What lies in the dark

"That is…?"

"They are knights in the Grand Duke's knight brigade." I smiled brightly, hiding all traces of recognizing my fiance. Yves studied my expression and then glanced at the people behind me.

"Are they?" he sighed before setting his eyes on me. "Where have you been? I kept looking for you."

"I lost my way inside the hedge garden. Fortunately, those knights helped me find my way out."

"Why would you even go here?" Yves frowned. 

I studied his expression, and it seemed he had been searching for me, so I smiled. "I was looking for you. But you found me in the end."

"I didn't."

"Aren't you on your way to the garden?" I asked, eyebrow raised. "If I wait a bit longer, you'd surely find me in no time. It just so happened the knights helped me out."

"Ella…" Yves let out another sigh, not accepting the credit I was shoving in his face. "… whatever. The next time, I won't let this happen."

My lips curled up weakly as I nodded. "I will stay where you can find me easily next time."

"You… let's go." He cocked his head, a gesture for me to go with him, to which I agreed with a nod.

I hid my handkerchief well, not wanting to let Yves know what happened to me earlier. If he figured it out, I'm certain he would make a fuss about it. The last thing I wanted was for my marriage to be postponed.

A smile appeared on my lips upon recalling my fiance's eyes. 'They said the Grand Duke had a hideous face, that's why he always wears a mask or his head armor. But I think that's not the case. He just had to hide his beautiful face.'

"You look happy again." Yves cast me a side-eye, curious. "Did those knights tell you anything?"

"No, I just think the Grand Duke might not be as bad as I thought he was." My smile stretched into a grin, holding my hand behind me as my hair tangled back when the wind blew past us. 

'That's right. He is not as bad as they said he is... he is actually my type.'

*****

I tossed and turn on the bed, couldn't fall asleep, probably because tomorrow was the banquet. Although by sheer coincidence, I had met my handsome fiance earlier, I couldn't sleep.

It was not the excitement that I felt...

"I am bothered," I murmured, staring at the ceiling as I lay flat on my back. "Am I going to die?" 

The memory of me coughing out blood and how I passed out still bothered me until now. My fingers curled into a fist as my breathing grew heavy. Marsella died in my previous life; I didn't know her, but the news of the death of the Grand Duke's death spread far and wide that even I, who didn't take part in gossip, heard about it.

"It can't be, right? It couldn't be the mockery and punishment that is given upon me…?" A shallow breath slipped past my lips as I closed my eyes. "To give me a taste of another life just to take it away from me… bullshit."

That was the only thing I could think of; a shitty destiny. "Destiny? Fate?" A mocking scoff escaped my lips and followed by a low chuckle.

"If I'm going to die in a few months…" I assisted myself up to sit, eyes sharp. "… I need to get the hell out of here as soon as possible."

This place had no hope. I couldn't do anything that I wanted. Maybe, if I used my cards right, I could strike a deal with my fiance to take me away from here. 

'I knew what he wants,' I thought, grinding my teeth as my jaw tightened. 'I wished to live a peaceful life, but if the throne is what he wants… I will give it to him. There are other methods, but his death is the last thing I want.'

My eyes fell on the bedside table, staring at the empty glass. "I drank it all and now I'm parched." The plannings I had been doing inside my head kept me stay up and thirsty. Now, I had to fetch a drink for myself.

"I hate this place," I murmured, dragging myself out of the bed and picked up the empty glass. "And the people in here, and how I never felt home."

I grumbled and complained under my breath, pushing all the blame to the Ross Family as someone needed to take the blame! They deserved the hatred… from Marsella. They hadn't pissed me enough, though. 

'Now that I think about it.' I peeked my head out of the door before I walked outside, waltzing soundlessly through the hallway. 'I don't see Harriet that much. There was only one time I've seen her, and she didn't even look in my way, I think.'

Honestly, before I stepped my feet inside this estate, I had expected Harriet and the Marchioness bullying, like in the past. However, Harriet didn't go out of her room often and the Marchioness was busy throwing a huge fit in her room. It didn't cross me until now how unusually peaceful my stay in here had been so far. 

'Strange,' I thought, 'the more I think about it, the more I think this family is really strange.'

Just as I turned right in the hallway, I stopped and squinted my eyes. Was this hallway been this dark? Was the Marquess going bankrupt that they only lit a few candelabra?

My heart throbbed rapidly as a sense of dread crawled up my spine. Courageous as I was, I took a step forward, albeit cautiously.

After taking just three steps, my pupils dilated upon noticing a hand in the dark. I knew at first glance that person's hand on the floor was dead, and then something in the dark dragged it away. Yves and Augustus' warnings the other night suddenly hovered in my head.

'Holy hell…'