บท 16: Human

"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.