"I am, Your Grace. My name is Rowena Dravenhart." I presented a slight curtsy as a sign of reverence.
His eyebrow twitched at my name, as if my name piqued his interest. Lucien swiftly turned his face to the side, glancing down at the ground. The finish on the flooring was far more interesting than I to him.
Even though I shouldn't being doing so, I couldn't help but gaze upon his face. The women in this kingdom ought to be mad to say no to this face.
Though not a stubble of hair was destined to grow on the lower half of his face, past a mustache, he didn't need it. From his chiseled cheekbones and jaw, down to his charming eyes and lips, this was the most beautiful man I've ever laid my eyes upon.
This was getting embarrassing, my reddened and hot face pulled me away from my humiliating thoughts about the man who stood 3 feet before me. Not to mention, my only reason for marrying the Prince is for insurance, not to fall into the same cycle again.
As if he could feel my heavy gaze, his eyes shifted up at me before his head did. "What is it that you wish to gain from this union, Lady Dravenhart." His tone dropped, and I could tell he was trying to find a crack in my mask.
I couldn't help but smile to myself. Though, this didn't seem to amuse Lucien very much. It was bringing a chuckle to my lips, thinking about trying to explain to him that I had experienced rebirth and had travelled back in time somehow.
"Well I think we would both benefit from this marriage, don't you think?" I shrugged, raising my eyebrows at him. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Now, what is it that you can give me, that I don't already have, my Lady." Lucien's tone almost came through as mockery, had he not held that skeptical look on his face.
Brat.
"Freedom." I lifted my head, in a nose pointed up sort of way, which was kind of my only way to sell it.
"Freedom." He mimicked. A glimmer of confusion in his eyes.
"Yes. If we get married, I can assure you that you will have the freedom to do whatever you wish, an added bonus is that your parents won't burden you with marriage politics for the rest of your life." I crossed my arms over my chest and took a daring step closer to him, showing my assertive confidence which he couldn't crack if he wanted to. Or at least, I wanted him to think he couldn't.
My daring step towards him seemed to have caught him off guard, which meant that this man would be easier to intimidate than I thought. "That's all?" His sharp gaze met mine with indifference, as if he didn't want to admit that my offer was intriguing.
"With all due respect, your highness." I paused, allowing myself to take another step towards him. Lucien, instinctively took a step back as soon as I took mine. "It seems like I'm the only one to accept. So if I were you.. I would take it." I pulled my bottom lip in between my teeth, as to not show my amusement.
As soon as my words made it into his ears, he clenched his jaw and softened his gaze upon me. The Prince immediately turned away and left the room, leaving a cold breeze between us. The door slammed after him, and I plopped myself down on the couch, my body cringing from the tension.
Although, this felt successful, I feel as though I may have to revisit my options for survival. I cannot bank on the Prince's cooperation, at least not with his ego.
-
"My lady!" I heard a faint call between the loud bustling crowd. I turned my head to find Lulia running to catch up to me. "My lady, you cannot just run off on your own!" He linked her arm with mine as if to restrain me.
"Sorry, it seems that I've gotten lost in thought. I promise I didn't mean to." I patted her hand that was on my arm.
"Are you thinking about Prince Lucien? And your proposal to him?" the young maid inquired, scanning my face for an answer to her question. A deep sigh left my lips.
"I suppose." That's all I could say, because it wasn't entirely about him. Based on the timeline that I'm currently in, since I had just proposed to Alistair not more than a week ago, this meant that he will be coming by soon.
While in the past, I had made an effort to visit him every day whether he would agree to meet me or not. It's unheard of for me to go without seeing him for more than a week. I had a twisted feeling in my gut that I will be seeing him fairly soon. Just the thought of it made me ill.
"My lady! Is that.." She pulled us to a stop and pointed to something further away from us.
"Is what?" I looked ahead, trying to make out what she was pointing at.
Though it took me a second to find, my eyes soon landed on a familiar face. A face that made the sick feeling dissipate into a feeling of nostalgia. Theodore Kingsley.
Theo was a friend that I've known since my childhood. We were inseparable at a young age.
However, my obsession with Alistair had driven a wedge between our friendship. I also often used him as a pawn in my plans to make Alistair jealous, not caring about how Theo felt.
All I can think about now are the angry and victorious looks on the people's faces on the day of my execution.
Theo never came.
He either couldn't bear to see me get executed, or he couldn't be bother. Had he been there, maybe I could've begged for his forgiveness in my last breath. The only person left alive that I could've paid penance to.
I stood there frozen in place, watching an old friend be unafraid of being himself without having to worry about shamelessness. His gaze then unmistakably met mine, it was obvious that he saw me when his smile faltered, before it stilled.
Gathering the courage, I made my way towards him. The faint look of unease in his eyes. He was never good at hiding his emotions, everything was written on his face.
Based on when I woke up, our friendship was wavering on his last leg, until I proposed to him a few days from now to shake some fear into Alistair. Not for nothing, since it worked.
However, that was the last straw for Theo, despite the countless other times, I had been so in my delusions that I never knew how he truly felt about me.
My feet stopped me 2 feet away from him, as I feared that getting too close would scare him. "Theo, I hope you've been well." was all I could muster up in such a short amount of thinking time.
He looked at me as if he'd wanted to escape. "As well as can be, I take it that you're doing good yourself?" He cleared his throat.
"I can't complain." I nodded to myself.
The silence was deafening, despite the bustling crowd. "I should really go, but it was a delight to see you, Ro, always is." He pursed his lips at me, slowly retreating into the busy street.
A deep sigh left my lips, there was quite a bit of repairs to do in this time, I knew that. Theo was currently Number 3 on the list.
-
It had been some time since my visit to the palace. And in this time, they've yet to send word regarding my proposal. I was beginning to sweat behind the knees thinking about my plan and its success rate.
I could feel the blood rush to my head, as I laid on my bed with my head hanging off the bed.
The door opened and Lulia's familiar feet entered the room, with a wary look on her face. "My Lady. You have a visitor."
I rushed to my feet, trying to ignore the spottiness in my vision from getting up to fast. I'd been waiting for this news all week.
I quickly made my way to the visitors hall just incase they would change their minds, the more they waited.
I stopped at the door of the visitors hall, fixing my dress and hair that was frazzled from the running and clasped my hands together, eloquently. The attendant at the door pulled the door open to reveal the sun beaming into the room through the windows which could easily blind someone.
Squinting past my aching corneas, I lowered my head and entered the room, trying to get away from the aggressive rays.
"Rowena."
A voice spoke up from behind me, sending a gut churning sensation through my abdomen. Though I felt in my heart that I shouldn't have, I slowly turned around and allowed my eyes to adjust from the spottiness in my vision.
The second I was able to see who was in front of me, my breath hitched and vision went dark, displaying the terror of my last moments returned to me. The only thing I could see was lying in my own blood, staring up at the rest of my body.
I could feel myself trembling like a leaf under his gaze.
But it wasn't him that I feared.
It was what would become of me.
"What's the matter?"
His voice cut through the trauma episode I was trapped in. I was yanked back to reality, which somehow felt worse than reliving those moments.
The man who had ruined me stood only a few feet away, dressed in the same neatly pressed clothes that would have once made me blush. Now?
I wanted nothing more than to wrap his belt around his throat and watch him struggle.
To see the life drain from his eyes.
"Alastair."