章 11: Promise

The entire talk was incredibly stifling and oppressive, at least it was for Elle. All she did the whole time was just hope and pray that Sebastian would be kind and not expose to them the truth where they had never done the deed at all. And that she was still a virgin!

Every time he opened his mouth to speak, Elle found herself holding her breath and her heart squeezed in anxiety thinking that he would give them away. Then she would release her breath and her heart would deflate like a balloon when he ended up not mentioning the truth. Her hands were itching to clasp onto her beautiful dress as she sat there almost unmoving, not unlike a living doll.

The maids a while ago had her prepped up to perfection. Her light red hair was curled elegantly, with large curls that fell beautifully around her face and shoulders, only further enhancing her beauty. The dress she had on was the exact same color as her large, watery, blue eyes. She looked like the perfect princess, demure and gentle, and so soft that it was as though if one only touched her a little too hard, she would shatter like a precious porcelain piece.

Despite the talk seemingly moving on pretty smoothly and quickly, Elle still could not relax internally. She was still very much afraid that at any time, Sebastian would just suddenly decide to stop cooperating and drop the dreadful bomb. That bomb that would send her into the arms of Brandon Haze and ruin her life indefinitely.

Soon, they reached the final stages of the talk. Elle was having a hard time believing how smooth everything was going along. It just seemed too good to be true. Was King Rudy so hellbent on marrying his son away like her own father?

She could not help but just fall speechless at all these twists and turns that were coming at her one after the other – and they were so fast too.

Elle could not believe that what Sebastian's uncle said was actually true. That King Rudy was indeed dying for Sebastian to get married. He had not even bothered hiding the fact, that even her father was obviously shocked. King Markus had thought that he needed to use some tricks and put on some pressure as the girl's father to push the union of his daughter to Prince Sebastian. However, none of it was needed apparently as King Rudy was even more anxious to have his son marry her!

"May I have a moment to speak with Princess Izabelle first?" Sebastian requested as he suddenly stood from his chair.

"Sure, son. Go ahead, you young people can go chat a little." King Rudy quickly agreed, and Sebastian unceremoniously grabbed Elle's hand and headed to the door with her in tow.

Her heart was beating crazy wild as she was pulled after him. She was trying so hard not to pay any attention to his large and warm hand that was holding hers, but it was just impossible not to.

They stopped by the massive pillar at the corridor.

And when he turned to look at her, his eyes looked icier than ever before. All the warmth Elle was thinking about fled immediately as she saw how cold he was.

Pinning her against the pillar, he grabbed her chin and made her look up at him. Not that she was not already with their height difference.

"Are you really certain about this?" he asked. His voice also so much colder, so heartless. And for Elle, this seemed to be him trying to intimidate her or scare her away. Did he think she was so easily frightened? If it was, he would not have found her in his room in the first place.

"Yes. I thought I've already made that extremely clear to you?" she replied, her tone hard and firm as her eyes flashed with a stern glint.

Elle felt that this moment was going to be her last test. And no matter what happens she was not going to give in. Not on her life!

"Listen…" he whispered darkly. "You don't have any idea what or who I am, princess. You are trying so hard to escape your very own hell here by marrying me. But I am telling you… my world isn't a paradise either. My world is darker than you can ever imagine. It is a hell someone like you might never survive if you get caught in it." He flashed her a wicked and dangerous smile. So beautifully deadly that had her heart shuddering involuntarily. "You are offering me a marriage of convenience, but princess… There's nothing convenient about me at all. And I'm giving you one last chance to back off here. If you go ahead with this, you're only going to live to regret it."

Warning bells were ringing loudly in the back of her ears. Telling her that this was not him trying to scare her. She somehow could see that in his eyes.

But no matter what he says now, it would still not change her decision. She truly had no other choice. Thus, she gritted her teeth and steeled her will.

"I am not expecting any paradise, Prince Sebastian. I believe… I will be just fine as long as I keep my promise. As long as I stay away from your business, I believe everything will be convenient between the two of us."

He smirked, almost sardonically.

"Did you think there were no one else who had promised me something similar to this before, hmm? Princess?" he asked her, his jaws tightening. "Just like you, they made vows and agreed to my terms but later on, they come begging, crying… I foresee that you too, only say all these things now, but later…" he pressed his forefinger lightly over her heart, "… you'll have a change of heart and once that happens, you too, will come to me and demand things from me. You said that I can divorce you and you will willingly abide with the process… But no. I don't think it would happen so easily, princess." He shook his head. "A heart can change so very quickly and people can do anything to get what their hearts desire."

A short pause passed as they both just stared hard into each other's eyes.

"You going through this marriage with me might as well be like you digging your own grave. Because the moment you start to want more from me, I will divorce you. And the moment you break your promise and try to fight me… I will ruin you and break you apart completely. Mercilessly. You will regret ever meeting this devil tonight." His threat was given in the same soft but cold voice.

But Elle did not even flinch. Her gaze never faltered either. This man was ruthless, and she knew that clearly. His eyes that moment promised nightmares and darkness without any promise of respite.

It was just so unbelievable how her heart was not thrashing wildly in utter fear right now. Logically, this should scare her enough to hesitate and try to think of another way out. But perhaps, she was not capable of fearing anything anymore more than Brandon Haze. Perhaps because she had been fearing him for so long and her wedding with him every day of her life that it was the only thing that she had learned to fear.

So she tipped her chin up instead of looking down in defeat. "I understand now…" she said quietly. "Since you don't trust that I will keep my word, how about we do this? You prepare the divorce documents beforehand now and I'll sign it. That way, once you decide to divorce me in the future, the papers would already have been signed and there would be no way I can trouble you about it. You would just need to send it to the lawyers and have it notarized."

A heavy silence reigned before he pushed himself away from her. Until his quiet disbelieving laugh broke the silence.

"I'm at a loss for words, Princess Izabelle." He said, looking wickedly amused. But then he started nodding in approval. "You seem to have an answer for every question I put up to you. Color me impressed."

His reaction had her eyes stretching wide. Was he finally agreeing to go through with this marriage?!

He stretched his hand towards her and at last, the words she so wanted to hear came out of his gorgeous mouth.

"Fine, princess. I will marry you."

___

Dear readers,

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the first 11 chapters so far. I would really appreciate if you can leave a review so please don't hesitate to leave one. It will be a huge support to me.

Love, Kazzen

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