The Baroness Misbehaves
Chapter 198: Giving A Hint

Chapter 198: Giving A Hint

"The rose!"

Madeline gasped as she freed her finger from Cassian’s hold, instinctively grabbing onto the flower vase with a look of concern flashing in her dark orbs. The withered rose had turned deathly ash, signifying its wilt before shriveling immensely into nihility.

The indecipherable sight had left Madeline and Cassian completely speechless as they gazed at the dead flower in her grasp, exchanging bewildered looks.

"The rose, h... how did it?... But it was...you saw it didn’t you? It..." the right words refused to come out when Madeline tried to speak, unable to think of the appropriate sentence that would explain in a convincing manner exactly what happened. One look at it, and no one would believe this was the same healthy white rose.

After experiencing yesterday’s incident, she hadn’t even gotten the answer to how the red rose turned white, and now the rose is dead?!!

"Ethan wouldn’t be happy if he saw this." Muttered Madeline when the little boy crossed her mind, and Cassian blinked at his wife, finding it totally absurd that she could think about Ethan’s feelings at this moment when she’s holding a dead flower in her grasp.

"Worry about yourself." Cassian whispered in a serious tone, not having a good feeling about it as he tried to snap some senses into her. "A healthy flower just died the minute it’s thorn pricked you Maddie, you should be more concerned about the outcome of this, and worry less about what Ethan might think."

"I’m trying but... but Ethan loves his flower." Madeline looked up to meet Cassian’s impassive stare. "He’ll be sad if he finds his flower in this condition."

"You’re not being serious." Cassian took the flower vase from her grip, and then he grabbed her wrist with his free hand before taking her away. Ethan and his Mother, who were already waiting for them to join the breakfast table, became more puzzled when she saw Cassian take his wife away.

"Where are they going? Won’t they have breakfast?" Nathan asked as he took his seat next to Ethan, looking prepared to dish up his plate.

"I don’t know."

"Lord Cassian is going to keep me delayed, I hope he remembers we have to go to the forest to pick firewood today." Nathan muttered as he took a toast of bread, filling it up with all sorts of food components, and his mother shook her head at his gluttonous nature.

"You complain about Ethan not differentiating between visitors and family, but you’re not showing any good example to your younger brother. Lord Cassian is a guest, and you’re trying to make him work?"

"Lord Cassian is not a visitor, and besides, I’m using his presence to my advantage." He took a bite from the home-made cheese sandwich. "Lord Cassian is undeniably strong, Mother, and with his help, we can bring back many firewoods and save some for the winter season. The heavens must have noticed how you and Papa stress me, so they sent Lord Cassian as my guardian angel. I’ll pay a visit to the Church for answering my prayers yesterday."

Ethan giggled at his older brother’s statement, and Nathan immediately composed himself when his mother gave him the warning glares. Understanding her silent threat, he lowered his gaze and quietly munched on his breakfast.

Cassian and Madeline stepped into their room, and Cassian refused to listen to Madeline as he opened all the drawers in the room, looking for the treatment box he was sure Nathan would have kept in one of the drawers.

Pulling the one from the dressing table, a familiar small white kit caught his attention, and he brought it out.

"Cas..."

"Sit."

Like an obedient little wife, Madeline quickly sat on the bed without complaint, knowing she couldn’t argue her way out of this one when Cassian’s expression had turned frighteningly stoic. He looked like he was ready to tear the flower in half if it wasn’t dead already.

Taking out the ointment from the kit, Cassian made his way towards Madeline and crouched in front of her. Holding the hand where she had pricked herself, his touch became gentle when he reached for her finger that was now smeared with dried blood. He carefully applied the paste for her, and it burned a little, making Madeline close her eyes tightly, but she made no attempt to scream out in pain.

Knowing it would burn, Cassian lifted her finger, keeping it inches away from his lips, and he gently blew on it to reduce the burn. Madeline could feel her heart jolt in uncontrollable excitement when he tended to her finger, but the reaction on her face remained unfazed, not until he looked up at her and the colors on her cheek darkened noticeably.

"I told you already, I’m fine. It was just a little thorn." She repeated the word when his demeanor softened, and Cassian flicked her forehead with his index and middle finger, eliciting a slight wince from the woman.

"Little or big, I don’t want to see you get hurt in front of me." He asserted firmly, "don’t go around touching flowers without proper inspection first. It pierced you deep, else you wouldn’t have felt the burns. It’s no use lying to me about it cause I know you a lot better than you think."

He shook his head with a sigh, and Madeline paused for a moment, unable to meet his gaze after hearing him say something like that to her. How well does he know her?

"You.... You weren’t tempted to take my blood?" She asked, taking notice of the fact his eyes didn’t change color at the sight of her blood, and Cassian rose to his full height at her sudden question.

He sauntered towards the flower vase he had kept on the table at the side of the room, and he picked it up, his keen eyes inspecting the withered flower.

"Your health comes before my thirst." He said without looking at her. "There are times when I can lose control, but when it comes to you, I rather hurt myself than give in to the monster living inside me."

His charming eyes shifted to the young woman who slowly got to her feet. She walked up to where he stood, and Cassian could feel his heart race dynamically with each approaching step she took towards him until she got close.

Madeline smiled faintly and bowed her head at him. "Thank you." She then lifted her head up to meet his gaze, "you care so much for me, and there’s no way I can repay you for it to my satisfaction. The least I can do is be grateful and assist you in any way I can."

Hearing this, Cassian clicked his tongue at her words, not liking how she made herself feel indebted to him. Dropping the flower vase on the table, he turned to look at the young woman with his height looming over her, making Madeline take a step back, immediately startled by his unforeseen advances, and just like before, he wasn’t smiling.

Yet she knew he was harmless in the face of her.

"Why do you think I do all this? From the beginning of our marriage till this very day, what did you think led me to offer you this much care and attention? Don’t you ever stop to wonder why I care this much for you?" He asked, sending Madeline’s brain into a confused state.

"What?"

"Why do you think I care for you? I told you how my relationship with women were, I told you every damn thing about me, which is something I wouldn’t do to anyone. I told you about the girl I liked, and how I searched for her just so I could see her again, can you really not take a hint? Or are you trying to avoid it?"