Behind The Closed Carriage (II)

Gazing at the dagger, Genevieve froze….However, this was no ordinary dagger. The blade was strangely curved, with red jewels intricately embedded on its handle, making it look so mysteriously daunting.

"W-what a-are you–" she stuttered, terrified to complete her words.

At that moment, she instinctively shut her eyes with a pulsating skip in her heart, waiting to feel the sharp and excruciatingly painful stab of the king's dagger on her skin. However, when moments ticked by all she felt was nothing but silence.

Fearfully, she slowly opened her eyes just to see the king's gaze now averted from her, twirling the knife in his hand like a harmless piece of tool. He did nothing like she was expecting.

H-he wasn't going to k-kill her?

When Maximilian felt her confused gaze on him, his eyes twitched menacingly.

"Are you done being frightened away, Genevieve?" His head then tilted to stare at her apprehensive face.

"I-I–" When she opened her mouth to form the semblance of a statement, her brain went foggy. However, Maximilian already read her mind.

"You thought I was going to kill?"

She nodded solemnly in response.

"What a pity!" His tongue clicked. However, she heard him utter next,

"Well then, Genevieve. I should probably kill you. Shouldn't I?" he said to make her eyes widen in horror which only excited Maximilian's nerves.

"P--please, Your Majesty. D-don't do it."

What was going on? It seemed like the king also had a bad mood swing she never heard about. One moment it felt like he was going to stab her, but her thoughts turned out to be wrong. However, here he was now threatening to kill her.

But then, what could she expect of a ruthless tyrant?

"Why not, Genevieve?" He questioned, his grey eyes staring unwaveringly at her while he continued to twirl the dagger.

"I-I d-don't want to d-die yet." She replied with a slight clench in her heart.

She certainly didn't want to die. Who wanted to?

Though she knew at some point this cruel king might take her life, she didn't want to die now.

"Are you certain you don't want to die?" When Maximilian asked this question, his lips moved closer in a way that crept her. "You must have the bloody rumors about me, Genevieve. Isn't it?"

Genevieve didn't realize when sweats began forming at his question. Of course, she had heard things about him. B-but why was h-he directly questioning her?

"I-I h-have, Your M-majesty." She truthfully said, knowing she couldn't lie to him. The Messiah hated lies.

"Then you certainly must have heard how much of a ruthless monster I am. I itch to roll off heads and have blood on my hands." his voice turned lower but deeper, which made the hair on her neck stand in terror.

He wasn't disputing the rumors about his personality.

'Oh God, please.' she helplessly cried inwardly.

The king continued, "I know it must be so repulsing and terrifying sitting here with a villainous creature like me, so why don't you let me end your terror? Why don't you let me kill you? One slash at your pretty neck is all it takes to end your fears."

His thumb roughly ran across the sharp edge of the dagger as he watched Genevieve's face turn ghostly pale.

When he tried bringing the dagger closer to her neck, Genevieve stiffened.

"P-please, don't, Y-your M-majesty."

The King's face was laced with an amused demeanor and he swiftly withdrew his hand.

However, Genevieve could already see the blood sipping out of his thumb which he deliberately cut, looking irritatingly painful to her.

It turned out the king wasn't only dangerous, but also a masochist who had a deep cut in his dumb and didn't look like he felt an ounce of pain.

Maximilian's eyes narrowed at the way Genevieve was now staring at his thumb. She seemed more bothered about it than his threat to end her life. What an idiot!

"One of the very finest pieces in Darkshire that I like to carry about so much." He commented on the dagger. "Do you know what I use it to do?"

When she shook her head in oblivion, he gave a villainous smirk, before commenting, "It is so that I can decorate the heads of people who get on my nerves."..

Genevieve gulped once more. W-was she already getting on his n-nerves? She was trying hard to keep so calm despite her turbulent heart.

"Breathe, Genevieve, I have no plans of harming you. If I really wanted to kill you, I would have slit your pretty throat on the altar that moment, before you got the chance to take wedding vows." Amidst her worries, she suddenly heard the king utter.

On his lips, the thought of her neck being slitted sounded so gory to her. Yet, at his promise not to hurt, she didn't know why she strangely felt her fears slip away.

But then, why did the cruel king suddenly promise he wouldn't hurt her?

"Y-you w-won't hurt me?"

"No." He declared, retracting the dagger into its sheath, an eerily calm look appeared on his face.

Turned out the poor princess was stuck with a villain who loved to feed on people's fears.

"Try not to think about it, Genevieve. Unless you intend on throwing up right here. Which I wouldn't find entertaining." Commented Maximilian when he felt her wary gaze on his bloody thumb.

Though the cut seemed small, it was actually deep which triggered more blood to flow out.

He then took out a small piece of black clothing, wrapping his thumb.

Genevieve gulped nervously, tenderly resting her hands on her thigh. The sight of the blood did irritate her, but she possibly couldn't fly out of the window even if she wanted to.

In accordance to her thoughts, Maximilian commented,

"You know…" he drawled snapping her from her thoughts, "It's amazing how you sit here without already jumping out of the window."

He smirked villainously, "Only a few can sit so close to me without losing their sanity, but you seem rather like the fragile type, Genevieve. So tell me, how does it feel being stuck with me? Your father wasn't wise, was he?"