"I hope Gavriel is treating you well, Lady Evielyn. I'm afraid he wouldn't know how to be gentle to such a lady as yourself." The crown prince said in a low voice. Evie almost frowned but thankfully she managed to keep her face cool and collected. She was thinking perhaps the man wasn't saying these words to mock Gavriel as he seemed genuinely concerned about her. But why would he be worried in the first place?
"His Highness Gavriel is treating me well. He's in fact…" Evie remembered how gentle Gavriel had been to her ever since she met him at the altar on that night of their wedding. "He's very gentle to me, Your Highness."
"I see… that's a relief then. Nonetheless, I believe I must warn you, my lady. My brother might look harmless but he's a dangerous man. I want you to keep that in mind and never try to provoke him."
Evie could no longer keep her face straight. She didn't understand why this Prince was telling her something like this. Isn't this the first time they are meeting each other, much less speak to either party? She would've slightly understood if he was trying to destroy Gavriel's image in her eyes but that did not seem to be his aim. What exactly was he aiming for by bringing these matters up? Was he trying to scare her?
"I… I appreciate your concern, Your Highness but please don't worry… I am very aware that vampires are dangerous for a mere human like myself. I wouldn't dare provoke him or anyone in this land." Evie tried to respond as calm as she could.
The Prince's sapphire eyes seemed to have deepened in colour as he moved slightly closer. "It seemed you still know nothing about your husband Lady Evielyn. I know he vowed never to harm you but there are times when my brother loses control of himself. If in any case, you feel something off about him…" he paused and he looked as though he was scanning his surroundings before he continued. "Stay away from him and don't ever dream of provoking him."
"W-why are you telling me these?"
"Because I don't want a war suddenly breaking out if something happens to you." He calmly responded. Evie tried to look for any sign of lies in his striking blue eyes, but all his face was only showing that he truly was concerned for her well-being. "My brother had been away for many years. He had just returned from a long… journey." Evie sensed as though he had just omitted something from his earlier sentence. "We thought he's long dead, but he came back alive. Many things… changed in him since then. So, I am trying to warn you beforehand because I know my brother will not tell you about this."
"You mean… about his journey and the changes in him?"
"Yes. He never talks about anything related to his journey. So as the crown prince and his older brother, I believe it's better for me to let you know about this. I believe this is important. For your sake, My Lady."
Evie blinked and all she could do was nod. "I understand. I will keep that in mind, Your Highness."
He gave her a kind smile and Evie could only smile back to him. Curiosity had flooded her mind. She wanted to know more about Gavriel.
She turned her head to look for her husband and to her shocked surprise, those beautiful but piercing eye were trained on her. Evie subconsciously swallowed because for a moment, she thought he was angry. However, when the woman touched Gavriel's face to look at her, the awful feeling in her stomach that had momentarily disappeared returned – and this time, with a vengeance.
"I never thought you're a possessive woman, Lady Evielyn." Prince Caius yanked her attention away from Gavriel. W-what? Her? Possessive?
Evie was speechless. She felt like her brain was having a hard time functioning. "I… I…"
"I hope Gavriel had explained to you on the matter about Lady Thea." The crown prince ventured a guess and when Evie's expression sold her out that Gavriel had never mentioned anything, Caius sighed. "You already know that vampires are no longer monogamous, right?" he asked, and Evie nodded. She had heard about this before. At one point, a long time ago, vampires were one-woman creatures. However, since the war against the dragons started, the emperor at that time had changed the law, allowing the vampires to take more than one wife, for the sake of increasing their population. "Of course, it is not a forced thing. Most vampires still have one wife even to these days but Gavriel's case is different so he must not sever his engagement to Lady Thea."
"G-Gavriel's case?"
"He had been engaged to Lady Thea since they were young and you, My Lady, is a human…" The prince paused as Evie looked at him with eyes filled with question. So, what if she was human?
