Elijah discovered that there appeared to be a scorching gaze that firmly locked upon her so she turned to his direction. At the moment when she looked at the second prince, she suddenly sensed a trace of wrongness.
'Why is he suddenly looking at me like that?' She thought. 'Did I say something wrong?'
She clearly saw the shock on his face when she told him of the future.
'He said he will believe my words to be truth and that it will be up to me of how much I can convince him.'
'Did he not truly believe my words?'
'Something in his attitude clearly changed when I asked him about cancelling our engagement.'
Elijah thought of how she had been planning things for the past few days ever since she came to this world. She spent most of her time inside her room and have been deciding on major choices she had to take. She also deliberated many times of what she had to in any case something changes after making those choices. Playing many scenarios of this and that if she chooses this or that in her mind, she felt dizzy just by thinking about it. However, one thing is clear for her, she must survive up until she finds a way to get out of this novel and return to the real world.
Raising her head to meet those cold gray eyes, she suddenly felt amused to see the second prince' face this closely. When she read the novel before, she only imagined how he looked like based on the author's description of his physical characteristics. Silver hair with a cold and indifferent gray eyes. Tall and lean. She then realized that she was looking at him for too long and so she looked away once again, a tinge of blush covered her pale cheeks. As if discovered by the young prince that she had just stared at his impeccably handsome face, he also reclined at the tree and a playful arc curled at the corner of his mouth.
'More handsome than what I have imagined.' Elijah concluded. 'He may have become a Cold blooded tyrant in the future but he only became that way because of his selfish and greedy family.'
"Do you really think that canceling our engagement will change the future that you foresaw?" Prince Joaqin suddenly asked after their awkward silence.
"Will it not?" She replied. "Come to think of it. If we don't get married, then there will be no offspring. I will not be the reason why our son died. No betrayal between us. So then, there will be no reason for your highness to...kill me."
"Hmm. That is a good point." He responded, his finger brushing his chin. "However, I don't think that solution will be of my advantage. So I will not agree. I decided to not allow you to back out from our engagement."
"Huh?" Elijah blurted out in surprise. "But...I don't want to die."
"Simple. I will promise with my honor that I will never kill you, lady Melanie Von Diovre." Prince Joaqin replied as he looked at her seriously. "You will still be married to me. I will still make you my wife. I will never allow you to cancel our engagement."
"Promise?" Elijah blurted out. "Can I really trust that promise?"
"Of course. Like I said, I will promise with my honor." The prince answered.
Elijah let out a sigh. She already expected much that the prince will make this a bit more difficult for her. "But even if you promise, your highness. I still think it is best that we don't marry."
"Why?" The prince tilted his head to the side, excited to hear more of her reasons.
"First of all, we are still young. I will be 16 and you will be 20 if we marry four years from now. What do youngsters like us know about marriage?" She started.
"Royals and nobles usually marry at a young age." The prince argued with an amused smile.
'Right. It is normal here. But this is actually child abuse and child exploitation back in the real world.' Elijah thought, gritting her teeth. 'Whoever thought that youngsters should marry that young? Darn it.'
"But I don't love you. And you don't love me." She then said.
"Pfft. Ha ha ha ha ha." The prince suddenly burst out laughing which made her stunned. "I didn't see you as someone who believes in love. Ha ha ha ha ha."
'Wow. The cold, indifferent and aloof second prince can actually laugh. What a sight to behold.' She thought as she looked at the laughing prince beside her. She couldn't believe she's seeing it right now. There was never a part of the novel that stated that this prince can laugh. In the novel, he never even smiled. He showed no emotions. The only time he ever showed emotion was when his son died.
"I am honored, your highness." She said after his laughter died down and made his brows furrow in confusion. "I also never thought that someone like you can laugh this much. This should be recorded in the history books."
"Tch. What a silly thought." The prince commented and felt a bit embarassed because he truly laughed uncandidly in front of this young girl, which he himself didn't expect.
Both of them fell silent once more. Breaking the silence, Elijah spoke out first, "I know that our engagement and marriage will actually solidify the alliance between our families. And because of this, you will also gain an upperhand in stabilizing your position as the future official Crown Prince of this kingdom. Cancelling this engagement will really be at your disadvantage. But what about me? Won't it be unfair that only you will gain an advantage and I will gain more disadvantages because of this engagement?"
Prince Joaqin was rendered speechless. It is the very first tome for him to witness someone who is so against the idea of marrying him. He even met a lot of young ladies already who expressed their willingness to form a relationship with him and a lot of marriage proposals from powerful noble families and royal families of other kingdoms. But this is his first time to meet such an interesting girl who doesn't want to marry him. And she even said marrying him will give her disadvantages!
"I want to live a long and simple life. Besides being married to your highness will truly complicate my life." Elijah then continued. "My freedom will be restricted because I have to live inside this palace walls. Then I won't be able to experience more about life because as early as 16, I will soon be locked up here. In short, goodbye freedom."
There a short pause before Elijah heard a soft chuckle on her side. She thought that the prince will somehow get offended after she said those words to him and will eventually agree to cancel their engagement since she made him dislike her. However, things are not going her way.
