The Apathetic Mage Loves Cats

Chapter 20: Before-Anxiousness

"Don't," he begged. I shrugged, and slowly watched him crawl out like his body was refusing even the thought of moving.

There was no way I would have let Romand guard Caiden all night; my pride and my need to protect him (yes, I was aware of this nature) overshadowed my desire to torment him. Even if Caiden had stayed in bed all day, pushing his responsibilities onto me and the other workers so that he could fret, it wouldn't bother me at all. In fact, I almost wanted to allow him that liberty, because I knew that he realized there was absolutely no way for him to not attend this party and to not interact with other individuals in which he didn't know the conversation. He had a lot to fret about. However, I knew that it wouldn't be good for him, and I knew that it would only cause him to feel more anxious as the day wore on, so it was best to get him out of bed.

Also, I felt like I was allowed to speak to him like this, considering he was planning on asking me to marry him today.

I'm not sure if he believes I'm dumb, or if he is just really stupid, but I can't be certain how he had thought about this plan and decided not to tell me about it. It was clearly obvious from the day he suggested to hold this ceremony that I would more than likely be the "bride" in question because he didn't interact with any other person other than me. Additionally, through him designing our outfits together (down to our jewelry), and even avoiding the question about the ceremony altogether when I brought it up, it made it that much more obvious what his decision was. Though, I can't say I was really that upset about the issue. If he had asked me outright if I would be the person, he would announce his marriage to, I would've told him it was fine and allowed him to do what he wanted. I didn't find any problem in marrying him, especially considering I felt it would be too hard to separate given our currently circumstances and my... protective feelings towards him. However, I can't help but feel as if he didn't trust me because he wasn't willing to communicate to me about this majorly important issue. Although, knowing him, he probably thought that I would hate the idea or would be upset about him for it. He was pretty stupid so I'm not at all that surprised if that was his thoughts. All I can really do is make sure that he feels he can talk to me about issues and let him know how I feel about it after the announcement. There was no point in me telling him now and making him even more anxious than he already was.

"You don't actually have too much to worry about today," I told him, watching him drag his feet over to the closet to put on everyday attire. He groaned in response, but his silence told me that he was listening. "A majority of your day will be spent with the organizers setting up the rooms and also checking that every guest who had requested to stay the night has a room and a guard to watch them. There are also a few proposals that have come in today, so it would be best if you sent them a letter tonight so that you get to a rest all day tomorrow. Then, you need to be back in your room by five because guests start to arrive as early as six for the ceremony. You will put on your attire for the evening during this time." The ceremony didn't start until seven, but it was common courtesy to arrive before the host did if you were a guest, unless you are someone of a higher status, which means that Caiden can be late to any event he wanted. Though, because it was courtesy for guests to arrive before seven so that they weren't rude, that also meant that the host would arrive even later. So, since the party started at seven, Caiden wouldn't be showing up until 7:30 or even 8:00 to make sure that no one would be rude in front of him. That was also "common courtesy". This also meant that Caiden couldn't be seen by outsiders until this time, so he would be confined to his room or office, getting dressed and prepared until it was time for him to show up. That also meant that he would have time to be anxious then.

Caiden sighed but didn't object, which meant that it would be fine. I looked over at the magic clock hanging on the wall which read "10:43". I turned to watch Caiden coming out of the closet, his shirt half-buttoned and a frown on his face as he glanced at me. I gave a wide tooth smile in return, one that obviously wasn't real, but was my way to show him that I found the situation hilarious.