Evie was about to ask again when the music ended – having them bow and curtsy to each other as was the custom. As they faced each other again, the crown prince smiled at her as Evie immediately whipped her head towards where Gavriel was standing.
When she saw his back as he held Thea's arm heading towards the balcony, Evie found herself being overwhelmed with intense new emotions. She didn't even realize that she was back in her seat until the crown prince spoke to her again.
"It was nice talking to you, Lady Evielyn. If you have more questions, we can have a further discussion at the balcony, since it looks as if my brother is still occupied." The prince flashed her a friendly smile, but Evie could no longer fake her expression as her face fell.
She bowed in apology. "Pardon me, Your Highness but I would like to retire for the night now. As you said, I'm only a human so I need my rest. It was a pleasure talking to you." Evie did not know what was coming over her. Her chest felt tight and seemed to be hurting without actually feeling the pain. Weirdly enough, her eyes felt hot and were stinging something fierce. She moved unconsciously, not noticing how her feet hurried her along in her quest in needing to find a place where she could be alone and try to figure out this mess that is in her head.
Without giving the crown prince a chance to reply, she curtsied low and walked away in haste. The crown prince watched the beautiful human girl in red as three of Gavriel's men immediately followed after her. As soon as the lady in red was gone, the prince's sapphire blue eyes sharpened intensely before his gaze fell to the balcony where Gavriel had gone out from just a moment ago.
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"Let's end our engagement, Thea." Gavriel's tone was hard and firm. The atmosphere in the balcony abruptly turned incredibly chilly. Gavriel was berating himself for actually forgetting about this. He should've dealt with Thea first before bringing his wife in the palace. But the matter of his prior engagement to Thea absolutely slipped his mind. It would be fair to even say it probably didn't weigh much in his mind in the first place. He should've spoken to Thea as soon as he arrived in the capital while his wife was still asleep!
"No." Thea didn't even hesitate. Her gaze on Gavriel was serious and unrelenting. Looking as though she would never give in no matter what Gavriel say or do to her.
Gavriel looked surprised at Thea's answer. It never crossed his mind that she would refuse. To the vampires, engagements were as serious as vows. Even if it was an engagement made by politics, it was something that wasn't easily severed. The engagement could only be legally severed if both parties are in mutual agreement to break it. If one of them refuse, no one could break the engagement. This was why Gavriel had hated his forced engagement to Thea. He knew that the emperor had arranged this engagement so he would be tied to something, since Thea's father was the emperor's loyal general.
Gavriel didn't hate Thea because it wasn't her fault and since they were young, Thea had never clung onto him like some desperate female. Before he left the empire, the two of them rarely see or even talk to each other. They had never even tried to form any romantic connections with each other before and that was why Gavriel even forget that he had a fiancée sometimes. He knew that the same was true with Thea. Even when they first met, they never enjoyed each other's company. And Thea had never tried approaching him before. She only started approaching him and talking to him when he returned just more than a month ago. So why was she refusing the annulment of their engagement now?
"I am married now, Thea. I already have a wife." Gavriel stressed, his demeanor and expression were calm but the look in his eyes was intense.
"I don't mind, Gavriel."
Her answer made Gavriel's eyes narrow. "I mind. You know I will never have more than one wife."
"I know."
"Then why are you refusing? Did your father threaten you?"
Thea played with her dark brown locks as she answered. "No. My decision has nothing to do with father or anyone else. This is my own decision."
Gavriel's jaws tightened. "Then what exactly do you want to happen for still refusing like this?"
There have been many cases of vampire engagements where one party refuses to end the engagement. But because of the vampire's law allowing polygamy, the man can always marry someone else even if he was still engaged to another girl. Thus, most of the females who refused to sever the engagement gave up in the end while some just let it until they got married to someone else.
"She's a human, Your Highness. If she's a vampire, I'd give you up right here, right now. But she's a human."
"What exactly are you trying to say? So what if she's human?" Gavriel didn't know why but he was ticked off. He wasn't usually like this. He had dealt with so many sensitive and political issues before and nothing could make him lose his cool. So why was he suddenly pissed that Thea was pointing out that his wife was just a human?
