Royally Bounded

Chapter 42

Hayden

I leaned back in my office chair and stared out at the window. The entire room was dark, the silence sucking me in as I watched the lights of Imperos glowed in my eyes. I never understood what the hell the city lights were about, but she made me admired it more often than I expected. It was nearly peace when I sat in silence, and I didn't have to care about any other shit in my life.

"King Hayden," Sylvia, who was Maisie's maid, called as she knocked on my office door. I spun my chair around, and I allowed her to come in.

"What?" I muttered, staring at my file under the desk lamp.

"Duchess Maisie wanted me to see when you'll be finishing your work. She's waiting for you in the bedroom."

"I still have files to look over. I have to work overnight."

"Yes."

She closed the door, and I threw my pen on my desk. It's been only a fucking week, but this marriage was fucking killing me. Maisie kept wanting me to fuck her. It was so damn annoying because I hated how desperate she was. She only thought about having kids, and I didn't want to have any kids especially with her.

I hadn't touched her once since we came back to Imperos. I forced her to sleep in a separate bedroom because I knew how she was. She would force herself on me, and I would have to deal with her bullshit every night. In her fucking mind, she only thought about getting pregnant from me, and she wanted to have a heir to please my mother.

No fucking way.

I turned off the lamp and walked out to hallway. My eyes instantly found Clara entering from the backdoor. She was wearing an oversized cardigan that covered her small frame, almost as if she was trying to hide something from everyone. For the past week, I saw how less she had eaten. She didn't come to the dining room anymore, and I rarely saw her in the palace.

She hid from me.

God, she was so fucking fragile in my eyes. She was the perfect part of me that was torn away by her own hands. I wanted to not marry Maisie and told everyone to shut their fucking mouths, but I had to agree because I had no fucking choice left. I had nothing I could do.

I saw her walking towards me, but she didn't notice, and her fingers grasped onto the necklace that I had given. The diamond ring still remained on her finger. I thought by now she would have removed them, but she had them on.

She bumped into my chest, and she was startled, staring upwards slowly at me. Her blue eyes were bright again, but it still had a hint of disappointment behind them. She closed her fingers around the red pendent tightly. She didn't say a word. Instead, she chose to step to one side and walked away from me, stabbing me in the chest with a fucking knife.

"Why aren't you eating?" I spoke coldly and turned around to look at her.

"What?" She faced me, stunned at my question.

She didn't look at me straight in the eyes anymore. She kept her gaze elsewhere, tucking her hands in her cardigan pockets.

"Violet said you're not eating enough," I lied. I didn't need Violet to tell me anything that was related to Clara. I could see it with my own eyes, but I was still annoyed with what she had done to me.

"I'm not going to die in your palace if that's what you're worried about. Even if I die, I will find a place and not drag you into another mess."

My chest burned at her words, and I watched her turn away without another word. My jaw locked, and I never thought I would hear her say those words to me. The bitter tone coming from her voice was enough to shoot me dead. A cold laugh escaped my throat.