Chapter 401: [Bonus chapter]Side Story (Dimitri)(7)
The smell of burning flesh was in the air. When the wound had closed, Angel ran to get some water from the river and pour it on the burned flesh.
Dimitri was still conscious after all the pain that he just been through. He was breathing heavily and when his consciousness cleared, he tasted some blood on his lips. He was startled and looked at Angel who was tending to him.
"W-What did you do?!" Dimitri saw the bite mark on Angel's arm.
"I was not able to find anything you can bite on and just gave you my arm." Angel said with an embarrassed look. She was expecting to be scolded and lectured by Dimitri, since she should know the steps to take in first aid.
"Hah..." Dimitri sighed. "Please care for your body more. You are a woman and I would not want you to have so many scars in your body. What would your future husband say when he sees you have a bitemark for a scar? I am afraid I would have to marry you to make up for this."
"M-Marry me?" Angel was surprised with Dimitri's words. "You are kidding me, right my lord?"
"How many times have I told you not to call me that when we are alone?" Dimitri said while looked at the flustered face of Angel and he thought that it was cute. "And I am not joking around, except you will not want me as your husband?"
"B-But..." Angel was flustered with Dimitri's sudden proposal.
"I am not that dense to not see how your eyes have been looking at me." Dimitri replied and Angel blushed a deep red.
"T-Then you knew...?" Angel asked. "... you knew my feelings for you?"
"Yes." Dimitri nodded. "At first, I did not put too much mind into it, thinking that you might be just looking at me as some hero that rescued you and it would be just a simple crush of a teenager that will fade away once you get older. But you stayed by my side and even chose to come with me, even though there was a good promotion that was given to you."
Angel listened to Dimitri's every word, not yet believing that this was really happening.
"You were not the first Atlantian that I saved from the streets, but I had the urge to look after you. I thought maybe I just thought of you as a little sister, as a family." Dimitri said. "But when you started to grow up and became a woman, my mind and heart become conflicted with each other. I became busy with the war and I had no time to think my feelings thru. But when the war ended and peace had come, his majesty asked me to settle down and start a family. I told him I do not have any woman I fancy but, in my mind, you were the one I imagined. I was still conflicted, even now I still am."
"T-Then, what made you change your mind?" Angel asked.
"When Philip told me that you planned to stop the landslide until the people had ran to safety, my mind was in turmoil." Dimitri confessed. "As the grand duke, I must put my people's safety first, and you as a captain is only doing your job. But my heart is telling me to go to you and see that you are safe. After I have led the people to safety, I ran to where you were in haste. And when I saw that tree was going to hit you, my mind and heart had aligned for the first time. I want you, to be by myside always, as my wife. If you accept me."
Angel was in a daze, still not believing that all of what is happening right now is true. Dimitri interpreted this as a rejection.
"Maybe you are thinking that I am just telling this on a whim." Dimitri scratched his head feeling shy. "I have never tried to express my feelings before, and this is all new to me. But if you give me a chance, I will surely do my best to show you that my feelings are true. I will do my best to win your...hmm." Before Dimitri was about to finish his sentence, Angel had closed his lips with a kiss.