"Your Highness, I'm certain you know what I'm trying to –"
"Just say it, Thea."
Thea was surprised. Was he testing her? She knew just how intelligent this man was. This prince wasn't someone who needs explanations about obvious things such as this. And why does he sound irked and angry? Was he so pissed and angry his emotions were getting the better of him? Thea silently gnashed her teeth. She knew what kind of man this prince was. In fact, she had never seen him so emotional and worked up like this before. He was always calm and collected even in battles and even in front of the emperor so why was he acting like some short-tempered and dumb now? There was just no way he didn't understand what she had meant! But fine, if he wanted her to spell it out for him, then she'd be happy to say it.
"She's a human so she can only be your wife for the next few decades, Gavriel. When she –"
"Enough." He cut her off and Thea was once again surprised at the intensity of his voice.
"I can wait for you so there's no need to end our engagement. A few decades isn't that long –"
"I said, enough." His voice wasn't loud but the harshness and coldness in them skyrocketed. Even his calm demeanor was gone Thea's lips parted in shock because of the darkness he had emitted just to make her shut her mouth. Why? Why was this man acting like this now? Her relationship with Gavriel was no different with that human girl. That human was married off to him because of mere politics too. So why was he reacting like he hated the fact that she pointed out blunt facts?
Thea felt her blood boiling, unaware that her eyes were turning red. "No matter what you say, I will never let our engagement end. I told you, I don't mind waiting for you. And besides, it didn't seem like your wife mind it at all, Your Highness."
As though something had snapped inside him, Gavriel froze for a moment. His reaction didn't escape Thea's eyes and she smirked inwardly. "I could tell she's fine with it. From what I observed she might not even care if you take another wife. Now I can't help but wonder… does she even like you at all, Your Highness? She must be seeing you as nothing but a monster like all humans th –"
"Thea."
With just that one word, Thea clamped her mouth tight. The chill that enveloped her body forced her to subconsciously flinch back. No one ever uttered her name that way before. That voice was filled with dangerous warnings that sounded so much like death that came knocking early on her door, terrified her more than the emperor's or her father's raging voice. W-when did this man change so much? When did he become this scary?
He stepped closer to her and leaned over. His killing aura was barely kept veiled and eyes dangerously cold, as if something sucked up all the light in his pair of beautiful moon-kissed eyes. "Listen, and listen very carefully," he whispered. "Evie's going to be my one and on-"
Before Gavriel could even finish his sentence, Samuel emerged from the door. As soon as Gavriel met Samuel's eyes and received the report that his wife had left the ballroom, he leaped from the veranda and his three men followed behind him, not even throwing a glance at the woman he had left behind.
While he was in the air, he spotted his beautiful rose under the moonlight rushing down the staircase as if she was trying to run all the way across the vast garden, right up to the palace's gate.
He landed right in front of her, causing Evie to gasp. "Wife," he said as he approached her. "You want to go home now? Come, I'll carry you –"
"No!" Evie's exclamation was sharp against the silence of the night and Gavriel's low baritone. Her voice even cracked as she stretched out her hands to stop him from touching her.
"What's wrong? Are you alright? Did something happen?" he asked worriedly, but Evie gritted her teeth and pushed his outreached hands away.
"Nothing's wrong! Nothing happened! You just go back to your fiancée now. Elias can bring me home!" she yelled at him as she kept pushing his reaching hands and was actively avoiding his touch like the plague.
Gavriel caught her wrists and made her look at him. He was no fool as he heard and observed how her voice trembled and sounded strained as she said the word 'your fiancée' and considering how frantic and distressed her movements were. His eyes smoldering and filled with wonder as he looked at her. "Wife, are you jealous?" he tilted his head slightly as he asked and Evie turned to a frozen statue. Oh my! W-what was she doing?! What was she doing?!! This can't be… she can't be acting like this! No! No! This can't be happening!
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