Y/N woke up with a jolt.

Her frilly lilac dress was drenched, as was she.

She looked up in anger and found her father's butler, Mr. Andrew, standing over her.

Before she could say anything, he spoke up.

"Hurry, we don't have much time!"

Y/N squinted in confusion. Andrew sighed in frustration.

"Your mother was always good to me. Her last wish was for you to be happy, I can't see you being married off to that criminal. Now get up! We have only a few minutes till someone comes to check on you."

Now Y/N was truly wide awake. She scrambled up in her wet state and hurried after Mr. Andrew, not questioning anything. She knew Mr. Andrew had been loyal to her mother for years. She could trust him.

They quietly made their way downstairs and then to the backdoor, checking behind them every few seconds. Y/N heard the ringing of the clock tower, indicating that it was midnight.

She grabbed a pair of shoes off the rack by the door before walking out. She anticipated that they would have to go through the jungle.

What she failed to anticipate, was that her father would have chosen this exact moment to have a meeting with her husband-to-be.

And that too, right off to the side of the back entrance.

"Y/N? Andrew? What the-"

Before Mr. Johnson could even realise what was going on, Andrew pushed Y/N forward in the direction of the forest.

"RUN Y/N! DON'T LOOK BACK!!"

It felt like a dream, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins made her realise how real this was. She ran with all her might.

Not before long, she could hear a young man shouting about orders.

"Get her! Bring my horse!"

She could only assume this was Liam.

"Y/N! Don't run away! You won't get anything out of this! Come back, honey!"

She was repulsed by her father's words, especially after having been locked up on his orders.

But Y/N didn't have time to think. She barely had time to escape, for soon enough the horses would catch up to her.

Thankfully, no one knew the forest as well as she did. It was here that she had spent most of her childhood, playing with her mother. She knew the paths to avoid and the paths that would take her to nearby settlements.

She quickly decided to escape to a particularly well hidden village nearby. Luckily, the path curved around quite a bit, which would give her leverage over her pursuers.

After what seemed like an eternity of running, but was actually just 10 minutes, she paused near a tree. She bent down on her knees, breathing heavily.

'Why am I so weak?'

Before she even had the time to answer that question, a rider came upon her from the side.

"Hyaah!" She heard him shout just as he was about to trample her.

She quickly jumped to the side, landing on her stomach. With miraculous speed, she picked herself up to face her enemy.

Y/N realised with dismay that she had no way of defending herself. The man wielded a long knife, which was just a few inches short of being a proper sword. She was confused by his choice of weapon, but obviously this was not the time to think about it.

She gauged her options carefully, and settled on a makeshift plan.

The man rode on, holding his knife-sword high in the air, shouting as if he was going into battle. Y/N waited till the last moment to roll under and escape.

This was a crucial moment where two things happened.

Number one, the man sliced through with his sword and successfully injured Y/N's back severely as she was rolling.

Number two, what the man didn't know was that Y/N had picked up a thick log right before she rolled. She used this log to hit the horse's hind legs, in turn making him fall heavily.

The man ended up being stuck underneath his horse, his legs still tied to his stirrups.

Y/N ignored the gash on her back which was bleeding heavily, and instead ran in a whole new direction. If this man had found her, others would be close by.

She didn't know where she was headed to now, but soon enough she guessed her location by recognizing some key areas. South-West from here would take her to the smallest village in the area.

She took this time to organise her thoughts, figuring out some key facts.

1) Liam was a brute who would apparently stop at nothing to make her his wife, even if it meant chasing her through the forest.

This she didn't understand. Why make the effort? What was she worth?

2) Her father wouldn't atleast let her die or get seriously injured. She realised she was an investment for her father, and he hadn't raised her all these years just to let her die. This was probably why Liam's men were using anything but guns.

3) She was losing blood rapidly from the wound in her back, but she didn't have the time to stop to check on it. She could soon faint from blood loss.

4) She was completely and royally fucked.