Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Clutching the hem of her silken red and golden sleepwear, Shia walked briskly towards the dining area where she was positive that she could find the very man or monster that she was looking for. She walked head on as Langrey trailed behind her with his shouts.

Even when he pleaded, she did not stop at all for Langrey’s questions. It seems she could not hear anything outside her intent to hurt and her seething rage. She only stopped abruptly and involuntarily when the prince clung to her arm and spun her wildly around.

“Shia, this is enough! Do you really want to go in there in that state? Don’t let your anger cloud your judgement!”

She yanked her hand away from his grasp and began walking again.

Frankly, she did not care if she looked badly bruised all over or if she was underdressed for the occasion. Proper decorum had long since gone out the window for Shia the moment she learned that the creature who had hurt her was moving somewhere else in the manor. Even if she were naked, she wouldn’t have cared. Contrary to what Langrion believed, she was also of sound mind. In fact, she had already conceived the most gruesome way that she could hurt him back using her own two hands; but of course, using the dagger was her best option. All she needed to do is to come face to face with her attacker so that she could fulfil the plan exactly as it was in her head. Thus, she did not care to listen at all on what Langrion had to say. She was confident that she can do well to avenge herself on her own.

Shia reached the dining hall and saw the face of the man she sought. He was sitting at the farthest chair at the end of the table, enjoying a hearty meal. Without any warning, she poised the dagger she carried from the bedroom for an attack and charged straight at him, aiming for his neck.

When Langrion spoke to Shia earlier, he was hesitant to admit that it must have been his brother who assaulted her. The shock of what she had just revealed to him was written all over his face, but Shia knew that her instincts were right. If it was not Langrey who attacked her that night, it can only be none other but his twin brother.

Growing up far away from the Capitol, Shia did not know much about the Imperial Family. She had never seen them up close. However, rumors about the numerous scandals the Imperial Family was involved in have reached her family’s ears from time to time during the many years they travelled. This included the ugly piece of news that the princes who would inherit the throne were positively deranged.

Now, she knew that the rumors must be true. She had witnessed it herself how evil the other Imperial Prince was. But unlike those in the rumors where the victims usually died and were buried in some unnamed graves or whose silence were bought at a high cost by the palace, she would not let her aggressor get away unscathed.

“Forget it. Forget what had happened today. I will try to speak to him...” Langrion pleaded earlier to her while they were still in his bed.

“I want to speak to him myself.” Shia said with resolution as hard as stone.

By this time, Shia had become fully aware that she is neither in her own room nor at any of the rooms in the Littman Manor. Therefore, Langrion could have only brought her back to his own childhood house, the Rubiyah Manor. Additionally, if her hunch was right, his brother was also breathing the same air as they were somewhere inside this house.

She glanced at the intricate hour glass by the wall; it looked like it was still the time for dinner. Shia quickly stood up from the bed, and she found her clothes from earlier neatly folded in one of the armchairs inside Langrion’s room. She even found one of the pairs of her shoe. It suddenly brought back the memories of that moment she hated the most...

Swallowing back the rising lump of possible tears down her throat, Shia focused on looking or rather feeling amongst the layers of her dress. She felt for the dagger that she always brought inside a hidden fold of her fancy dress from earlier.

Shia unsheathed the dagger and started walking to the door. If her instincts were right, she could come face to face with him at the dining hall during this hour.

She would have immediately come out through the door if Langrion had not strongly embraced her at that point.

“Don’t do this, Shia. Don’t let your anger consume you... I’m sure that Danterion can explain-”

“Do you not believe my story, Langrey?... Do you think I am lying?...” Shia said quietly, turning around towards Langrion and facing him fully.

It felt so hard to ask these questions to the person she had come to trust the most. She knew in her heart that he would choose his family over her – a mere stranger and a person whose only function was to pretend to be his bride. She knew for a fact that he had no weight in his heart, and it was breaking her spirits into pieces. However, she held her head high. Even if she knew what his answers would be, she would not crumble nor back down.

