Melina's eyes held puzzlement as she looked at him questioningly.
Maybe she had made a few mistakes in the past but she didn't understand how whatever she may have done provoked the prince.
Aside from the first day she came here when people thought she had killed the king and her eavesdropping on the prince's conversation that night, which were all not her fault, she doubted she had done anything to provoke him much.
Any other thing that could provoke him... she knew nothing about.
Leon couldn't stop himself from advancing closer after hearing her question and he saw how she kept pressing her back on the door like she wanted to disappear inside it.
"Y-your Highness..." Melina called him to bring him back to his senses, seeing how he kept coming nearer to her. Her heart had started beating so rapidly in her chest that she felt the prince could hear it.
As Leon closed their gap, he took note of the pleasant scent that wafted from her, which was very unlike the one he smelt when he was around Jordyn.
The odour that emanated from that woman always repulsed him but the scent from this maid in front of him was drawing him closer and driving him insane.
It was funny how a lady like Jordyn who had the privilege and access to scented oils and soaps smelt like a decaying corpse while someone like Melina who barely had the privilege to bath properly scented like a Jasmine flower.
It made Leon believe the saying that no matter how pretty a fruit looked outside if it was spoilt from within, there was no way it could be eaten.
Now unknowingly drugged by her scent, Leon did not realise when he stood just a step away from her and he suddenly felt two small hands placed on his chest with an attempt to push him away.
"Your Highness!" Melina jerked Leon back to sanity. She had turned extremely nervous and scared from their proximity and she began to panic while recollecting what happened last evening.
However, Leon didn't get the hint but instead held both her wrists that were pushing him and pinned them on the door before he said,
"You dare to try pushing me away even after you stole from me..." his breath was so close to her that she began to tear up from panic, not even hearing what the prince had just said.
She trashed and tried to push her hand away from his grip but he was stronger and he held her hand firmly in his, noticing her reaction.
She tried to raise her hands again but soon surrendered when she realized her strength was nothing compared to his.
"Please..." she begged as a tear ran down her cheek in dread at what she thought this prince wanted to do to her.
Wasn't her suffering the previous night with Sir Julian enough? Why was this prince after her again?
"First, tell me..." Leon had now brought his lips to her ear before whispering, "Who permitted you to take your uniform from my chamber without my knowledge that day?" he leaned even closer and slightly brushed his lips on her ear, using the opportunity to drown in her intoxicating scent that he hadn't noticed until now.
Though their closeness made her nervous, Melina suddenly realized something and she snapped to look at him in confusion, making him pull back his head as it dawned on him that she now finally understood what he was talking about.
He lowered his head to look at her questioningly while waiting patiently for her answer. He had been curious to know what gave her the audacity to carry out such an action and he was even more curious to hear from her how she had managed to perform the act, especially with the security that was placed in his former chamber.
"U-uniform?" her eyes narrowed at him. What did he mean by she took it without his permission or was he talking about the current one she was wearing?
She looked down at the uniform before turning to meet his gaze.
"Your Highness, M-ms Carlos was the one to give me this gown," she hastened her explanation even though it didn't sound rational.
Ms. Carlos would never provide her with a gown that she was not instructed to give so he didn't mean this one right?
She looked at Leon and her heart began to beat even faster when she saw his eyes darken. "Do not lie to me, Melina..." He called her name and his tone sent a straight warning bell to her head that made her gulp.
"I do not speak a lie, Your-" she didn't finish before he interrupted.
"Do not try to play smart with me because it would only annoy me further..."
"But... I didn't even do anything-" her voice was low and filled with haze.
Leon seeing that she was still unwilling to say anything got angrier at her.
"Do you realize that I could snap your head off your body with one order?" his tone was low and threatening and he saw how his words sent shivers across her body.
She nodded before she replied, "Please, Your Highness, do not kill me."
"Are you ready to say the truth now?" he asked her.
Melina now turned a bit dishevelled as she looked at the prince who was standing so close to her. What did she do and how did it relate to the uniform? Hadn't he been the one to give her the uniform himself?
Seeing she still said nothing, Leon asked her once more, "Who permitted you to take your uniform that day?"
"Your Highness, I thought you gave it to me. I found it in my cupboard after I was sent away from the dungeon. I didn't steal anything, Your Highness." she hastily explained, not wanting him to cut her off.
But Leon was not falling for it. Was she denoting that he was lying about this?
"Seems you do not like your head after all." he condemned and Melina shook her head again, wanting to explain more.
"I am very sure of what I'm saying, Your Highness! I wouldn't dare to take back my uniform without asking your permission, I swear!" she spoke in such a convincing that made the prince's eyes narrow at her, taking note of her slightest expression to see any hint that she was lying to him.
However, even though he refused to believe it, he got a clue that she was not lying. The earnestness on her face was contrary to what he had been expecting.
He had been expecting her to shake in fear that she had been caught and try to plead for her life but she seemed more adamant to explain herself instead and there was no ting of guilt smeared on her face...
"You saw the dress in your cupboard?" he asked sarcastically. Did she really think he would fall for that?
"Yes, Your Highness. I miraculously found the dress in my cupboard and I instantly believed that you had asked someone to send it to me." she stopped before she looked at him again and continued. "I had initially planned to thank you for your kindness but then I was very occupied by the activities I had to carry out in the palace. Please forgive me, Your Highness." she pleaded.
Truth be said, she never had any intention to thank him, especially after what he had done that day in the dining room.
She had felt things to be awkward between them when he had told her he helped her change her clothes but after he found out about her eavesdropping on his conversation as well as when he tried to pluck out her eyes that day, every trace of her willingness to meet and thank him escaped from her mind.
But she should have known that he wouldn't let things go so easily. It was the problem that these elites had. Because they knew that they had the power to make things happen their way, they took advantage of everything and anything.
"If you didn't take it, then who did?" he asked her.
"I-I don't know, Prince Leon. But I promise I wasn't the one."
The innocence on her face as she spoke made Leon's eyes narrow at her.
She was serious?