HE COULD BE THE ONE

Damian stared at the flowers that had been ruined by Mason and asked Kathy, "are these the flowers that the princess likes?" Kathy nodded her head in reply.

"Do not worry, I'll go get a new bunch for you, just wait right here," Damian offered.

Kathy said "no, please let me come with you"

but he said "don't worry, I'll go get it alone so it will be quicker. Didn't you say you don't have enough time?"

Turning to Jackson, Damian said, "take good care of her and remember that if anything happens to her, the princess will hold you responsible."

"Of course, I will take good care of her" Jackson replied and went to stand beside Kathy. He stared at Mason angrily and warned, "stay away from her because she is the maid of my princess."

Mason shook his head and folded his arms as he stared at both Damian and Jackson whom he believed were being foolish.

Damian hurried back into the forest to get the flowers and came back in less than ten minutes.

He handed the bunch of fresh flowers to Kathy who appreciatively accepted them and said "thank you so much, sir."

"You can call me Damian" he replied. "Now hurry back to the palace so you can get the flowers to the princess. We will be coming to the palace a while later and I hope to see you then. Take care of yourself until then."

Kathy smiled at Damian before turning to leave, however, Mason was standing a few meters in front of her and she couldn't leave without passing by him.

Kathy hesitated as she feared that if she passed by Mason, he was going to hurt her once again. Seeing Kathy's hesitation, Damian quickly understood that she was afraid of Mason. He held her by the hand and walked past Mason who shook his head again because he believed that Damian had been put under a spell.

Damian let go of Kathy and came back while Kathy began to run. The princess had been quite exhausted after having a party last night so Kathy badly hoped that she was still asleep. As she saw that the sun had begun to rise, she increased her speed while ignoring the pain around her neck which had been inflicted by Mason when he choked her.

The moment Damian came back, Mason said, "let's go back and get our horses. We will visit the palace in a few hours after sending out information to the guards."

Turning to look at Jackson, Mason reminded him, "we are not going to spend more than two hours at the palace because we have many places to go to. We are only going there because you insisted that you will die if you don't get to see the princess."

"You have my word" Jackson promised. "Once I behold the princess's beauty and say a few words to her, we would be on our way back."

They all went back to where their horses and belongings were kept, meanwhile, Kathy kept running without stopping. She felt tired and was almost out of breath when she arrived at the palace.

She paused for a few seconds before running into the princess's room. However, the princess was already awake and fuming. Kathy presented the flowers to her and said, "I'm so sorry my princess..."

A loud slap landed on Kathy's face before she could complete her words. The flowers fell on the floor as Kathy held her cheeks. The princess angrily pushed her backward, causing Kathy to lose her balance and fall on her butt.

"You good for nothing slave" she roared. "My day is going to be ruined because of you. I waited so much for these flowers but who knows what you were busy doing in the forest?"

Kathy stared at the princess from the floor where she sat with her eyes brimming with tears without saying anything. Meela came into the princess's room and observed the scene before her.

When she saw the flowers on the floor and the anger on the princess's face, she yelled at Kathy, "you worthless thing. You left the house while it was still dark yet look at when you came back. How dare you upset our beautiful princess so early in the morning?"

Kathy stared at the mother she had known all her life but she wasn't surprised because Meela's actions were nothing new.

Turning to Athena, Meela said, "I'm so sorry my princess, I request that you punish her severely otherwise, she would never learn."

"Thank you Meela" the princess replied. "Now listen to me you ugly slave, your punishment is to spend the whole day standing under the sun in front of the palace. You are not allowed to have food or water, nor are you allowed to move even an inch until I relieve you from your punishment. Now get out of my sight."

Kathy got up and left the princess's room while Meela praised her, "thank you so much, my princess. That was really a befitting punishment."

Kathy walked to the front of the palace and stood there. She was feeling very thirsty and hadn't even had her bath and now she was going to once again spend the whole day without food.

She recalled how she had woken up in the morning and received two slaps from Meela, how Mason had almost killed her, claiming she was a witch, and finally the slap she had received from the princess.

Her day had gone badly as usual but after thinking about everything, tears began to fall uncontrollably from her eyes. Her mind darted back to her encounter with Mason in the forest.

He had stolen her first kiss, it was supposed to be a special moment in her life but the way Mason had treated her was really bad. What was her fault in everything? The only crime she had committed in her life was being alive and sometimes she felt like ending it all.

Would everything get better if she was no longer in this world? Would she be rid of all this pain and suffering? While Kathy was still crying and thinking about her sufferings, the queen screamed at her from the balcony,

"Silly girl, what do you think you are doing crying in front of the palace? You are already an ugly sight to behold and the palace isn't your house. If you want to cry, go home and do so."

Kathy quickly wiped her eyes and stopped crying. She knew that she was going to be in more trouble if she left the palace. Even if she told the princess that the queen had sent her away, nothing would change.

She didn't know why the queen was always staring at her most of the time, she saw all her suffering but never once tried to help her. Even the king couldn't be bothered with her and barely spared her a glance. She was unwanted by everyone yet they wouldn't let her go.

After a few hours, news came to the king through the guards that the strongest warrior Mason and his men were in the kingdom and would soon arrive at the palace to see the royal family.

The king immediately remembered the prophecy he had gotten about his daughter marrying the greatest warrior before she was born. He shared it with the queen and they both felt very happy.

The queen called the princess and said to her, "I've already told you before about the prophecy we received before you were born. The strongest warrior alive is coming to see us in a short while.

He could be the one who will marry you, and anything is possible so get ready."

Athena felt really happy and hugged the queen before quickly running into her room to doll herself up.