The carriage suddenly bumped into some rock resulting in Agatha falling onto Xavier's arm. Her face leaned closer to him. As their gaze met, breathing tingled, and her hair touched his face.
Agatha tried to break free from his gaze and go back to her seat when Xavier grabbed her by the waist and made her sit on his lap.
"Arse is a unique pet name, I must say I like it far better than my husband," Xavier whispered in her ears, as his warm breath touched her bare neck sending goosebumps down her spine.
"Let me go." Agatha tried to stand up, but his grip on her hips was firm enough to not let her move a bit.
"That might not be possible. You see, letting go of you was never my speciality." Xavier firmly denied her request, shamelessly holding her and looking at her face.
Agatha scoffed listening to his fake sweet words. He can't let go of her? Yet he was absent for the majority of her life. After Adrien's birth, she didn't even see his face unless they were at a public event, still cold, putting a wall between them. And he can't let go of her.
"That's a nice lie, pretty romantic. My heart almost skipped a beat, and I almost fell in love with you. If you can't let go of me then I wonder where you were when I was crying your name while giving birth or after his birth?" Agatha scorned, glaring at his guilt-ridden face.
"I was always there," Xavier mumbled to himself as he remembered how he would watch her, every time he got free time from work. Every night after she fell asleep, he would visit her, sit beside her, and sometimes lay beside her. He was not brave enough to hold her while she was awake and not brave enough to even let go of her. There were always instances when he wished to run to her and hug her, kiss her lips but her face during childbirth stopped him. It was he who caused her so much pain because the throne needed an heir. She almost died just to give birth. He can never forgive himself for causing that to her.
"If I could let go of you, I would have never married you. You are my guilty pleasure, Agatha and I will do it again and again, no matter how many choices there are." Xavier spoke, caressing her cheeks.
Agatha gulped his words almost getting in her heart, making her skip a beat. She was afraid to look into his eyes, it frightened her. She might believe those words and fall into his trap of lies again.
"Don't expect me to believe and fall for your sweet fake words. I am still keeping this marriage for the sake of my son. Once he is born, we shall be like how we were before. Strangers." Agatha remarked as she spoke she never once met his eyes.
"Which means I still have around two years to win your heart," Xavier smirked as he noticed how much she was trying to not look into his eyes. It was quite clear she was lying to herself, he just needed to be the mirror and reveal her true feelings.
Agatha's face turned sour, trying to get up, "Use your tricks on someone else."
"That's a daring request. My wife is asking me to win some other girl's heart." Xavier teased.
"Your Majesty, we have reached the cliff place. Do you still wish to rest there for lunch?" The footmen asked from outside.
" Yes." Xavier nonchalantly answers, still holding her in his arms.
Soon, the carriage came to a halt. Xavier finally let go of her. Agatha hastily got out of the carriage. Inside the carriage felt stuffed and hot suddenly.
The serene lakeside seems like the perfect escapade. The sapphire water was enveloped with fog and woody trees. Something that seemed out of the fairytale.
Agatha took a walk down the breath, taking a deep breath of the fresh air, sitting down on one of the benches by the lake. The fresh cold air hit her warm face. Strange, the tranquillity entrapped her. The noisy heart rested at the shore. Her mouth hummed in harmony with the birds residing there.
Agatha felt sleepy finding her in the quietude. She closed her eyes, resting her elbow on the bench frame and her head on her hand as she soon drifted into a deep slumber.
Later, when she worked up from the raven's screams. In a half-asleep state, she looked at the blurry figure sitting beside her, and whose shoulder she rested her head on.
"Awake?" Xavier asked, seeing her rubbing her eyes like a child. Agatha nodded, still half conscious.
"They prepared some meals for you. Let's go eat." Xavier forwarded her head, which she held without any hesitation and followed him to the table. She seemed like a baby when she followed him without any rebels. Strange how her heart was as innocent as that of a child while her mouth only moved bitter stuff.
This might be the only chance for him to feed her the food. Picking the soup prepared by the cook, he made sure it was cool enough for her to eat comfortably before feeding her. Agatha ate not trying to put on a fight, before the sleep trying to get her.
When she woke up again later, Agatha found herself laying on Xavier's lap. They were already on the road. Puzzled she sprung up straight looking out of the window where nightfall took the sky. She couldn't remember much other than a hazy memory of her eating from his hand.
"You should sleep a bit more. We will reach Cliff Place by midnight." Xavier remarked seeing her perplexed with the time and place.
Agatha composed herself, taking her original seat from earlier and picking up the book and hiding her face behind it.
Xavier didn't try to annoy her, afterall she gave something pretty satisfying to him while half asleep. He was completely sure, she did have feelings for him. Always had. Hatred can only spawn from the deepest love.