"My lady you are looking beautiful today!" The pink dress was giving her a sweet and young look and her hair was left open. She was looking like a young and sweet teenager who was naive and innocent.
But her looks were the least of her worries. She was worried more about her survival. What if she was not able to run away and the vampire would kill her once the council would abandon her?
She has to think of a new survival policy that could be used as plan B. but she has completely disrespected him all this time and so has this aunt that keeps trying to pressurize him.
And since she had to work under his aunt, there was no way that she could avoid their encounters.
"My lady, is there anything that you did not like?" asked the maid as the empress continued to stare at herself in the mirror without looking away with a frown on her face.
She had heard from other maids how powerful their new empress was and did not want to come in her bad books. She had got her job with great difficulty and she wanted to keep it that way.
"No! Everything is nice!" she replied as what was nice, she herself did not know as she did not pay much attention to her look when she stood up to go for the breakfast.
When Hazel reached the dining hall, everyone else was already sitting there.
She bowed her head a bit, not to look disrespectful in front of everyone as she was still not sure but the hunger was stopping her from worrying further about the future and having her meal first.
"Did you have a good sleep, my lady? You seem too good today!" She heard the councilman speaking and she knew better that he was talking about her behavior, not her looks.
"Yes! Thank you, I feel better that I have rested and got time to adapt myself with my new environment!" She did not want to get much part of the conversation but only wanted to observe to get more knowledge about them. With that thought, she cut the conversation short and thankfully the man did not pinched her further.
Last night, she did not get the chance to look at the beauty of the palace, but now that she had a lot of time in her hands, her eyes wandered on the decorations and arts that had filled the room. But no matter where she looked, the eyes of your majesty did not leave her even once.
Getting irritated by the fact that her every action was monitored, she gritted her teeth and looked back at the man straight into his eyes,
"What is it?" As the words left her mouth, she noticed that the gaze of everyone around her turned to look at her with confusion and the man passed her a harmless smile, that she knew was nothing but an alarm bell that showed the danger signs.
"Nothing, I thought you wanted to say something, so I am just waiting for you to start!" Hazel frowned when she did not understand a word spoken by her new husband who was crazy if someone would ask her.
Even last night, his behavior was so unpredictable and strange. One moment she had thought he would take her then and there and next second he left the room without even giving her another look.
She did not know what he was talking about now.
"Pardon, but could you be more specific?" she asked as she saw the maids bringing the meal. She wanted to scan the whole menu to know if there was something worth eating and did not want to squabble with the man who only left her annoyed and speechless.
"What kind of behavior is that? Even if you are the empress, you should not forget that he is your majesty!" Hazel's eyes snapped to a handsome man that was looking like he was in his early 20's but she knew better never to judge the age of the vampires through their look.
His red eyes were looking at hazel with ridicule as he picked up the red glass from the table and drank the whole liquid in one gulp.
"To think that she did not even respect his majesty, I wonder if she even knew etiquette. Are you sure this was the wife chosen for his majesty?" he asked the councilman without sparing another glance at Hazel who was fuming.
Did they have nothing else to say? Repeating the same lines and dialogues, the man was like Scarlet in his action and wording, when it clicked her mind.
"To not even introduce yourself and behave rudely with the guest you have just met, I wonder what you call etiquette. Huh??" she retorted back and then looked at Rafael.
"And do not forget that we are a newly married couple, if we will talk so formally then how will we develop an intimate relationship?" she asked as she picked up the glass of juice and swirled it in her hands, unsure if it was edible for humans or not.
Rafael's eyes flickered when he heard her words and a sweet smile formed on his lips.
"She is right, Damien. Since we are in the start of a relationship, I did not mind her mouth and behavior. After all, beautiful wives do throw some tantrums." with that he tilted his gaze and turned towards the stunned girl who was still not sure if he had praised her or passed comments.
"And since it is about improving intimacy, then do I have a better idea for that?" he continued with the same sweet smile on his face and then held her hands and pulled her towards him only for her to land her in his laps.
Before she could even react or process what had happened, his hands were already wrapped on her waist and he said,
"Is this intimacy enough, my dear wife?"
"........"