Chapter 56: Chapter 56

KAIST:

The words that came out of the lady’s mouth were completely preposterous…

“I need you to tempt Lady Dahlia Hurst for me so that we can separate her and Count Abell. We need to pull this marriage apart,” she said once more.

My jaw was hanging open. What was she saying so bluntly?

I continued to look at her, completely thunderstruck. Was she able to read minds?

“Prince Kaist, do you want to sit down so that you could recover?”

I nodded slowly towards her. She walked closer to me and held me on the shoulders. “Alright, sit there. I’ll help you.”

She stepped side by side with me towards the bench on the pavilion where she was previously sitting. She held me gently by the arms and helped me sit down as she had promised.

“Do you want anything to drink?”

“N-no,” I said, still a bit shaken, “more importantly, Lady Livia… Did you mean what you just said?”

“Of course… Are you feeling better now? Do you want me to continue discussing it?”

I gazed back at Lady Livia’s face and she was as expressionless as a slab of stone. Was she even human?...

“Like I said earlier, my prince, the plan is to separate Count Abell from the countess. I don’t think that’s hard to do given that they had only been wedded for three months.”

“How do you propose to do that?”

“You have to seduce the lady. I’ll take care of Count Abell.”

Still, her light violet eyes were devoid of all emotions. I think I can feel more energy coming from the diamond she was wearing than from her soul…

“And why on earth must we do that?”

“I think you will agree with me that Count Abell and the lady are definitely not a good match.”

“Well, I agree… but to break them apart? Why are you doing it?”

“Didn’t you like that lady a lot?”

Again, my face must have looked like an idiot in front of that girl… How does she know what I truly felt when even Dahlia herself was not aware of it?

“It’s easy enough to see, Prince Kaist, so don’t get so worked up. Plus if she were my fiancé, I won’t let her go that easily… I’m sure were thinking of the same thing, am I not right?”

I was still speechless. Lady Livia took this as a cue to continue.

“The two of them are only setting themselves into a greater heartache should they stay together. If we could pull them apart as early as now, then I think it’ll all be better, especially for Count Abell in the long run.”

It was now my turn to speak.

“What is it to you, Lady Jeteris? Why do you want to separate the count from his wife?”

“Prince Kaist, the relationship that they have right now… It’s all built on lies… Wouldn’t you want to break that apart if I were you?”

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DAHLIA:

I expected Tristan to become morose or to stay silent. I expected him to feign ignorance and deny my accusations, but I did not expect that he would laugh softly at me.

“My Dahlly, are you jealous?”

I wanted to scream my heart out at him, just like how Eva was screaming wildly inside of me, but I held my tongue.

“Answer my question… Where were you earlier,” I said firmly.

Tristan always had the ability to calm me down, but not this time. Until he tells me the truth, I won’t walk away from my damn question!

“I was with Lady Livia in my study, Dahlly. I gave her a birthday gift.”

“And why would you do that?”

“Lady Livia is someone very close to my heart. She is a good friend of mine. If you could get to know her more, you’ll come to like her too, I’m sure.” He hugged me even closer, resting his head at my neck, kissing it lightly.

I wanted to sneer at him, but I had no energy.

“Why didn’t you tell me about her first if she was really someone you valued this much?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. She’s awfully shy, and she dislikes being with people in general… If I hadn’t begged her, she would not really come today… I know she seemed cold and frigid to you, but she’s really a nice person if you get to know her, Dahlly.”

“Well, she may be your friend, but I don’t think she would like to be mine.”

“Was it because of what happened when we welcomed them earlier? I already talked to her about it. It’s just that she doesn’t seem to be in a good mood…”

“And why isn’t she in a good mood? Was it because of me?”

“Of course, not Dahlly… A lot of things had happened to her recently… You’d understand if you knew it well.”

“That’s right, if I knew it, I’d -”

My words were cut off by a rap on the door. It was Gideon.

“My lord and lady, it’s almost time. Could you join us back at the party?”

“Almost time for what,” I asked, perplexed

Tristan simply smiled and pulled me upwards from the chair. He offered his left arm to me.

“You’ll see…”

I linked my arm to him. Even though there were still many questions that lingered in my head, I took his hand and walked out of the room.

Was Livia really just his friend? Why didn’t Tristan mention Lady Livia before if they were really that close? Why would he give her such a precious gift, and why would he let her hug him? Lastly, why would he let her speak of me like that if they were just friends?

My heart felt like it was buried in splinters. I didn’t know whether I should trust Tristan or not on this. Maybe Kaist was right. I should have stormed in the study right then and there; then, I would have gotten the answers I wanted.

Before I realized it, Tristan had already walked me into the veranda overlooking the garden where the party was being held. Everyone was already there, looking at us expectantly.

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting, everyone. My wife and I are really glad that you could come tonight. As we celebrate our coming together, I hope you could also celebrate with us as we proclaim our love for each other.”

One of the attendants for the night who was bearing two wine glasses full of red liquor went closer to Tristan. He handled him the glass. Tristan passed one to me and held the other wine glass in his hand, all the while clutching my right hand.

“I propose a toast for my wife and I! Our relationship did not start in the most ideal way, but one thing is for sure. I love with my wife with all my heart, and I would not let anything to separate us from each other.”

“To countess Dahlia and Count Tristan,” someone from among the crowd said.

“To the count and countess,” the people said in unison right after.

I looked at Tristan as he drank the wine in his hand, the velvet liquor coursing to his lips, his throat making waves as he took it in.

He momentarily stopped and looked at me.

“You’re not drinking. Why is it,” he said with a worried expression on his face.

“Ah… Yes,” I proceeded to tip the glass of wine from my hand into my lips, but Tristan, who had just finished his and discarded his empty wine glass into a nearby table, took the wine glass from my hand.

I watched as he drank the wine himself that was meant for me.

He did not finish it though, and as abruptly as he took the wine glass from my hand, he went closer towards me and pressed his lips against mine.

By instinct, my lips parted automatically to receive his kiss. It wasn’t a simple kiss though…

Using his mouth, he passed on the contents of the wine glass into my mouth.

I was taken aback, but I recovered quickly. As soon as the kiss ended, I gulped down the wine that came from his own mouth.

It tasted like Tristan…

“No one can take you away from me, Dahlia… You are mine as I am yours. We are always for each other…”

I shuddered. Even though the words were whispered by someone who appears to be tipsy, I could feel the sincerity and the intent in Tristan’s voice. At the same time, I could feel that he had meant everything he said as a threat not towards me but towards someone else.

I followed the direction of his stare, which went past me.

It went straight to Lady Livia and Prince Kaist who were standing amongst the crowd.