Adira walked out and the gazes were still there. Some were fiery and burning while some were cold and nipping. She turned to each of the stares she could feel prickling her skin and knew that Iris was doing something behind her back.
"Your highness." Adira suddenly asked for his attention and clung to him in a needy and spoiled way.
Why don't I give you some wood to burn?
"What is it?" Casimir, unmindful of the sudden change in Adira's movements-cause he liked it, turned to her with an adoring and pampering gaze.
"It is so hot in here, maybe because it is summer, but it's so hot. I suddenly want something cold." She whined like how a spoiled princess of the Sylveris dukedom should be.
Adira need not say else more as Casimir immediately casted a cooling spell around the place and even materialized an ice gem that wasn't algid but just enough to cool her down.
"Better?" He asked.
"So much better." She answered with a very lovely smile and that was enough for Casimir.
"My, would you look at that?"
"Yes, she really does abuse her position as the first prince's fiancee."
"How shameful."
"How dare she act so wantonly in front of his highness?"
Adira could hear their not-so-discreet whispering and hid a smirk.
Spread it and may it reach your ring leader.
Casimir heard the whispers and took a threatening step forward accompanied with a very chilling gust of winter coldness-making them wonder if he was still using a spell or was that purely him-before Adira snatched him back.
"Do you trust me?"
Casimir nodded so readily to her serious question.
With all my heart.
"Let me deal with this and everything will be fine." She said and pulled him back to walk towards their intended destination-visit Heise.
"I can't let them say those things about you." Never mind his reputation, no one shall dare tarnish Adira's name if they wanted to live peacefully in their society. Casimir wanted to remind them of that.
"Just stay by my side and look as handsome as you always do. That'll be perfect." She added a wink and finally managed to pacify the great demon lord. After all, for people such as these, she didn't need to use a steel hammer to crush a peanut.
...
Adira and Casimir came back together and Lyfa greeted them.
"Oh, My Lady, you have a guest waiting in the lounge."
"A guest? Who?" Adira nodded and gestured for Casimir to go ahead and visit Heise first while she deals with her uninvited guest.
Casimir was halfway up the stairs when he heard Lyfa's soft voice, clearly being careful not to let him hear.
"It's a man, My Lady."
He rigidly turned to them, his platinum eyes turning colder by the second and clenching the handrail in his hands tighter and tighter till the poor wood cracked in pain.
The two girls need not turn their heads to see Casimir's expression right now-because they were sure to get nightmares from that alone, mainly Lyfa though. The drastic drop in temperature was enough to tell them it wasn't pretty.
"Wh-What d-do you me-mean, Lyfa? Why is that person here? D-Do I know him? D-Did he say his name?"
"N-No, My La-Lady. He ju-just said that he wa-wanted to surprise yo-you."
Oh God! His highness still heard that?! How sharp is his hearing?! Please, Allah, Buddha, Jesus, Zeus, whichever God can hear me, save our souls!
"Le-Let's hurry up and drive that person away, okay? C-Come on." Adira hurriedly yet gently pushed Lyfa away to accompany her to the lounge before the great demon lord does but unfortunately, she was too late.
Casimir had gone back down the steps and walked beside her. His whole presence telling them,
"I'm coming as well."
So, shutting her mouth tight, Adira walked, tensed as hell, towards the lounge where an indigo head with silver edges turned and beamed at her.
"Surprise!" He cried with a big grin on his face and Adira's civil smile twitched uncontrollably.
"You?!" She screamed at him, foregoing her elegance, formality and posture when faced with this annoying man's face.
"Yes! Did I surprise you well?" He grinned.
"What the heck dude?! How did you follow me all the way here?!" She screamed more, completely forgetting that they weren't alone as she succumbed to her irritation and shock.
When this idea flashed through her head, she turned to Casimir to pacify him when the frigid man also had this look of surprise before softly calling out a name,
"Stefan?"
"Brother! Why are you here?" Stefan beamed that floored Adira.
Br-Brother?! He really was a prince?!
"Wha-What?" Adira softly muttered.
"I told you I was a prince! So that's why you talk as if you know a prince, you actually do know one! I didn't expect it to be my brother though." Stefan said and tapped his brother's shoulders who was still as stiff as a frozen iceberg.
