Ensnaring his Dark Moon-Chapter 298: Escape

’’Your Grace, I will have no regrets if I am beheaded because of my impudence after we escape from here,’’ Rowan lowered his head, tears spilling from the corner of his, ’’The Prince had always treated me more like a friend, instead of a subordinate. I am not a royal and I don’t possess magical powers. He had never needed my protection but all this while, I have been sheltered by the royal family. You have treated me so well over the years. If you don’t want to leave this place, I would rather stay here with you and wait for them to kill us.’’

Duke Maverick felt helpless as he looked at him.

’’Your Grace, if the Princess knows that you were harmed because of her, she would be devastated. If the Prince was alive, he would never have let any harm fall your way,’’ Rowan clenched his fist, ’’Even if you do not want to live, you need to survive for the people who look up to you. We will go to Defire to find the Princess.’’

Duke Maverick lowered his head, ’’Defire is a mysterious place. I want to save her but what can I do? I cannot even stand on my own...’’ he closed his eyes. But when he opened them after a few moments, there was a determined look in his eyes, ’’We should go back to Visteria after escaping. There are secret troops of soldiers hidden throughout the kingdom that only the King has the special powers to dispatch.’’

’’Your Grace, you...’’ Rowan’s eyes widened in disbelief.

’’Yes, I am willing to ascend to the throne. Only when I am the King will I be able to negotiate with the King of Defire for Esme.’’

Rowan nodded cheerfully when he heard the optimism in his tone.

"When are we leaving?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

’’At midnight,’’ Rowan said before explaining further, ’’When I sneaked out the past few times, I realized that the guards change shifts during this hour.’’

He looked around before removing a loose spoke from the wheel of the Duke’s wheelchair. It was the same one he had been using the past few months to open the lock without letting anyone notice it.

"I have agreed to your words but you must remember one thing.’’

Rowan glanced up at him, ’’Yes, Your Grace?"

’’If there is danger, you must escape. One of us must live. Go back to our Kingdom and visit the King’s bed-chamber,’’ Duke Maverick lowered his voice before he continued speaking, ’’Break the fifth painting on the wall and you’d get the royal seal engraved inside it. You must remember this before we try to escape this place. Do you understand?"

Rowan’s eyes widened but he eventually nodded.

...

Rowan glanced at the two dead guards lying at their feet, ’’They were startled so it was not hard to catch them off guard. They never expected us to break out of the dungeon,’’ he spoke to Duke Maverick while searching through their bodies.

It was past midnight and they had sneaked out of the dungeon without attracting much attention from the guards.

Rowan grabbed a sword from them and found a hidden dagger in the guard’s body.

Rowan passed the dagger to Duke Maverick and looked at him worriedly, ’’Your Grace, if we come across more people, I will make sure to protect you but if someone comes at you, you must not hesitate. Just stab their heart without hesitation. You must abandon kindness and pity at that time...’’

’’Stop nagging,’’ Duke Maverick shook his head, ’’You boy... You were still not born when I was fighting on the battlefields.’’

Rowan smiled as he started pushing the wheelchair, his keen eyes focused on their surroundings, ’’Your Grace, you are barely a few years older than the Prince. And I happen to be around the same age as the Prince...’’ he trailed off, realizing that the mention of Aleister might sadden the Duke.

During this time, something caught Rowan’s attention. There were some strange lanterns hanging on the hallways, gleaming in a shade of blue. Upon closer inspection, Rowan noticed that there seemed to be jellyfish inside the glass of the lantern. Strange, how could a fish survive outside the water, locked in a glass?

Duke Maverick smiled softly at the mention of his nephew, ’’He was thrown in the Enchantment Forest at a very young age...’’ he closed his eyes and shook his head before changing the topic, ’’Even though I am in this condition now, I started holding a sword when I was 5. I forbid you from nagging at me as if I am a weak old man.’’

’’I apologize, Your Grace,’’ Rowan smiled but his footsteps slowed down.

Duke Maverick looked around, ’’The air... has a different scent here.’’

The further they moved, the stronger the scent got, ’’Like seaweeds...’’ Rowan mumbled.

Once they reached the door, Rowan used the spoke to open the huge lock on the door.

As soon as the door opened, Rowan and Duke Maverick were stunned by the sight that greeted their view.

The waves of the dark sea were accompanied by small fishes cutting through the water, the seaweeds swaying with the movement.

’’W-Water... A sea?" Yet not a drop of water touched the place they were standing at.

At this moment, the sound of rushing footsteps resonated from behind.

Rowan glanced at the door that had started glowing under his touch, ’’A spell...’’ No wonder, there weren’t many people along the way, guarding the dungeon. The past few days, he had figured out the ins and outs of this place but he did not have a clue about this strange spell in it.

Rowan glanced at Duke Maverick, ’’Your Grace, there seems to be a shield around this dungeon. The water does not get past it. Under the dungeon, there are lush bushes of wild plants. If one were to hide in them, it will take time for anyone to find them.’’

’’We should jump from here,’’ Duke Maverick nodded, ’’But I am afraid that they will reach us in no time...’’ his words were yet to finish when he was pushed away.

’’I owe the royal family, Your Grace. If one of us must live, it has to be you,’’ Rowan closed his eyes as he locked the door behind him. Tightening his grip on the sword, he glanced at the guards that came at him.

Being experienced on the battlefield for years, he did not think that he was not capable of handling all these guards. Even though he had been unable to train in the dungeon and his body was weaker than before, he still believed in himself.

But his faith was shaken right after he killed two lower-level guards. A strange glow emanated around the remaining men.

Magic? Only the bloodline of royal families had magic but how could these guards...

Then he remembered what happened in the Daven Castle a year ago. If someone like Marilyn existed then... it was not impossible for this world to have more mysteries.

Rowan’s grip tightened on the sword.

Regardless of anything, he could not let them reach the Duke when he might not even have hidden himself properly.