"What a silly girl you are." He then. said
Observing his reaction further, Elijah examined the prince whom she thought she knew based on the novel. He is dressed in a gorgeous white robe with cold phoenix-like gray eyes that slightly narrowed everytime he speak. He was an unrivaled beauty of the mortal world and on his face, the curled corners of his mouth evoked a demonic charm. His gaze were clear and penetrating, as if he clearly understood everything.
'Bixie Finnery, you are wrong. It was a lie when you said that the only time he showed emotion was during that time. This young man is clearly human too, a man who can show different emotions.' She concluded. She thought he will be as indifferent as the book described him to be. But clearly, it seems to be not the case.
"Was that all your reasons? I am not convinced." Prince Joaqin declared. While his gaze stared fixedly at Elijah, the corners of his mouth carried a trace of a charmingly wicked smile, and the meaning behind this smiling expression seemed to be rather deep.
"We can just make an alliance without marriage." Elijah suggested boldly.
"And how can we do that?" The prince replied with a small amused smile.
"I will promise with my honor that my family will absolutely support your highness until you ascend to the throne." She declared.
"Promise?" The prince blurted out and his eyes narrowed in realization. "Hah! You are using my own words against me."
"Yes. And so what?" Elijah said nonchalantly with a restrained wicked smile on her face. "You see...even if I told you that I will never lie to you and you told me that you will believe in my honesty, we still don't truly trust each other. I don't believe in your promise and you don't in mine."
"That is true." Prince Joaqin nodded and agreed. "Then, I think it's best for us to build this trust, don't you think? Why don't we establish this trust between us over the next 4 years before we get married?"
Elijah pouted and thought about his offer. She thought that it is actually quite good that the prince is somewhat considerate of her.
'That is right. There is still plenty of time to think of a way to really cancel the engagement.' She thought. In the next 4 years, she just need to make him fully trust her. With that, she can really make him believe in her and then they can talk about cancelling the engagement once again.
"Alright then. Let's build that trust between us, your highness." She agreed and the prince gave her a devilishly charming smile.
"See something good?" He opened his mouth and asked, with an expression that seemed to contain pure joy.
"Hmmp." Elijah looked away, quite embarassed for reasons unknown to her at that moment. Although these were merely three words that he said, it held a double entendre. He could be referring to this amusing play he thinks I'm playing or it was possible that he was asking whether his looks were good, or perhaps he was asking about both. She then narrowed her eyes. "Whatever you are thinking, it's not it, your highness."
"Alright. Alright." The prince replied but kept his intense look at her.
Distracted, the corner of Elijah's mouth slowly bent as she coldly replied, "Seen enough?"
Surprise flashed in Prince Joaqin's eyes. This little girl is really too bold and daring. The corners of his mouth sketched a playful smile: "What a treacherously sinister young girl."
Elijah slightly raised her eyebrows.
'A treacherously sinister young girl? Since when did she portray herself as such in front of this boy?' She complained at his evaluation of her. She then concluded that all her words were twisted evilly in his mind.
'WHAT A BRUTE!'
'He really didn't believe any of it. The spoiler I told him might have been interpreted negatively. Now he think I am scheming something thus his bitter and very poor evaluation of me.'
'Building that trust with this man might really take a very long time.'
'Can I really do it in just 4 years?'
Does that mean I'd have to also live in this world for that long?
Wearing a smile that was not yet a smile, she answered in turn: "What a brute prince of high morals."
Another blossoming laugh came from Prince Joaqin after hearing her retort. It was a gentle and melodic low sound that was demonically charming, "No, no, no. This prince is just the same kind of person you are."
Elijah once again sneered at his implication, which also meant that she was sneering at herself. "Should I be honored with your very poor evaluation of me and yourself?"
"Mmm. You should be." He replied. "It's charming."
"Charming?" She complained. "Since when did being treacherously sinister become charming?!"
The prince' gray eyes once again laughed with careless leisure, but at the same time, it contained a kind of incomparable sharpness that he was unable to conceal. This person clearly effortlessly released an air that suppresses another and exuded an aura of a domineering king. The future Cold Blooded Tyrant. But seeing him laugh like this, Elijah felt complicated.
Seeing yet again the changes and flashes of different emotions in her face, Prince Joaqin's pair of penetrating eyes purposefully watched her and did not speak for a long time.
"I have taken too much of your time, your highness." Elijah then said, breaking the silence. She stood up and courtsied. "I will then bid my farewell."
Standing up, Prince Joaqin suddenly took her hand and bent down gracefully. Then he gave the back of her hand a gentle kiss while his gray eyes locked with hers. "Spending this precious time with you. The pleasure is all mine. I will see you again, lady Melanie Von Diovre."
And without further words, the prince turned around and walked away first, leaving the flabberghasted young girl behind.
"Did he really think that was charming?!" Elijah blurted out is annoyance while blushing. "Really. Two faced prince. Acting like that. Clearly he isn't. What a brute!"
***