The Bastard Princess

45.

-HIM-

I warily watched her walk out of the house. She didn't spare me a look and didn't acknowledge my presence either. Her invisible walls seemed to be too high and too thick to notice me.

After some repairing, I set off for work. But before that, I needed to take a bath. So, I headed to the lake.

As soon as I glanced at the water, I froze. A face that I had long forgotten stared back at me through the reflection in the water. The reflection that stared back at me was of the once crown prince of Zaeris, Ares- someone that I used to be.

My past was glaring at my present self and questioning what I had been doing and where I had been. It was making me question all the choices that I had made and the decisions that I had taken. It was urging me to reflect back at everything that had happened in the past months.

When I thought deeply, I realized that I had only lost so many things in the past months. I had lost my claim to the throne, my powers, my family, my people, my kingdom. The only that I had right now was her. She came in an exchange for them. She seemed heavier than all of my responsibilities weighted together.

Every day I was faced with the same question – who's fault was this?

Was it only because she tried to kill my mother on her sister's order or was it because I failed to choose rightly among her and my people? Even though her bad reputation deemed her unworthy, I still couldn't ignore her. My wolf wanted her and so did I... but my people needed me. I didn't want to betray their trust.

When my mind continued to sink deeper into my pool of thoughts, I snapped out of it. I needed to get to work otherwise I wouldn't have money for any necessary purchase. I bathed and set out for work as usual.

My appearance seemed to put people in shock. I knew I looked like a different person, someone they hadn't seen or known before. I quietly did my work. When the sun started to disappear behind the horizon, I collected my wage and went back home.

She hadn't returned yet. I contemplated for some moments if I ought to go after her but my wolf assured me that she'd be back. I cleaned myself and went inside the house. The bag of yesterday's purchases sat on the corner of my bed.

I didn't know what to do with it so I took it and climbed the ladder to the ceiling. The ceiling creaked beneath my feet as I examined her small safe space. She had made herself a small bed with clothes and hey. In a corner some of her belonging laid. I placed the bag just by them and climbed down, reminding myself to strengthen the ceiling the first thing tomorrow morning.

Her arrival was announced to me by the splash of water outside. She then entered the house and went upstairs straight. Her vibrant green eyes never glanced at me once. Her silky red hair was left to flow freely to her waist; its tips lightly brushed over her hips as she climbed the ladder. I was left staring at it before she disappeared upstairs.

The ceiling spoke of its discomfort through creaks as she reached upstairs. A part of me knew that she would say something as soon as her eyes would find the bag upstairs. I was proven right when she climbed downstairs with that bag in her hand.

"This doesn't belong to me," She spoke stiffly as she gently placed the bag in front of me and spun on her heels to go upstairs again.

"I told you I didn't mean that," I groaned, taking the bag and following her upstairs.

"Don't follow me!" She spat at me from over her shoulder. I stopped at the top steps from where her small room was completely visible.

"I am sorry, Arsinoe," I spoke gently, trying my best to show her that I meant it. She turned her back on me and laid down on her bed.

"What will make you forgive me?" I asked her when she didn't say anything. My wolf was very upset with me already. He wanted me to make up to her and win her trust. Both of the tasks seemed very impossible for me at the moment.

"Leave me alone," She mumbled, her back still turned to me.

"Arsinoe... please," I breathed. As long as she was talking to me and in front of my eyes, I was willing to do anything.

"Just go back to wherever you were before coming here and taunting me. I was doing better without you," She spoke back.

"I don't think my presence has affected you much. You still seem to be doing better," I told her, hoping that she would talk to more. I could take this as a perfect opportunity to decipher her.

"Just leave me alone. Go somewhere else," She told me.

"I don't have somewhere else to go," I spoke back, staring at the back of her white satin dress. It looked old and spotty, definitely worn out.

"I told you I don't want anything from you! I will never ask you for anything. You don't have to think about me or do anything for me," She told me. Her voice grew sterner. It was laced with sheer determination.

"I just want you to forgive me," I did my best to keep the tone of my voice gentle. I wasn't going to leave either.

"You're forgiven. Now, go away," She spat. I knew she didn't mean it. She had said that so that I'd leave her alone.

"Then why don't you take the things that I bought for you?" I decided to play along.

"I told you I don't want anything from you!" I could hear the irk in her voice. I was testing her patience.

"Then I suppose that you haven't forgiven me," At this, she let out an annoyed scream before she rose from her bed. Her eyes shot me daggers as she snatched the bag from my hand, all the while making sure that our hands don't touch and went back to her bed.

I climbed downstairs with a smile playing on my lips and a sense of victory. A feeling of satisfaction washed over me as I went to bed. I soon realized that one of the ways to get to her was to annoy her. I needed to maintain my patience in order to do that. It could be enough to crack her hard shell.

Next morning, I woke up early and decided to work on the ceiling. It creaked in the night whenever she tossed in her bed.

"YOU WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE, WOULD YOU?" She screamed at me as soon as I started to hammer new wood to the joints that supported the ceiling. I tried to stifle the laugh that threatened to escape my lips but I ended up choking. Although I knew she heard me.

"I am just repairing the ceiling for you, Arsinoe," I told her. She gritted something incomprehensible before looking downstairs and shooting me another glare.

"I didn't tell you to do it,"

"The ceiling is old. You could have fallen down with it someday," I tried to reason but she blatantly ignored my word and snuck back into her safe space.

"Stop caring for me," She spat back at me.

"I just don't want the ceiling to fall over me while I sleep under it at night," I reasoned again.

I knew it had irked her enough for the morning because she let out a tortured groan from upstairs. Another smile danced on my lips as I hammered another piece of wood to the ceiling.

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