my next life as a villainess, all routes lead to doom x fem!oc [Book 2]

Marriage offers? An Incident?

Kiana had to take a minute to process what Geordo just said. "Your...fiancee...me?" Kiana blurted out while tilting her head. Geordo started laughing before calming down and nodding his head. "My, you're so cute when you do that, and yes." He said while placing his chin on his palm, which was resting on the table. "I- I don't know what to say-" "That's alright, you don't have to say anything to it." Kiana spoke again, before a voice interrupted them. Both Kiana and a frowning Geordo turned around to find Alan walking to them. "And why is that, brother?" Geordo stood up and had an intense staring contest with Alan, who returned the same amount of intensity. "Because she's mine." Alan replied without breaking eye contact with Geordo, before pulling Kiana behind him. "Wait can I have a say in this discus-" Kiana said as she held onto Alan's arm. "Don't make me laugh, you have Mary as your fiancee and Kiana is still yet to be claim by anyone. Therefore, I stepped forward to be the first." Geordo said while placing his hand on his chest as he made a confident pose. 

"Both me and Mary agreed to break off our engagement if one of us finds someone else that we like, so I declare a competition between us to win Kiana's hand in marriage!" Alan said back confidently, that was before someone came between them. "Stop it you two! I am not an object to be claimed nor a prize!! This is ridiculous..I'm going back to my resident, good bye." Kiana said, before running off. She heard both Alan and Geordo call out to her, but she ignored them and tried to find her way out of the castle. She finally spotted the entrance and saw the carriage man that brought her and Alan here. "Excuse me! please take me back to where you picked me up." She told him, which he agreed after bowing. She got in the carriage and it started moving. "Kiana! Wait! I didn't mean to.." Alan said as he ran out of the castle entrance, in search of Kiana, only to see a carriage in a very far distance. 

He decided to not run after it, since it will only upset Kiana more and just continued staring at the carriage, before it was no longer in his view. Kiana arrived back at her house and saw a note from her mother that she was in the town square to do some grocery shopping. Seeing that she had nothing to do at her house, Kiana decided to go to the town square also. She made sure to lock the door before heading out and walked towards the town square. She wandered around and even waved back to the people who smiled at her. She was trying to find her mother, when she saw a familiar figure peering over some books on display. 'Huh? That's a surprise..' She walked over to him and stood beside him, but he was yet to notice her. "I wasn't expecting to see you here, Nicol." She said, without breaking her eye contact with the book she picked up from the stand. 

Nicol looked over to her and widened his eyes a bit. "Kiana-san...I wasn't expecting to see you here either." He replied, before fully turning to Kiana. "May I ask why you're here? Out of curiosity, since you're busy most of the time." Kiana said, after copying Nicol's movements. "My work is done for today, and Sophia told me about a book she wanted, so I'm here to see if that book was for sale." He replied while placing back the book he was holding. "But unfortunately, they told me it was sold out. I'll have to come back another time." He continued, before smiling at Kiana. "Why are you here for, if I may ask?" Nicol asked Kiana. "Ah, I was looking for my mother." Kiana replied. "I see...would you like to accompany me around?" Nicol asked as he stuck his hand out for Kiana to grab. She obliged and nodded with a smile. "That would be my pleasure.." She said, before both of them walked around the town square, hand in hand. 

"...I'm planning to search for a fiancee, since I'm supposed to take on my family's name soon." Nicol spoke up, after hesitating a bit. "..Oh, I see. Have you found anyone you want as your fiancee yet?" Kiana asked back. Nicol was silent as he continued staring to his other side, before answering back. "I..I do..but I don't think they're willing to accept me as their fiancee." Kiana was confused and sort of saddened for a reason she didn't quite know. 'Who wouldn't accept Nicol Ascart as their fiancee..?' She thought to herself. "Have you also found someone to be their fiancee?" Nicol asked to Kiana, breaking her out of her thoughts. "Oh me? Not really, I have no idea who to choose to be my fiancee.." Kiana replied while looking down at their feet. "..I see, has anyone asked you to be their fiancee yet?" Nicol asked back. Kiana slowly nodded, unsure of what to say. 