"What are you doing here, brother?"
Casimir turned his platinum eyes that held a chilly glare towards Stefan's bluish-green ones.
"What are YOU doing here?" How did you know Adira? Why are you so close to her? How dare you visit her dorm? What are you to her? Why are you here?
"Oh! Brother, this is our secret for now. Actually, I chose this fierce woman as my bride. I'm here to propose." Stefan whispered excitedly and with that, he successfully opened the gates of hell.
In a split second, icicles suddenly sprouted from the thick coating of ice that crept on the walls and the floor and all else from Casimir's spell and stopped just centimeters away from Stefan's chin, threatening so dangerously close to poking him through his skull.
"What did you say?"
"Casey! Stop!"
Adira's cry drowned out Casimir's cold and deathly voice who did not even let off his own brother from trying to pilfer his fiancee out of his grasps.
"Casey?" Stefan repeated and watched Adira's figure wobbly try to balance herself through the ice to get to his fuming brother's side.
Since when did his brother let others call him with his given name? Even allow them to call him a nickname!
"Casimir! Stop this! What's wrong with you? Why are you threatening your brother? Please! Calm down, Casey! Talk to me, okay? You'll tell me, won't you?"
She tried to desperately appease the berserking great demon lord when he turned to her, that impregnable thick frost shining so dangerously in his platinum eyes.
She knows it wasn't the right time or moment, but damn!
How can someone still look this devilishly good even when seconds away from committing murder?! This is outrageous!
"Where were you while I was away?"
"I was back at home. You know that! You dropped me off there yourself, right?"
"How did you come across him?"
"I.. I went back to the plaza to settle some unfinished business and I happened to umm.. run into him. But I swear I wasn't doing anything dangerous!"
"How were you acquainted?"
"We.. We both got into a fight and umm.. I treated him to a meal as an apology to the shop owner who owned the store we fought in front of."
Casimir sighed and held his head. Seriously, the moment he takes his eyes off of her, she unconsciously ends up hooking another man into her clutches.
How does she do that? Why do they keep increasing for God's sake?!
Casimir retracted the icicle and thawed the ice but it didn't mean that Stefan was safe yet. The shadows of death on his eyes were still dancing threateningly, still feeling murderous even if he's already canceled the spell. And he was still ready to shed red.
"Casey, are you fine now?" Adira gently asked him and held his hand. He was as cold as ice. He was really, really mad for whatever reason it was.
"Your highness." Adira called and both of the brothers turned to her.
One was incredibly upset at having to hear her address him as such while the other was still scared out of his wits and his mind in a jumbled mess, unable to wrap his head why his brother was suddenly so hostile towards him.
After remembering that the both of them were princes, she cleared her throat before starting over,
"Your highness, Prince Stefan, can I ask you to please withdraw for now? Casey-I mean, his highness, Prince Casimir's not in the best mood right now and I need to sort this out first."
Wordlessly, Stefan nodded his head and followed the poor shaking Lyfa out the door. Leaving the both of them alone. If anyone can fix the lord of darkness' mood, then it'll be no one but Adira.
"Casey? Can you talk to me?" She still tried to coax the iceberg man and gently squeezed his hand to make him feel her.
Without answering or speaking, Casimir pulled her into his arms and tightly kept her plastered there-inhaling her calming scent of strawberries and milk.
Adira just let him be, ignoring the pain, and patted his back for comfort. She didn't know what triggered him so she didn't know what to do to pacify him.
Should we just act cute for now?
"Umm, Casey. I just thought of something."
She didn't expect Casimir to answer her so she was about to continue when she felt him breathe deep and sigh before humming in a question,
"Mm?"
"I.. didn't know you would still look absolutely fetching even when you're incredibly mad." She shamelessly blurted out and looked up to see Casimir's expression.
Yep. He's shocked, alright? But at least, he's slowly calming down now.
Ah! The sun has risen again. Good job, Adira. Good job. We survived again.
Notes:
Thank you so much to our new batches of commentators! I was so overwhelmed and happy to find new names! I greatly enjoy your comments as always! Thank you so much! Also to the votes that flooded in as well too! Thank you guys!