Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Unable to keep her mouth closed, Sara stared at her reflection with wide eyes and dropped jaw, for a few seconds she couldn’t believe the person in the mirror was none other but herself.

Looking at towards Geraldine who chuckled a little, she voiced her question only for the black-haired girl to confirm it and Sara finally understood why did it take that long to get ready, at first, Geraldine made her take a long scented bath, replacing her usual jasmine essence with roses and lavender one, she then used several cylinders to curl her hair, the strands were pulled too tight, and once taken the shapes of beautiful loose curls, Geraldine applied some sort of transparent cream on it before gathering it in a beautiful updo, and the fringe prolapsed on both sides of her face like silky curtains. Her makeup was kept soft and elegant to not hide her natural beauty, Geraldine wanted to see how would the silver-haired girl look with some bold red lipstick but it wouldn’t have matched her dress.

Sara never knew about the existence of a torture tool called corset before, each time Geraldine pulled the strings, she would let out a little gasp, she always thought she had a good body with a thin waist as all the dresses her father got her fit her without that godforsaken corset, however, in Geraldine’s eyes, her organs needed to be rearranged for the dress to fit the way it should, once done, Sara took small inhales to familiarize herself with that handicapped manner of breathing while Geraldine helped her put on the dress and the shoes.

Once done, Sara stood in front of the mirror to admire herself, she was never that proud of her looks and unique allure, and just as she turned back, Eren made his way to the room. For few seconds, each stared at the other silently, each lost in how breathtaking the other looked, while Sara was wearing a pale pink dress with a large skirt and hundreds of little diamonds decorating it, Eren was wearing a white and golden suit, his hair was combed backward without a single strand out of place, allowing his handsome features and dazzling eyes to be more noticeable.

Seeing him walk toward her, Sara blushed a little and lowered her eyes, unable to take his intense gaze on her anymore, once the duke was one step away from her, he talked with a polite yet authoritative voice.

“Miss Geraldine…” She had almost forgotten that her assistant was there in the room with them, for a moment it felt as if there was no one else but her and her good friend, glancing toward the black-haired girl, she noticed that she wasn’t smiling that bright anymore.

“Thank you so much for your hard work, you did a great job, my guards will make sure to get you home safe.” At his words, Geraldine smile completely fell and appeared as if she was glaring at him, however, the duke looked back at her calmly, his eyes didn’t waver nor did his expression, they exchanged a “glare” for a fleeting second, and Sara couldn’t help but feel suspicious about it.

Nodding succinctly, Geraldine turned toward Sara to offer her a short cold smile before walking out of the room, not even waiting to hear the girl’s thanks.

Turning toward Eren with a questioning gaze, she saw her friend chuckle before stepping closer to her, standing only one step away, he took her hand to kiss the back of it.

“You look breathtaking, my fair lady”, Sara felt his cold lips linger longer on her hand and couldn’t help but blush even more, he didn’t let go of her hand once he was done kissing it and instead kept it gently gripped in his.

“You look so handsome yourself.”

“Is that so? I am glad to hear this as I was honestly thinking about changing back to my black attire.” Seeing her questioning gaze, he chuckled a little.

“I was missing you stealing shy glimpses my way, I thought you might have disliked me in white in gold. It was a devastating blow to my tiny ego honestly since I thought that I have walked straight out of a fairy tale.”

“Prince charming in shining attire.” Sara laughed a little, he indeed looked so beautiful and polished, however, she couldn’t help but miss that edgy impression about him when dressed in black.

“What was that with Geraldine?”, Sara asked the question troubling her, for some reason, she couldn’t shake off that uneasiness in her heart, the way they looked at each other seemed as if they were understanding each other through their eyes, just how close were they to be able to do so?

Sara didn’t really know why did that thought bothered her a lot but it did, she had nothing against Geraldine as the assistant was nothing but nice and helpful, she was also very beautiful, polished, dignified with perfect manners, she was independent with her own job, in one word she was perfect in every way, and Sara feared that Eren thought the same.

“Don’t dwell about it my fair lady, we just had some arguments over her duties from now on.”

“Duties?” Sara asked, perplexed this time.

“Yes, Look, Sara, I don’t know how this night might end and I don’t mean to be a pessimist. However, we need to keep in mind that the chances of it having a happy ending are quite slim, and I needed to plan some things ahead, just in case.”

“If that happened, then I will go back to the shack, Eren, I will not trouble you any…”

Before she could finish her words, Eren placed his finger on her lips, and just like his lips, his finger was cold, sending a delicious shiver down her spine, his eyes were so intense on her, and because he was standing too close, she had to tilt her head up in order to meet his gaze, the posture making her feel somehow towered and small, and she liked it.

