Rosangela: The Runaway Princess (Book #2)
Chapter 76

One of the wolves moved forward and shifted into its human form.

“Dad?” I murmured excitedly as I recognized him.

Extracting myself from my grandfather’s protective clutch, I ran up to my father and threw my arms around him.

“Thank God, you’re okay, Rosanne,” my dad said with a sigh of relief.

“I’m so pleased you eventually come to fetch me, Dad. You know, I was beginning to think you’d never come to my rescue,” I told him.

“Of course, I’ll come to rescue you, Rosanne. How can I let my daughter be held prisoner by her grandfather’s enemy?” said my father.

After I and my father pulled away from our embrace, Randolph came up to us and apologized, “I’m sorry I’m so late to pick you up, Rosanne. After I escaped from the kingdom of Nightshades, I was attacked by some rogues and fatally wounded. Fortunately, Ivan found me, otherwise, I would probably have died by now.”

Alpha Wolfgang, who had just joined us, added, “He’s right, Rosanne. My son lapsed into a coma for several days after the attack. So he couldn’t tell us straight away that he had left you in the kingdom of Nightshades. As soon as he regained his consciousness, Randolph told us everything. And then, we all immediately came here to rescue you.”

“That’s all right, Randolph. The most important thing is you have kept your promise now. You really come back here to pick me up. And finally, I can reunite with my father again,” I looked sideways at my father.

Dad closed his hand over mine and gave me a warm glowing smile.

I returned his smile.

All of a sudden, my grandfather marched over to us and snatched me from my father. “Stay away from my granddaughter!” he hollered.

“Excuse me, but the girl you call your granddaughter is also my daughter. So I have a right to be with her,” Dad growled.

“You have failed to protect her. So, you are not fit to be her father,” King Bellamy spat.

“Don’t try to put the blame on somebody else’s shoulders! My daughter wouldn’t have been taken hostage by King Joaquin if you had never sent your men to hunt her down,” my father accused.

“Look here! I didn’t send them to catch her. I ordered my men to try and persuade her to come home.

It’s your own fault for being paranoid. Before my men had a chance to explain their purpose of coming, you urged Mirabelle to run away from there, until she was captured by King Joaquin’s soldiers while she got lost in the forest,” King Bellamy refuted.

“Your men threatened to hurt my daughter, so it’s perfectly understandable if we got scared and ran away,” my dad reasoned.

“But you shouldn’t have run into the forest, Donovan,” King Bellamy hissed, “You—”

“Stop blaming each other, you two!” I yelled, cutting my grandfather off, “If anyone’s to blame, it’s King Joaquin. Because he’s the one who has taken me captive.”

“I know, Rosanne,” said my dad, “But if it weren’t for King Bellamy who sent his men to hunt you down, we wouldn’t—”

“Shut up!” King Bellamy interrupted him, “I’ve heard enough of your nonsense, Donovan! Let’s go home, Mirabelle!” The vampire king grasped my hand and pulled me forward.

“No!” Dad grabbed my other hand, holding us back. “My daughter is not going anywhere with you.”

“You can’t stop us. She has promised to come home with me. Right, Mirabelle?” King Bellamy turned to look at me.

I gulped. “Yes, I did, but—”

Before I could finish my sentence, my grandfather jumped in, “You heard her!”

“You can’t force her to go with you,” my father bellowed.

“I have never forced her,” my grandfather rebutted, “Mirabelle herself said that she wanted to go with me willingly.”

“Do you expect me to believe that?” my father sneered, “You must—”

“Just quit it, the two of you! You’d better ask Rosangela first. She’s now old enough to decide with whom she wants to live,” Alpha Wolfgang chipped in with a suggestion.

“OK, Rosanne, now tell us, who do you want to live with?” my father demanded.

“You want to go home with me, right, Mirabelle?” my grandfather persuaded me.

“I...” I trailed away.

I never thought that history would repeat itself. Like a year ago, I was now torn between my father and my grandfather again. However, no matter how many times people asked me, my answer would always be the same: I preferred to live with my father in the human world.

You may call me stupid for refusing to live in the royal palace as a crown princess. But for your information, being a princess was not only about living in a magnificent palace, or about wearing fancy dress and tiara, or about the power, wealth, and privileges that you could get as a member of royal family. It’s all about a responsibility. Like a passage that I quoted from one of the most popular Hollywood movies, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ As a princess, the future queen, your people’s prosperity depended on you. You had to guarantee their safety, make sure no one’s going hungry, make certain all your people got a decent job and place to live, and did other hard duties as a ruler of a kingdom. Quite frankly, I didn’t feel ready to take on such a big responsibility. I just wanted to lead a perfectly normal life like other teenage girls.

