You're not, you're not wrong. I'm the creature. But you misunderstood something"

The Young man replied softly and calmly.

"Do you think you can fool me? You're wrong then. I have heard of you, you're monsters that roam in the woods at night. You want to lure me to death!"

Ari barked furiously, indeed almost everyone in Jiuhon and surrounding areas have heard of the creatures that roam in the dark.

Now Ari had witnessed it herself. Obviously, the young man was too dangerous than his subordinates, yet he was so handsome and had such a sorrowful voice.

"Miss, I went in the woods just to kill boredom and I have never killed anyone before."

The young man said in an even more sorrowful tone.

"Hey Little ghoul, stop playing such silly tricks in front of me. Do you think I believe you? Why do you go there only at night? How did you crawl as a snake in the tree? Were you not afraid of some creeping creatures? Hah, I understand you're the one who is a creeping creature, how can you be afraid yourself?"

During daylight, people would go there in the woods for various activities such as wood gathering, and wood splitting, and kids even went there to play and had never met any creeping existence, only some wolves rarely.

But no one dares to go there at night. Which undoubtedly meant that Yeli only go there at night.

"I only go out at night not to be exposed and attacked. Three years when we just arrived here, we were attacked by local soldiers and ended up losing some brothers."

A trace of grief appeared on his face as he remembered the scenes from the past.

Three years ago, when they just arrived in snow valley hills, Yeli intended to cross the woods and enter the Jiuhon territory to talk to the king so that the latter could either give or sell them a place to stay.

But the advisor advised them to send only a few people as messengers. Yeli agreed and send four men. The king there who was probably King Choi treated them with cruelty.

He snatched away their gold and other riches and killed them. He ordered his men to throw their bodies in the woods as a warning.

This hurt Yeli all the time he remembered but he had no choice but to stay away from Jiuhon. Thus, they chose to stay in caves of snow valley hills. The woods were between Jiuhon and snow valley hills.

"That's great then, you deserve not to exist. You bloody vicious monsters have to die indeed. I need you dead!"

She hollered with a lot of hatred in her voice.

Her cold words struck a sour note within Yeli. Yeli and his men didn't do anything harsh to her. They even gave her precious bedding.

Yet she was being too hostile to Yeli and his men.

She was too arrogant and brazen!

The tall and elegant man standing beside Yeli sneered but kept quiet.

"We're not monsters, it is just because I have some special abilities that are why I can do what I did last night."

Replied Yeli.

He meant that he could crawl into the tree like a snake because he had special abilities.

"Ok kid. I don't care less. But I just want to warn you again that you'll die if you won't let me go. Do you know who is my father? He is the king of Jiuhon. If you let me go I can at least convince him to spare you otherwise he'll skin you alive. Worthless cowards!"

Ari yelled at top of her lungs sternly.