-8-

After the proposition I had made to Erwin or one-sidedly declared, the next day, I found myself at a front-seat view to an awkward dinner table. The person who sat at the end of the table was Marcus Poloro and the second seat which was on the right of the table was Liliana. I sat opposite her on the right and the person seated next to me was none other than my fiancé, Erwin.

The atmosphere was stifling and no one seemed inclined to break the ice. Neither did I as I only bowed my head, cutting apart pieces of meat then plopping them into my mouth. I wanted to clear my plate as soon as possible so that I could find Caroline and hopefully, reduce her temper. Just thinking of all the honeyed words I'd have to spew made my temples ache.

Suddenly, a voice in front of him resounded. "Look at the pair of love-birds! You two really fit each other. Just the sight of you two so close together can make this old man die from happiness."

Ugh. That old weasel. I tried to swallow the steak down my throat, but it only tasted bitter because of the man's sly words.

"Father, you're not old," Erwin, from beside me, spoke up with ease. He set down his tableware and when I peeked, he had already finished his plate. The sight of the shining porcelain made my eyes twitch. He lifted up a napkin to dab at the corners of his lips though I did not even see a speck of food taint them. "At least, not old enough to die."

"Oh, hush, my boy. Let this old man rejoice without interruption," Count who-I-didn't-know-the-name-of continued. His cheerful voice did something to reduce the tension.

"They are a good pair," Baron Poloro smiled without fail. I could feel his scrutinizing gaze lay on the top of my bowed head. "Like how all things should be; men and women should mingle with each other."

"It's a blinding sight, especially if they're both good-looking. I can already tell how beautiful my grandchildren would be!"

Those two old men colluding with other; of course I could see what they were trying to achieve. They raved on and on about how 'perfect' Erwin and I were together without bothering to understand what we were feeling. It was always about them. I should've expected this since I was back in the aristocratic period where children were seen more as a bargaining tool, than actual humans. But, to witness it first-hand… was just utterly disgusting. I couldn't even stomach my food anymore just by listening to them.

I finally placed my silverware onto the table and stood up, attracting the attention of all the people that sat at the table. Lowering my gaze, I bowed to them perfunctorily and excused myself. "My apologies, I have a small stomach. The dinner was pleasant. I'll be taking my leave now."

"Me too," Erwin followed suit, standing up as well. When the heads turned to him, he merely smiled. "Since my fiancée has left, then there's no reason for me to stay here and disturb your talk. Feiya." He suddenly turned to me, his voice sickly sweet. He elongated his hand towards me, expecting me to take it. "Shall we leave?"

Tsk. He was just using me as an excuse to leave. I didn't bother playing along with him and turned on my heels. My father's voice echoed behind me, yelling for me.

"Feiya Poloro, you come back and sit down right now!"

Naturally, I didn't respond back. I didn't even bother to wait for Erwin, but with his long legs, he took the lead. He quickly got in the way of my passage and opened the door, bending his waist a little to imitate a bow. I rolled my eyes and passed through the door, but before Erwin would exit, I slammed it right in his face.

I only took a few steps away from the door when I heard it open again behind me and picked up my pace. But, a hand grabbed my shoulder out of the blue. Ah, the typical 'touching someone without consent' behavior that a male lead in a novel would display. I exhaled a deep breath and stopped in my tracks, swiveling around to face Erwin who curved his eyes as if he didn't know what he was doing.

"What is it?" I asked in a low voice.

"You didn't wait for me," he responded innocently and released my shoulder, grabbing the hem of his shirt. "

"Didn't I already state the reason why?" My voice gained an edge to it. Erwin was really testing my patience and I couldn't wait to deck him in his white face. "Do I have to say it again? Times have changed and so do feelings. I have may liked you once, but that doesn't mean I'll continue to in the future. So, get it through your thick skull." I glanced towards the door. "I didn't want to see this in public and possibly embarrass you, Mr. Erwin."

Before I could leave peacefully, the man had the guts to speak up again. "But, I don't like the reason. Do you think I can be satisfied with that kind of half-hearted response? I've kept my chastity and waited for you even after all these years. Even if what we had isn't considered important to you, I still cherish it."

This baboon…! He was the one who broke off the engagement in the novel because he had fallen for Caroline. Now, he was standing in front of me, claiming to have loved Feiya? If you loved Feiya so much, could you have had the heart to throw her aside so heartlessly?

"Haaa…" I sighed in exasperation, clutching my forehead. Blue veins were already visible on my temples, showcasing how much restraint I was displaying, from the urge I had to kick Erwin in the nuts. "So, just because you 'love' me, does that mean I have to return your feelings? Are you a little boy, Erwin? Do I have to spell it out for you? I don't love you, nor do I like you. If you want me to love you so much, why don't you cut off the thing between your legs and maybe I'll reconsider."

