Chapter 35

When Lady Celia had already disappeared, Sarra was still standing in front of the castle. She placed a hand on her chest and was confused as to why her heart was beating so fast. The compliments from her cousin's fiancée struck her quite differently from the ones she usually received. Perhaps because they were so honest and warm-hearted. Without any ulterior motive to ingratiate themselves with her. 

"Are you still looking after Alek?" her brother made himself heard behind her and the warm feeling in her heart was immediately suppressed. "What do you want? Did things not go so well for you?" She couldn't suppress a hint of benevolence in her voice.

Her brother stood next to her and clicked his tongue dismissively. "As if. If I'd only had a few more minutes with her, she would definitely have fallen for me." In your dreams, perhaps. But she wasn't going to get him out of his illusion, that wasn't her job. 

"Alek ruined all my plans, as usual. But that was just the beginning. He has no idea how to treat women. So as long as she realizes that she can't expect any affection from him, we'll already be planning the next event. So that I can show her that she could get from me everything he can never give her."

Her brother's arrogance made her downright nauseous. And this was supposed to be the man who would one day take over from her father. The poor people.

Stupidly, his attention had now turned from his inflated ego to her dress. "Didn't I say you shouldn't walk around like that?"

There was that uncomfortable feeling in her stomach again. But this time she didn't let it control her. "I think it's fine the way it is. Now excuse me, I've been away from my company for far too long." With that, she left him speechless and enjoyed her little triumph.

+++

"You were quite close to the prince," Alek said after he had been silent for a while. He knew that she hadn't felt particularly comfortable next to him, but this fact still annoyed him. What if he had misread her body language and she might be interested in the prince after all? 

Celia looked at him in disbelief and Alek immediately regretted his words. "What was I supposed to do? Push him away from me?"

"I hired Runa for situations like this," he tried to defend himself somehow. But that had probably been the wrong tactic again. Because now it was as if Celina had remembered something that she should probably have forgotten. "Oh right! The self-defense teacher who was supposed to torture me on top of the normal lessons. It was a miracle that my sore muscles were so limited today that I was able to go to tea at all."

"The castle is a dangerous place?" Why did that sound like a question now? He couldn't even have convinced himself with that. Perhaps he should have taken both carriages back after all. He was beginning to get the feeling that he would only make the situation between them worse.

"Dangerous? What was supposed to happen? Could a lady have spilled tea on my hand? And who is this Runa anyway? Everything she teaches me ends with how to kill someone without leaving a mark."

Damn Runa. "Well, she's a bit unorthodox in her methods, but definitely the best in her field."

His fiancée looked at him in silence for quite a while. "She's an assassin, huh?"

Alek began to sweat slightly. "No." Not anymore. 

His fiancée's eyes narrowed slightly. But then she leaned backwards with a sigh. "All right, let's not talk about that. Did you get everything done that you had to do at the castle?"

Alek exhaled with relief and nodded. "I had a quick chat with my uncle about our wedding. He would like to have a small engagement party after the town festival and the wedding should take place a month or two after that. I hope that's not too soon for you." 

"That's fine," she kept her answer rather short.

If it was up to him, it wasn't quick enough. It seemed like he just couldn't figure out how to deal with her properly. The worst thing would be if she demanded a break in the engagement. But he couldn't afford that. 

He had lived alone for too long and although he was handsome, there weren't many young ladies who wouldn't be put off by the stories about him. All the married men he knew always raved about how nice it was to come home to their wife at the end of the day. When he was out of the house and returned, he was greeted by his employees and a cold office. 

But Celia was like a glimmer of light to him, which he wanted to capture and preferably lock up in a room. Not literally, of course… if only because Ramas wouldn't allow it. Something about human rights and freedom or something like that.

After quite a while, they finally arrived back at the estate and as if he had smelled it, Ramas was standing right at the entrance and the anger and exhaustion was reflected in his eyes. 

"I hope you had a pleasant time at tea Lady Celia," he greeted her and helped her out of the carriage, then addressed him directly. "And with you, I hope you had a pleasant time while you were shirking your duties." His eyes narrowed and he pressed a thick folder of papers into his hand. "Incidentally, these are the documents that accumulated during the meeting with the merchants. It was about the border crossing and the taxes for the upcoming town festival. You know, the date that has been fixed for three months. So you can imagine how thrilled the merchants were when they realized that only your secretary was attending the meeting. Very unpleasant things were said to me in very different languages and dialects."

Alek patted him on the shoulder encouragingly. "I'm sure it wasn't as bad as the things you sometimes hear in my office."

Ramas looked at him resignedly. "You do realize that doesn't exactly make the situation any better?"

"Then you won't like the next thing I'm going to say either."

"All right, all right. Let's get to work."