Entwined With the Villainous Guardian
Chapter 121: His Demon

Chapter 121: His Demon

"I’m tired. I didn’t sleep all night. I’ll have some shut eye," Leander wanted to leave. His head hurt. He needed time to adjust.

Viviana followed him back to the house. She had a lot of questions she wanted to ask him but she didn’t know if she will get the answers from him. At least she can enjoy her freedom for the rest of her short life.

Leander watched as she fluffed the pillow for him. She never did that before. No one has done that for him to his knowledge. And he liked it.

"I’ll wake you up for dinner," Viviana waved her hand.

She too was tired, but she found it weird to sleep beside him in daytime. But he pulled her. She crashed on the bed and he pulled her to his embrace.

"I’m in your side of the bed," she said.

"I know," he kissed her ear. "Shut up and let me sleep."

"Okay," Viviana nodded.

The room was silent and she could hear him breathe. It was soothing to listen to. In his embrace, was a warmth. It surrounded her and it thawed her frozen heart. She’s been wounded all her life and all she did was apply ice to her wounds. Her wounds were too much and to protect herself, she ended up freezing her heart.

Especially in the past two years.

She smiled, she laughed and she made friends. But she never let anyone in her heart. There was no one who would survive after their act of vengeance. What’s the use getting attached. She did have good times. But she trained herself to not let those good times affect her heart.

Why should she love someone when she is going to die?

She preferred to stay that way. But Leander is affecting her more than she ever anticipated. She thought she had successfully hardened her heart, but why is she getting affected by Leander?

It’s not mere attraction or curiosity. There is that factor too. She thought she was happy choosing to stay a virgin. But she had desires from time to time too. When a man is by her side, and he is her husband, which gives a moral green light to be attracted to him, she is losing to her desires.

But it is not simply carnal desires at play here. What affects her more are his eyes. He is reminding her too much of Leona . And then he hurts her like Leona never did.

She was afraid.

She was afraid that her memory of Leona might get corrupted by Leander. He’s hot and cold to her and she understood the cold part. That goes with her understanding of him.

But why does he turn warm from time to time? He mentions Abenney to his grandfather because he knows something. He is planning something. She knows it. And yet, why can’t she push him away and submits to him?

Is she that desperate for warmth that she will accept anyone?

Maybe she is that desperate. All her life, the one thing she was desperate for was for love. But is it love that he shows her?

It’s not fair.

She’s not being fair to him and he’s not being fair to her either.

This is not good. And the right thing would be for each of them going their own way. They don’t suit each other.

But that is impossible considering her situation. He will not trust her enough to let her go. She made him think that she will hurt his family more if she’s left alone.

What should she do?

"We’ll have to buy rings," he said breaking the long soothing silence between them.

"Oh?" Viviana subconsciously ended up looking at her finger.

She didn’t ask for it. He is suggesting it himself. She didn’t know the motive behind his suggestion. But to think of it, she didn’t mind it probably because it doesn’t hurt her and it doesn’t change anything for her.

She is already his wife whether she wears the ring or not.

Maybe she is fated to know what being married feels like. Maybe she should enjoy what it feels like. She’ll never know what dating means or the joy of getting proposed. But she might know what married life is.

She didn’t want to think deeply about it. Because if she did, she will not like the way she got married or which family she married into. Superficially. It’s not that bad. And the man she married, is not so terrible either considering his background.

What kind of ring will he buy for her? She didn’t expect expensive rings. She’d prefer a simple ring. But he might want to show off his wealth. Her mind wandered off to think of various possibilities.

Before she knew it, she fell asleep. She didn’t have a good night sleep either the previous night. It was not hard for her to fall asleep.

-----

In her embrace, Leander fell asleep almost immediately. He was disturbed and maybe that reflected in his dreams. He got many disturbing dreams that didn’t allow him to fall asleep deeply.

Dreams after dreams... the Heberden blowout...

He remembered visiting that restaurant after the place was cleared. The lingering smell of fire that twisted his stomach... The stench. The firefighters had done their job and had doused the fire. It was wet everywhere. The traffic was diverted and the street was empty and silent.

It looked more like after rain. And yet he felt the wrath of the fire in his nose. He couldn’t bear the stench. He didn’t stay there for long. He didn’t even get down from his car. He asked the driver to drive back home.

He remembered looking at the rear view mirror. Behind him was standing a woman. Just like the misty shadow of a ghost, that image in the mirror haunted him.

Maybe it was his dreams, the shadowy image in the mirror gained form. The messy hair cleared up and the enraged face of a woman popped from behind the ribbons of hair, twisted like fate.

"Murderer!"

She screamed. And the dark eyes turned into an abyss that grew fangs.

"Murderer!"

The eerie voice that whistled, chased him.

Help! Someone help me!