Chapter 57: The true meaning of the words
Chapter 57: The true meaning of the words
Chapter 57: The true meaning of the wordsAve’s eyes widened as she felt the coldness of the blade pressed dangerously close to her neck. It was so close that she could feel it cutting into her skin as she swallowed hard. The room was already dark, and she couldn’t see anything but the silhouette of the person pressing one hand to her mouth, while the other held the dagger.
Oh no, was she being assassinated like in those historical dramas she enjoyed watching? Would she be killed with no one knowing until her body was discovered by a maid? She could feel her heart slamming forcefully against her chest as her legs turned to jelly from fear.
However, as fear began to settle in her heart, so did her survival instinct. She wouldn’t die without at least trying to fight this intruder who had passed through the palace guards and entered her room.
Ave was about to lift her leg to kick the person, but he sensed her action and moved forward, pressing himself against her to the wall while the dagger pressed deeper into her skin. Before she could think of anything else, a familiar scent swirled to her nose making her body stiffen as she recognized the scent, no matter where she was.
She looked up at the person’s face as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and was met with burning flames, eyes like fire boring down at her. Lucian.
"Try to move again, and watch me cut you limb from limb," he warned in a calmly dangerous voice that sent Ave’s hair standing on end and made her heart tremble.
Why was he trying to kill her again after knowing she had no bad intentions toward him? Was he so pissed that she’d caused him to lose focus and end up getting injured?
Ave tried to speak, but his palm covering her mouth stopped her, and his dagger also made her too afraid to move recklessly and end up dying.
"You think you can get away with lying to me, woman," he said slowly. "I will ask you one last time, and if you dare lie to my face again, I will slit your throat."
Ave’s eyes widened. She lied to him? When?
"Who are you, and why do you want to kill me?" he asked in a terrifyingly low voice. Lucian had been waiting here for her the whole time after he’d found out the meaning of those strange words she’d murmured in her sleep and the ones she’d used in his presence. After all, it was said that some people were more vulnerable while asleep and would speak out their intentions without their knowledge.
He’d waited here for hours,
"Come here," he beckoned her forward with his two fingers without looking at her. Tucking his other hand into his pocket, he retrieved a piece of parchment paper.
Ave didn’t move from her position and remained where she was, fearing he might use his dagger, which he hadn’t put away, to cut her again. She wasn’t stupid enough to step into a lion’s den after she’d narrowly escaped from it. He had come here with the intention of obviously killing her. Who knows what else he’d do to her if she stepped forward?
This prince is a two-faced jerk and bipolar, his mood changes faster than the weather. One moment he wants to kill her, the next he intimidates her, and now he was beckoning her forward with a dagger and a piece of paper in hand. He wanted to commit murder while covering his fingerprints with the paper.
Ave began to step backward towards the door, intending to flee the room and run wherever her legs would take her. However, without even looking her way, he seemed to know what she was about to do and spoke again, this time with a hint of warning in his calm voice.
"Take another step backward, and you’ll fall into a quicksand that will swallow you to your death, Aveline."
Ave froze. It wasn’t only his warning that stopped her but the sound of her name again. She pursed her lips and glared at him. "What quicksand? Or do you mean you’ll kill me if I try to run?"
He ignored her questions and said, "Come over here and tell me what all this means before I decide on your sentence depending on what the words mean." He held the parchment paper to the candlelight.
Ave got curious when her eyes fell on the parchment paper and hurriedly walked forward before she could stop herself from running into the lion’s den. It was when she stood beside him that she realized her mistake and quickly tried to run, but he swiftly grabbed her arm and shoved her in front of him while caging her between his body and the table.
Ave felt his strong body pressed intimately to her back, and she froze as her heart rate increased and her breathing turned labored all of a sudden. Heat curled its way up to her neck and traveled through her body in a way that unsettled her, and she quickly tried to move away, but his hands were on either side of her, blocking her exit.
Before Ave could do anything more to escape from him, he leaned his head down behind her neck and used his long fingers to spread the parchment on the table. When he spoke, his deep voice fell directly on the shell of her ear, causing her to shudder slightly.
"Now tell me what all of this truly means, and if you fail to tell me the truth," he used his other hand to pull the dagger into her view.
Lucian had realized a moment too late when she looked frustrated and used the word ’jerk’ again that the scholar had lied to him about the meaning of those words to save his own neck. He should have known, as he was naturally good at detecting liars, but because he wanted to give himself every reason to believe that this imposter was after his life, he’d fallen into the man’s lies.
But he was now more curious to know their true meaning and which kingdom they were used in, and who else could tell him than the person who had been using them?
Ave swallowed hard before she nervously glanced down at the words written on the paper, but upon reading them, she couldn’t help but chuckle. For a moment, she’d thought he was about to show her something dangerous that would cost her her neck, but this...
Ave let out a laugh again. She laughed so hard her shoulders shook and vibrated against Lucian’s chest as it was pressed against her back. Lucian had to clear his throat before he could speak again.
"What is so funny? What do these words mean?" he demanded impatiently, causing Ave’s laughter to cease immediately.
’What if he beheads me for telling him the true meaning of these words? Should I lie to him?’ Ave thought as she read through the seven words, but as if reading her mind, he warned:
"If you dare lie to me, you won’t like the aftermath."
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