Entwined With the Villainous Guardian
Chapter 197: Her Promise

Chapter 197: Her Promise

"You promise?" Leander asked hugging her closer.

She never gave the impression that she liked living. This probably is the first time she is giving something of a reveal of her desire to live. How can he not be happy about it?

This truly is a wonderful day! The best birthday he ever had.

"I’m going to hold you to your promise," he kissed her head. "You cannot take it back...ever..."

Viviana only then realized the weight of the words she spoke.

"You make my foundations shake just with your eyes, Leander," she said. She spoke that words without thinking much and yet those were words that would cause impact.

He chuckled. His voice heard through his chest was more majestic. And knowing that she’s the only one who could get this close to him to hear it gave her a mysterious feeling in her heart.

There might have been some before there might be some after... But now, this moment, this birthday, belongs to her. Her alone.

She closed her eyes leaning on his chest.

She just didn’t know how big of an impact she had made on him. But she did not regret those words. Maybe, if she was allowed to live, she will make him a cake each year for his birthday, as long as he accepts it.

He sounded sincere when he said that he will hold her to the promise she made. But how long will he be interested in her? He says he loves her and she believed him.

But there is an end to everything. Certainly love. She was not delusional to think that someone like Leander would love someone like her forever.

It made her chest heavy. She’s read about deep love, most of them fictional. Like Romeo and Juliet and other tragedies. There might have been comedies and feel-good endings like Jane Austen’s books.

But that’s it. It’s fiction.

One love story was close to her heart. A real story of a dead soldier. They found the letter he wrote to his beloved lady after he died. Those words he wrote to her makes her cry.

{When the war is over, we will get married. The earth will grow flowers like you and your womb will carry the most beautiful girl in the universe.}

She’d cry every time she reads it. Maybe it was not very romantic. It was tragic as he couldn’t keep his promise.

But for Viviana, that was the most romantic thing ever written.

That soldier was probably in the barracks or stuck in the trenches, thinking about his beloved. In a hopeless place, as his mind wanted to think of something pleasant, he thought of his ladylove. His heart filled with hope that the war would be over and he would safely return to his beloved.

And when he imagined a life with her, he wanted to make an honest woman out of her and wanted to marry her. When he imagined of a peaceful life, there were flowers around him, probably planted by his wife.

And in his dream... his wife gave him a daughter.

For a man in a hopeless situation in the midst of a war, what gave him hope was the image of his beloved beside him as his wife and his little family completed with children. That’s all that man wanted.

Not money, not a mansion, not fancy clothes... a family.

And who is she? Someone who can’t even give a basic wish of a man. How can she expect love? She can’t.

Sure, there are couples who overcame that struggle. Her parents were an example. She didn’t know the whole details, but her parents couldn’t have children. They didn’t talk to her much about it. But her mother once let it slip that she had a lot of miscarriages and decided to stop trying at one point because it took a toll on her health and her dad urged her to stop trying. That was why they opted for adoption.

Sure, these days there are other options like surrogacy along with adoption. With surrogacy, Leander can have a child with his DNA.

Should they talk about it?

She knew someone like Peter won’t find surrogacy a good way to have grandchildren. He’d prefer a fertile woman for his only fertile grandson.

But Leander might find a way. She decided to talk to her about it.

"What does my eyes do?" Leander asked, still finding her words amusing. He leaned to the side and got the cake.

She does not know that he’s the one going crazy just looking at her.

Viviana looked at him expectedly as he took a small slice of the cake. Viviana pressed her lips seeing the crumbled pieces at the bottom.

Her cake definitely is not moist... Maybe he was right to hesitate to taste it. It probably is going to taste terrible.

He smelled it first. "Lemon?" he asked.

"You said you liked lemons," she said. She pressed her hands together as she got excited for his commentary about the cake.

"I do," he said and tasted it. "It’s perfect!" he said. "A little warm too..."

Viviana wiped the crumbs off his lips. She probably is the only one who makes brittle cake. And he probably is the one who would call such a cake "perfect"!

She tried to a bite of the slice he was holding in his hand to relieve him the stress of finishing an awful cake. But he stuffed the entire slice in his mouth.

"What the...Give me some..."she giggled and tried to get the plate from his hand but he didn’t want to give her the cake.

Is it that awful?

She knelt on the bed and tried to get the cake from his hand but he was quick. She couldn’t even get close to his hand.

"Come on! I’m hungry!" she batted her eyelashes at him and he glared at her as if he didn’t believe her. "I swear," she pouted.

As if he was throwing crumbs for a stray dog, he cut a thin and small slice for her. She ate it. It didn’t taste bad probably because it was still warm.

He finished the cake in some bites. He didn’t seem to be caring for his brother’s words anymore as he was eating an entire cake at night.

But she was glad.

He kept the empty plate at the side table. Viviana placed the plate on the breakfast table. She then brought wine. He definitely would need wine after the dry cake.

She should improve her baking skills.

"Are my eyes that similar to your friend’s?" he asked accepting the glass of wine.