Ginny sat very still in the chair, even though she could feel an invisible pressure on her shoulders pressing down at her, she still didn't dare to move nor did she make any sound. Instead, she looked for a blank piece of paper and when she found it, she picked up the feather quill from the table and dipped its nib in the ink pot before scribbling the words that she wanted to say and showed it to the Duke.
Duke Terranova seemed to be surprised by her reaction as he took the paper from her hand unconsciously and took a glimpse of the words that were written on it and smiled. " You can trust me, eh?"
Ginny nodded her head feverishly, she had no intention of being minced between these two big boulders. She was here just to steal those books and that too for very genuine and righteous reasons, she didn't want to hurt anyone in the process —— nor the duke or the crown prince. After being dragged around like a puppet with no will, she knew how hard it was to go against the power that was far too big and strong when compared to her, at this moment all she cared about was her father and the curse.
Her father was the only one who mattered the most to her and for him, she was willing to take this risk… The duke was testing her and she would make sure that she wouldn't fail this test unless she had a death wish, she will never come in contact with the Crown Prince.
She picked up another paper and fervently wrote a few more words on it before giving the paper to the Duke who took it with eyes lit up with amusement. " I am on your side,"
" On my side huh?" He chortled as he swooped down and placed his hands on the armrests of her chair so that he was looking her right in the eyes. " And why would you be on my side? I am not the Crown Prince, I cannot give you the glory and comfort that he can… so pardon me if I do not believe your words, especially not when you called me a jerk a few days ago."
Two red patches blossomed on her cheeks as Ginny raised the quill in her hand and started writing another note, this one was longer than the other two and took a few more minutes as she handed it to the duke who took it with a fascinating smile on his face. " Can you please forget about that already?" He read her note. " I was startled that day because of what happened and I might have taken it out on you and … not all women approach you with a hidden intention, maybe they just have a pure little heart like me and just want to do their work without being watched carefully every hour."
After he finished reading the letter, he blinked his eyes before he turned to look at her and hiked a brow up. " Pure little heart?"
Ginny nodded her heart seriously, ignoring the subtle pangs of guilt. She was speaking the truth anyway, she wasn't here to assassinate the Duke or anyone in the Terranova family, she was just here to steal away a couple of books that literally have no meaning to the Duke and might be lying in the library with dust and mold covering its old pages.
So, technically she did have a pure heart and no hidden intentions of killing the duke, unlike the maid that tried to kill him earlier this morning.
The Duke looked at her for five seconds before he burst out laughing. " Pure heart…pfttt, pure little heart she says…hahaha..oh my stomach is going to burst!"
Slightly —— no, highly offended Ginny puffed her cheeks as she picked up another piece of paper and scribbled, ' That's rude ' before she turned it for the Duke to see. He did see it but that did nothing to stop his laughter, he only stopped when he wanted to, which caused Ginny to be heavily put-out.
" No need to be so upset," said the duke when he noticed how much of a puffer fish Ginny has become after he was done laughing. He straightened up and then walked around his study table before he opened the drawer of his table and took out an extremely small glass bottle and showed it to Ginny. " Do you know what this is?" He asked.
Distracted Ginny shook her head in complete honesty, though she knew that the exquisite bottle was anything but something simple and sure enough the Duke raised it and shook it lightly so that the liquid inside it slushed dangerously. "It's a truth potion, one drop and you will spill the deepest, darkest secrets of your life, do you dare to take a sip of it?"
This time Ginny didn't take him lightly, from what she could see, the duke had a very heavy dislike towards women… to the point that he despised them. She knew that he was definitely not lying or teasing her when he said that he wanted her to take a sip of it…something she couldn't do.
If she drank the truth potion then she will not only tell him about why she came here but also she might spill the beans about her being a siren, of course, that was on account of the fact that he wouldn't kill her right away after seeing that she could speak. With a solemn expression, she picked another paper and started writing, this time she wrote for a very long time before she handed it to the duke who started reading what she has written.
" Everyone has a few secrets that they can never tell anyone, I do and the duke has them too, you wouldn't want anyone to find out about your secrets and so do I… I don't want anyone to know about my secrets but I can assure you that I am not here to harm you."
He finished reading and raised one brow before asking, " And how should I believe it?"
She scribbled again and turned the paper to the duke.
" I swear on my pride as a noble lady." He read with a shake of his head, and he applauded. " I see, now that you have said this, I take it that if you hurt me then your life is mine, what do you say about it?"
After thinking through carefully, she nodded.
"All right so you have agreed——-" there was a loud knock on the door and Madam Regina's muffled voice came through the closed door. " Akris, honey are you in there?"
Ginny gasped silently as she noticed the change in the expression of the Duke, if he looked terrifying before now he looked simply inhuman, turning to her, he whispered harshly. " If you don't want to die, hide."