Hellbound With You (WN)

An hour ago, while everyone was searching the palace, the first thing Alex fixed his eyes on were the royal guards. He knew that if he wanted to get any clues, he must investigate every single one of them. These royal guards were the only ones who were able to move around the palace freely without question and without garnering much attention. The people who were behind Abigail's disappearance would almost certainly use the soldiers to do the dirty job or at least be in league with a few of them to be able to escape unnoticed. 

During the search, Alex's keen senses noticed a faint scent from one of the soldiers which was unusual. When Abigail was with Alex, he noticed that the girl wasn't fond of perfume so he couldn't tell if the scent he smelled was from Abigail. However, the scent was feminine and that scent was enough of a clue for Alex to interrogate that soldier because it was strange for any soldier to have a scent like that. 

Alex immediately took the soldier aside to ask him a few questions. Alex was expecting him to tell tales such as he had a secret meeting with his lover or some such thing but before Alex could even say a word, the soldier killed himself by biting and swallowing a poison pill. This act was one of the things that the kingdom had kept in place from the ancient times to prevent them from spilling any secrets or classified information about the royal family if they were suddenly captured and tortured. 

So, the fact that the soldier did this the moment he was about to question him was enough answer for Alex. This kind of loyalty would only be reserved for the members of the royal family. These royal guards had absolute loyalty to their masters, so if one did this kind of thing, Alex was certain that the one he was working with was a member of the royal family. These soldiers wouldn't willingly die just for anyone.

"Princess… This is the soldier you worked with, right? Now don't waste any more of my time or else…" Alexander left the sentence hanging because his intentions were very clear as his gaze locked onto the princess's eyes. Princess Mira knew that he was very serious. She knew that he wouldn't hesitate to kill her, like he did to her guard. 

The princess' lips began to tremble in fear. She knew that Alexander wasn't someone she could mess with. In fact, nobody would dare to mess with him, not even her father, who was King of this kingdom. However, she never thought that that woman would bring out this kind of reaction out of Alex. 

She thought that her plan was flawless and that nobody would be able to get any evidence incriminating her, even if they suspected her. Unfortunately, she didn't count on Alex's reaction. This was far more extreme than what she had seen before that even her parents couldn't do anything. Fear ran through her entire body and she knew what she had to do.

Before she knew it, she fell down on the floor as she clung to her mother as if her strength suddenly left her. Her reaction made everyone finally understand that she indeed knew something even if she may not be the mastermind of the whole thing.    

"She… she's in the underground dungeon," she finally whispered.

Everyone was utterly shocked. Alex's eyes darkened as if the faint light of life in them had entirely disappeared. 

Everyone knew that that dungeon was the most dangerous place in the palace. In ancient times, the dungeon was where they left the traitors and enemies to let them rot inside. The dark dungeon was a large maze filled with many traps that would cut and or maim or wound at every turn and this was a place where no one ever escaped from. Worse yet, many rodents and poisonous insects also made their home in the darkness as they waited for their next meal. It was created to torture anyone who entered it before eventually dying at a dead end, because there was no way out.

Even the king looked like he was about to pass out when he heard her. Everybody was silent as they all started to realize how grave this situation was. The first thing the king did was look at Alex with intense alertness. 

He saw how Alex looked like he had turned to a lifeless vessel and immediately knew how dire the situation was. This was extremely disastrous! When was the last time Alexander had ever looked like this? If that girl was dead… what would this man do? 

"Come." Alex's voice had gone beyond terrifying. He sounded like he was ready to slaughter an entire clan. 

He grabbed the princess by the arm and dragged her out of the throne room while everyone just watched in horror. 

"Mother… Father... Please, save me!" the princess yelled but everyone just stood there frozen, even the queen. 

The King ran his fingers through his hair. This was it. The worst case scenario. The possibility of that girl still being alive at this point was zero. Nobody had ever come out of that place alive since it was first built.

They couldn't believe that their esteemed princess had such a dark heart to plan on executing someone. Even the king never expected this. When did his daughter become this heartless?

"Livius! Please save your daughter! You're the King! Do something!"

King Livius looked at his wife's distraught face and he himself felt a deep despair for his daughter. He was a king, but he was getting old and he was not the same strong man he was when he was younger. His daughter had done the unforgivable and she had to face the consequences of her actions. He had never felt so powerless in his life.  In the end, he looked away without answering his wife and headed out of the hall to go after Alexander. Everyone finally snapped out of their shock and instantly followed him. 

The tunnel towards the dungeon was dark and long. The princess continued begging Alex but the man didn't seem to hear her. He almost looked like the walking dead, devoid of any human emotion. 

Once they stopped inside an ancient cave-like chamber, Alex dropped her on the floor, near the well-like hole covered with metal bars and chains. 

"Open it," he ordered and the princess crawled in fear as she quickly unlocked the chains and moved the metal cover off it. 

Once it was open, Alex took the chains and he chained the princess in a way that was impossible for anyone to unlock her.

Alexander glared down at her, a look that was enough to kill all her hopes of survival, because that one glance told her that if he didn't find Abigail alive, she would die an even more painful death than what Abigail would have gone through.

The next moment, as the King and others entered the chamber, Alex jumped down the hole.