"..Geordo and Alan, asked me earlier today actually.." Nicol's walking slowed down at this and Kiana noticed. "..Did you agreed to one of them.?" He asked, as both of them were in front of each other now. Kiana shook her head while looking down. "No..but- Agh...let's go to another place, I'll tell you what happened." Kiana said, before dragging Nicol to a fountain in the middle of the town square and sat down at it. After seating, Kiana told Nicol what happened at the royal palace's gardens with Alan and Geordo, while Nicol listened intently. She explained starting from where Geordo asked her to be his fiancee and how Alan appeared, before starting a competition between the two brothers. "After that, I just ran out of the palace and went back to my home." Kiana finished explaining while caressing her hair with her hands. "..Oh" was all Nicol could mutter out. He was sure by now that he was far behind the two brothers, or was he? 

"Who are you going to choose?" Nicol asked after a few minutes. Kiana sighed at his question. "That's the thing, I don't know who to choose nor who I want to choose.." Kiana replied while looking directly at Nicol, making his heart beat fasten. Nicol wasn't sure of what to say now, since he was also planning to ask her to be his fiancee. He suddenly hugged her, making her tense up at the sudden gesture. "*sigh*I'm sorry to hear that but if you ever decided to choose none of them, I'll be here for you. I'm not forcing you to choose me, it's your choice, but if you ever want to talk about this matter again, don't hesitate to visit my resident." Nicol said as he stood up, before leaving Kiana, who was looking at his retreating figure nervously. 'Great, now I have 3 marriage offers! Just..fantastic' Kiana thought, before sighing out loud. 

"How am I going to...choose one..? Kiana muttered to herself after a few minutes, while staring down at her heels. "Choose the one that your heart wish to choose." Kiana nodded but still continued staring at her heels, before abruptly looking up with wide eyes. "R-RAPHAEL?" Kiana said, shocked to see the red haired male smiling down at her. "Hey Kiana san, mind if I sit beside you?" He said, which Kiana nodded at. Raphael sat down beside Kiana, before Kiana crossed her arms. "How long have you been listening to me and Nicol's conversation?" She said as she turned to Raphael. "Well..to be frank, I've been here since you two arrived at the fountain-" Raphael said while scratching his nape with a apologetic smile, before continuing. "I actually didn't know it was the two of you, that was before I heard you explaining about what happened at the castle." He said, which Kiana sighed at. 

Kiana didn't reply as the tension got more awkward. "Er..who is the closest one to you?" Raphael said with a nervous smile. "I'm close with all three of them, Raphael...that's why I'm having trouble." Kiana replied while sighing out loud with a deadpanned face. "hmm, they didn't ask you to answer right away, right?" Raphael said while putting his fingers on his chin. Kiana thought for a bit, before nodding. "Yeah but that still doesn't stop the pressure towards me." She said with a pout. Raphael smiled genuinely, before replying back. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind waiting for your answers, even if it takes a while." Kiana looked up to Raphael. "Are you sure? Wouldn't they- ..wouldn't they even be a tad a bit mad, because I didn't choose one right away?" Kiana said, unsure of what Raphael said. He shook his head before standing up.

"If they are willing to wait for your answer, then they do have true feelings for you. Remember to choose the one that your heart follows, you know that I'll be supporting you with whatever choice you make." Raphael smiled sweetly, before walking off to who knows where. "At least I received some sort of advice.." She said, before deciding to go back to her home, since she wasn't able to find her mother in the town square. She arrived back at her house, but she had a strange gut feeling on the way back. She couldn't make out why she was feeling like that, but she didn't think much of it. She entered the living room after taking off her heels and putting them beside her mother's heels. "Mommm I'm back!" Kiana was expecting a voice to greet her back, but there was none. "Mom?" She called out, before freezing at the trail of blood, leading to the kitchen. She slowly followed it, growing more and more anxious.

She finally arrived at the kitchen and slowly let out a blood curling scream, before her legs gave out. Tears immediately started running down her cheeks like waterfalls, as the only thing she could do was watch her mother's bloody body with wide eyes. "Mom...mother....no no no NO NO NO!" She chocked out, while crawling closer to her mother's limp body. She saw something written in the corner of her eyes, which only made her cry even more. 

'I love you, Kiana'

was what her mother wrote, with her last breaths and her own blood.