Darkness' Touch

Chapter 34: Sweet Silence

It was a sunny day in the Arkwright Estate as the raven-haired girl excitedly left her room and walked to her destination, the fountain in the middle of the garden. The sun smiled brightly as the sky and the gentle wind brushed off her delicate skin while she moved. It was one of those days that her fiance, the Crown Prince visits her home to have lunch with her.

She was dressed as nicely as ever, almost skipping as she moved forward for she longed to see the young Prince and talk to him again, although she mostly does the talking, at least he responds, unlike Zach who shoos her away. 

Her smile became wider when she saw the back of the prince from afar, standing in front of the fountain, waiting for her. She straightened up her dress and fixed her already perfect hair before walking closer, but as she did, a mischievous thought entered her mind. She giggled to herself before running fast towards the crown prince, tackling him with a tight hug. 

She was expecting a surprised expression, a cute and flustered one, to be precise. But for the Goddess' mercy, she was wrong.

What she saw was a horrified look on the young prince's face and before she knew it, she was already pushed to the ground. The boy eyed her in horror, stepping back a little as if he wanted to run away that very moment. 

Avy couldn't forget the terror visible in him that day. 

Her whole body felt the pain of hitting the hard, cold ground, looking up at her fiance in complete shock because of the reaction she got. 

She didn't have the strength to stand up by herself, hence she expected him to help her but he only stood there, restless and...  hesitant? Her vision became blurry as seconds went by and she was sure that the prince took notice of it just as immediately. She saw him muttering something under his breath and not too long after, servants were running towards her in a hurry. They were yelling, but she couldn't hear anything and couldn't feel her body anymore. 

Was she pushed that hard? 

The empty eyes of the prince became much colder, and that was the last image she saw before she passed out.

The next day, Avy caught a fever that sent the whole estate into chaos. 

They said if her father and grandfather didn't call every single mage in the Mage Tower to stabilize her condition within a day...

... the lady would've already been in a coffin before the sun rose. 

"My lady!!" 

The maids present screeched in surprise and scurried next to Avy who fortunately grabbed the nearest chair she could reach to support herself because if she hadn't, the ground would have be the one to catch her. 

One of the maids helped her to straighten up, "Should we call the young master, Mi'lady?" she asked in worry but Avy shook her head in response. 

"It's fine. I just felt dizzy for a second." she implied, brushing off the concern as politely as she could. "Bring in the food, let's not make the prince wait." 

The maids hesitated, but after catching a glimpse of their lady's unbothered face, they decided to let it go. Not without throwing the prince a disapproving look though. As much as they wanted to express their bitterness openly, they also didn't want to be the cause of a rift between the Arkwrights and the Imperial Family. 

The subtle hostility didn't escape Avy's eyes of course. The maids' attitude match well with their masters' standing in high society, it was amusing to look at. But she can't afford to have their necks flying for disrespecting a prince, so she made them leave to not cause any further commotion.