“Why do you suddenly become very quiet, Rosangela? What are you thinking?” Alpha Wolfgang’s question snapped me out of my reverie.

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

“So, are you ready to tell us your decision now, Rosangela?” the Alpha enquired.

“Yes.” I nodded. “If you want my opinion, I prefer to live with my father.”

“You see! My daughter chooses me over you,” my father said mockingly.

“No, it can’t be. Mirabelle is the last surviving member of my family, so she has to live with me,” my grandfather insisted.

“She’s the only family I got left too. And I want her to live with me,” my father said persistently.

“No matter what happens, Mirabelle must live in the kingdom of Clanbella with me. Because she’s my only heir; she’s going to be the next queen in my kingdom,” my grandfather said stubbornly.

“How many times does my daughter have to tell you that she doesn’t want to go to the kingdom of Clanbella with you? She has grown-up. She is free now to live wherever she pleases,” my father yelled at my grandfather.

King Bellamy shouted back, “No, she—”

“Sorry to interrupt,” King Joaquin chimed in, “but if I can make a suggestion, I think instead of bickering about it, the two of you’d better fight a duel.”

My father’s eyebrows lifted. “A duel?”

“Yes, a duel,” responded King Joaquin, “If the two of you go to war, so much blood will be spilled. That’s why to avoid further bloodshed, you’d better fight a duel. The winner of the duel deserves to take the princess home. What do you think?”

“It’s a good idea!” my grandfather enthused.

“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea,” my father agreed.

“OK then, I want to challenge you to a duel to the death, Donovan,” King Bellamy stated.

“Fine. I take up your challenge,” my father said bravely.

“No! Don’t listen to what he said, Dad, Grandpa! King Joaquin is only trying to play the two of you off against each other,” I warned them.

“I do not give a tinker’s cuss about Joaquin’s motives. This duel is needed to settle our problem once and for all, Mirabelle,” King Bellamy remarked.

“I agree with your grandfather this time, Rosanne,” added my father.

“Do you have to fight this out? Can’t you two use reason? If we all sit down and talk this over, I am sure we can work things out,” I suggested.

“I prefer to fight out this matter than talk it over with him.” King Bellamy pointed at my father angrily.

“Yeah, me too,” my father agreed.

“Grandpa, please forget about the duel! I don’t want to watch the two of you fighting against each other. There must be other way to resolve this problem,” I tried to persuade him.

“No matter what you say, I will still fight this duel with your werewolf father, Mirabelle. And nothing will make me change my mind,” King Bellamy emphasized.

‘I’ll never be able to persuade my grandfather to call off their duel. If he once decides to do something, he won’t change his mind. I think I’d better try to convince my father to cancel their duel,’ I thought.

I turned to my father. “Dad, please don’t fight with King Bellamy! You don’t have idea what he is capable of doing. He’s too strong for you. You will never be able to beat him,” I tried to discourage him so that he wanted to cancel their duel.

“I’m not afraid of him, Rosanne,” my father stated confidently, “I don’t give a damn if he’s much stronger than me. One thing is for sure-- I will not give up my only daughter without a struggle.”

King Joaquin silently flashed a smile of triumph at me.

I scowled at him. ‘I’ll pay you back for provoking my father and grandfather fight against each other, King Joaquin, just you wait!’

“Since the two of you need to fight on neutral ground, I suggest you to use my arena. What do you think?” King Joaquin asked my father and grandfather.

“I agree with you,” replied King Bellamy. Meanwhile, my father only nodded in silent agreement.

“OK then, I’ll show you the way to your rooms. You can get ready there.” King Joaquin led the way and my father and grandfather trotted along behind him. My grandfather’s soldiers and the werewolves from my father’s pack also followed them, but I reminded behind.

I suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder and turned round. Apparently, it was Prince Maximilian. Sigmund and Jasper stood at his side.

“Let’s go, Rosanne!” said Maximilian.

Ignoring his words, I said in panic tone, “We can’t let my father and grandfather fight in the duel, Maxim.”

“Don’t worry! I’ll think of something,” Prince Maximilian said soothingly, “But now, we have to follow King Bellamy and Donovan first. I’m afraid King Joaquin is trying to lure them into a trap.”

“He’s right,” Sigmund agreed with Maximilian.

I gave a long sigh, then nodded my head. “Fine. Let’s go!”

At last, I, Prince Maximilian, Sigmund, and Jasper started after my father and grandfather.

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