I said so many words in one breath that by the time I was finished, I was heaving heavily. Swallowing a lump of spit down my throat, I gave the finishing blow. "Besides, this engagement is only for show. Don't make yourself look like a fool any further. Farewell."

"Pff…" The chuckle that resounded behind my back made me stiffen up immediately.

"Pff.. hahahaha… hahahaha!"

Erwin was now laughing like a madman. The sound of his raucous laughter bounced off the walls, reverberating. I immediately whipped around and stalked back to him, grabbing him by the collar. With the corners of his lips curling into a smile, he peered down at me exuberantly.

"Have you lost your mind!?" I yelled at him.

"So, you like women indeed," he finally calmed down. His lips trembled as if he were about to break into another fit of laughter. "Your words confirm it. How interesting. It's as though you've completely turned in another person… but it's enough. I like you more when you act like this. It can only ever be you, Feiya."

His hands overlapped mine. With trembling shoulders, I gazed into his curved, cerulean eyes.

He whispered, "Only you can treat me like I'm a scum on the bottom of your heels. You know, I hate fragile women. They disgust me. Quivering whenever they can, crying whenever they want. It's so annoying! But you.. you're different. That's why, you're perfect, Feiya Poloro. I used to hate you a lot because all you could do back then was whine and cry. But the you now is just simply my style. Hurt me more… hurt me with your words, if not kick me with those heels of yours."

My jaw automatically unhinged itself. This guy… was fucking crazy. I released his shirt instantaneously as though I had been burnt by acid and propelled him off me. His slicked back silver hair faltered onto his forehead. I clamped my quivering hands over my own chin and whispered through the spaces of my fingers.

"Crazy. You're so fucking crazy. Shit…"

Perhaps, it was because I was so taken aback, but I couldn't stop myself from twitching. Tremors ran up and down my spine like I was a vase that was rattling during an especially earth-shattering earthquake. Looking at the insane lunatic before me, I at least wanted to throw a punch, but I knew that if I were to do that, I wouldn't hear the end of it. Even if I were to hit Erwin, I didn't know whether he'd enjoy it or not. Maybe he would've. Shit, so crazy.

"Do I scare you?" Erwin smiled, retaining that elegance of his as if he hadn't rambled on about gaining pleasure from being tortured. "At times like this, you shake like a little bunny. Even though it should disgust me, I quite like seeing you like this."

"You're fucking disgusting, you know that, right?" I laughed lowly, inching backwards. But, with every step that I retreated, he advanced. The hallway was endless, but it seemed like the walls were closing in. If I were to run away, did I have a chance? No. Erwin wouldn't be so gutsy to commit to anything. But then my mind whirled to another possibility—everyone hated me in this house. They wouldn't have batted an eye if Erwin did anything.

"No matter how insane you are, I doubt you can do anything to me right now," I tilted my head up, rivaling his stare with a glare of mine. "Even lunatics can think straight, can't they? You realize your disadvantage."

It seemed as though my words had some impact on him. He suddenly froze mid-track. A victorious smirk weaseled onto my face.

"Why are you speaking as though I would harm you. Didn't you hear?" His face melted into a love-struck mien. "I love you. So, why would I want to hurt you?"

"Bullshit," I cursed. "I can't trust a word that you psychopaths say."

"I'm not asking for you to immediately return to me your love. Well, since you'll belong to me when we're married, I don't need to care for such insignificant matters like that."

Maybe that was why Caroline rejected you in the original novel, you piece of shit. No. Was I a person who withstood those who had harmed me? I'd repay them tenfold. Taking more steps forward, I lifted my hand and before it could meet his cheek, a hand suddenly caught my wrist. In a fit of rage, I whipped my head to the side and was greeted with the beguiling face of Caroline's. As though a ray of light had shone onto me, I was blinded, and all the previously built-up wrath and pent-up tension left my body. Just as easy as that.

"Don't do it, mistress," her voice flowed into my ear. Since we were so close, I couldn't help but notice how her breath tickled the outer shell of my ear. "You shouldn't stain your beautiful hand with trash like that."

"Caroline," I sucked in a sharp breath from surprise, then spoke firmly. "Out of this. This is my problem. I'll settle it."

I wanted to ask her: why did you ignore me if you were only coming to come to my aid in the end? Why be so willful if you already like me?

"Everything that concerns you is my problem," the features on Caroline's lovely face hardened as though the lines of a beautiful painting had actually been sharpened; resembling a dangerous beauty that could prick you. I realized that she wasn't referring to me by my title anymore.

