After dinner, he kisses the back of my hand and leaves, saying that he'll see me again tomorrow morning. I sigh as I gently touch my lips. After Eliana left, all we really did was kiss each other until my lips throb. I may be getting more and more greedy. I want more of him, more conversation with him, more of his kisses and more of his touches.
But as if timed, he always pulls away whenever we are about to take a step forward in our relationship. Too bad though. It seems like he really is planning to keep that promise to my father.
Someone knocks on my door and asks, "Bath, miss?"
"Enter," I say and walk to the cabinet where I keep my nightgown.
I hear the sound of wood scraping on the carpet, and there are movements behind me. I look at the sound. Two boys are placing the tub of water close to the door. Then a maid is placing the toiletries beside the bath. I move closer to it and touch the water. It's warm and smells like mint.
The maid moves closer to me and offers, "Let me help you with the bath, miss."
"Ah! Don't bother. I will take care of bathing myself. I will just call for you if I need help."
"But the head servant specifically said that I take care of you tonight."
"Tell her that I insisted," I say. "You can go now."
I am about to let my clothes fall on the floor when I sense a murderous aura from the maid. I turn to her, just in time to see her hands pointing at me. Multiple knives appear in thin air and are about to hit me.
I duck, the knives hitting the cabinet behind me. But slowly, it trembles. It's about to return to pierce me from behind when I activated my earth magic and let it hit a block of stone instead. Then, I activate my fire, flick my fingers, and engulf all the knives in balls of fire, melting the steel and rendering it useless.
I turn my attention back to the maid. Instead of fear, her hatred is so clear that my head reels.
"You will not have our precious young master!" she screeches.
She takes another knife and rushes towards me. This time, I activate my air magic and slap her whole body to the side. She hits the tub of water, spilling the water onto the floor.
Still, she tries to stand up. She is struggling. The force of the impact of his body is already too much for someone who is not practicing magic a lot like Lyrica. Still, she finds her bearings—shaky, but with a determined look on her face.
"He is meant for Eliana and not for trash like you!"
I frown. Since when do servants have a say in their masters' choice of a lover?
She points the knife at me and rushes. I enclose her entire body in the water that's previously on the tub—except her head, ensuring that she can still breathe.
"Is that the only reason you want to kill me?" I ask.
Instead of getting an answer, she glowers at me. "You are an evil woman! You will not get what you want! Our young master will soon see behind your lovely mask!"
Then, I notice that she's raising her knife.
"What are you doing?!" I ask. Is she planning to slash my water with just a feeble knife by using her feeble strength? "You won't escape from my water prison," I remark.
"Oh, of course, I will escape."
Without warning, she pierces her neck. She gags on her own blood and the water is mixed with her blood. The smell is overpowering, so I deactivated my magic and she falls with a thump to the ground. Both the water and her blood drench the floor and reach up to my feet.
I fall on the floor as I gawk at the corpse of the maid. I can't breathe, shocked at what just happened. Is this my fault? But this is too much! I just want Calais' love! Why are they going against that? Is it impossible after all? Am I so unworthy?
The door opens and I raise my head to see Marilen and Calais. He has a sword in hand, and in a split-second, I thought it was meant to impale me, like how he did with Marcus. I watch him scour the room—from the way I am seated on the floor, the corpse of a maid with a knife sticking on her neck, and the wet floor—a combination of bathwater and the servant's blood.
"Calais," I whisper. "It's not me. I didn't do anything."
But the room smells of magic, my magic. I feel all Lyrica's sins crash into me. I want his love, not his hatred. It's just our second day together.
Calais walks towards me, and I shut my eyes tightly. Besides, I don't feel like fighting him. Maybe, if I die here, I will return to my world instead. It will be a world without him, but it is a world with a lot of love.
Then I heard him place his sword on his side. He lifts my chin. "Why are you so afraid of your own fiance? If you say you didn't do this, why would I hurt you?" he asks.
"Because, Lyrica, because I… All of my previous sins, I—" I sob. I hate this body! I have done nothing wrong! "Don't hate me, Calais, please…"
I cover my face with my hands. I am afraid of losing that little love I worked hard for the past few days.
Calais carries me in his arms and suggests, "Take a bath in my room. You can sleep there too."
"You don't hate me?" I ask, afraid to wind my arms around his neck, in fear that he will reject my touch. "You believe me?"
Instead of answering, he barks orders at the other servants.
In that flurry of activity, soon, I find myself submerged in water while Calais is waiting outside. Maids come into the room and dress me for the night. When they left, I find myself sitting on the edge of Calais' bed, hugging my knees and boring a hole into the wall in front of me.
What will happen now? I am afraid. I don't understand why that maid tried to kill me. This is what? The third attempt in my life, and it hasn't even been a month. Is Lyrica surviving like this regularly? In each attempt on my life, will there always be a dead person?
I hug myself again, even when I hear Calais enter the room. He kneels before me and informs, "Another magic is detected in the room. It's the maid's magic. She's dead now. No one is going to try to kill you."
I look at him. He looks worried over something. "Hug me," I say. "I want to snuggle next to you tonight."
Calais stands up and removes his clothes. He pushes me on the bed and is about to kiss me when I evade.
"Just snuggling, please," I say, knowing exactly what he has in mind.
He takes care of the pillows, lies beside me and covers us both with a blanket. Not content, I hide my face against his chest and entangle my limbs in his, seeking comfort and security in his embrace.
I close my eyes, taking in his familiar smell, and somehow, I doze off into sleep, while his fingers interlace upon the strands of my hair.