Run and Hide

Cassandra swallowed, unsure what the Duke was saying.

"Explain?" Cassandra's eyes blinked in nervousness.

In Duke Salvador's gaze, the fifth Princess looked like a deer caught by the predator who was unsure where to run and hide.

"Why are you here?" Duke Salvador raised his eyebrows in question.

Cassandra was confused. She didn't know why the Duke was asking such questions. Her eyes flipped towards the table where the diary lay alongside a teacup.

'He should know why I am here.'

'He was the one who called me.'

'Did he forget?'

''No, it can't be.'

'But what if the Duke really forgot? Did I take so much pain for nothing?'

Cassandra looked at the Duke who was glaring at her. She could feel that the man's patience was on the brink of collapse. Cassandra swallowed hard as she shook her head.

'No, No. The Duke remembers. I am sure he remembers.'

'But then such a useless question.'

Cassandra's gaze stayed on the teacup for a few more seconds.

'Is he drunk?'

'No, How can the Duke be drunk on tea?'

Cassandra's gaze widened as she struggled to say some. 'He can be. What if the Duke is drinking alcohol in the teacup.'

'Yes, that is why he asked such a question.'

Cassandra was deeply engrossed in thoughts as her facial expression changed every second.

Duke Salvador, who was observing it, found it funny. The lady did everything except answer his question which annoyed Aiden.

"Princess?" Duke Salvador asked as he looked at Cassandra with narrowed eyes.

"Are you drunk?" Cassandra blurted out without a second thought. She placed her hands on her mouth as her eyes widened. She didn't know why she would say something that was on her mind.

Cassandra suddenly closed her eyes in fright as she waited patiently for being scolded but something like that never came. Cassandra could not understand what was happening. Did she imagine saying the words out loud?

Cassandra opened her eyes slowly as she looked up at the man who was staring at her.

Duke Salvador folded his hand as he smiled like a monster ready to kill. "Do I look drunk to you?"

Aiden's smirk was mesmerizing making Cassandra forget what she was doing for a second before he raised his eyebrows bringing Cassandra back to reality.

Cassandra shook her head in denial. She knew that she had to say something soon or else she might be in danger. She was not in the palace. She was at the Duke's mansion, alone. No one will know even if she dies here.

Duke Salvador took a step forward as he waited for Cassandra to explain.

"Didn't you tell me to meet with you in the mansion?" Cassandra said in a low tone as her gaze lowered. She fiddled with her fingers in nervousness.

Aiden laughed when he heard Cassandra's reply. "Yes, right." His gaze sharpened. "I told you to meet."

Duke Salvador's voice had turned dangerous at some point making Cassandra's spine shiver. She could feel the Duke walking away from her a little as he sat on his chair.

The anger in Duke Salvador's gaze was suppressed. He tapped his fingers on the table. "The Princess kept my word and came here so I should also not delay her, right?"

Cassandra's eyes flipped at Duke Salvador's words. She knew that the man's words were spoken softly but there was still a hidden meaning in it. Cassandra could sense it but could not pinpoint it as she nodded her head.

'Only if I could hear his thoughts.'

'The Duke is so unpredictable that it frightens me.'

Aiden's gaze turned sparkly as his hand moments stopped. He pushed the diary in front of Cassandra who gazed at it too. "You said that the content is different."

Cassandra swallowed as she nodded.

"And you still could not understand it completely?" The Duke continued.

Cassandra's eyes softened. "Yes." She was happy that the Duke believed her words, but Duke Salvador's face did not look happy. Cassandra could not figure out what was wrong with him.

A smile formed on Aiden's face as he opened a drawer and took a page and pen out of it before pushing it towards Cassandra.

"Write it then and explain the words that you understand."

Cassandra looked in between the diary and the blank paper. Her hand refused to make a move. Cassandra looked up only to see a pair of red eyes glaring at her.

Cassandra swallowed. "The whole diary?" She managed to say.

"No. the first five pages," Aiden said after giving some thoughts. "You can copy the book slowly."

Cassandra nodded but her body stiffened at Duke Salvador's next words.

"After all, we have time in our hands. If the Princess managed to come here now, she can make a trip to my mansion again to help me. Isn't it?"

Cassandra could feel the water droplet forming on her forehead. She managed to smile and reply with a trembling voice. "Ye … Yes .."

Even though Cassandra said so as she opened the diary, her mind was unstable.

'Time in hand?'

'Who has time in hand.'

'Cassandra looked up only to see Duke's Salvador's attention on her. She smiled as she started writing all the things she could see in the book. But her mood was bad.

'Why does he always stare at me as if he is going to eat me soon.'

Suddenly Cassandra remembered the gossip she heard in the palace. It was said that the people who are powerful fire mages usually have bad personalities. They are violent and can kill people when in a bad mood.

Cassandra never believed the rumor in her heart but seeing how the Duke was staring at her and the recent events done by the first Princess, Princess Valeria, Cassandra now believed the rumor.

'Duke Salvador is a war hero.'

''And Lord Bentham also said that the Duke is unreasonable and hard to please.'

'What if he kills me here because he is unsatisfied with my work.'

'No. I have to survive.'

Cassandra shook her head as she started writing but for full concentration but she didn't know that the man sitting in front of her was thinking something cruel already.