EDITED.
"They played their cruel games, thinking I was a pawn; now, I am the queen who will topple their kingdom." ~Araneae Ruber.
~
LUELLA SCREAMED at the top of her lungs as she held Mr. Stranger around his waist. The force he intended to use to hit Louisa was reduced, but she was still hit.
Louisa was smart while using her powers, as she used her shadows to wrap herself around her legs and arms. But still it wasn't enough, as the hit had forced her to her knees.
'If I hadn't shielded my bones, I would have being squashed to the ground' Louisa lamented, as the confidence she had before facing him then suddenly disappeared, and she was left with her previous fear.
Suddenly, immense pain shot through her bone as she felt her left legs.
"I guess it is a given that you survived. If it wasn't for Lady Luella, you would be splattered on the ground." Mr. Stranger mocked.
Louisa threw him an angry glare as she struggled to stand to her feet. But all attempts were futile, as her left leg wasn't co-operating with her.
"You can let go of me now, Princess," Mr. Stranger said as he lightly tapped on her hands that were still tightly wrapped around his waist.
She shook her head as she tried to calm herself. 'This night needs to be over fast'.
"I promise, I didn't kill her," He added again.
"I was not worried about that," She replied, loosening her arms from his waist as she moved around him. Luella reached out her hands and touched his face calmly.
"Are you hurt?" She asked, her face turning to the side with a calm affection.
Mr. Stranger lifted his covered eyes as it met with Louisa, who looked utterly shocked at her sister action.
"Sister, I am the one who got hurt and injured"
"And you are also the one who made threats and attacked him first," She countered, still not turning to face her.
They heard rushed footsteps coming towards them. Luella's brows furrowed with worry as she thought it was the soldiers that were coming at them since she had previously screamed stop. It must have likely alerted them.
As if reading her mind, Mr. Stranger placed an arm on her shoulder and shook his head, "It is the other cheater"
"Other cheater?"
And before Mr. Stranger could reply, Ser Chandler appeared behind Louisa. He had a bandage wrapped around his head.
His appearance cause Luella to sniffle a laugh as she saw him.
He looked ridiculous in her eyes. She wondered what he had told the physician happened that caused his head injury. Oh! How she wished she was there to witness it.
It probably wasn't much, since he would have lied his way through it.
"What is going on here?" He asked as he hurriedly helped Louisa to her feet, and she immediately began her waterworks.
"Oh, Ser. Chandler, it is the cloaked man. He was with Sister Luella. Out of panic, I attacked him, thinking he was going to attack sister Luella. But, he did this to me," She cried to him as she clung to his clothes.
Ser Chandler looked up to see Luella not caring about her sister's injured state. 'Was she acting like this just because of the affair? Her attitude is like a 360 flip from what she usually is'.
"Lady Luella, I understand your misunderstood anger towards us… But this is just ridiculous to support a stranger you know nothing of".
"And you think I don't know him because?" She shot back at him. "How dare you question me? Who do you think you are, exactly?" Her disgust for him, growing by the millisecond. The whimpering sound from her sister annoyed her.
Annoyed?
Disgusted?
She didn't know, but Luella didn't like that Louisa could easily cry as she wished and nobody would criticize her for it. But here she was, smiling with the pain and anger burning within her.
How cruel.
But it would end, as she was getting tired of everything and also of every one.
"Luella, this is really unbecoming of you. You are an engaged woman and yet you are clinging to an unknown man," Chandler accused. He took confident strides in front of Louisa, completely covering her as he towered over Luella.
But she didn't falter. She lifted her head and glared at him. "That's rich word coming from the man who was caught red-handed with my sister. You really are shameless" She voiced her eyes, folded with complete disgust.
Chandler bit his lips as he felt an overwhelming rage for Luella. She was always looking below him, belittling him and not taking him seriously.
Regardless of if she had a superior status than him, he was going to be her husband and she was going to submit to him, whether she liked it or not.
"Like I said, it is all a misunderstanding. Why don't you want to understand anything I am saying? Did your mother not teach you anything about being a woman. And besides, why is it so bad? I am a man. You do not expect me to stay faithful to someone like you. Huh? Do you!!" He shouted.
The more Chandler shouted, the more senseless his words were. But it did sting, though. His words really hurt Luella. Though she was not in love with him, but did she really have no female sex appeal that would lead him to cheat on her even before they were married.
Since she neither gave him a response nor a disgusted look, Chandler continued his taunt as he believed his words were getting to her. 'Why didn't I think of doing this before?' He wondered to himself. 'Of course, women are soft-hearted. Just shouting at them or belittling them is enough to make them succumb to men.'
'Pathetic, I should have done this since. Maybe by now I would be the duke of the dukedom'.
'Do I really have zero sex appeal towards men. After all, Ozed left, even with all the pleas and begging. I do read it in the novels, how men who love their women would want to be with her and love only her. I guess Ozed didn't love me like I thought'.
It hurts. It hurts so bad.
Was it so hard to ask to be loved?
'It hurts, but why does it hurt this much? Was I so desperate to have an affection that it is starting to physically hurt me?' She wondered. Tuning off Chandler's words, she began to ponder on why she was so desperately feeling the pain.
It was so painful, she could barely even stand straight. She would have tumbled over if Mr. Stranger wasn't holding her around her waist.
Her waist.
That was where the pain seemed to be burning from. Luella looked down at his arm around her waist and then looked up at his masked face.
Mr. Stranger was angry at me?
No…
Mr. Stranger was angry for me.