To His Hell and Back-Chapter 190: Running Away-I

Cassius had gotten back to his room after leaving the garden. He told her that he couldn’t possibly leave the castle and come to the village in his formal attire as it would attract much attention. She agreed to it but thought that perhaps what should be hidden was his face as that was what attracted the most attention from.

Left alone to her own device, Arabella hummed a song that had suddenly popped in her head. With hands on her back folded, she strolled through the hallways with the new dress that the Princess had given her, smiling when she saw the dress’s glimmer only to come into a stop when she saw her own reflection on the oval mirror carved into the wall.

"Even such an expensive dress can’t hide true nature," she muttered, lamenting how out of sort she looked with such an expensive dress on her body. She does look pretty but... she doesn’t fit this beautiful gown. It fit someone else, someone... someone who is a princess like Isabelle.

Though it was just a brief meeting, she could tell that this was the start of love between Cassius and Isabelle. Even though Isabelle tried her best to hide her emotions that spilled over Arabella and those around her could immediately notice the moment of gasp that had slipped from her mouth. That shock, the surprise, and the... gorgeous smile on the lady’s lips.

Even the way Isabelle looked at Cassius was dreamy and if her eyes could speak, they would have shouted her infatuation the moment they landed on him.

Arabella couldn’t bring herself to blame her. Stepping back and viewing the two of them together, they looked like the perfect portrait of a royal couple. They were so elegant, poised, and effortlessly matched. Yes. Like a match made in Heaven.

Such a beautiful match that it could blind her eyes.

A beautiful princess with soft spoken nature and a loving heart. Then a Crown Prince who although could be cruel would have a soft spot toward the kind natured princess.

What is that if not a perfect match between a couple?

Cassius might not feel anything toward Isabelle now but soon? That won’t be entirely impossible.

Cassius had changed for the better and deep down he is a kind person simply trying to survive.

He needed comfort and support; and Isabelle could provide that for him much better than... her.

Shaking her head, Arabella sighed. She didn’t want to keep imagining them together but earlier, when she had stepped back and looked at the two, it had felt like admiring a portrait of a perfect couple. They were strikingly different, yet somehow their contrast flowed together in harmony. And she... she was just an outsider. Someone standing before the painting, wishing she could step inside it while knowing she never truly belonged there.

"...not here."

Arabella heard a muffled gasp that caught her attention at once.

She turned around, eyes trailing over the steps she had just taken, convinced the sound had come from behind.

She stood in silence for a few seconds, trying to locate the source of the noise only to realize, with a faint prickle at the back of her neck, that the whispers were now coming from ahead of her, not behind.

This voice was somewhat... familiar. freewebnoveℓ.com

Her steps had taken itself toward the source of the noise before her head could wrap around the situation and by the time she had noticed it, she had arrived in front of the staircase where she could see two shadows on the wall of the floor above her.

It was a clear shadow of a man and a lady.

The man’s hands were tightly wrapped around her waist while the lady had placed her hands softly on his chest. She leaned forward, her lips pressed near his neck as she whispered, "What is it that you are worried about? There will be no one here, I have made sure of it! These days you have been acting quite strange... and you always refuse to see me even for a second. I have suspected this for a while now but... don’t tell me that you are trying to avoid me are you?"

The man seemed to have gotten quiet, like a silent confirmation which immediately made the lady’s head to snap up and anger seemed to have crossed her face if not for the fact that Arabella was now staring at two shadows instead of a person.

"But why?! You told me that you love me and that- and that you want to stay by my side!"

"The circumstances have changed," the man’s voice softly echoed as he reached out his hand only to be swatted by the lady.

"Liar. Liar! Don’t you know I have always hated liar? It was just a week ago when you asked me if we could just elope and I agreed to it. But then you suddenly changed your mind and since then you have been giving me the cold shoulders, avoiding me at every turn, and treated me like I’m but an air!"

The lady seemed to be trembling as she spoke, her hands tightly squeezed together as she stared at the man, hoping for an explanation but it was clear that he was hesitating- that he couldn’t give her a clear answer.

"Just tell me why..." the lady began to plead, "Tell me. If this is about me and about the throne-"

"It is about you, Princess," answered the man and now Arabella could confirm that the voice of the lady had belonged to none other than Princess Marissa.

"You’re the princess of Versailles," the man said to her, restraining his voice but the regret spilled on his voice, "And I’m nothing but a squire. No. I suppose it’s even. Unlike all your suitors, I’m a son born out of wedlock and a human. There is no future that I could serve to a princess like you. Even if we do elope, you will want to go back to this comfort rather than a life of misery with me."