Chapter 35

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖆𝖞 𝕴 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖉 𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙

***

I wanted to ask if I was dreaming but it felt surreal how did he know my name... but as soon as I woke up, I heard people from around my room crying while others were holding my hands.

I looked around and I was indeed in my room. My bed was also the same but my eyes couldn't conceive the people in my room.

Anna, Doctor Brian, my parents, my friends, and the servants in the household were in my room, and when I turned beside me, I saw the one who was holding my hand.

"Your Highness?" I asked. He turned to look at me from gazing at our hands. I could see curiosity, sadness, and...longing...? His eyes showed some emotions I wasn't familiar with in the past.

They all look different now, but I couldn't care less when my mind was too preoccupied with the people gathering in my room

"Are there any problems?" I asked but my parents started to cry, Claudius came near me and eventually bowed. My friends also came but they hugged me instead.

Caliere never bothered to let go of my hand on the other side even though my friends kept on hugging me.

"Milady, I apologize for not being able to find you that day!!! We searched and searched for the whole night and even today only to find you sleeping in your room..." Claudius spoke and the others nodded.

I narrowed my eyes since my head seemed to be shaking. Then suddenly memories from that moment came building to my mind that I ushered the name without thinking...

"Crane..."

It made the people around me flinch and my friends let go of me. Their eyebrows seemed to crease and they opened them but I couldn't even hear their words. Silence overwhelmed us and my mother who was crying earlier suddenly fainted.

Claudius who was previously bowing stood frozen and one by one, the servants went away from my room. My friends talked to me about the words they did while I was away.

Cain and Celna made commands with their knights to find me around the capital, Claudius did the same and reported back to my parents that night. He wasn't punished but he was reminded by words.

Henry disguised as someone and helped to find me in the market. All of them didn't even sleep a wink but when they looked at me earlier, they seemed to exhale some breaths.

And I indeed felt guilty for running away from that night especially that Claudius might be punished just because of my intuition.

When almost all of my friends walked outside of my room, Henry, and Claudius remained with Caliere still sitting by my side. He was still holding onto my hand but his gaze wasn't fixed on me anymore but on the two young men in front of me.

I don't know what kind of face he's making but I can feel from the grip of his hand to mine that he wasn't pleasant seeing me with them.

Shaking some unnecessary thoughts off my head, I faced them and it was already Henry's turn to hug me

"Silly, you could have been kidnapped for all we know and if that happened, God knows how much I would kill that person who tried to harm even a single strand of your hair, Vestia..." I chuckled when Henry let me go and I wiped his tears from my free hand.

I could feel how Caliere's hand tightened on my other but I managed to shrugged those off. Since a friend would always stay by my side no matter what then anything romantic interest would.

"Don't worry, that's why I'm here, okay? I'm fine Henry..." The look he was giving me said that he was not yet satisfied. That's when I reassured him with a chuckle.

Henry couldn't help but eye me enough for Claudius' turn to hug me and this time, he stayed hugging me the longest while crying on my shoulders.

"I thought that I couldn't see you anymore, Vestia. You made me worried about that move of yours. Please don't do that again, Vestia..." I nodded in resonating with his emotions and before I knew it, my vision also became foggy.

"I think we should talk later on. But I hope the others understood, okay?" When I said those, they nodded but when I looked at Caliere, his eyes seemed to narrow to the two but my eyes widened when I realized about Henry.

My sight remained on the door of my room after Caliere asked the two to go out for a moment before finally speaking to me.

"Vestia..." he said but my vision was captured by that single name. My name.

He said it without any formality and yet, why do I feel like it's so full of sincerity and gentleness? My eyes went wide when I looked at his eyes looking at me. For that split second I shouldn't do what I did and so I was about to shift my attention to another place when he held my chin.

"I didn't know that speaking your name made me feel warm," he said but there was a look in his eyes that spoke some lies or some truths hidden away.

I couldn't help biting my lower lip and that's when he chuckled.

"Do you remember what I told you when we're having our dance lessons?"

"..." My gaze fixed on his lips but I never responded, not when my throat got a hold of my voice.

"Don't bite your lips if it will hurt," he said and there, he gently unfolded my lips looking at them like he was hungry, and suddenly heat crept to my face, not until it turned too cold for his following words.

"I thought as your fiancé, I was the only one allowed to call you by your name but..." he paused, and the hand that touched my lips almost as if drawing them, painting it on my face went to his mouth as he licked his thumb.

My eyes couldn't get anymore wider than his actions but the way he leaned in closer to my ears as I felt his hot breath on mine made my chest feel as if the drum within was about to explode.

"Your friends, especially those two called you in your name and you know what Vestia?" I feel his hand move from my hand to the side of my cheeks only to tuck some strands of my hair to my ears.

"I felt like someone was taking away what's mine and everyone knows..." he paused as he went back to face me. I still couldn't look him in the eyes that's why I continued looking at his red thin lips.

"What happens when they slipped something that wasn't theirs to begin with, Vestia..." his voice became darker and darker and his gaze was soft and tender and became dangerous like he was glaring for his prey.

"Didn't I say it before as well?"

"..." I couldn't speak. Everything even my senses felt cold. These actions of his made me think that he went back to becoming cold in the past. His icy glare almost ripped my soul out if he wasn't able to blink them away and sighed afterward.

"Be careful of the young master from the Vellitas household as well as those people around you. You never know who could be the black rabbit, Vestia..."

I gulped at his words, but suddenly my mind kept on bringing me back to the past.

No, if I want to end that cycle then I have to start now. I closed my eyes for a moment before taking a few deep breaths. Then when I opened them, the young man I'm seeing right now is like a replica of his mature past self.

If I had been better before thinking I had enough then this should be the right way to handle things to end it.

"Your Highness," I paused as I held his hand.

"Even though you told me to be careful, they are still my friends and we cared for each other. Do you know what friendships are, Your Highness?"

His eyes widened and it seemed that he was taken aback. But after blinking his surprise, he managed to shake his head.

He closed his open mouth and looked at our hands that I'd been caressing since earlier.

"Friendship means trust. Because if you have great friends behind your back, you know that you will never be lost even if the direction you have taken is not the right path. They will be able to guide you back and that's what friends are for..." I said.

"Friends, huh?" were his words before looking at his hands.

"So, until then, Your Highness, until you have found the one that you truly love, can we be friends at the very least?" I didn't know that this would be the start of him opening his heart to me.

Not when I wasn't prepared to accept everything.

He gazed at my offered hand for so long before sighing and taking it.

"Then friends it is..."

We talked for a moment before he finally said his last words

"Then who is Crane?"

***

"Don't worry, I kept my promise about your parents and friends regarding Henry..."