Kitanna
Chapter 85: BRIGHT FLOWER AND WILD FLOWER

Chapter 85: BRIGHT FLOWER AND WILD FLOWER

[MUSIC RECOMMENDATION: LETTING GO ~ DAY 6]

Note~ I have now edited the previous Chapter properly, also I added few paragraphs to it. ^^

Now inside one of the rooms, Axilla stood at a corner, fondling with her dress. She wasn’t sure what to do with them alone inside a room.

....

Cortez noticed that the girl had an uncomfortable look on her face. "Do you always have this ungrateful look on your face when someone helps you?" He remarked without looking at the girl.

Axilla dropped her hands to her side and faced him, "Not that I am not grateful, others will only see me as someone that is...used." The words were a little heavy for her.

"That was why I said you will now be directly under me; it literally means stay off. They won’t bother you, soon you’ll go back to the palace. I have no intentions of touching you," Cortez cleared her concern.

Axilla had a feeling that the new development would only attract unwanted attention to her, but it was better than being touched by that annoying inn owner. Even the thought of it caused a bitter taste to rise from her throat.

"Are you planning on standing there all day?" Cortez said to the girl who was lost in her thoughts.

Axilla looked around the room; it was spacious alright, but had just one bed and a table. She moved to the other side of the room where she felt the wooden floor would be warmer and knelt down, cleaning it properly.

"What are you doing?" Cortez asked unamused. His eyes narrowed at the girl.

Axilla turned to look at him, "Young master, you can have the bed, I’ll sleep right here." Now through with cleaning the floor, Axilla curled herself facing the wall.

Cortez let out a small chuckle, "Axilla, get up from that place and come lie down here, don’t make me repeat myself." The authority his voice carried was enough to send warning bells ringing not far away from Axilla’s ears, and without being told twice, she left the floor, walked round the bed, and lay on the other end.

Axilla was grateful he had called her to sleep on the bed because unlike she thought, the floor was torturously cold. Almost freezing her joints.

"Thank you," she muttered not turning to face him.

"Seems like you enjoy torture." Cortez joined her on the bed, and when Axilla noticed the weight on the other side of the bed, she moved her body a little.

"You shouldn’t be shy; we’ve shared a bed before." Cortez teased.

Axilla turned immediately to face him, and she regretted that decision because his midnight eyes now stared right into her soul, holding her under his intense gaze.

"I was drunk," her voice came out soft.

"Ok." That was his curt reply before he turned to look at the ceiling.

Axilla, getting comfortable in the room, decided to ask, "Do you enjoy being a merchant?"

With his eyes still looking at the ceiling, Cortez replied with a question, "Why do you ask?"

Axilla didn’t respond immediately, when she did. She said, "Because it’s rare to see young men in the trade business. My idea of merchants is old men, which is why the name Chief suits them better," she gave her innocent reply.

"Hm...it means you have never left the palace all your life. Were you born there or..." He turned just in time to notice the look on Axilla’s face.

"For someone who has saved your life more times than I can count, I feel sad you are keeping things from me." Cortez didn’t ask any further; he dropped the bait and just as he expected, the girl replied.

"I wasn’t born in the palace, or in Morado. I am from Wahels," Axilla said in a whisper even though it was just them inside the room.

"I thought the women never leave their tribe; they are mostly breeders. Or did you faint on your first night, then they found you unworthy?" Cortez asked with a serious face.

Axilla rolled her eyes internally; must this man always taunt her with his crude words.

"That never happened." She protested, "Our women are not caged; it was the queen dowager who made it seem so. We were allowed to live our life freely, but the strength of our women during childbirth and how fast they were able to make strong babies was made known; it was then exploited. Before women choose the kind of life they wanted to live."

When Axilla received a nod from Cortez, she took it as a signal to continue, "So the princess brought me to the palace; she needed someone she could trust."

"Still justifies my point; you’ve never left the palace until now. It was from your tribe to the palace. Merchants are not just old men, and yes, I enjoy what I do. I have information about every village and kingdom which makes me the most sought after man by every king. I’m a king in my own turf, not just that. I enjoy the natural scenery, each place has its differences." Cortez replied, and Axilla couldn’t agree more.

"Get some sleep, Axilla; the journey won’t be easy from here on. You need strength." Cortez slowly closed his eyes.

Something in Axilla felt he was not talking about the next day, but the rest of her life story. She prayed to overcome any more challenges that were yet to come.

---

Away from the room where the two persons now lay, inside the kitchen, Hubert fumbled with his keys as he hummed an unknown song.

"Little bird, it’s time to fly..." he twisted his mustache and pushed the door open. Hubert noticed there was nobody in the room; he stepped inside and saw that the secret pathway was now left open.

"That wench!" He burst out of the room, searching frantically for someone.

"Chief Panha..." Hubert called in an alarmed tone.

Panha turned to meet the eyes of Hubert who was now looking at her; she walked outside of the inn, and he followed her.

"Chief Panha, the girl is miss-" the statement died in his throat because the next thing was a sharp blow landing on his nose.

Hubert scrunched his face in pain, and when he raised his hand to his nose, he noticed he was bleeding.

"You idiot! Chief Cortez found her!" Panha spoke through her teeth. Invisible fumes like rage seething from her ears.

Hubert, who didn’t really take note of Axilla’s face earlier in the kitchen because of her mask, was not aware that the girl the head of the merchant walked inside with was the same girl he had locked up for later.

At the realization, he got down on his knees immediately, "I will right my wrong immediately Chief Panha."

Panha sneered at the man, "How will you do that? Fight Cortez or what? I just pay you to be stupid around here. You had just one job, keep the girl away from his eyes tonight and you failed woefully. You made sure they even met." Panha couldn’t hold back her anger; the thought of them sleeping in the same room made her vibrate even more, in anger.

"I make sure you get the herb at lower rates, keep the secret of what you do around here. And even pay you extra. All I get is disappointment! Argh." Panha raked her fingers through her hair in frustration.

She had been working as a merchant just to get Cortez to love her, or even bed her. But for once, he never looked her way; then one day he asked her to shelter a girl. She didn’t want to at first, but if it was going to help her get close to him, then she was ready. Pretending to be nice was not something difficult for her, as that was part of her. All she had to do was keep the girl away, give him a drink with the intoxicating herb, and have him bed her. But this lecherous fool failed.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn’t purge your stomach and hang out your intestines for the crows to feed on." Panha asked, unsheathing her small sword which she always carried with her. She started walking towards the inn owner who was now retreating.

"None? I guessed so too." She raised her knife to strike when she heard the man scream.

"Wait! I have news." Hubert screamed, his eyes closed.

Panha hesitated, with her eyes narrowed. "It better be good. Speak!" She barked.

"Your sister," at the mention of her sister, Panha dropped her hand to her side.

"I had people check around, and I heard she was having an affair with the king but that was when he was still the crown prince." Hubert reported.

Panha furrowed her brows, "Is that all?" And she received a nod from Hubert.

"Find out something better than this, or the next time I will really cut you open." With this, Panha turned to leave the man, her mind now wondering where her sister might be.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.