Three
You Must Marry Me Off!
Leo quickly summoned the guards when he heard how boldly Ella had spoken to the king.
Even Selena was startled.
With the help of the maids, she stepped out of the bathtub and hurriedly put on her dress.
“This girl must be crazy!” Selena muttered.
Whenever the king was angry, no one dared speak.
It had been a long time since he had lost his temper, and now this powerless girl was practically asking for trouble.
“Your Highness, please have mercy. She must have had too much wine and spoken without thinking,” Leo pleaded.
Ella frowned.
“Do I look drunk to you? Or is it a crime for a desperate subject to seek an audience with a king who is impossible to approach? If it wasn’t urgent, do you think I’d be here? This is a matter of life and death! It’s my future we’re talking about!”
The fear she had felt earlier was gone.
Her sharp tongue had returned, and strangely enough, she felt relieved.
At least she could finally speak her mind.
“Are you crazy? Do you want to die?” Leo whispered urgently.
Ignoring him, the king pushed Leo aside and stepped out of the bathtub.
The maids quickly draped a robe over his shoulders while his gaze remained fixed on Ella.
“I’ll be leaving,” Selena said nervously.
Without waiting for permission, she vanished into thin air.
Leo, who had been shoved aside, crashed into a wall and nearly lost consciousness from the impact.
The maids also rushed out, leaving Ella alone with the king.
She had already come this far.
There was no turning back now.
“You are daring,” the king said, his deep voice carrying a hint of anger.
“Marry me off!” Ella blurted out immediately.
The king blinked.
“What?”
“Marry me off!”
The room fell silent.
“Why would I do that?” he asked coldly.
Ella drew in a deep breath.
“Because I don’t want my children to be illegitimate. I was born an illegitimate child, and I refuse to pass that burden to the next generation. Please, Your Highness. Marry me to a guard, a knight, anyone. As long as my children can have a proper name, I’ll be satisfied.”
A smirk appeared on the king’s lips.
“And what makes you think I would let you leave me for a mere guard?”
“Gladly!” Ella replied.
“You already have a queen. What purpose do I serve here? I know you never wanted to marry me in the first place. If you had simply told my father who you were, he would have sent the daughter you actually wanted. Instead, I’m trapped here, and one day people will blame me for carrying the king’s child. So you should marry me off and solve everyone’s problems.”
The king studied the girl standing before him.
She possessed no magical powers.
She was practically human compared to everyone else in the kingdom.
Yet she stood before him fearlessly, arguing nonsense with complete confidence.
Normally, anyone who spoke to him this way would already be dead.
Yet for some reason, neither he nor the demon within him felt any desire to harm her.
The realization surprised him.
“It’s against the law to marry off a royal bride,” King Lockwood said calmly.
Ella scoffed.
“Since when have you cared about the law?”
The king narrowed his eyes.
“Or perhaps it pleases you to see my descendants suffer under the same illegitimate curse?”
She dramatically dropped to the floor and pretended to cry.
“Leo.”
The king’s voice echoed through the room.
Leo slowly stood despite the pain in his head.
“Get her out of here.”
“No!” Ella interrupted.
“You must marry me off! At least to Leo!”
Leo nearly choked.
“Your Highness! I assure you I harbor no feelings whatsoever for her. Please don’t take her words seriously!”
“Everyone around me is insane,” the king muttered with a sigh.
With a snap of his fingers, Ella and Leo vanished.
King Lockwood stood alone in the chamber.
“She’s choosing Leo over me?” he thought in disbelief.
“That’s unbelievable. Am I getting old? Or perhaps ugly?”
The thought irritated him far more than it should have.
Ella suddenly found herself standing in the Pine Garden.
Beside her was Leo, and in front of them stood the knight who had escorted her to the kingdom.
“What were you thinking?” Leo exploded.
“How could you ask the king to marry you to me? Do I even know you?”
Ella shrugged.
“I just mentioned a random name.”
“A random name?” Leo stared at her.
“You really are crazy!”
Then his expression softened slightly.
“But seriously, what gave you the courage to approach him like that?”
“I want to get married,” Ella replied without hesitation.
“But you’re already married to him!” Leo shouted.
“I don’t want my children to be illegitimate, okay?”
“Oh, now you’re raising your voice at me?”
“Of course! You won’t have peace until you convince your king to marry me off.”
She stepped closer to him.
“You tell him yourself.”
“No, you tell him!”
“Enough!”
The knight’s thunderous voice silenced them both.
“Miss Ella, you’re fortunate the king spared you today. Next time, be more careful. The king is not someone anyone should provoke, especially without magical powers.”
Ella folded her arms.
“Oh, I see. You’re looking down on me because I was born powerless.”
“That isn’t what I meant—”
“No, let me finish.”
She pointed at both men.
“I may be weak, but I possess something neither of you has.”
Both men raised an eyebrow.
“My wisdom.”
Leo nearly laughed.
“And unlike everyone else in this kingdom, I have the courage to confront the king.”
A proud smile spread across her face.
“I know all of you wish I had never come here. You want me to lock myself inside that courtyard like some obedient princess and wait for the king to summon me every night.”
She shook her head firmly.
“Well, that’s not going to happen.”
She stepped closer to the knight until her voice dropped to a whisper.
“Tell your king that I am giving him three days to marry me off.”
The knight stared at her.
“And if he doesn’t?” he asked.
Ella smiled mischievously.
“Then there will be no peace for him. He’ll eventually be forced to separate my head from my body.”
Satisfied with her declaration, she turned and walked away toward her courtyard.
The two men watched her leave in stunned silence.
Neither of them knew whether she was incredibly brave…
…or completely mad.