Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 86: Tales Of The Night

Chapter 86: Tales Of The Night

After being left alone to regain her composure, Samantha had come to the conclusion that her actions were nothing but illogical towards Lord Ivan. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to move on without apologizing first for her irrational behavior, she had gotten up from where she sat to go look for him, but what she had seen instead left her appalled as the sight of those slave traders, who always tortured her with no pity, were now the ones crying for help as they seemed to have been engulfed in flames.

"AHHHHH!!!!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!"

Their agonizing shrieks had her heart racing in horrification till they eventually stumbled back and fell off the cliff themselves. Only then did Samantha feel the biting chillness that lingered heavily in the air, and she had forgotten how to breathe - her mind was too frozen to function properly.

This incident somewhat reminded her of Prince Nichole’s burnt-down carriage except, this time around, the vampire Lord hadn’t set a Carriage on fire, but he had set her fellow humans on fire. No! Those scums weren’t humans, they were demons in sheep clothing, and she felt not a tiny remorse for them, in fact they deserved to die, but witnessing this merciless side of Lord Ivan, Samantha didn’t know if she should stay wary of his presence since he keeps getting dangerous by the second.

Meanwhile, Ivan had noticed her presence the minute he turned around to take his leave, and the expression that displayed on his countenance at the very sight of her, proved he never wanted her to see any of that. She was still grieving, and he didn’t want another memory that would probably haunt her for who knows how long.

"Little Lamb." He managed to say, but that was it.

For some seconds, the two of them remained ironically quiet, just staring as if their eyes held the answers to the questions that raced through their mind, and when Samantha opened her mouth to say something, it closed back when the vampire Prince came to stand in front of her. Grabbing her dainty wrist in a firm grip, he took her away from the cliff without uttering a word, but Samantha’s green eyes lingered on the spot where she had seen those slave traders burn before falling to their doom.

The remembrance of it made her shudder within, whilst she grew more confused as to what type of man Lord Ivan was.

Taking her back to the heart of the valley where the fire he had made still burned, he made the young maid sit on the rock before letting go of her wrist. Her hands were cold to the touch, which meant she never stayed close enough to the fire to warm herself, but he felt relieved that she didn’t place them in the fire when he had left to deal with those burning shrimps.

Stealing glances at the golden-blonde-haired maiden, her expression remained despondent as she fumbled with her fingers, her usually running mouth had gone silent, and he hated the awkward silence that lingered in the air - more importantly, he hated how dispirited she looked as she quietly kept to herself.

"Hey, little lamb." Calling her by her nickname to gain her attention, she lifted her head slowly to look at him, but when he met her green eyes, a strange feeling penetrated into his chest, whilst he looked away while clearing his throat. "Why did you come there?" He finally asked, "if you were going to be afraid, you shouldn’t have come."

"I didn’t plan to." She shook her head before letting her tensed shoulders drop. "I.. I wanted to apologize for everything I....said to you, that’s why I came." The tone of her voice held genuine remorse as she lowered her head again. "I was ungrateful, I forgot my manners and you must be angry, but I promise I..."

The young maid flinched away in fear when the vampire Lord stretched his hand forward so he could touch her, but upon noticing her retreat, his hand paused mid-way, but the disappointment in his crimson eyes reflected in her green orbs. It was that one action that always discouraged him - she was apologizing, yet she was still building her walls when it came to him.

"I’m not going to hurt you, I just want–" he paused in his statement, and when he dared to continue to see if she would draw back, to his relief she didn’t, whilst his hand palmed one side of her cheek as he examined it. It was still slightly red, but it was better than before.

"You’ll be fine, you’ve always been." He assured her.

"No." Samantha shook her head in disagreement as she couldn’t bring herself to come to terms with that phrase. Turning away from him, she let out a shuddering sigh, as if emotionally exhausted before saying, "I don’t think I’ll ever be fine, but thank you, My Lord. You should return to the Palace now, everyone will be worried if they don’t hear from you by tonight, and you shouldn’t have left without the company of the guards, your life can be threatened, so please return for the sake of everyone."

She bowed her head weakly, "thank you for saving me, but I am of no use to you anymore."

"That’s not for you to decide." He asserted firmly, objecting to her statement, "I didn’t come here so I could bid you goodbyes. You’re coming with me, and whether you approve it or not is none of my business. Refuse and you shall be taken without consent." He made it clear to the woman who finally lifted her head again to meet his eyes, she could see the seriousness in his gaze after he uttered those words, which means he meant every word he just said to her, he would take her away even if she refuses to be taken.

