"How dare you hold my arm? Do you know who I am?" Lela wished she could take back those words. What was she thinking, yelling at a man who could easily kill her if he wanted? Certainly, the man thought she must've been on something as he cocked his head to the right, red glowing eyes staring at her as if she'd just lost her mind- which wasn't far-fetched. Lela was losing her mind.
Lela smiled, or she tried to.
"I mean, I am a nobody. Yes, you have the wrong person. Look at me, I'm a maid. So please let me go," Lela hoped her lie was at least believable. It was the only thing she could think of to save herself. She didn't want to be anywhere near this man and his sword. Especially his sword.
Lela paused, mentally face palming herself. This man knew who she was, he'd killed her once, and if he was serious, he could kill her again, and the only thing she could think of to save herself is to lie and say she was a maid?
"I'm sorry, please forgive me. I know how to shut up, I'll never tell anyone what I saw. If you don't believe me, you can test me," Lela's lips quivered.
Prince Fayan looked at the princess's quivering lips and his anger was restored. He never knew that the princess was capable of other emotions apart from pretence and disgust. She had called him names and had pretended to act civil with him, but only when people were around, she never begged for anything, not even for her own life as he pointed his sword at her that night. Yet now, she was begging, begging him to spare her?
"Dear good sir, I promise you that I will shut my mouth, so please, please spare me," she had the nerve to call him good sir? What in the Dragons happened to all those horrible names she called him sweetly?
"Why did you come out here? Do you want to die this time?" The man's glowing eyes were the evidence of his anger. His anger was thick, and it surrounded her like a duvet on a cold night. What could she do? What could she say?
What did she say that made the man so angry?
"N-no sir, I don't want to die," The princess cried. She was different, he noticed. The princess he knew would've calmly called him a monster; But right now she was crying and begging for her life. What had gotten into her? Had her almost-death done some real damage to her head?
The prince knew that their engagement had been a set-up by his family and hers. There was something about their union his father, the King, was hiding from him. But the reason he agreed to the marriage was because he thought the Princess was just like him, her family must've hated her to let her get married to the cursed prince, Fayan had thought.
He had accepted the engagement because he knew what it was like to have the people that swore to love and protect a person switch up because of a little accident. Fayan had experienced it all and even grew a thick skin, so in his little way, he wanted to protect her from her parents at least, but the princess had other plans, she was spoiled and mean.
"I swear to you this day, that I will not love you; for I am incapable of loving a monster that goes about killing mercilessly when he feels like it," had been the princess's final words to him, and she had said it like she was declaring her love to him. It was the thing Fayan detested the most about her; she said the most hateful things in an angelic voice. She never sounded rough or angry, she had been trained, or maybe she was just scared he'd devour her, even after he'd said-albeit nonchalantly- that he had no intention of killing her when they'd first met.
"I was just taking a stroll. I have been locked in my room for days after I woke up and I just wanted to touch some grass. I swear I didn't come out here knowing you'd kill someone, I would've stayed in my room if I knew," Lela rambled on. She was scared, and it was one of her many traits, to say whatever she could to come out of a situation. Sometimes, her rambling worked, but other times her rambling landed her in trouble, like that one time she took a book from a bookstore without paying for it and started narrating her life story to the Cashier, hoping it would stop her from calling the police, it didn't.
This was different though, this man was angry at her, but she knew it would take more than just her rambling to save her from the man. She'd known her words would do little to no help when the man kept a blank face while she rambled on.
Would this man kill her or not? Certainly, if he wanted to kill her, he would've done so a while ago, right? The suspense was killing her, and her anxiety skyrocketed.
Fate and Order! Lela wasn't particularly happy with them at the moment, but if she wanted a savior, they were the only beings who could save her. Lela shut her eyes, her body shaking, her blood pressure rising, she didn't know how to summon them, Fate and Order, but she was going to try.
"Fate and Order, if you can hear me, please save me" Lela cried inwardly. There was no response, from Fate and Order at least.
Lela wasn't ready as the man yanked her closer to him, closing the space between them. She had lost her balance and tipped sideways, her body threatening to become one with the fresh grass. She closed her eyes, ready for an impact with the grass that never came because the man flung his bloody sword and wrapped the hand around Lela's tiny waist, further connecting their bodies.
Lela gasped as chills went down her spine at the contact. Her hands landed on his firm chest to gain more balance, and for a split moment, she felt like a princess dancing at a ball.
Lela took in controlled breaths and then slowly opened her eyes, one after the other. The view Lela opened her eyes to knock the air out of her. The man was beautiful; he had a chiseled jawline that Lela feared was sharper than his blade, but his high cheekbones and small lips stood out the most. His glowing eyes were small and spaced evenly apart, sitting below his thick eyebrows that curved as a natural extension of his tall nose. His thick long hair, which after a closer look she found out was red, fell forward, serving as a little curtain around their faces.
Lela watched his face, she watched his thick brows furrow, in annoyance? Maybe, but his annoyance was the least of her concerns. Her concern was the man's eyes that seemed to be glitching as they became a brighter red and then darken. Surely this man was not human, no human could do that with their eyes. A new wave of fear approached Lela, threatening to drown her whole; she wanted to shut her eyes tight and wish this was all a bad dream, but that would mean losing her guard around him, and she couldn't do that if she wanted to live that is.
Fayan watched the princess, he watched as streaks of moonlight penetrated through his thick red hair, casting a soft light on her face, accentuating her features. He never looked this closely at her before, and he feared his new findings would linger in his mind for days to come. The Princess, he noticed, had tiny, barely visible black moles around the slight curve of her eyes, and a few more scattered around her cheeks. His eyes traveled lower, stopping at her plump lips; he may have lingered on her lips a second too long because when he looked at Princess's eyes, they were already trained on his and before he could react, the Princess closed the space between their heads, binding them together in a simple soft kiss.
"Princess, where are you?" Lela knew that low whisper, and for the first time since she woke up, she was happy to hear Kimi's voice.
Lela pulled away from him, she had certainly gone mental, she thought. She had kissed the man that killed her, and he was going to kill her again for kissing him, but the man had other plans as his hand that held her arm traveled into her black hair, tugging on the soft locs as he connected their lips back together, kissing her roughly as if his life depended on it, with their foreheads pressed together.
"Princess, if you're here please come out," that annoying voice was distracting them again. Fayan growled, releasing the princess. He didn't have time to process what they had just done, what he had just done, when the princess pushed him and ran towards the voice, her old black cloak flowing behind her as she ran.
What had they just done?