Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 35: Can You Dance?

Chapter 35: Can You Dance?

"Oh." Was all he said to the statement she made, and his disinterest was hardly hidden since he already knew the answer he would be getting.

"Lord Ivan." Ivy’s brown eyes stared deeply into the red orbs of Ivan, like she was looking for something, or was hoping she could see a little bit of interest in his eyes, but with no reaction, Ivy’s shoulders dropped slightly, and then she said.

"I’ve thought deeply about it, and my answer to your offer is no, My Lord. I cannot marry you." Ivy firmly made her decision clear to the Vampire Lord whose eyes widened slightly, but it wasn’t out of shock or anger. Since he had only dreamed of having Ivy refuse his proposal, for once, he could say his first ever dream came true.

"Please do not be offended, I know you need my help with the Palace affairs but.... Forgive me, I just cannot do this." Ivy lowered her dejected gaze, and the sadness she felt could not be comprehended since marrying Lord Ivan was her own perfect dream, but after what she saw yesterday, it was clear that Ivan would not recognize her feelings and would simply do as he wishes, and that was a more tragic pain she could not bring herself to encounter for the rest of her life.

"Are you.... Upset?"

"I told you this before." Ivan remarked softly, surprising Ivy whose eyelids blinked in startlement. "It’s not a demand, neither am I forcing you into it. It would be a shame if I got offended, but thank you, for being honest with your answer. It was.... A good decision." Offering her a half smile, Ivan walked away with Herbert following behind him, and Ivy’s yearning gaze lingered on Ivan who continued to walk down the hallway. The heavy pang in her heart intensified knowing she was the only one hurt by her resolution, and he still didn’t notice.

She was snapped out of her dazed trance when Claire showed up.

"Ivy?" Claire smiled at Ivy who appeared solemn, and a look of worry softly creased her eyebrow. "What are you doing standing here?"

Claire looked in the direction where Ivy’s gaze still lingered, but she saw no one there.

"Is anything the matter?"

Recovering a bit, Ivy smiled faintly at Claire before shaking her head. "No, everything is fine. I am just wondering if I really made the right decision," the tone of her voice dampened, confusing Claire the more, and then she shoved that thought away, putting her silent grief aside.

"Nevermind, I heard the seamstress is finally here, I was about to go meet her so she can take my measurements. Wanna come?"

"Why not? Grandmother called the seamstress earlier today so everyone can get measured. We have to look our best, don’t we?"

"But I believe you already do, Princess Claire." Ivy praised the young woman, but Claire seemed to disapprove.

"Still, it is not enough to find me a good suitor." She sighed to her own disappointment, folding her arms as she followed Ivy down the stairs. "The men that approach me only have nice things to say about my beauty, but it ends there, with no marriage proposals, nothing at all!"

"If I’m not mistaken, you refused ten proposals during the accolade celebration." Ivy reminded her, just in case she was missing out Claire’s point on the word, ’no proposal’.

"Those men aren’t even good-looking, and they come from weaker Kingdoms. Why would I associate myself with them?" Claire scrunched her face in disgust as if she was talking about pigs who rub themselves in mud all day, and Ivy secretly rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I want to get married, but I have standards that need to be met. I was hoping for Prince Nichole to notice me during the Accolade celebration, but he ignored my presence like I wasn’t one of the living. I’m sure if I stood in front of him, he would walk right through me like I’m some ghost!" The thought of it already irritated Claire, and then she looked at Ivy with an honest gaze.

"Be sincere, is there anything wrong with me?"

"Of course not." Ivy objected to her question, "if you ask me, I say your beauty can not be matched in the whole of EmptyHollow."

"You are right about that but I am not talking about beauty here, I mean, is there a problem with me? In person?" She whispered the last part.

"And are you really just noticing?" Tobias, who was passing by below the ground stairs, buttered in, "I cannot even laugh at your obtuseness if you believe beauty is all that matters, Claire."

"And who asked for your opinion?"

