37 Anastasia (2)

"Why apologise to these commoners?" Anastasia's haughty yell immediately caused the Grand Duchess's regal expression to freeze. A frown appeared on her clear face like a storm in summer.

"Anastasia, watch your words," she warned.

"Why should I watch my words Aunty, I didn't say anything wrong. They are commoners. My great grandmother was Princess Anastasia herself the daughter of the last Tsar of Russia. I have the same namesake as the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova and I have the same blood as the First Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Our family ruled Russia for centuries. What have they ruled, nothing? I hear they're businessmen, so the word 'Commoner' is fitting...or should I have said, Peasants."

I could see rage gleam in the Grand Duchess's eyes, she looked like she was about to stand up and slap the living daylights out of her niece, but she quickly calmed herself down. She remained extremely stoic and poised, she didn't yell, in fact, her voice became so low that she was almost whispering.

With a tone colder than arctic frost, she said, "Anastasia, do you really want to disrespect me like this, are you really going to shame our family in front of our guests?"

Anastasia saw the icy look on her aunt's face and the young girl's rosy cheeks paled, "That's not the case Aunty, b-"

"No buts, no ifs, no excuses. If I wanted a dog that barked I would have raised one," her tone was so chilly that even I felt a tad cold.

The Grand Duchess's eyes were like daggers, even though her expression remained unchanged, I could feel her anger and it wasn't even directed towards me.

Her glare made the rowdy young girl immediately quiet down.

Anastasia had never been on the receiving end of the Duchess's anger before, she was used to throwing tantrums and then getting anything she demanded. She assumed the Ducchess would treat her the same way even in this situation, but she was obviously mistaken. Considering her upbringing you'd think she'd be smarter than this but she clearly wasn't that bright.

She stood quietly in the frame of the door and her eyes became wet as she held back tears.

"Now, apologise for your lateness, sit down and greet your fiance."

Anastasia made a face, the kind of face that expressed that she was deeply unwilling, but under the sharp gaze of the Grand Duchess, she obeyed the command.

She brusquely apologised for being late and sat opposite me with a deep pout on her lips, "Здрáсьте!" she said.

The Grand Duchess frowned deeper when she heard Anastasia's words. 'Здрáсьте' meant 'hello', but it was the most informal form of the greeting. Usually, 'Здрáсьте' was reserved for those closest to you, otherwise, it was offensive, considered lazy and most definitely rude.

The Grand Duchess shot her a warning look, but she didn't say anything. I could just tell that she was inwardly sighing.

I greeted Anastasia back with a more polite 'Здравствуйте'.

My greeting only fetching me a callous sneer in return.

Something about her expression made my blood boil a bit, it was so necessarily haughty. A child like her who had barely experienced the world and the people in it was capable of making such a face. As if she truly believed she was superior to all those around her.

She was clearly just an immature child but I couldn't ignore how annoying she was. I physically had to clasp my hands tightly together under the table and fight the urge to grab the fork in front of me and stab them into her eyes. I wanted to pluck them out and then reach deep into her skull and scoop up that egotistical brain of hers.

I could almost hear her cries of pain and agony, but it was simply a fantasy.

I controlled my breathing a bit but the desire to attack her was still strong, I really needed to work on my self-control.

Ever since I'd been reborn as Kang Ho I had become more impulsive than I used to be. There were so may people I was itching to kill. I never used to be so impatient, was it because I was young?

If I didn't learn to control myself soon I would probably kill her before we ever got married...but that would be foolish.

As much as I desired to murder Anastasia, she would be my wife.

I had learnt from personal experience that killing people close to you is dumb.

In my youth, as Daniel Slade, I killed quite a few people that I was close to. Father Johnson being just one of them. I wasn't good at covering my tracks in my early days. When people disappeared and I left behind evidence I only got away with it through sheer luck.

That luck was partly due to the stupidity of the investigators and partly because of the times. When I started my journey it was the late 1950's, technology hadn't been advanced then. Fingerprints weren't a thing, a lot of police were quite helpless and my good reputation stopped me from being a suspect. And sometimes petty criminals would claim my murders as their own just to boost their reputation.

Either way, I would often manage to just about slink by from getting caught. But I was often questioned, and I hated the attention that came with it. I just wanted to be able to enjoy my hobbies in peace like most poeple. So I learned to be more cautious and I made it a rule to not kill people I knew.

I think everyone should learn not to mix private pleasure with public life.

Even with Melody, I didn't start really torturing her until we had gotten married and moved from the city to a remote village together. She didn't know my true nature until it was too late to run.

I wanted to be this patient with Anastasia, but I also wanted to rip her apart in an instant.

In this life I was finding it harder and harder to stick by my own rules...but then again this is a new life, I should be allowed to mess around a bit.

I looked up and noticed that Anastasia was continuing to glare at me, her arms crossed, and her nicely shaped blonde eyebrows wiggling at me in a mocking way.

Her attempts to provoke me were juvenile...I didn't respond to her taunts it would put me on the same level as her.

I simply took some bread from the large servings of food in front of us, broke off a piece, dipped it into salt and ate it slowly[1]. As I continued to ignore her I noticed how increasingly angry she was getting.

The way her small face turned red with anger was quite amusing, while I couldn't play with her for now I would definitely have fun annoying her in small ways. Maybe I would even get close to her, treat her caringly and with love, so that she would be even more betrayed and distraught when I begin destroy her in the future...just the thought made me smile.

[1] In Russia, dear guests are traditionally welcomed with bread and salt. The guest should break off a piece of bread, dip it in salt and eat. It is a symbol of communion and shows that the guest has become a friend. Treating the guest with bread-and-salt means you're establishing a relationship of love and trust among guests and hosts, whereas the refusal to taste bread-and-salt is regarded as an insult. It is not without reason that they say "even the tsar does not refuse from bread-and-salt".