The mysterious beautiful man

_04_

"Lothanna..." Cara's father called slowly, his mouth agape. Merely staring at her father, Cara could tell how much he is afraid of the man!

"Who the hell is he?" Cara could not help but asked herself as she gaped at the strange beautiful guy, a small smile tugging at her lips. "How can a man be this beautiful...?"

Truly, she was having a hard time snapping out of her daydreaming but she forced herself to snap off it, realizing he's no ordinary man —but his beauty had managed to distract her for a moment.

For her father to be so much scared of such man, then she need no one to tell her he is not an ordinary guy. She felt it too. She felt how strange and intimidating his aura is but since their moment was brief 'cause he only pass by her — she did not read much meaning into it.

"What are you doing here...?" Cara's father muttered, frowning tightly at him. The look on her father's face wasn't welcoming as it was very far from friendly. 

"Hey there, Xavier Brooks." The strange beautiful guy, whose name turn out to be Lothanna slowly called Cara's father's name, smirking dangerously at him. "Good to see you again."

No, it's not good. Cara know it's not good for her father to see him and the other way round, their facial expression says it all. He is smirking and her father, cowered in fear but was trying his best to conceal it.

"Why are you here, Lothanna?" Xavier Brooks, Cara's father, asked him as he tried his best not to let his fear get the better of him — he is a king afterall. "It's not yet the..."

Lothanna cut him off abruptly, not giving him the chance to complete his oral sentence. "Hey, hey — is this the proper way of welcoming your guests, eh?" He doped out, drawling. "If so, then you lack proper courtesy, I'll say."

"You are not my guest, Lothanna!" Xavier Brooks blurted out sharply, giving Lothanna a stern look. "I never invite you here. You came here unannounced and suddenly stopped my daughter's..."

It seems like Lothanna doesn't have enough patience to let Xavier Brooks finish his words — because again, he cut him off abruptly. "Oh my...!" He exclaimed, feigning a shocked expression. "Did I interrupt some thing? Oh, my bad, really."

"This is not funny, Lothanna. You should leave right now and stop instilling fear in my guests." Xavier Brooks sounded like he is passing a warning message to Lothanna who seems unmoved, not even a bit.

"That's too bad on your own side too, Xavier Brooks." Lothanna said to him which made him creased his brows in a questioning manner. "How could you throw such huge feast and not invite me? Wait, does that mean I'm less important?"

Xavier Brooks was growing impatient but he had to control his anger, not because he wanted to but because he had no choice to it. It his kingdom, yeah — but with Lothanna's presence, he seems more like a rare commoner before a great emperor. 

Every kingdom, country and even empire feared the presence of Lothanna — who is Xavier Brooks not to shiver before him?

"No one said you are less important, Lothanna, I was wondering why you would stoop so low to accept such invitation from me?" Xavier commented but his voice was laced with a little trail of mockery in it. "It's more like I'm disrespecting you."

Lothanna may not have noticed it or may be he did but pretended not to have noticed. "Well, it's your daughter's ceremony, isn't it?" He asked with a soft chuckle. "I heard she'll be choosing a man today to spend the rest of her days with, I mean — a suitor."

"Ah, yeah!" Xavier Brooks mouthed almost immediately, nodding his head in agreement. "How words spread so fast, isn't it?" He masked his uneasiness which a slight laughter — a forced one.

"Well, I'm still hurt for not being invited, Xavier Brooks." He said with his face crumpled slightly in a frown, but that wasn't enough to make him less beautiful. "Am I not fit enough to be her groom?"

Xavier Brooks scoffed lowly under his breathe, not loud enough to Lothanna's hearing. "I never said such thing, Lothanna, stop misquoting m..."

Lothanna's sudden hiss interrupted Xavier Brooks again. "Then why wasn't I invited, eh?" His voice was loud and was almost near thundering, a slowly, Lothanna's anger was building up. "Is your daughter that precious to make you feel I'm not worthy of her?"

He hated the fact that Xavier Brooks did not find him worthy enough to invite to his daughter's ceremony, he hated the fact that he still had the guts to talk back at him!

'Am I not scary enough for him to fear my presence?' Lothanna asked with in himself, boiling at his own thought. 'For him not to have invited me, he has grown more than enough wings. Yeah!'

Slowly, he turned towards the audience with a menacing look on his face. "I can see how comfortable you all were before my entrance, aren't you?" He asked in a icy voice. "You all dare attend this ceremony behind my back?"

Silence prevailed with none of them saying a word in response to him. Cara, who had been watching the ongoing drama between the strange beautiful man and her father, was angered.

How dare this man appear with out invitation and instill fear into her father and his guests? This were the thoughts that ran through her mind, her face crumpled in anger. 'Who is he to barge into her father's kingdom uninvited?'

With Cara's anger taking over her, she walked up to Lothanna, unafraid. "Who are you to just barge in here and dictate for every one like you own this place?" She questioned demandingly, glaring hells at him.

Even though she hated the ceremony a lot, this man coming to ruin every thing with his presence should be more than enough for her — but then, she hated the fact to see her father in a helpless situation as this!

Lothanna's sudden anger slowly melted down in to a stifled laughter that was loud enough to have echoed if it was to be in a hall. "What insolence, little woman?" His voice was laced in coldness as he stared coldly down at her since she was shorter than he is.

"Little woman, eh?" Cara laughed loudly in mockery, though she felt as if his words had bruise her ego and pride as a royalty.

Lothanna ignored her and walked around her in a circular motion but his words were directed towards Xavier Brooks. "I can see you have a beautiful daughter, your Highness." He said with a smug grin, drawling the words 'your highness'. "Too bad, she has a running mouth. She's too beautiful to be rude and lousy, don't you think?"

"Stay away from her, Lothanna." He growled, threat laced in his voice. "Take your eyes off her." Xavier Brooks understand that look he's giving Cara and he hated those looks in Lothanna's eyes.

"And what if I don't?" He asked with his lips slowly curled up in a mischievous smirk. "What if I just do things the way I please...?"

"I beg of you, Lothanna, stay away from my Cara." Xavier Brooks doped out, his lips was starting to quiver from fear, almost falling on his knees.

Lothanna huffed loudly, not moved by Xavier's words. "Too bad I can't, I covet women who are outspoken and I'm already interested in your daughter." He seems not to be backing down in his words.

"You already have your way with me, Lothanna. We have our deal — spare my only daughter from your grip, she's all I have left." The once threatening voice of Xavier Brooks was slowly turning in to that of pleading.

"I don't care about the previous deal any more, I don't care." Lothanna vocalized, his voice rising to its peak. "Right here and now, I want to renew it. No, I want to totally clear off the old deal and make a new one with you by having your daughter instead."

Xavier Brooks' mouth hung open in fear and shock. "What...?" His voice came out as whisper and he barely could hear his own voice...