The second, his words left his tongue, realization kicked her hard. Her eyes slightly dilated and dropped down to fall on her clothes. Anxiety of leaving the mansion was so hard that she ran away without changing her clothes back. Now that, she was still wearing the clothes that belonged to the maid, it was impossible to avoid Cedric's sharp eyes.
Indeed he was grazing through her each part of fabric. A part of his mind wandered that what could be the reason behind her new attire. He only hoped that Ayra didn't go out of her boundaries. Sometimes giving too much freedom wasn't justified.
Ayra's eyes dropped to fall somewhere else on the floor without meeting his obvious eyes. Today, his aura was seemingly terrifying. His voice, the way he ran his fingers across her cold lips, it wasn't usual like the past. He wanted to hear the truth from her mouth but the truth could only destroy them both. Besides Jessie was involved in this case of visiting Grandpa Atlus. Ayra was worried about Jessie more than herself.
After a moment of dense silence, Ayra muttered squeezing her smile that didn't match with her facial expression,
" It..It was Sister Jessie..She..she wanted to protect me..Your Highness! I have done nothing wrong."
The last part from her words came out with less confidence. She prayed that Cedric wouldn't push the matter anymore and would let go of her easily. Her words only brought more darkness in his eyes.
Instead of letting her go, Cedric pulled his lips up together into a devious smirk. A smirk that sent through her spine. A smirk which silently defined that she was dead in hands. Cedric pulled his eyes up to rest on her silently. Keeping the connection between their eyes, he spoke back with hint of seriousness, anger behind his voice,
" Let me tell you something in advance, Princess. If you don't learn how to be truthful with me, either you decide to skip my questions or just stay mute but do not lie to me. I hate those people who take advantages of my affection. I certainly don't look forward to seeing such actions from you."
You never know how much a person can affect your emotions unless you have heard him saying something painful which you didn't expect to hear from him. Ayra was having the same realization. The word 'advantage' felt heavy and bitter in her heart. She could anything with him but taking advantage of people were never in her personality. Above all, why was it painful to hear from his mouth today? She didn't love him from the beginning. She was just another play thing in his eyes when they were married to each others.
Painful thoughts began to cloud her mind as she sucked a sharp breath, lifting her jaw up to stare at his cold face and eyes. What if Grandpa was right about him? What if he wasn't the person that he was acting in front of her? What if he hid a big secret from her?
Those questions didn't leave her mind and he had already began to accuse her wrongly. She took a step forward, raising her head up to ask him in serious voice,
" What about you, Cedric? Have you been truthful to me all this time? Have you never hidden anything from me? I don't know about your existence clearly. You blocked my magic in your palace for what? You don't trust me or.."
Ayra paused between her words, nearing closer and she breathed out the last part of her words heavily,
" You don't trust yourself?"
The atmosphere turned heavy between them. With her series of questions pointing at Cedric, he could tell that his demon was pushing him to awake on surface but she wasn't meant to be hurt by him. She was too precious to get hurt.
Instead of answering to her questions, Cedric gave her a small smile. Coming forward to look into her eyes seriously, he informed searching the fear in her eyes that he liked to see in others eyes always,
" Do you know what I did with the previous women who came to serve me for talking back with me?"
That hurts! The thought of being compared with those girls who came to serve him on the bed hit her heart straight. She sucked a short breath, her lips trembling together in order to keep her anger, pains down. Her response came out sharply, challenging his patience as she stumbled forward,
" No! I don't know! Why don't you show me then? I am the same woman like those in your eyes."
Cedric's face grimaced after she replied to him so blatantly. All this while, he believed that he had treated her differently than others. But the truth was that she never appreciated his affection for her.
Cedric swallowed hard angrily and with a stiff smile, he replied switching his gaze between her dark orbs,
" You won't appreciate the way I am, Princess. A demon only knows how to burn the things out, not to coax."
Ayra challenged back, coming forward to demand haughtily,
" Since I am tied with you, I will have to burn today or tomorrow. What are you hesitating for? Are you scared that I will hate you or you will hate yourself?"
Black lines formed on his forehead when she kept testing on his patience. Without bothering to reply her instantly, he pulled her arms up, turned her around to press against the wall. This time, she was facing him from back and his low growls were turning her frustrated, angry at the same time.
Cedric breathed into her ears, slowly,
" I remember that you owed me another night with bikini, Princess. It's time to keep your promise and do not expect that this time, I will treat you nicely."
Ayra didn't retort back and he took a step back to order her like he did on those slaves who used to come in his room,