"I see. So, this is the reason why you say that you don't love me. I suppose this is my rival," Erwin spoke as though he had been enlightened. He tilted his head up and down, then curved his lips into a sardonic smirk. "Nothing really to admire, except for her pretty face. Is it that you like attractive faces? I think I can certainly do better."

"Maybe if you cut off the vulgar thing between your legs and wear a frilly dress, perhaps I'll spare you my attention. But, as of now, you're nothing but a pathetic and lowly, vile scum. Out of my way, Caroline."

I attempted once more to break free from her vice-like grasp, but the more I struggled, the tighter her grip became. A wince escaped past my lips. Hearing that, Caroline immediately freed my wrist as if she had been shocked.

I couldn't believe my eyes. Two people who were fated to like each other in the novel were suddenly fighting with each other like toddlers at daycare. Should I take this as a good sign?

"That's why I'll do it," Caroline spoke.

I turned to glare at her questioningly.

"If you want to hit him, I'll do it in your stead. That's why you don't have to waste your breath and energy and taint your beautiful hand. As long as you want, I'll do all the dirty work. So, please, mistress… don't do it."

"Why are you two talking to each other as though I don't exist?" A degree of offense crept into Erwin's voice.

"Stay out of this!" Both Caroline and I yelled at him.

She turned to face me again, a solemn expression plastered on her face. "Calm down, mistress. I know.. I understand how hard it is for you, but I don't want you to regret it."

"Hitting an asshole in the face is something I'll never regret! Shit.. let go of me, or else I'll…" My breath hitched when my eyes caught a glimpse of Caroline's eyes, so pure and so untainted, only staring straight at me. Never once did they contain any maliciousness or malice towards me. I had never seen such a pair of guileless and such beautiful eyes. They glimmered as if expressing 'I'll do it.'

In the face of such tenacity, of course I would falter. The hand I had raised fell down by my side. I wouldn't let Caroline's skin even make a single contact with that pervert.

"Very well," I sighed, then weakly shook my hand away from Caroline's grasp. I turned to face Erwin who was eerily odd in the midst of our explosive exchange. "You.. I'm only engaged to you for one reason, and it's nothing like your imagination. So, take your sick, perverse desires to somewhere else, you sick fucking psychopath."

I almost gasped in surprise from how much profanities I was spewing, but the characters in this novel really had a knack for weaving their way onto my nerves.

"Is it you that's the master here, or is it Caroline?" His voice was low. In a matter of milliseconds and in the blink of an eye, he had seized a hold of Caroline's wrist, just like how I remembered in the novel. Caroline's shoulders were briefly touching his stomach and a flabbergasted expression painted her fair, alluring face. He looked down at Caroline with a twinge of interest. "Tell me.. what's your secret in beating that nasty temper of Feiya's? Is it because you're pretty? Well, I can't deny that. But, is that all there is to it? How could a woman's body like yours possibly seduce her? Are you hiding something down there?"

From their ambiguously intertwined stance, I must have seen red that time.

"You pysotic asshole…!" Before I could restrain myself, my feet had already moved. Before I knew, or realized, I had already launched myself straight for Erwin, hands outstretched in a manner that made me seem like a deranged lunatic. I may have flew into the air.

It was as though everything were in slow-mo. Time noticeably slowed down and from the tail of my eyes, I caught a look of surprise flicker onto Caroline's face, then horror. Her shoulders tensed and she slowly elongated her arms. But, it was already too late. I crashed into Erwin's chest and the two of us rolled onto the floor, my hands around his throat and his hands seizing my waist. No matter how you looked, this was definitely something two nobles shouldn't be appearing… especially in public.

Erwin's cheeks were flushed a bright red, not because the atmosphere between us was romantic, but because my tiny and bony hands were squeezing the life out of him. Lilac strands fell over my face, to which I blew them away ostentatiously.

"F.. Feiy.. ya.." he spat out between choked up gasps.

"Dare touch Caroline with your dirty hands? I should feed them to the dogs instead. Pathetic asshole…" My hands that were wrapped around his neck were trembling. Noticing my whole body quivering, Caroline clamped a gentle hand over my shoulder, then another hand on the side of my forearm, trying to pry me away from man. We wouldn't have made a pretty sight to the people who would soon come out of the dining room.

Instead of the look of repentance I was hoping to see, ecstasy dyed the exotic features in front of me a shade of red. A pair of misty eyes peered up at me, bloodless lips parting to let out another pathetic 'F.. Feiya..' Shit, was I some kind of dominatrix to him? Was he actually getting off to me choking me? The answer, sadly, came in the form of something that poked me beneath my dress. Disgust, regret, repulsion.. anything that I could link to a negative emotion washed over me.

"Shit, you actually have a boner…" I wanted to laugh.

Raising my trembling fist, I whacked Erwin across the cheek.