C L A R A
Avarys narrowed his puprle eyes at the bluenette, frowning. "You weren't here two days ago. I had to go to Luciel's banquet alone."
For one, she managed to avoid him by jumping on Elena's carriage and going on an impromptu girls hangout then when she returned home he was long gone and Andrew didn't even notice that his own sister left. So Andrew didn't tattle to their father. After that, Papa had something to do with the fief and decided to take Andrew with him early in the morning. Of course, Clara had once again jumped into their carriage and had a two week long trip to the fief. Best to weeks of peace, relaxation and pissing off Andrew.
To be fair, she was not informed of the ball.
Clara blinked, brushing stray strands of her hair from her face. He hair had long since grown longer, a good few inches just below her shoulders and very different from her customary pixie cut. She's starting to look a bit different now, with longer hair although she always kept her hair down. Braiding her hair or keeping it in twintails would make her look like game-Clara. She doesn't want that.
"But I did tell you I'm going to the fief for a while." Clara reasoned. To be fair, she did leave him a flimsy note on her desk, which she wonders if he did receive.
"It's not like you have to, you're gonna marry me in the future," That, Clara did not expect to willingly come from Avarys especially with that annoyingly proud smile of his. "Andrew's gonna take over your family right?"
She slumped her shoulders, giving him an exasperated look from her perch in front of the vanity. Avarys remained unaffected, leaning back on her pillows as if he owned her bed.
Truth be told, Clara actually just wanted to avoid him and parties, but mostly parties. Like, they (Clara) had to be like the perfect couple and all in front of so many people. And Avarys was enjoying it! God knows how many parties she went with this guy for the past six months. It gets tiring around the fifth time and since then she lost count.
"Even if I'm going to be your wife in the future, I want to at least know something that I can help you with," Clara lied fluently, with the duh expression on her face. "And I also want to know how to run the fief so I can torture Andrew in the future." Now, the second part was a lie.
"I'm flattered but can't you just let me do all the work?" His purple eyes glazed over. He probably caught her lie, she means this is Avarys we're talking about here. He recently just banished a baron from the lesser nobility after lying to him straight to the face. It was crazy to believe that he actually still does his royal duties and studies despite being in her house half if not most of the time. Perhaps he's spending the time they weren't spending together on state matters.
Bottomline, Avarys hates liars and Clara basically digging her grave lying to him right now.
Now Clara doesn't really want someone to do all her work. Maybe the heroine would want that, but Clara is not the heroine. She needed to be able to do something to get past his endings if he did get together with the heroine. Something that would get her past humiliation, exile , and even death.
"It's not a matter of letting you do all the work. In the future I'd be your partner. I'd carry half the burden Avarys and to do that, I'd have to be able to stand on my own beside you," Half truths and half lies are the same. Clara looked at him earnestly, hoping that she looked honest enough. "Being a king is stressful. Like hell will I let you do all that alone."
He looked to be contemplating for a minute, before beaming brightly. "Well, I'd never heard someone lie so fluently like that. It's like music to my ears. But you weren't lying entirely," He gave her a warning look. Ever since the incident, Avarys happened to be a little messed up in the head. Not as bad as game-Avarys though but going there, exclude the fact of well, visiting her! "So I'll give you the benefit of a doubt starting from now on. Anything you say will be my truth, unless you prove otherwise."
Clara gulped down the lump in her throat and looked away from his gaze, lest he catches her lie.
"So how was your outing with Margavine?"
She winced. Of course, although Andrew hadn't noticed that she left, and the little git was probably on cloud nine having Avarys all to himself, Avarys must've noticed she was gone. Bloody hell.
A girl has different faces she shows to different people. Here she was showing "Cautious Clara" to him. Her face who couldn't afford to mess up. The version of Clara who always had a stiff back and a stiff smile, the version of her which was always walking on eggshells with him.
"It was alright," Clara said, before something slipped up. "We went to a fortune house."
"Oh? What does it say?" Avarys asked, running a hand through his hair. Clara made the mistake of looking at him. This was why it was so hard to hate him, Avarys was gorgeous, he was too damned likable.
"It says-" Clara sucked in a sharp breath, remembering the blasted fortune she wanted to forget. "We're destined to marry. Or something like that." She said sourly, and she felt worse when he looked so happy.
Was she the bad guy now? It was scary how with just a smile he could shatter the walls she had built so tall around herself. It was scary how with just acting nice he could jump through all her fences. But every time, she'd build all her defenses back again and they'd go through the same song and dance of her blocking him out and him climbing her walls.
It was frightening, how he knows, and how she knows that she can't keep on pushing him out all the time. It was like a battle of wills. Every visit it's like they're fighting a different war altogether, and he's just waiting for Clara to just drop her armor and maybe let him love her.
Avarys truly was the strongest capture chara. MC can't defeat him and now that he's on the attack, Clara's doomed.
She knows, she knows that it's only a matter of time before one of them gives. She was scared, she was scared of letting him in, of getting attached to him. She was scared everytime she looks in a mirror, because she's beginning to look a lot more like Clara Skotadi, Lovelorn's worst villain.
The idea of loving him was frightening.
"Clara," Avarys called out, and it shocked her how he's suddenly so close, cupping her face. Wasn't he sitting in her bed a while back?
"Hmm?"
"I said, should I get my fortune as well?" He asked pleasantly. He was devastatingly beautiful it was unfair.
"No," She disagreed. "You don't need to. We don't need fortunes do we?"
"We don't."
Clara hummed lightly. "I- I'm going to carve my own future. I don't need fortunes."
"Do you need my help?" He asked, and Clara whipped her head back to look at him in shock.
What did he just-
"The future you wanted, do you need my help?" He asked once again, completely unaffected. "I feel like you do."
Clara never thought about it that way. She was completely dumbstruck. Does she need his help?- To avoid his bad end?
She, she never thought about it that way!
Her eyes were blown wide and her throat felt parched. Like, she never thought of that! She was always I gotta avoid him to avoid his bad end, but getting help avoiding that from her future murderer himself?- How absurd.
Okay, absurd, but it has sense.
"You know Clara, I'm always here. You just have to reach out to me," He said gently, before pulling away. "I hope you know that."
"Avarys?"
"Hmm?"
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going home," He declared abruptly."I promised Fa- King Sanguis that I'd return home early today. There's this court meeting I have to attend."
"So soon?"
God she shouldn't have asked that. He gave a teasing smile. "Do you want me to stay?"
"No, go." She shooed him stubbornly, waving her hand to his direction and looking away.
"Clara," Avarys called out, before walking out of her bedroom door. "Just remember.... what I told you about..."
"I know." She said with finality, and she heard the door click shut.
Clara leaned on her vanity mirror, pushing back a few of her brushes and perfumes. She propped her elbows on its small table then placed her forehead in the palm of her hands, fingers digging into her hair.
His help?
Maybe she does need it.
But what's scary was her traitorous heart. Why- Why is her stupid, stupid heart skipping a beat?
Geez.
She must be going crazy after all.
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Eyoo, Mika here folks,
So I got a new chapter out~~ Hoozaaaa. It's kinda fun writing about Clara and her problems. I missed writing about her huehue
So good thing I finished writing this earlier today. I feel like shit, school and people has weighed me down so much ಸ_ಸ
I hope you had a great day!
Lots of Love, Mika♡♡