The night is already late the moment the carriage stopped in front of Prince Elijah's palace where we're residing. The moment the chauffeur opened the door for us, I immediately grabbed my skirt to lift it up and immediately went out of the carriage. I chose not to make a sound nor say anything and just walked ahead.
Or so I thought.
"Your Highness." I abruptly stopped the moment I heard Prince Elijah called me. I took a deep breath and slowly turned my head before moving to face him.
As much as I don't want to talk to him right now, I might raise a suspicion to him so I chose to just respond to his calling.
As I'm trying to process what I'm about to say to him that will cover my sudden outburst in that party, he spoke once again. "Are you okay?"
I looked at him in subtle shock. Okay, I wasn't really expecting that. I legit thought he'd give me a word because of the ruckus earlier that ruined Princess Arabella's party for me. I didn't expect he'll ask such question. "Pardon, Your Highness?"
He walked towards me and I tried myself not to flinch nor move away the moment he stood in front of me. "I saw how upset you are in that party. Are you okay?"
I took a deep breath and nodded. As much as I don't want to confine to this villain, knowing Ariah, she will definitely confine to him because after all, she 'trusted' him. "Yes, I am fine, Your Highness."
"Your face says otherwise," he retorted. "Did those ladies say something to you that made you so upset?"
"No… not to me. But to Her Royal Highness. They… they told me she might be the one who's behind the accident."
I could see how Prince Elijah's face changed. "What? They did?"
I nodded again. "It made me upset how they could accuse my sister on something that isn't her fault, to begin with. I don't believe them. I may not remember anything but I know that Princess Arabella will never ever do something to harm me or to harm anyone. She's a good person. I can feel it."
Of course, she will never do something like that towards Princess Ariah. They may not have a good relationship towards each other but one thing is for sure, she will never do something like that.
I mentally glared at Prince Elijah. Who knows, he'll be the one who caused the accident if he did manipulated that. Prsh, what a nasty person he is.
"They even said bad things to the both of you," he said and he immediately turned to walk back towards the carriage.
I immediately asked. "Where are you going?"
"Lady Dimitri, Lady Rosé, and Lady Lorelei. I will visit them and give them a word. Don't worry, I won't take that long."
Oh no, I remembered he has this habit of saying he'll 'give a word' to someone he has a conflict with but in reality, he's going to kill them!
I mean, those chics really did upset me for badmouthing Princess Arabella but not to such extent that I'll wish for them to get killed!
Oh gosh, I really need to do something to stop him. Think, Bella! Think!
"Lo-Love!" I unexpectedly blurted out of panic and grabbed his hand, making him stop in his tracks. "Do-Don't leave!"
He then turned his head. "Your Highness, don't worry. I won't take that long. You can just sleep without me—"
"No—I—I want to sleep… with you…"
That made him stare at me
Oh goodness gracious, that is so awkward to say such cheesy thing towards him. But if this is the only way to stop him—doing the usual Ariah thing—I will just swallow this cringe for the sake of not having such bloodshed tonight!
"You want me to sleep with you?"
I took a deep breath and I immediately pushed myself to hug him tight. "I'm… I'm having bizarre nightmares these past few nights. It's getting scarier and scarier that I could sleep properly. I'm scared, Your Highness… please… just for tonight… please, sleep beside me…"
I could feel how he heaved a sigh before hugging me back, nodding and putting his hand behind my head. "Okay. I'll be right by your side. I will not going to leave you this time."
I slowly opened my eyes and sighed in such relief.
I did save three lives from a bloodshed tonight but I legit wanted to curse for jumping on him just to stop him.
As much as I don't want to be stiff when he caged me in his arms, I just couldn't help it. First and foremost, I'm no boyfriend since birth—which means, I never experienced such intimacy or skinship like this. Second of all, I'm here. Hugging Prince Elijah. Hugging the villain of this story. Hugging my disliked character of this story.
Blondie, brunette, and redhead, you bitches. You should definitely thank me for the sacrifice that I did just to save your asses.
"Why aren't you sleeping?"
I immediately closed my eyes and keep silent. I could feel him sighing and spoke once again. "I could really tell that you're still awake because of your breathing, Your Highness."
Ugh, I just don't want to talk to you, you know?
I opened my eyes and raised my chin to look at him. "You can?"
He looked at me. "You're not subtle and I know everything about you. You're my wife."
I blinked innocently at him and spoke. "I wonder how we fell in love with each other… and how we got married."
His gaze settled on me as he flaunted a tiny smile. "You're with Her Royal Highness when we visited the palace. She put flower crown on you but you said you didn't like it but you still looked so beautiful on it. And then I realized, it was love at first sight. Then and there, I decided that you'll be the woman I want to marry and to be with forever."
I stared at him.
Liar. You chose Ariah to be your pawn to bring your brother down and take Princess Arabella, the one you truly love, away from him. You abandoned Ariah. You killed her.
At that moment, I chose to speak with Ariah's thoughts and heart.
"Elijah…" I spoke softly. "I wanted to stay with you… in this lifetime… and love you forever."
I know I caught him off guard at that moment. But the man is a great pretender that he chose to bite on my words. "I will, too, my wife."
This time, I will do everything to change the story and if I did, I will not be the one to die. Not Ariah. Not Lucien. Not Arabella.
I raised my hand to caress his cheek softly before it travelled on his neck and stayed there. My eyes darted on Prince Elijah.
I will make sure you will not succeed. I won't die. I will change everything.