Saving the Paragon Villain

Chapter 6: The Sanctity of the gods

Erin

We hastily walked to the carriage by the palace gates. He helped me up and we stayed silent for the rest of the trip back to the Farron estate. He looked like he wont talk about it yet so I won't probe. I mean I do still remember that this guy's a villain in the novel and since I still wish to keep my life, I won't mess with this dangerous man's mood.. His merciless genocide is still etched deep within my mind.. Though, to his defense at that time he was already mad/crazy but can you blame me for not taking any chances?

Later on, we were halfway home when he finally started talking.

"It's tradition." He finally informed me. He looked somewhat burdened. "It went out of hand but basically when a chosen royalty and a duchess dances unto the ceremonial music of betrothal, it means the gods had sanctified our union. It also means we are in line and are under protection of the heavens as one of the rightful frontrunners for the throne."

Wait, what? I looked at him incredulously. Duchess? Frontrunners to the throne? "I apologize, my Lord but I do not quite understand. Are you telling me the gods have chosen us to battle out with the crown prince and princess for the throne?"

AM I HEARING WRONG? God damn son, don't just drop information bombs like that! If I happened to have a heart problem, I would've already lost my life. Am I freaking out? I DEFINITELY am. Am I showing it? Maybe a bit. Still, I'm proud of myself for being able to muster the ability to still act as the ever so elegant Lisbeth (yo, I'm never lax in the decorum department). I mean can somebody hand me an academy award? This is top-tier acting right here.

"That is correct." He answered as he hesitantly looked at me as if heavily conflicted "It wasn't supposed to be this way. Perhaps it was my deity's blood or the fact that you have those pink eyes.. But now we're tied by the sanctity of the gods thus you will be subjected to various atrocities that comes with being a rival to the throne. I have lost my power to yield since the public display of the gods' favor in our recent dance. I-"

He then took my hand and looked at me seriously "I will be your shield. I assure you that I will scour the heaven and the earth for a path where you can live happily and comfortably."

I sat there, in deep reverie. Words hung loosely at the edge of my mind..Duchess? I am a duchess? Aren't I just a stand-in for the real Lisbeth? I am a fake. If the dance needed a duchess, it shouldn't have worked because I am but a child of a maid! Also, what rival to the throne? All I did was dance and now we're both at death's door? Is the death of both our characters inevitable?

My eyes shook with this thought.

Also by the way he talked, it's as if he's excluding himself in that future where I'm supposedly "happy" and "comfortable". Seriously, this guy...

Unknowingly, my hand gripped Magnus' a bit tighter. We're a lot closer in proximity but somehow his gaze carried an air of being distant. As if he's here but isn't.

"Thank you for explaining, my Lord. I now understand but you need not feel responsible for something that you did not cause." I finally let out after a long while. From what I heard it seems like this is a surprise to him, too. Why should I blame him for this? This is but an accident, right? Verdad? (Oho look at me go~) I then put a hand above his instinctively "The burden of being rivals to the throne is indeed great but at the very least, there's no need to bear it alone anymore."