He saw me! 

His eyes and mine met for a few seconds. 

SLASH! 

“AAAAAHHHHHH!” 

From the corner of the window, I peeked over to see the situation in the maze. It amazes me how quickly I tend to forget. Currently, I am living in the house of a monster. A monster who strikes his sword at whoever and whatever comes in his path. The demon in human skin waved his sword around almost like he was disgusted by it. He continued shaking it until I noticed a patch of his sleeve soaked in the maid’s blood. 

A person’s life means nothing to this horrid creature. Instead he cares about having his hands or clothes drenched in someone else’s blood. 

Ruan who had only worked in the house a little over two weeks was now lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the unpleasantly gorgeous flower maze. The beauty of the flowers was covering up the evil that took place within. It was indeed an appalling image. 

However, that man stood in front of her bleeding corpse staring at the gashes he had made on her body. He examined his sword work and displayed a repulsive grin across his face. He was enjoying it! 

I can’t believe it! I hate this man! I hate him so much it hurts! 

In the midst of my hatred, I forgot I was at the window. A slight gust of wind blew past me, causing my eyes to water. I rubbed my eyes and looked over to his side one more time. 

Blue eyes colder than the arctic itself stared right at me. With every step he took coming closer to the tower, I could feel his bloodlust towards me. 

He’s coming! 

He saw me! He saw the window! He’s going to get mad! 

He’s going to kill me! 

The gust of wind that blew into my eye earlier caused my eyes to water again and a single teardrop fell down my cheek. 

BA-THUMP!... Step. 

BA-THUMP!... Step.

BA-THUMP!... Step.

Knock. Knock. Knock. 

I couldn’t move. My hands were glued to the windowsill. My legs were shaking to the point that standing up felt difficult. I couldn’t do anything to save myself now. 

Creak… 

The brown haired man with the nasty blue eyes walked into the room. 

“Your highness, how have you been?” He spoke with a disgustingly raspy voice. 

Step. Step. Step. 

He walked closer to the bed and sat down on it. 

“I feel like the two of us haven’t really talked properly until now. Come on,” he patted to the space beside him, “Sit here! Let’s have a nice chat! Your highn- oh! Since you’re my fiance, may I have the honour to call you Andrea?” He asked with an unpleasant smile across his face. 

“...” 

His forcefully smiling eyes instantly fell into an annoyed gaze. 

“If you won’t talk, how can we chat? Come here your royal highness!” His whimsical tone suddenly sounded threatening. 

My life is in the hands of this man’s words, I had no choice but to oblige. 

I dragged my shaking legs across the floor and managed to sit beside him. 

The mere feeling of being close to him made me feel nauseous. The indigestion medicine has also lost its effect. The sudden fear of messing up really wasn’t helping me either. 

The Duke stared me up and down and reached his hand out to my hair. He twirled a lock of my dark brown hair on his finger and looked me in the eyes. He continued staring for a few seconds and out of nowhere stopped twirling my hair as well. 

He put his hand into his coat and took out a box of cigars. He took one of them out and placed a small bit of it in his mouth. He flicked out a cigar cutter and cleanly chopped the front of his cigar. He placed the cutter back in his coat and took out a lighter. One flick and a flame lit up. He brought the flame close to his cigar and let it burn into tiny fire embers. 

The demon in human skin inhaled the air through his cigar and exhaled out a massive smoke cloud. 

The air was already suffocating as it was, and now he made it worse. 

“You really don’t look like either of them.” He went on. 

“What are you talking about?” Either of them? 

“It is a shame, all because your mother made a mistake, your father specifically asked me to kill you. For a young beauty like you, it is such a shame indeed.” 

“What are you…? Wait! What did you say!?” The raging heart that couldn’t calm down no matter what I tried almost sank to a single beat. 

As for the bloodthirsty monster that sat next to me, his glum expression turned into an irritating grin. 

“Oh! He never told you! Now this is exciting!” He giggled with the horrifying grin on his face. 

“What has he not told me? What mistake? Why did he ask you to kill me? What’s going on? Tell me!” 

I barraged him with loads of questions neglecting the fear I had against him.  These sudden pits in my path were bothering me. All this time, my father hid something from me, ignoring me and never loving me. This was my chance to find out the truth! I was not about to let some silly fear stop me from getting those answers.

“My! What a sight! Just a few minutes ago, you were trembling merely breathing the same air as me and now you dare look me in the eye and demand answers.” His eyes flared with annoyance and he grabbed my hair tightly. He pushed my face closer to his while pulling my hair as strongly as possible. I felt a few of my hair strands break as his grip got even stronger. 

“Mind your language! You may be the royal princess but no one can save you from me.” 

My head was in so much pain I couldn’t even hear his threat properly. 

Why are people so quick at raising their hands against me? All I wanted were a few answers, so why am I getting my hair pulled out from its roots? My scalp was bleeding and my head was throbbing from pain. 

I thought if I lived in silence then maybe I could stay alive.

Is this my punishment for forgetting what this devil is capable of. 

Stay alive… such a foolish wish. 

Andrea, you’re dead no matter where you go. 

.

.

.

Knock. Knock. 

TBC