"No fucking way…"
I saw how Grand Prince Elijah's brows furrowed the moment he heard those words from my mouth but I care less about it. My eyes went on him then to all the servants around us then back at him.
Holy shit… you've got to be kidding me. I remembered for sure that I am on my way home after I bought something to cook for our dinner then I rode a pedicab then the driver said he couldn't stop the pedicab and I am pretty sure as heck we crashed and I was caught in the accident.
I am sure I died there… there's no way—wait, am I not dead? Am I dreaming?
Slap!
I immediately slapped myself. Once. Twice. Thrice. I gained so many reactions and gasps from the people around us but I didn't care. I slapped myself again. Fourth time.
And damn, it freaking hurts. I could feel my cheeks and my whole face stinging. I am not dreaming!
"Ariah!" I felt someone stop my hand. I looked at Elijah who was now holding both of my wrists. His grip was firm yet gentle and I just couldn't help but frown at him. "My sweet Ariah, what are you doing? Why are you hurting yourself? Please stop it, dear, you just woke up from the accident. Please, don't hurt yourself."
My sweet Ariah. You're calling "me" that and yet, in the end, you're going to kill me! You let me burn in flames like that!
That made me gasp and immediately pulled myself away from him. I immediately stood up from the bed and even if I felt dizzy, I ran towards the possible restroom that I could find in that room. Fortunately, I managed to do so and immediately closed the door from behind me.
Of course, I heard Elijah and the servants' voices from the outside.
"Ariah! Princess Ariah! Please, open the door!"
"Your Highness, please open the door!"
I kept on pacing back and forth around the bathroom. As much as I wanted to adore how beautiful Ariah's bathroom was, this is not really the right time, especially since I got reincarnated as her.
Freaking heck. Of all the characters in that novel, why did I get reincarnated as the villainess—scratch that, why did I get reincarnated as the villain's wife?!
I am panicking. There's no way in heck that I am going to die for the second time again, especially since I got reincarnated as the main villain's wife who will get killed the moment he'll have his hands wrapped around Arabella and her husband. As much as I am concerned about that two, I should be concerned about myself here. My life is in danger as well.
"God, what should I do?" I whispered to myself as I kept pacing back and forth. "Wait." I immediately stopped. "I don't know why Ariah got caught in an accident but Elijah did say something about it. If I am going to pretend that I forgot everything that happened before "I" got into an accident, maybe Elijah will not gonna get suspicious about me, right? Since I "got caught in an accident". Right! I'll just make up a story about it or pretend that I forgot what happened. That's right! That's right! I'll do this. I'll do this for my survival."
So that, that man will not think of getting rid of me that easily.
My gaze went to the bathroom door and as I took a deep breath, I opened the door and saw Elijah looking so worried about me.
"My love, are you okay? What happened to you?" he asked me, looking so worried as he examined me.
Wow. No wonder Ariah fell in love with him. This guy is not just good-looking, gorgeous even but he's really good at acting.
Well, that's sucks because I am a good actress myself. I am a Literature student myself.
I started to tear up as he looked at me. "I… I couldn't remember everything…" I put my hands on my hair, as if I am trying to pull it out of frustration. "I couldn't remember anything!!! I couldn't remember!!!"
That made him look at me in utter shock, worry, and sadness.
Hah! I could definitely win an award on this one.
Of course, I need to convince them so hard with my acting—even though I'm really on the urge to laugh at myself because I am seriously sounding so cringe at this moment.
"Princess…" he called me as he gently held my hand and hugged me. "Don't force yourself to remember everything. You need to rest. You need to recover at your own pace. I am here. I won't leave your side. I am your husband. It's my duty to be with you."
Weird that this man has this side of him. No wonder why he managed to marry Ariah. That woman was indeed a lovesick fool about him. He really is good at pulling such a goody-good and gentle act and he's really good at sugarcoating words either.
I tried my best to sob by imagining a sob story in my mind so I could cry and make my acting believable. As much as I didn't want to hug him, I still did. I still want to live, you know?
I really need to make this man think that I am not a threat to his plans. Maybe by that, he would spare my life. I mean, as much as I felt bad for Lucien, his brother's fate in the later chapter, I still need to survive. If I am able to go back to my past life by changing Ariah's fate here, I will definitely do it.
I need to survive!
Grand Prince Elijah gently pulled me away from his hug and as his gaze went on my face, he slowly wiped my tears away. "I am here for you. I'll help and support you until you recover, princess."
I looked at him, still sobbing and acting so pitiful in front of him. "You-You won't get frustrated if I don't remember everything?"
Dang it, I thought I could only hear these words in movies but now, I am saying this right in front of a freaking villain of the story. I am not really good at words like this. I couldn't imagine acting like this.
What a cringe-worthy of you, Bella.
He shook his head and gently cupped my face. "I won't, my princess."
Hah, his eyes are too shallow. I am well aware that he just married Ariah out of his grudge against his brother Lucien when the latter got married to Arabella who, yes, turned out to be Elijah's first love and the only woman he loved.
As much as I hate the thought of getting stuck with his issues with his brother and his unrequited love for Arabella, I need to bear on this one.
If this is the only way to let me stay on his good side and not let him kill me, I will just suck this up.
I need to survive.
"Thank you… my husband."