Chapter 11: The Female Lead(3)

The clock wheel of Marinette's fate would begin to turn in that meeting I went to.

Flynn and I arrived at the vast field of grass outside the capital where you could see a few wooden houses beyond the horizon.

Mesmerized by the cloud at the line of the horizon, my eyes kept staring at those big white clouds while I was entering the mansion belonging to a young duke.

The mansion was much bigger compared to the exterior with extravagant plants in the middle of the mansion.

Vines and lilies of the valley hung down on the snack table the owner of the mansion sat at. It was supposed to be a secret meeting between the two of us.

However, I was a little bit taken aback by an extra guest.

"I assume you two have met before."

"Yes, your grace. I met Lady Aurora at the ball."

We exchanged a kiss on the cheek as a polite gesture between ladies.

"Nice to meet you again, lady Mortel."

I knew about the bond between Madeline and Cressida, but it was rather odd for the young lord of Cressida to invite Aurora to his confession of love.

We had a good time chatting around the snack table while enjoying the view of the duke's living room. Instead of the lamp, the house used a special type of plant to emit warm light. 

Thanks to all of those plants, we were comfortable in our attire despite the summer weather.

After a while, the young duke excused himself to go outside and took me along with him leaving Aurora with Flynn inside the mansion.

Judging by the way Aurora smiled while she tried to give a sign of good luck to that man, she was probably involved in the duke's plan.

"The cloud is so beautiful today." he let me sit on the swing while he stood behind me with our faces toward the cloud over there.

If only the duke's love would be pure white like that, then Marinette wouldn't have to reject him.

Although I didn't know the reason why Marinette rejected such a potential ally, I knew for sure that I needed to stay true to the novel.

My action would have consequences, but I couldn't risk the possibility of losing the title of the crown princess at that moment.

"I love you, Marinette. I promise I'll make you happy."

The second male lead, Duke Asher. I would be lying if I said I never thought of accepting his confession.

When I first met him at Aurora's party, he had the look and manner of a gentleman. He would make any lady fall in love with him at first sight just by his appearance.

However, the first time I met him was the second time Marinette met him. The first time Marinette met him was when Marinette's father forced her to go outside the house despite her pleading to stay inside the basement.

No matter how hard her father tried, she would bite and scratch his arm to let go of her hands because she stayed in the dark for so long that even a glimpse of sunlight hurt her eyes.

However, the golden light emitted by Duke Asher who visited the house that day didn't hurt her. He rushed to separate the duke from Marinette and took Marinette behind his back to protect her from her father.

Duke Asher had a big argument with the father about how evil a father could be in treating his daughter.

If it wasn't for the future alliance between the Mortel and the Cressida, Duke Asher would never have left the Mortel duchy unscratched.

Duke Mortel allowed Asher to do whatever he wanted to Marinette to convince her to get out of the basement.

With her father's permission, he escorted her back to the basement and locked the door with his magic.

Nobody knew what happened there. By the time the duke decided to check up on his daughter, the door finally opened with Marinette stood at the door's entrance.

Her eyes were lifeless, she didn't say a word and made her way to the new room her father prepared for her.

After Marinette left the basement, Asher came to her father with blood covering his body. There were bitemarks and nail scratches on his neck, arms, and face.

The Mortel tried to hide the incident and ignored any rumour of what happened in the basement.

What worried Marinette's father the most was the expression on Asher, he had the smirk of a winner, the one who triumphs over people's lives for a pure second of enjoyment.

I stopped the swing and turned to look at Duke Asher. Despite not having heard my answer, he already wore the expression the author described.

"Why do you love me?"

"Nobody can treat you better than me. Thanks to me, you're able to see this beautiful world I promised you back then. I will make another promise, Marinette. There will be more beautiful things to come into your life if you accept my hand."

He put out his hand the same way he asked me for a dance back then. My hand remained still stuck to my body because my answer wouldn't change.

Rather than having an unfaithful dog in the future, I should make an enemy with him this early so that I could prepare for the consequences of my rejection.

"I don't need you anymore. Thank you for back then, but I can see this beautiful world by myself now."

"..."

"Besides, the title of an empress sounds more convincing to me." the sun hid behind the cloud, and the light that came through the tree's leaves suddenly vanished leaving only pure shadow where he stood as I left him.

For someone who always got everything they wanted lately, he must have had a really hard time adjusting to his childhood trauma.

Young Duke Asher, I praised him for his smile whenever someone called him that despite the way he got that title.

He would never even get the title of a duke in the first place because of his position in his family. He was the fifth in line to that title. To move up the queue, the young fella murdered his older sibling.

To get the duke title while he was still in his prime, he poisoned the late owner of the title.

He would get the title naturally if he was patient enough to wait for a few months because his father wouldn't live long due to his grieving for his dead sons.

Asher killed his father before he got to call that poor man father once in his life.

Tick Tock

The bell struck twelve at the time Flynn left the mansion to escort me back into the carriage.

It looked like Flynn didn't have a pleasant conversation with Aurora either. I turned to look at the rain outside the carriage. It was raining too the day Flynn rescued me from the lake.

"What do you two talk about?"

It took him a while to answer me.

Although he did the right thing, it seemed the guilt remained inside his mind, "Lady Madeline asked about the lake incident, but I didn't answer anything due to the knight policy."

"You did well."

It seemed like the extra tended to get out of their lines when they were not in the scene of the main characters.

She wasn't much of an ally to me, but I thought keeping her close would benefit me. Despite trying to get close to her back then, that extra still committed to their role, the role of a female lead's friend.

"Flynn, do you know what I hate most?"

"Please enlighten me, my lady."

"A betrayal from the person I trust. I hate being betrayed the most."

Lightning struck in the middle of the day, the wind brought leaves and dust as the carriage moved. In the small space of a carriage, I touched Flynn's cheek and leaned toward him to make sure he got my message and warning.

"I trust you, Flynn. Keep doing your job like today. Report everything to me from now on."

"Yes, my lady."

Flynn put his hand on his thigh while his expression remained firm as he stared into my eyes.

'If you're going to betray me one day, I don't want it to be quick.'

To be continued...!