He loosened his embrace against her body, but he remained speechless and was unable to look directly in her eyes.

“I believe you....” he finally said as he looked at her, “But I think I am the one to blame for all of this... I think I turned him into a monster... It was because of me that he had started descending into madness!”

Shia could see the traces of guilt written across his face. This was not the usual, blank face that Langrion wore when he tried to reason out or argue with her in the past. He was sweating profusely. His eyes had a tinge of terror in them. His face was full of immeasurable worry. This must be the face he wears when cornered with the truth.

“Years of abuse from our father had done a lot of damage to him, yet he has always been my protector, the one person who defended me. But after hearing that our mother killed herself because of me, he started to lose part of himself... He started acting like my father to everyone else... It was because of me that he turned out this way...” Langrion continued with a face that looked so crestfallen, Shia wanted to take it in her hand and caress it, but she resisted.

Shia listened as he heavily drew out his words. It felt as if he was truly coming from a place of deep pain and guilt, of regret from things he had no control over, just like the day when he ordered Khailis and her to kill him if they fail to remove his curse.

She understood what he must be feeling. However, she knew that the logic he had presented him was flawed. His love for his brother was shielding him away from the truth and from exercising his power of judgement.

She held his face tenderly in her hand. “Doing diabolical acts to others is still a choice, Langrey. Even if certain circumstances did make him the way that he is now, choosing to hurt me or any other person is his choice alone... Please stop feeling responsible for the things that he does. It’s time he owns up to his actions accordingly, even just this once...”

Shia turned around and did not wait for him to respond. She bolted out of the door immediately into the official dining area of the manor.

Now, Shia has finally arrived at the most crucial moment, as she held a dagger against the surprised face of another prince who looked exactly like Langrey.

“We meet again, dear prince!” Shia exclaimed over her seething rage as her blood boiled uncontrollably inside her body. “Did you miss me?!” she hissed.

She was expecting him to laugh at her with his wicked laugh hours before and to look at her with his sick, purplish eyes, but even against the dim flickers of the candle lights, Shia could only make out the two ocean-blue irises that did not look like he was familiar to her at all. She scanned his face too, but she did not see any fingernail marks on it, which she had positively left on her attacker a while back.

‘How is this possible?’ Shia wondered. She could not understand how she could be wrong. She was looking back at the face of the person who attacked her, but somehow, it seemed that he does not even have a hint of who she was or why she is doing this...

Before Shia could clear the confusion in her own head, however, the metallic sheen of a sword held at the right side of her face caught her eyes. When she followed it up with her gaze, she saw the smirking, detestable, figure of Lord Bragford Fincher.

“Put that weapon down, my lady!” he said, or rather ordered. “Put that down!” he roared even wilder when Shia did not move.

“Shhh, don’t startle her so much! This is rather enjoyable! Let’s see if she could really do this in front of the king,” somebody from behind her said.

Shia looked around and her gaze landed upon the seat that was just a few chairs away to the left. In it sat the golden-haired maiden from the dress shop whose green eyes displayed a smug look.

She drank a bit of wine from her chalice and spoke again, “I was thinking I might be seeing you again tomorrow, but I did not know you would be here tonight attacking my fiancé. I didn’t think Langrey would be able to find a suitable bride, but I was not expecting you to be this foolish and upright barbaric!”

“Enough, Edelfina!” an old, raspy voice spoke. This time, it was from the other end of the long table. Shia turned around to see an old man with a scar just above his right eyebrow. “Don’t taunt our guest like that” he wheezed, “her eyes says she might just do it... One more word to her and you might just end up becoming a widow.”

He turned to Shia and spoke, “Put that dagger down. This dining hall is not a place for murder.”

“You heard what the king said, right?” Lord Fincher spoke. “Why don’t we sit still and put this dagger down, my lady?” he said in a mocking tone.

Shia let out an exasperated breath. ‘What a perfect way to end my day,’ she thought wryly. She was not aware that she had just walked into the dinner party full of the day’s tormentors and mad men.