To His Hell and Back-Chapter 161: Midnight’s Glow-I

Arabella could sense something deep in his voice that made her heart tremble.

She wanted to tell him "no". That he hadn’t softly made a nest inside her heart. After all, what good was there in confirming that Cassius is someone so dear to her now? No. What? He isn’t dear to her.

It was just... that with days that grew, she had begun to learn about him more than just a simple, obnoxious Crown Prince. She had learned that though he is indeed someone born out of malice, he wasn’t always so malicious. It was as if when she pulled one bad thing about him, she would constantly be reminded of the many more good things that he had done, which was enough to make her question if he was someone truly evil or was forced to be one.

If it were someone else who was on the verge of being killed in his place that night, would she run to protect him regardless?

Though she doesn’t consider herself heartless, she doesn’t consider herself to be a saint either. Would she use her body to protect someone? Or could she do it because it was Cassius, the same person who had also protected her when she was in danger before?

Her throat felt dry as she turned to him slightly, "I was repaying your kindness."

"That’s all?"

Was she mistaken about what she heard? Disappointment or was it sadness? Both?

She felt awkward. It started with their intimate position that felt like a h- hug. Then there was this Cassius, the kind of Cassius with such emotion that he doesn’t usually show. He felt as if he was weighing something, and she couldn’t tell what it was.

To ease the air, she tried to pry his hands away but it didn’t move. It was tight wounded around her waist and though not painful it didn’t mean that it would budge unless he wishes to.

"What else could there be?" She asked him and he let out a slight deep hum. "What’s wrong with you?"

"If I die tomorrow, what would you feel, Arabella?"

Not birdie but Arabella.

She gulped as Cassius’s voice calling out her name felt simply far too... scalding that it burned her cheeks red as if she was toasted.

"I- I," Arabella flinched when his fingers traced from her hair to her neck, stopping over her collarbone. "Cassius?" She didn’t know what was wrong with him, but this change... "Are you sick? Maybe a fever? Do vampires even have a fever?"

Cassius slowly pushed her to the wall beside the balcony and though this was her first time being cornered by a man and a vampire which should make her alerted, she couldn’t feel a single fear down her bone. This should be alarming but perhaps because this is Cassius that she knew he wouldn’t hurt her.

That was why she couldn’t feel fear but rather a series of shiver down her skin as if she had done something really really embarrassing.

"Answer me," he demanded, he knew that Arabella would always try to jump around her answer. Because she didn’t want to confirm anything or get her hopes up. For someone who doesn’t want her hopes to turn to nothing but disappointment, she also didn’t want to give someone that sense of hope only to destroy it.

But Cassius didn’t care anymore.

He couldn’t tell when it started, nor does it matter to him anymore. freewebnoveℓ.com

But Arabella had taken root in his heart far more than he could manage. He didn’t want her to disappear again, not for the second time. He didn’t want to see her bleed out, even if it was to protect him, and this was the first time he had ever felt this way.

Back in battlefield no matter how many have protected him, he only thought about moving forward. As callous as it sounded he knew that they hadn’t protected him for his sake, knowing that they wish to protect him for honor and fame that could come with his recognition.

Arabella, however, had protected him to make sure that he wouldn’t get hurt. Not for who he is and for what he could give, but because of his safety and for his sake.

It was odd. He hated to confirm this but for the first time in his life there was someone who sees him as himself and it was the human girl in front of him.

Since when had she looked so blinding to his eyes? He had always known that he couldn’t control his gaze when it came to Arabella. He would find her words so melodious to his ears. The sound of her banter was so amusing that at night, he could replay it all in his head and found himself laughing. Even when she was asleep on the floor, he would watch her, wondering when she would wake up. And he began to regret his action.

Him. Regretting his action.

Cassius was not an emotional man but in front of Arabella he had became someone that he couldn’t even recognize himself.

But he recognized a lot about her more than he knew about his own heart.

He knew how her ears would turn red and her shy she would became. How she wanted to believe in him although she was as scared of him.

If Arabella were to disappear or die before him, Cassius didn’t know what he would not do. But he knew what he would do.

He felt as if the day Arabella’s death rolled in front of him, perhaps he would lose all control. Maybe destroying the world wouldn’t be enough to fill what he felt.

That rage, that raw emotional turbulence, and sorrow.

He doesn’t have a heart ever since that demon ripped it out of his chest but now, this girl, this human, Arabella, she has became his heart. One that he would rather die than having it stop beating.

He was done reflecting on his emotions ad now he knew what he would want from her but now what does she want from him?

"Bella hm?" He coaxed her ears, leaning to her ears and slowly nibbled at the shells of her ears, eliciting a yelp out of her lips.

Tears wet her eyes slightly from the embarrassment as she stared at him widely, "I- sad, alright? I will be sad!"