Chapter 62: Consolation
"I don't hate you." Ruby announced softly before tearing the ends of her dress and pressing it against his wound to stop the bleeding.
"Ruby, your pretty dress! You didn't have to ruin it for me." Aurelius gasped looking up at her face in alarm.
"It's okay. It's just a dress, but you're my friend." The maiden said smiling a little, astounding the prince.
"Ruby... You actually called me your friend." Aurelius said in disbelief.
"I'm sorry. I'm just so frustrated to the point that I didn't notice that I've been taking my anger out on you. And I know it's wrong but I did it anyway. I'm so stupid and insensitive! You were always there making jokes, trying to make me happy when I wanted to be more miserable I just..." Ruby paused, choking a sob as she looked for the proper words.
"I used you as an outlet for my rage and then I made you feel like a failure. Like you're not enough and useless." she whispered in realization, scowling sourly in frustration of herself while tears built up in her eyes. Aurelius kept quiet listening to every word that left her lips.
"I'm so sorry for making you feel that way. I'm sorry for making you feel like you're a mistake when in truth you're just being kind. You're actually... pretty great." Ruby smiled at him sweetly even as tears fell from her beautiful green eyes. Aurelius only replied with a broad smile as he cried as well. He cupped her cheek and placed his forehead against hers connecting their hearts and souls together.
"Will you forgive me?" Ruby asked once he pulled away, releasing her from his body.
"Always."
"Come on. Let me treat your wound. I know a decent magic spell that can heal you from scarring as well." Ruby said as she led him to the same bench where she sat.
Aurelius allowed her to wipe his blood with the piece of her dress while staring at her calm face. He can feel her sweet warm breath hitting his cheeks. He observed the gentle rising and falling of her chest as she calmed her breathing. He blushed and averted his eyes when his gaze fell on her cleavage. They were quite close so he had a good view of it.
Ruby summoned a green glow in her hand as she activated a small healing spell. She placed her hand gently against his wound and it instantly vanished without even leaving a single remnant of its existence as if it never happened. There was silence for a while as the two sat with each other, unable to know how to proceed further from here. The atmosphere wasn't awkward but it possesses a certain uncertainty that needs to be addressed.
"Do you want this back? I can take it with me if you don't want it anymore." Aurelius offered, breaking the silence.
"No. It's your heartfelt gift for me. It's more symbolic than any other diamonds and gems I have so I'm going to keep it. Mind putting it on me?" Ruby said, lending out her right arm. The prince wrapped the accessory on her wrist before clicking the lock together.
"I'm really sorry for all the horrible things I did and said to you this past week. I'm really ashamed of myself for letting my emotions get the best of me. It was too late for me to notice that you've swept me off my feet and took me on a whirlwind tour of my homeland. It's just what I needed for a little distraction. Thank you."
"You're welcome but I really enjoyed it as well. So, if I may ask, why are you crying here in the first place?" he inquired, treading carefully in thin ice. This question could really get them back on square one or move them further into opening up with each other.
Ruby wiped the tear stains on her cheeks before sniffing and releasing a sigh to compose herself.
"Today is the anniversary of the first day we met in this exact location. Mom had a visitor and I was told to stay here for a while so I played alone in this garden until... I saw her. Carmilla was reading a romance book on this same bench and when I first saw her I thought that she was the prettiest girl I've ever seen in my entire life and when I went to talk to her she told me that I was the nosiest girl she had ever met." Ruby chuckled as she recounted the memory of her first love.
"But she later added that I'm also the prettiest girl she has ever seen. After that, we played and we read. We braided each other's hair and told funny stories we made up in our secret garden. This secret garden." Aurelius listened attentively even though she's talking about her love that is not him.
"We became best friends and then without even realizing, we fell in love with each other and soon enough we learned that we were betrothed. We shared our first kiss in this garden and our first time as well."
"But I guess that I'm not really the one for her because I maybe her once upon a time but not her happily ever after." Ruby finally broke after this, as tears poured once more from her eyes while Aurelius rubbed circles on her back to console her.
"It hurts. It really hurts a lot when I found out about Marcel but I learned to live with it and allowed them to be happy. I don't want to be selfish even if it means that I'll be the one hurting so I allowed them to see each other and kept a pretty smile for her father to see that there's nothing wrong."
"Because of the incident in the opera, Varil convinced my mother to move up our engagement and when I told Carmilla, she broke and begged me to do something, however I couldn't do anything. I felt powerless to protect her because we're slaves to our families' desires. She tried to run away with Marcel but Varil caught wind of their plan and captured her when she arrived at the Opera." Ruby paused, taking a bit of time to compose her next thoughts. Her heart is breaking once more as she relieved the devastating details of her life but she pressed further, wanting to let it all out and lift a bit of her burden. Aurelius kept quite wrapping his arms around her to provide a little bit of comfort but it did little to alleviate her sorrow.
"He had Marcel beaten and trapped Carmilla in a fucking tower like any other fucking helpless fairytale princess that she so fucking despised." Ruby released a bitter pained laugh lifting her face from her hand and wiped her tears with the handkerchief Aurelius offered.
"She was imprisoned in isolation with only a narrow barred window in a cold lifeless cell. I was there. I stayed in the castle with her in her room, crying uselessly for being cheated upon like a sore loser bitch. I didn't do anything to help her, I didn't do anything to take away her pain because I felt powerless and deep down... I wanted to punish her for cheating. I'm so stupid."
"You're not stupid, you're just hurt. It's okay to feel angry sometimes." Aurelius reasoned patting her back.
"Then they moved up the wedding day again and then I wanted to run away for a while and go back home so when the wedding dresses arrived I went to Carmilla's room and told her everything. I gave her the fucking bloody gown and told her I was leaving and that her boyfriend is being banished then gave her his farewell letter. What a good friend am I to tell her that I'm leaving in her most miserable time. When I left, that's probably the time she took a fucking letter opener and slit her own wrist. I basically did nothing to prevent this and did everything to make it happen! I... I Killed Carmilla." Ruby said with anguish, breaking a thousand times over and over again.
"I did it. I deserve to die! I--I!!" Ruby said half-crazed in misery but Aurelius quickly took her in his arms and reasoned with her exhausted mind.
"No, Ruby, you didn't do anything wrong! You're just a human and you're still a child. You didn't know what was going to happen. You're not responsible for her choices x! You didn't kill Carmilla! The situation did. It's not your fault. If anything, it's Varil's fault for pressuring her too much that she broke. You didn't do anything wrong. You're a good person. You don't deserve to be hurt like this. You don't." Aurelius reasoned, hugging her tighter in his chest and stroking her golden hair.
"But it hurts!! It hurts so much!! It's so fucking miserable and suffocating!! Please... Please take this pain away. Take this pain and make me forget... even for tonight." Aurelius was perplexed by her words until Ruby lifted her head and kissed his lips passionately, completely taking him off guard. His head spun as her luscious lips danced with his own, completely overwhelming him and taking him to the depths of heaven and confusion.
Ruby soon pulled away with a pained expression like a little cat desperately seeking for help.
"Please make love to me and make me forget everything for a little while." Her words completely astounded him but he wrapped his arms tightly around her body and kissed her affectionately.