"I am useless."

"You are not useless," he disagreed as a matter-of-fact. "I don’t associate myself with useless individuals, be it humans, animals, or vampires. You’re just dumb for not realizing your worth yet." And again with the harsh truth, but if Samantha could read between every word carefully, she would have understood the good in them, but then, she was in a moment of grief to not actually be bothered about what he thought about her.

Meanwhile Ivan, who couldn’t contain her solemn aura sighed wearily like he had given up on what to do that will bring her back. He wasn’t someone who offered comfort to others, he’s never done it before and presently, he was starting to wish he did cause looking at his little lamb who remained helplessly vulnerable in his cloak, he barely knew how to begin or where to even start. His usual thought was leaving her to herself again since that was, unfortunately, all he could offer, some space, but when he retreated back to give her that same space, someone nudged him forward from behind.

"Woah! Hey!" Turning around swiftly, his eyes widened to see his Midnight-black steed standing behind him, and when his steed, whom he named Blaze began to make grunting sounds through his nostrils, Ivan could tell his steed was displeased with him, whilst he didn’t care nor minded it as he deadpanned.

"I told you before, I’m not that kind of person, I’ll probably make her cry at the end of it and do you think I want that? No no." But each time he tried to escape it, his steed was always in the way as it stubbornly nudged Ivan forward with his head. Despite Ivan’s struggle to get away, he found himself standing close to Samantha who finally glanced at him with the same dispirited eyes.

Looking back at his steed that carefully monitored him in case he planned on escaping again, Ivan finally sighed in defeat and joined his little lamb on the rock where she sat. He rested his back against hers, but she didn’t open her mouth to complain and just let him do as he pleased, but that was until he said.

"If I tell you one pain of mine, will you tell me yours?" The vampire Prince suddenly asked out of the blue, with only the whispering sound of the breeze to keep them company, but when she gave no response to his question, he took it as a yes and softly began. "Do you know how villains are described in a story? They.... Take things that aren’t theirs for selfish benefits, they don’t care about who gets hurt in the process as long as they accomplish their goals, and these are the traits I can pretty much say I inherited from my Mother."

Samantha, who wasn’t listening at first was suddenly drawn back to reality when he mentioned his Mother, and when Ivan sensed he had piqued her curiosity, he continued. "My Mother was the villainess since she married a King who was already married with three children of his own. Her presence came in the way of two people even if it wasn’t her intention to do so, she stole his love and heart, while the first wife received no love from my Father, but she held onto the position that her son will be the next King of GreenHollow. When I came along, I stole the title of crown Prince that should’ve gone to the oldest son of my Father, and I am trying to fight for a kingdom that I don’t want, yet I can’t let them have it. That makes me a villain too, doesn’t it? A lot of life had been lost because of this, my actions, but I refused to back down from the throne, I guess I’m really no different from those villains I hear people talk about."

"But.....it wasn’t your choice to be the crowned Prince, you were chosen." She corrected him, forgetting the fact that she herself had always seen him as a villain in the past. "The rules of the Palace states that a crowned Prince can’t become King unless he has a Queen, and from my Father’s story, King Muzan was forced into a marriage based on kingdom politics, he married for power and formed an alliance with the Kingdom of Vesunard, I heard it’s another powerful Kingdom ruled by higher Vampires, is that...true?"

"Hmm who exactly is telling the story here?" Ivan questioned back, and Samantha immediately realized she had spoken too much and quickly apologized. "Forgive my ignorance."

"All is forgiven." He responded, but unbeknownst to Samantha, he had a slight smile on his lips due to her indulgence. "But you are right, the Kingdom of Vesunard could be considered a land bestowed on Vampires alone, but my Father never formed an alliance with Vesunard, he owned it."

"What?!!" Samantha’s eyes snapped wide at the news, "you mean he’s..."

"Vesunard kingdom is owned by the Chevalier’s." He answered for her, "the name of our kingdom was never revealed during the war, they referred to us as Vampires from the North, but after my Father’s debut into GreenHollow, the name of our Kingdom, Vesunard was revealed, but not everyone knew it was a kingdom owned by my Father. I’ve heard about the place from my older brothers, they never stopped bragging about it since most of their training and what-not were held there, but since I was a human who couldn’t awaken my powers at that time, I was shunned. No one knew me until the day I was chosen by the orb to be crowned Prince, but I was hated for it."