The Duke's Daughter Is A Villainess (30)

During her 'recovery', many things happened, though she was not aware of all of them.

While trapped inside all day, Dahlia picked up on a new hobby. Now that she had Zeke around, in an effort to feel more comfortable in his constant presence, she tried to make friends with him. Zeke rebuffed her efforts every time, always saying he couldn't talk because he was technically working or that they should only have an employee and employer relationship.

Clearly, he just didn't like her. He seemed annoyed, actually, that he had to look after her like this at all. It was obvious to Dahlia that he prefered staying in the shadows rather than be out in the daylight like this.

His sour attitude didn't affect her much. She continued talking to him anyway, even if sometimes he'd just ignore her entirely. It was strangely fun. She didn't even bother keeping up her innocent girl act around him, as he seemed to already think she was the devil incarnate. He'd been watching her closely all this time after all, it would be strange if he didn't already pick up on the fact that the way she acted in front of people was usually just that, acting.

Outside the Baudelaire estate, rumours were beginning to spread once again. The knights that were there to witness what happened between Anna and Dahlia didn't hesitate to blab to everyone they knew about what occurred in the palace that day. Though no one knew for sure what happened to Anna, what they knew was that she made an attempt on Dahlia's life and it had something to do with her daughter, Alice.

The rumours kept getting skewed and would change from every mouth it left, but the basics were the same. Dahlia Baudelaire was almost killed by Anna Edwin. Sometimes Alice played a big role in the rumours, with some people saying that she ordered her mother to try and kill Dahlia, while other times she was left out of the rumours entirely. But either way, when Alice was mentioned, it was not in a positive light. Both mother and daughter were dragged through the mud. The only one who was unscathed was Dahlia, but that was to be expected. She was the victim, after all.

"Zeeeeeeke." Dahlia whined, holding her arms out to him like a child. "I'm tired. Carry me?"

Zeke's eyebrow twitched. "I'm your knight, not your servant."

Dahlia only sniffed, her mouth shifting into a pout, as if she was about to start crying at any second.

Though Zeke knew she was just acting, when he saw this expression he felt a bit helpless. He knew that if the duke walked in and saw this, he would assume that Zeke was bullying his precious daughter, and he would instantly lose his job, if not his life. In reality though, Zeke felt he was the one being bullied most days.

In the end he could only huff as he picked Dahlia up bridal style. As soon as she was in his arms she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Really, how insufferable.

Zeke complained endlessly in his heart about Dahlia, but she could see that the tips of his ears were getting red, and she smiled to herself. It seemed that even though he acted tough with her, he was still kind of shy, and surprisingly innocent.

It was a shame that Zeke only came out this late, because Dahlia started to think that he was definitely the most fun one out of the three love interests.

"You're my favourite personal knight, Zeke." Dahlia said, then pecked him lightly on the cheek.

"I'm your only personal knight, stupid..." Zeke mumbled, even as his heartbeat accelerated out of nowhere.