BAD GUY

"LADY Emmaline?"

That call pulled Emmy from her dazed state. She raised her head and looked at the man sitting in front of her. They were at the garden of the Grimaldi mansion, sitting inside a pavilion and drinking tea. 

A gentle breeze flew by, bringing in the scent of the surrounding flowers. A bit of sunlight shone on them, making the man's platinum blond hair glow. He had a gentle smile on his face. His green eyes were looking at her as if she was the only one in this universe that could enter his gaze.

Any woman that was in her position would surely envy her. Their hearts would probably be beating wildly right now. Their cheeks, blushing. And they would stare at the man with eyes full of admiration.

But Emmy felt none of those things as she looked at Cecil Lancaster. 

She only thought that all of these was so tedious. She just wanted his visit to be over so she could go back to her room and continued to be in a daze. That's certainly infinitely better than spending time with this guy.

And to think that it the near future, she might not only have to spend some time with him but spend the rest of her life with him instead. The only silver lining in this situation was that there was no need for her to have sexual relations with this guy. If they were to have children, they could just go to a fertility lab and have their genes combined. 

At that thought of that possible future, a certain man's face suddenly invaded her thoughts. A big bear of a man with brown hair and teal-gray eyes. 

It had been two weeks since that party at the Lancaster mansion. And since then, her thoughts had been occupied by Gage Thompson. He was the main reason why she often in a daze these past few days.

Emmy couldn't explain the emotions that Gage managed to stir inside her. No, better yet, she couldn't understand it. To the point that she had insomnia for a couple of nights.

At the end, she couldn't resist the temptation and just searched about him in the StarNet. Surprisingly enough, there were a lot of results. He was 22 years old. One of the top graduates at the Mecha Department of the Imperial Military Academy. A young protégé of General Simon Lancaster. And rumored to be engaged to a certain Michel Lancaster.

When she read that, she couldn't help but search about that Michel Lancaster person. Then she found out that the other was actually a rising star in the entertainment industry. When she saw a photo of the guy, she just scoffed. Because she was clearly much better than him in everything.

The moment she had that thought, she knew that there was something wrong. Because she was not the type to compare herself to another and then proceed on belittling that person. The fact that she did that with Michel Lancaster proved that something was amiss. That her emotions were totally out of control. It also pointed her to another possibility. A rather scary possibility. A possibility that she'd rather not think about.

Because she knew that that possibility couldn't come true. Constantly thinking about it, about him, would only lead to pain and sadness. It's better to put out the fire while the flame in her heart wasn't still uncontrollable.

She should accept as early as now that her future wouldn't include him. The one who's going to be there would be the man sitting in front of her right now. The sooner she accepted that reality, the better.

"What is it, my lord?" she asked, trying to push down the bitterness that surged within her.

"I was asking if you would like to go somewhere with me tomorrow?" 

Emmy put down the tea cup she was holding and looked straight at Cecil. "Lord Cecil, let me be frank. I don't particularly like you. But I will still proceed with this marriage. Because that's my duty. So, you don't have to worry that my opinion of you would stop this marriage. It won't. That's why there's no need for you to try to make me like you. My feelings for you doesn't matter at all. So, I hope that we could just skip all these pleasantries. We don't have to see each other until the marriage."

Cecil seemed surprised by her sudden statement. But instead of getting angry, he just smiled. As if he was thoroughly satisfied by her reaction. "You really are like your mother."

For some reason, Emmy didn't like the sound of that. 

He stood up. He took her hand without permission and planted a kiss there. "Then, I'll respect my lady's wish."

Emmy got goosebumps and quickly took back her hand.

When Cecil left, she finally couldn't stop herself from rubbing her temple. Meeting with that guy was always a headache.

"Sister, are you okay?" suddenly asked by a voice behind her.

She looked back and saw Casey who just rushed into the pavilion. She tried to squeeze out a smile. "Yes, I'm okay."

Casey stood beside her and held her hand. "Sister, are you really going to marry that man?"

Emmy looked at her younger brother. He had a down expression on his face, probably not happy with the marriage. She couldn't help but smile and gently stroke Casey's hair. Well, at least someone in this family didn't want her to marry Cecil. That's more than enough.

"Yes, I had to."

To her surprise, Casey suddenly hugged her. The force almost made her topple over from her seat.

"No, Sister, you can't! That man is a bad guy! You're not allowed to marry him!"