Chapter 37: XXXVII
She knew if that ever happens, she will have to spend the rest of her life as lonely woman living as a prisoner with no personal space.
He could marry any of her cousins. Unlike them, she was not brought and trained to wait on a man. She was trained to be her own woman.
--------
She needed no one to defend her or protect her. She was fine on her own. She moved her gaze from the passing scenery as they passed by a farmland and glanced at the Duke.
She does not know how he does it but as soon as her gaze rested on him, he turned to look at her calmly.
She met his gaze fearlessly. She has refused to say anything to him since she asked him about her maid.
"Are you tired? Do you want to rest?" he asked her with worry making his eyes warm and helpless also with the fact that he knew she will most likely not give him an answer.
She turned her gaze from him calmly and looked out of the window.
"Isn't the breeze much? I should close the window so you won't catch cold," he said as he reached to close the window.
She brushed his hand off as soon as it got to the window without moving her gaze to the nothing she was staring at outside the window.
It would have been better if he had asked if she was cold. What gives him the right to close the window when she was clearly staring outside the window?
She knew she was acting very sensitively to everything. The overall truth was that she felt repulsive in his presence.
Coupled with the fact that he forced her to ride the carriage with him leaving no room for her to make her own choice, she was very uncomfortable and angry.
In the past, she had no feeling whatsoever of him but right now, she felt dislike towards him and she was beginning to hate him.
The Duke clinched his fist on his lap as he pulled back the hand she hit. She was clearly irritated by his presence.
"We will stop very soon to eat our lunch. As soon as we get to a shade of place, we will stop. It will be wrong for us to eat in this open field," he explained to her although knowing fully well that he won't get an answer or response to what he said.
" . . . "
He smiled sadly likely a wronged little girl who has to still put on a smile to please those around.
He noticed how her hair shone like high quality pure gold and swore that no matter how hard she tries to push him away by brushing off his hand, he will endure it all after all the hit was still a kind of interaction.
If Aurora knew what was on his mind, she would have been very flabbergasted by how thick skinned this young man was.
She subconsciously looked ahead for a place with trees where they could get shaded from the sun. She was very hungry at this point.
She glanced at him and as soon as she turned to him, he met her gaze as usual. She really felt he was punishing her for ignoring him. That is not, right?
She was getting punished by being forced to wait until they find a place that pleases him when it was already clearly lunch time.
She gazed at him for a few more seconds with laziness and uninterested expression softened her facial features and looked away.
She actually glanced at him twice in such a short period of time. She cared for him although she acted like she did not.
He began making mental analysis of his situation with Aurora. She was a princess who had everything she wanted for herself.
She was pampered by her uncle and she was well taken care of in the palace. She must feel too proud to let her feelings show.
She was also a strong woman who could leave the capital to revenge for her parent's death so she must also think it is weak to show your feelings.
Or perhaps she was not good at expressing her feeling since she had being excluded by people around her.
She might also be scared that his feeling he has never seized to show her was fake and he was only making use of her because she could not trust him well.
After all the analysis, he could still not come up with a conclusion.
She was a very unreadable person so he decided to deceive himself that above all what mattered was she still had feeling for him and he only needed to work harder to crush down her walls.
When they finally stopped to eat lunch, she was already over famished. Her maid served her and she ate a little of everything she was served although she was served only a few dishes.
When it was time to return to the carriage she shared with the Duke, she stopped and looked at the carriage her maid rode in.
"Let's go in," the Duke said when he noticed the hesitation in her eyes.
" . . ."
She simply stepped away from the carriage he had prepared and walked to the less expensive carriage her maid rode in.
"You should ride the carriage with me," he told her firmly as he gripped her wrist.
". . ."
She looked at the hand in absolute disgust and contempt. She felt the hairs on her body rise due to the repulsiveness of his touch.
She shook his hand off with all her strength and walked climbed into the carriage how could he do such a thing to her?
He exhaled as he looked at his hand which she swung off just now and furrowed him brow.
He glanced around to see his servants and guards pretending they did not see anything.
She actually humiliated him but he saw her receive the hug of an unknown man. She really had no respect for him whatsoever.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone