Chapter 18   – Her Demands (2)

Amethyst drew in her breath. She felt giddy with excitement and fear both at the same time.

In any case, she would be free one year from now.

“Alright then. Let’s discuss the terms of this contract. We will be living in separate bedrooms, correct?”

“Yes, but I will drop by occasionally since the maids will be observing. They will notice.”

“Okay, we do need to keep them fooled. As for the wedding, I would like it to be a grand affair.”

The duke raised an eyebrow. “That’s surprising. I always took you for a girl with minimal tastes.”

“A big wedding is every woman’s dream, and I do need to play the part.” Amethyst smirked. “Also, don’t actually fall in love with me and try to skew our contract.”

The duke frowned. “How ridiculous! That will never happen.”

“Have you never read any romance novels? It’s a pretty common storyline. Anyway, even if you do fall in love with me, I hope you won’t expect me to reciprocate. I am leaving you as soon as our contract is up!”The duke once again ran his fingers through his hair and seemed to study Amethyst.

“Do you really believe a face like yours is easy to fall in love with?”

“What! You ras…”

“Pardon me, miss, what did you say?”

Amethyst put on a smile and grinned through her teeth, “Nothing at all, never mind. I must have read too many books”.

Duke Skad gave her icy smile of his own in return. “You should be careful of falling head over heels in love with me, lady.”

“Ha! That will never happen, sir”, Amethyst rolled her eyes at him.

“Why makes you so sure?”

Amethyst focused on Duke Skad. She could not speak these thoughts aloud, so she came up with another response.

“Well, I don’t believe in staying with a single person all my life. That is boring.”

She thought, amused with her own train of thoughts.

An image of a dance group member ran through Amethyst’s mind and she shrugged the thought away.

Duke Skad was ready with his rebuttal. “What? With that face, miss, you will be lucky if you can find even one person to commit to you.”Amethyst glared at the Duke.

“Okay, maybe you are right. Whatever, it is not my concern”, he quickly added, trying to douse the heavy air between them. Amethyst shrugged and changed the conversation. “So will this do?”

“Yes, I will announce the engagement tomorrow. We will have the wedding in a month’s time and exactly a year from now we will part ways.”

“That sounds good. Can I ask you a question?”

“No.” Duke Skad was wary of Amethyst at this point.

“Come on! You don’t even know what it is.”

“Exactly why I don’t want to hear it.”

“You are so stubborn. I am still going to ask. Why do you want to have a contract marriage?”

“Just like that.”

“Just like that?!”

He didn’t respond. Instead, he withdrew and became silent. Amethyst could tell his mind was not in the room anymore.

A vision of fiery red eyes resurfaced in Alexcent’s memory. A promise had been made to the previous emperor, but he could not deny himself the desire to hold a sword in his hand. He was born to yield a sword. He had begun playing with swords the moment he had learned to grab things as a young child. Alexcent had learned to control a sword as soon as he was taught to properly carry one.

Ever since he’d been old enough to yield a sword, the duke had traversed countless battlefields, fighting gallantly and killing mercilessly, with only the kingdom’s protection and prosperity in mind.

He had finally been able to shed his sword only when the war ended and Sehar had finally risen as the Great Empire.

His last battle, was a memory he hated to revisit in his mind.

Firmly gripping his sharp, blood-stained sword, he had cut through everything, alive and breathing, that had crossed his path, soaking himself in their blood over and over again.

The lands he passed were flooded with corpses, while the few spared, knelt in front of him cowering in fear, begging for his mercy when he had none left.

Once victory was secured and declared, Belice, who had become the Empress not long ago, arrived at the battlefield to cheer her soldiers on and uplift their morale. The figure of Belice riding a horse on a canyon was the personification of strength and power.

He would never forget the look in her eyes, when she looked at him, standing under the meandering canyon, until the day he died. Her eyes embodied the petrification of someone who had seen the vilest monster.