Fourteen

"AS YOU WISH, LADY HOPE," HE WHISPERED back and I felt his big and slander gloved hands land over my shoulders, again, spreading goosebumps down my body. "I won't let you fall!"

"Thank you," I mumbled, before feeling my mind get blank, and suddenly dark, as he entered my subconsciousness.

𖣘𖣘𖣘

When I got back to myself, I felt that man's arms around me, holding me tight by my waist. Chaos seemed to have broken around, probably because they were all shocked by the shamelessness of Cecilia who used to act like a Saint, and by how my father turned his back on me so gracefully because of his disgraceful bastard daughter.

"You little bitch, I'm going to kill you! How dare you expose your sister like this? Do you have any idea of what you did?" Dad yelled, but as close as he looked at me, his voice seemed far away.

I turned my eyes to see the hot man's face and he had his jaw clenched. "Don't worry, Lady Hope, he won't touch you. I won't let him do shit. I put on a magical array to protect us from any of their attacks, like a barrier," oh, damn, he must be really strong to be able to make arrays like that.

"I think I owe you again," I muttered. "Thank you, by the way. Although I don't think he'll actually try to harm me in front of everyone!"

But he didn't seem to be listening to me, "How dare he beat his daughter up? This coward son of a bitch!" What?

I gasped, "Gods above, the Knight was only supposed to show the memories of the day I caught them in the act. What happened when I was off?"

He gulped and turned his head down to meet mine, "I told him to show what happened earlier today as well. Just to show them what they wanted to make you say after she came bringing the news of the pregnancy," oh no!

When his words hit my ears, I felt my face turn pale, "You saw what they did?"

"Are you asking if we saw how they beat you up? Oh, yes, we did. And now your father lost it. He tried to attack you, but I was faster and blocked it with the array!"

"Oh shit! This wasn't supposed to happen. Now people will pity me. I only wanted them to see her true colors, nothing but that. And I absolutely hate when people pity me!" I exclaimed annoyed.

"Shut up, Hope!" Did he just cut the honorifics? "Damn it, girl. It's not pity. It's a good sense of humanity. Of knowing what's good and what's bad. And you did nothing wrong. Nothing that would make you deserve to be beaten up like that. For fuck's sake, that man disgusts me to the core. I can't believe he did this to his child and chose his bastards over you. Seriously," well, one thing is for sure, he does sound disgusted.

"It's alright. Today wasn't the worst day. He did worse before. I got used to it!"

He gasped, "It was so frequent that you got used to it? How fucked up is that? I want to kill him! I really want to slice his throat open and separate his spine from his body!"

Oh, wow, quite the bloodlust. "I know the feeling. However, you can't do that. You are a Knight. Father is a Count. Even if you are right and he's wrong, and you are more magically powerful, killing a Count will destroy your life. And right now you are my husband's prospect, I can't let you condemn yourself like that, because of my father!"

"I am what?"

"A Knight!" I said smiling.

"No, the last part. What did you say I was?"

I tilted my head to the side, ignoring the fact that my father was screaming at me from the other side of the ballroom. "Oh, you mean the part about you being the top candidate for being my future husband? You are the only one on the list, by the way. I haven't had the time to search for other guys after all the shit that happened with Jacob. But now that I met you, even though I don't know your name, and you might be poor, I kind of want to marry you!"

"You are the most straightforward woman alive on this planet!" He gasped. "Is that why you asked if I was single?"

"Mm-hm! But you didn't answer me, so I can only hope that, besides the flirting, you aren't married, dating, or engaged to anyone. It would be a pity!"

He chuckled, "How can you speak so lightly about all of this, at such a moment?"

"It's a gift!" I joked. "Besides, I had to be straightforward with you, in case I never saw you again after tonight."

"Are you being serious?"

"About?"

"Everything!"

A nod. "Yes, I am."

"You don't even know my name," then he pointed to his mask, "or how I look like!"

I rolled my shoulders, still in his arms, "Many people get engaged without ever meeting their bride or groom before the actual ceremony. I don't see a problem. Besides, just the fact that you are smart, taller than the sky. You are also very much the hottest man I've ever met, have a deep and beautiful voice, have good taste for drinking, are a Knight, and have powerful magic. Oh, and of course, the fact that you are bold enough to go against my father," I pointed to the array, "is enough to make me want to have you! Plus the excruciating physical attraction I'm feeling since I landed my eyes on you."

"That sounds possessive!"

"I'm just being honest. Besides, what a Knight like you would have to lose by getting married to me? Do you have any idea of how gifted our babies would be?" I spoke all of this without blushing for once. "I'm well aware that I'm hot, smart, talented, and powerful. So, there's nothing to lose," I side-looked at my father, "well, besides your life, if you intend to fight my father. Not to mention that we have good chemistry!"

"Indeed, our chemistry is great."

I arched my eyebrows, "Do you usually have this habit of ignoring all someone says and only focusing on what you find more interesting?" It's a little bit annoying and it sounds faintly familiar, though I can't pinpoint the reason.

"Yes."

"Alright, let's do it like this. I'll let you take some time and think about my proposal. But you have to take me away from here, or he might kill me because if he's acting as violent as this when there are people around, he'll be ten thousand times worst when they leave!"

He seemed to ponder it for a bit, "Sounds like a deal to me!"

"But just in case, we have to bring both my nanny, Marianne Gordon, my two Knights, Sir Lawrence and Sir Gavin, and my two physicians, Dean Van Loon and Thomas Goethals with us. They are all here present. Otherwise, my father may kill them all just to vent his anger on me!"

Sigh, "You now owe me about five favors, Lady Hope," I kind of want him to permanently drop the honorifics as he did just now. The way he said my name was just so sexy.

"I know," I giggled.

"Alright, I'll do that. To show you how amazing I am!"

"So, won't you tell me?"

He pressed his lips together in a thin line, "Tell you what, exactly?"

"If you are single!"

That made him chuckle, "You are really funny, you know that? You just proposed to me, and now you are asking if I'm single. I guess you don't quite understand the order of the steps in a relationship."

His mockery made me blush, "Is that a yes or a no?"

"It's a yes. I'm a single, little naughty Lady. Now, let's cut the crap and get out of here first. We already made caused the stir of chaos in here, and now your birthday ball ended way sooner than planned, just as I told you it would. And by the indecent amount of alcohol you drank tonight, and the fact that the northern alcohol actually has a strong retarded effect, you should be blacking out in less than a minute!"

"Pardon me? There is no way…" I couldn't even finish, as darkness swallowed me and I fell unconscious in his arms. Just like the hot dumbass predicted.