Tobias tsked, "even the problem can’t recognize itself despite standing before it." He sighed with pity, "such a shame, you’re twenty-nine, and do you know what the people outside call a woman who isn’t married at this age? A spinster, and most men, have nothing to do with spinsters."

"Tobias!" Ivy reprimanded him, finding his tone unacceptably rude, but Tobias didn’t believe he said anything wrong as it was the plain truth. Ignoring the two oblivious women, he continued on his stroll since he had somewhere important to be.

"You white freak! I hope you choke on garlic!" Claire cursed in a fit of rage, unable to let Tobias get away with it after insulting her like that, but what made her more infuriated was how her retort never brought out the slightest reaction from him.

First Ivan, now Tobias! She wanted to kill them all!

"I hate all the men in this sickening Palace!" Aggrieved, she stormed off with Ivy who was trying her best to calm her down.

Lucy, who stayed with Samantha, let out a relieved breath when she got notified that the troublesome servant was back in Lord Ivan’s room.

"My life was out on the line, you have no idea what it means to interrupt Lord Ivan during training. If I hadn’t revealed your name sooner, you’d be hearing about the death of Lucienne who got killed for stepping into the Lord’s training room!"

"Thank you for your help." Samantha earnestly showed her appreciation, whilst trying her best to conceal her laughter while watching Lucy let out her grievance.

"It’s okay, I’ll get over it, I just need to be dramatic first." She folded her arms, smiling at Samantha who shook her head hopelessly, but said nothing to Lucy.

"I brought you food, this was what I could steal from the kitchen since Gustav was absent. But I have to leave you to yourself now, I need to prepare the Chambers where the guests will be staying. An evening soiree will be happening three days from now, so I need to get busy again."

"I see." Samantha nodded her head in understanding, and then she noticed the rope tying Lucy’s dress at the top of her cleavage was starting to loosen.

"You should arrange that before leaving." Samantha quickly notified Lucy who looked down at her dress to see the ropes were undone, and her eyebrows shot up like she remembered something.

"No wonder those guards were staring instead of questioning me about the food I stole. Idiotic perverts." Lucy confidently tied her rope before letting out a soft sigh. "I wish my problems were as small as my bosoms."

"Will you leave before you make me pee on myself?" Samantha, who couldn’t hold back her laugh just had to let it out, and Lucy winked her brows mischievously at Samantha.

"Au Revoir." And she was out.

Samantha laid back flat on the bed, a soft genuine laugh leaving her lips in a pleasant contagious tone as she still found it difficult to get it all out of her system.

With Lucy’s help and Ivan’s constant treatment, Samantha was up in her feet in two days, but there was nothing Lord Ivan did that came for free, cause when she felt better, she worked and walked her entire life, that she was sure if she added all the distance he had made her walk back and forth, she would have left EmptyHollow by now.

Later in the night, Samantha poured Ivan his usual red drink, and she couldn’t differentiate between the two if it was really wine or blood. Just thinking about it made her remember what he did to her on the carriage, and the way he kept closing their distance - she couldn’t forget the mixed feeling he made her experience.

"If the table was human, it would feel satisfied after drinking that much." Ivan’s voice snapped Samantha out from her train of thoughts, and her eyes widened in panic when she realized she had overfilled his cup, and the rest had poured into the table, streaming down to the tiled floor.

"Oh no!" She inwardly panicked, and when she dared to meet Ivan’s gaze, he was glaring at her. He always was.

"I’ll... I’ll clean it up."

"Wait." Ivan suddenly grabbed her wrist before she could turn to go get a rag. His unexpected hold had startled Samantha, and the wet ground immediately made her lose her balance, and she fell right into the arms of Ivan.

"Ah! Forgive me for my clumsiness!" The already panicked Samantha tried to get up, but she was more surprised when Ivan held her down, refusing to let her stand, and then he asked.

"Can you dance?"

"Hmmm?" Samantha blinked in awe, staring like a dummy who was hearing the word ’dance’ for the first time since she was born.