"Eliza, I think I have just signed my death warrant," I croak out.
"You've merely looked at him. I know he is quite intimidating, but surely you will not die just by looking at him," Eliza sounds amused, though I felt no ounce of amusement at the situation at hand.
"Goblin." The only word that leaves my mouth.
"What?" Eliza gives me a weird look as I spew nonsensical word vomit.
"I compared him to a goblin." I gulp, sweat building on my forehead.
"Uhhh...are you comparing him to a goblin now that you are seeing him for the first time?" Eliza gave me a 'what do you mean, are you blind?' look.
"I compared him to a goblin, to his face, when I was on my way to the powder room." I swiveled my head slowly to look at Eliza, the sheer horror on my face so prominent that she must've thought I couldn't have been lying.
"Surely, you jest. Are you okay? Shall I ask the royal advisory to excuse us for the night? You are not hallucinating, are you?" Eliza puts the back of her hand against my forehead, feeling for a temperature, though all she feels is sheen of sweat, meanwhile a chill has entered my body.
"I have never unjested harder in my life," my overwhelming fear made up words that didn't even exist. She drops her hands to her side.
"Remember how I told you I bumped into a guard while on my way to the powder room? Well...fun fact, it wasn't a guard," Eliza puts the puzzle pieces together, eyes widening at the revelation.
"You jest," she denies, though her face blanches, like mine.
"You are telling me that within the ten minutes you were gone, you managed to bump into the emperor, mistake him as a guard, and then proceed to call him a goblin..." Eliza clarifies, looking clearly bewildered.
Well when she puts it like that, it sounds almost comedical, like it belongs in a drama, except this is very much real life, unfortunately.
I nod. "Well, I didn't call him a goblin, but I compared his look to a goblin's..." I trail off.
Eliza's eyes almost pop out of its sockets. "That doesn't make it any better!" She exclaims, throwing her hands and almost hitting some of nearby people, who shoot her a glare.
"Our apologies," I give a tight-lipped smile at them, though they scoff and walk away.
"Screw those people, they are not the ones you should be apologizing to. We must apologize to his majesty IMMEDIATELY!" She exasperates.
"Well I did apologize to him when I ran into him, but I didn't apologize about the goblin thing. In fact, I even called him quite handsome compared to one..." I try to defend myself lamely.
Eliza gapes at me like I had grown two heads.
"THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT!" She clutches her hair at its roots.
"I am so scared, Eliza. What if I go to apologize to him and he draws his sword and cuts my head off!" I cry out, fear gnawing at my body.
The room grows quiet, though Eliza and I failed to notice in our state of panic.
Eliza, feeding into my hysterics, gasps. "You mustn't! Don't approach him without someone around! Your head will fly off!"
"How did you not recognize him? Did he not give his name?" She shakes the red locks in her grip aggressively.
"He introduced himself with only his first name! I didn't know what he looked like until now nor have I seen pictures of him! Also, you're the one who said I will know when I see him!" I informed her.
Footsteps begin to descend the steps as the crowd parts and makes way for the individual. Murmurs break out in curiosity.
"Oh, heavens! You're right! I didn't bother telling you his first name because we all address him as Emperor Kruos, plus I never thought you were going to meet him!" Eliza pales at that realization, beginning to blame herself for not touching more on it through the months of her residency. She didn't think it would be a big deal, since they only ever visit the Kruos Empire every blue-moon, let alone see the Emperor!
"You went to go take a shit, and now... you ARE in deep shit!" Eliza wails, her vulgar language rolling off her tongue so naturally at the quite crappy situation. We were both thinking that, though.
We both stood there, looking like manic buffoons, failing to notice the domineering figure closing in on its prey.
Eliza's eyes widen before she grabs my bicep.
"Wh–" I was about to question her, before I got cut off.
"May I have this dance, my lady?" The familiar voice makes me freeze. Too scared to turn around, I closed my eyes, hoping that he was actually asking someone else, though the silence was louder than any other confirmation. I felt all eyes on me.
Turning around so slow that it didn't look like I was moving at all, I craned my head and peered up into the same blue eyes that watched me compare him to a goblin, his glove-clad hand reached out toward me.
"O-of course..." I give the best polite smile I can, but it must've not come out that way, for the Emperor began to grin wickedly, eyes lighting up in amused delight.
'I am so screwed, haha...see you soon, mother and father...' I began to say my goodbyes to the world as I placed my shaking, bare fingers into his gloved hand, watching the size of his engulf mine entirely.
'He could break my hand off in one piece,' I focused my eyes on our interlocked hands, my heart about to burst out of my chest.
As he begins to lead me away, a strong grip on my bicep makes me come to a sharp halt. The Emperor turns around, annoyance dripping from his facade at our pause, before his eyes trail behind me to Eliza, whose eyes are still wide-open, shell-shocked.
He narrows his eyes at her, sending her a warning glance. Even though it wasn't directed at me, I still felt terror at the look. If looks could kill, Eliza would be buried by now.
"Has no one taught you any manners, or did you not learn anything from etiquette school?" He tugs on my hand, forcefully unlatching me from Eliza, who yelps at the venomous insult clearly directed towards her.
"M-m-my apologies, your majesty!" Her shaky voice cries out as she bows deeply at the waist.
Emperor Kruos clicks his tongue at her, before leading me to the center of the dance floor. The sound of the orchestra felt more like a farewell song at a funeral rather than a romantic ballroom song. What made matters even worse: it was the only thing I could hear, as the whole room fell silent and all attention fell upon us.
As we near the dance floor, I turned back to look at Eliza, who gnawed on her fingertips, petrified at the sight.
'Don't make her worry.' All I can do is shoot back a reassuring smile, though I am positive that it didn't come off that way.
Tonight, I will dance with the devil.
———
A/N: I got a 90% on my test! In honor of my grade, I will publish sooner than expected. Also, 1K reads and it's only been half of a week! INSANE!!
I'll let you guys in on a little secret: I already wrote the next five chapters. 🫣
BUT, you guys will have to wait a little bit for those because I rushed to get those on paper because it came to mind LOL. Unlike 'You Promised Me' which was already had everything planned from beginning to end, this book is just whatever I decide to come up with as I write, so it is a lot more creative freedom and I don't have to worry about sticking to an outline.
There are benefits and downsides with that, though. One massive downside is that I don't recognize any plot holes immediately. Since it is on-the-whim, I have to go through carefully and make sure it doesn't contradict anything I've already written. Having an outline solves that issue as everything has already been planned, but it feels more mundane to follow an outline.
So yeah, I can't get those all out in one go because I need to make sure it makes sense with everything I've already written. They should be coming out throughout the week, though!
Love all of you guys! 😘