“Please know that I will not allow it, my fair lady, you might not know this but there have been many demon attacks lately and the forest is no longer safe, I want to keep you somewhere where my eyes can find you, where I can protect you and ensure you are having a decent life, I am sorry if I am being a pusher and stepping out of my line, but you have starved there and nearly got yourself killed.” Stepping closer to her, He placed a hand on her blushing cheek, “Please don’t ask me to sit still while knowing you might be facing dangers, my fair lady, allow me to take care of you.”

Not knowing what to say, Sara nodded shyly, she still intended to make herself useful in one way or another as she considered his kindness a dept she planned to pay, but in the same time, she couldn’t help but admit to herself that she really wanted to stay with him, the days she had spent with him were her happiest and she didn’t want them to end.

“What if I met father?”, Sara then remembered this very important detail and she was instantly worried, what if her father forced her to severe her ties with her best friend? What would she do then?

“Well, in that case, I intend to take the next step and make things official.”

Sara wondered what did he mean by that, but her friend didn’t answer, instead, he moved his fingers to touch the delicate chain of the necklace he had given her.

“I am afraid this necklace doesn’t match your dress nor the occasion, My fair lady.”

“Geraldine said so as well, but I refused to take it off, I, cherish it.”

“Can I have it back?” Seeing her shocked and unwilling expression, Eren chuckled before explaining himself.

“Just for the night, Sara, I will personally place it back on your neck once the ceremony is over, but meanwhile, you need something heavier.” He said as he unclasped the necklace, making sure to trail his fingers on her soft neck, the feeling made her want to close her eyes and sigh blissfully, and it did a similar thing to him, her skin felt very delicate and warm and addictive to touch.

Taking out a velvet box from his jacket, Eren lead Sara toward the mirror, Sara looked at their reflection and the way he placed himself behind her, her face was beyond red in that moment as she felt very aware of their position, there was barely an inch that separated their bodies, it was too much to be close enough yet in the same, too little to be far enough.

If Eren noticed her blushing he didn’t address it, instead, he busied himself on placing the pieces of jewelry on her, first were the diamond earrings and then the collar, once he was done, he looked at her through the mirror with a satisfied smile.

“These suits the dress and the occasion better, and I will be accompanied by the night sky herself tonight.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your face, it is more beautiful than the moon and these diamonds look like little stars around you, they are brilliant indeed but can never over shine you. However, I don’t want anyone to mistake this moon as unclaimed.” Eren said as he placed a mask on her face.

The mask only covered her upper face and was made of silver lines intertwined together in beautiful patterns with little diamonds decorating it.

“What do you mean?” Sara asked, she liked the mask and how enigmatic it made her look but she still didn’t understand why did she have to wear one.

“You probably know that a king should be married before taking the throne, it is a way to ensure he, and his queen, are able to provide the throne with heirs, but  because Prince Henry’s coronation is urgent and unplanned, that rule have been overlooked on the condition that he starts looking for a wife among the nobles, and not just him, all the noble families of this kingdom, as well as the royalties and nobles from other kingdoms, would attend this ball, and everyone would want to establish some connections, the best ways to do it is through marriage.” Eren stopped to help her wear the expensive fur cloak, “In order to not make this whole thing interest-based only, the ones concerned are still given a merge of choice to pick up a person they actually like from the noble circle. And that is why, my fair lady, bachelors, and bachelorettes in these occasions don’t wear anything on their faces in a sign to show their spinsterhood and receptivity, this how, a person can approach another that they find interesting safely without the risk of hitting on someone’s partner and anger their noble houses, wearing a mask in these occasions is a way to state that the person is engaged.”

“But I am not engaged!”, Sara realized she had said the wrong words when she noticed the angry frown on his face, and after one second of thinking, his earlier words came back to her…

“I don’t want anyone to mistake this moon as unclaimed”

They stared at each other, their eyes saying volumes, Sara’s lips parted slightly, feeling the words right at the tip of her tongue but unable to say them, and he looked at her with a way that said he knew that she understood what he meant but still couldn’t say it out loud, not yet at least.

Sara opened her mouth to say something then closed it right back, she had so much to say but no words to say them, nothing in her vocabulary sounded enough to describe all the feelings she was having toward that one man.

she just needed one word, a single word to say it all, she looked at his eyes in hopes of finding it written in them, but they were just as lost as hers, and instead of looking at her eyes he looked a little a bit down.

He looked at her lips, and she did the same, his lips suddenly looked so tempting and delicious, calling her to test their softness, her dress became tighter for some reason and she was no longer able to breathe normally, or was it the room that got hotter.

“We better get going, My fair lady.” Sara was disappointed for losing the moment but nevertheless nodded in agreement, she took a deep breath to clear her head before following him toward the black carriage that was waiting for them outside, it was dusk already and the sun was far gone, leaving a reddish trail behind it.

Once the carriage was far enough, a dark shadow emerged from the trees and watched the carriage speeding away with angry red eyes, the black-haired girl licked her lips, savoring the taste of fresh blood, it didn’t satisfy her though for she was yearning for another’s blood.