"Avi? Did someone bother you? Is it Lady Mary? Should I make her family go bankrupt? Or execute her whole family?" The handsome man stared at her with deep passion in his eyes almost making them twinkle.
Avi shivered as she heard that. 'Do people kill without reason like this here??' She felt a chill going down her spine as she gulped nervously.
"N-no. I'm just worried about... Our wedding. Don't you think we should... take it slow?" Ave asked raising an eyebrow, although she is confused about her question herself.
Jack's passionate and loving face soon darkened. All the love he had in his eyes disappeared in an instant.
"I have been waiting for this for years. How can you just say it like that? Your brother won't let us a second chance. You should know that. And one month is not fast at all" Jack said with a cold voice as he frowned.
He was pissed at the thought of the person he loved for so many years wanting to delay their marriage. She just recently showed interest in him. What if she leaves him for someone else? Or takes back her words?
Jack has low self-esteem because of his mother who used to abuse him and reminding him; he is replaceable and is not good enough. It was a daily routine for him to hear that. But he refused to hear that from the woman he gave his heart to.
"N-no, no. It's nothing. Let's proceed as you wish..." Ave sighed. "I'm tired. I want to rest." She glanced at Jack as she laid down on the bed.
"Alright." Jack stood up from the bed and put a blanket on her body to cover her up. "You have a frail body. You should take more rest so you can get ready easily." He smiled as he turned to walk away from the room.
After Jack walks away, Aveline sighs.
"That was close..." She shivered and wrapped herself with the blanket.
After some time, she fell asleep.
***
Aveline opened her eyes after hearing a lot of noises. She opened her big green eyes and blinks for some time as she looked around. Everyone was moving around. Everyone such as the maids of the palace.
'Ugh. What's the noise?' She sat up on her bed as she saw the maids preparing for the wedding.
"What's going on?!" She yelled at them.
"W-we..." a maid hesitantly said as she looked around at the other.
All of them looked identical. Not their face but their costumes. All wearing the same black and white clothes with their hair tied up in a bun or short hair.
Ave frowned as she got up.
"I'm listening. Talk!" Aveline ordered in a commanding tone.
'What's up with her today? She's always so soft and weak...'
'Is it the side effects of the medicine?' A tall maid wondered.
"You." Aveline pointed at the tall young woman.
"Yes?"
"What were you doing?"
"Well... today is your wedding, your highness."
"What do you mean, my wedding?! There's still so much time left!"
"Actually... you have been asleep for so long. I think it's the side effects of the medicine." A red-haired girl said bluntly.
"Medicine?" Ave raised an eyebrow as she hears that.
"Yes, the one the emperor ordered us to give you. You sleep for very long ever since you started taking it years ago."
All the other maids nodded.
"What are you talking about?" a deep male voice asked.
Jack entered the room still wearing his night robe. The part of his chest was open, showing off his sexy body.
The male smiled as he walked towards his wife-to-be and wrapped his arms around her shoulder.
Aveline shivered, and slowly avoided his arm.
"What are you doing here?.." She asked as she pretended to go get a glass of water.
"Just," Jack observed her actions. She avoided him, he thought. But that thought shifted when he saw her go fetch some water to drink. His lips curved and a smile appeared on his face. "Missing you," he chuckled.
Jack glanced at the maids and gave them an eye sign to leave the room. The maids looked at each other. They giggled and walked outside the room.
"They are so cute!"
"I envy them so much."
"I know right? Being friends since kids and getting married! How nice."
They envied both of them while doing the rest of the wedding preparations.
***
"Just missing you."
After hearing that, Ave halted from taking the water glass. She glanced at the maids leaving and sat on the bed again.
"I don't know what's wrong with me... apparently I slept for a whole month?!" Aveline asked all confused.
Jack knelt on the floor and held Aveline's hand in his.
"I know. It's very weird. You sleep so much and your body is just getting worse day by day. It worries me..." The young man expressed his concern with a face full of worries.
The cold and scary man Ave saw one month ago looked like a faraway shadow.
"The maids said there is a medicine I take. Apparently, it's because of that."
"Let me check." Jack part his lips again. "I will see what it is."
Ave stood up and pulled her hand back from Jack's. She searched for medicine in her wardrobes and the closet. She found a bottle with blue liquid inside it. She found it suspicious so she grabbed it to show Jack. After all, she doesn't know the old owner's medicine. She lands it on the male who had sat on the bed meanwhile.
"It's this."
Jack's expression soon became dark. He frowned and grabbed the bottle in his hand.
"T-this is poison, Avi!" The black-haired man's hand trembled.
Aveline blinked and look at the bottle again. "There's no way. My brother won't do that. Right?.." She asked in hesitation.
"Avi. You know he hates you. But going after your life is too far!" Jack punched the night table beside the bed in anger.
'Her brother wants her dead... why??' Aveline thought carefully as she remembered her meeting with him one month ago. 'He did look like he wished to see me dead. So it's very possible..'
Suddenly, Aveline's head started hurting. It was some sort of memory. It wasn't hers, but the other soul before her.
'This is... 'Aveline's memories...' Ave held her head in pain as she fainted in front of Jack.
"Aveline!!" He yelled but she didn't respond.
"Someone call the imperial doctor! Right now!" Jack yelled loudly.
All the maids outside heard and rushed toward the imperial doctor's office.
"Doctor Helena! The princess has collapsed! Please come and see her." A maid notified the doctor in the office.
A woman with dark blue hair and blue eyes opened the door and came out.
"Oh my! I'll head there right now." She said with a soft smile.
"Alright." The maids headed back to the princess' chambers.
"Haha. Have you finally died, Princess Aveline?" The woman sneered in the joy of the news. She then put up a sad poker face and headed towards the princess' room.