Bewitched (Snow White with the Red Hair Fanfic)

37.Bloom

By all means, I had to stop this. I felt as if Kaine is scheming something while using me for whatever his plans were. How in the world could I find out?

Now, I knew his only emotion wasn't being obsessed with love. He had come to the palace for a much greater ambition. An ambition that I must bring into the light.

"Lera..." Kaine cooed. His voice tickled my ear slightly as I flinched. Then, I frowned at him but enough to refrain from showing that I was annoyed. "Don't startle me like that!" I said and he smirked. What was this man up to now?

It had been days since I last saw Izana. As sad as it sounded, I missed him greatly and felt sorrow when I didn't hear anything from him.

I had thought he'd be just as eager to see me. Lady Haki told me that she would manage the engagement issue as prompt as she could and the fastest would at least take a few months.

The only thing I had in my mind was to protect the order of the Wysteria family. Too damaged had it been. My first trial was to keep Kaine in control and somehow stop him from breaking this family apart.

"Why don't we have a walk in the garden? I'm sure the wind feels nice by now." I suggested and this casted a frown upon Kaine's face. "A walk? We've been having walks almost everyday now. You always make me do this whenever you spend time with me.

Of course, I was aware of my lack of ideas on a safe choice of leisure. The garden actually had gardeners and soldiers so Kaine couldn't do much with his advances there. Shirayuki still hadn't return so no one had a clue of what this man actually did.
Except me of course. And I couldn't make the decision to say it.

"Then what do you want to do?" I asked him. He hesitated for a moment before answering with a smile. "I wanna head to town!" he said and I thought about how dangerous it would be for me to be back in town without any guards.

It was enough already that I was the reason behind Izana and Lady Haki's engagement breakoff. People would throw their knives at me. Some people anyway. Maybe I could check out people's opinions about me and return safely. Yes, just for the sake of Izana!

The town felt a lot tenser than I had thought. Were people actually frowning upon my return or were they actually worried about something else entirely? "Well, we can start with this," Kaine handed me a lily. "Oh...um, thanks..." I said and took it.

"What happened to your garden?" I asked. He smiled sadly. "It was built for you. Now it has been abandoned for you." he answered. I felt guilty somehow when he said it the way he did. I remembered how he took the effort to grow and arrange everything to make it a surprise for me.

I remembered thinking he was actually a good guy. And that he just had his reasons to walk down the wrong path in life. Eager to end the awkward silence, I changed the subject. "So, I hear that your sister and mother are at the palace. What are they like?"

We started walking along the bay where a series of shops and houses stood at its sides. "My mom is actually young. She got me when she was seventeen so there is not much age difference between us. I know it's weird to mention this but she really loved the late king. He was her everything. Since he was gone...I guess she felt like seeking for love again. So she got married finally and got my sister." Kaine explained.

I didn't think there was so much history behind his family. It sounded reasonable but in a way, I felt something was off. "Anri can be pretty cold-hearted for a sister but I guess it's because she had to leave our home to come here."

So her name was Anri? Maybe it was that girl I saw when I went to meet Lady Haki! "So, if I may ask," I implied. "how did you find out you were the King's son?" Kaine stopped in his tracks. There was definitely something fishy in this case.

"That's the thing I was wondering too!" Kaine exclaimed. "The Queen suddenly summoned us and told me that I was of royal blood. Of course, my mom kept it a secret for all those years. I knew the man she was married to wasn't my father but to actually think that the late king was my father....well, it came as a surprise to me as well."

"Wait!" I paused him. "So the Queen just called for your family and told you?!!" It was getting eerie with more revelation. What was the Queen thinking? Instead of feeling rage from her husband's betrayal, why was she doing all this???

I finally realised that Kaine wasn't the one scheming. It was the Queen herself! But I still couldn't figure out why she would do such a thing. "Well, it was a huge turnout for my family so we possibly couldn't just refuse it, right? We were suffering financial problems back then and I was robbing and kidnapping for a living."

Yeah, like when you first kidnapped me!

"Kaine, I'm sorry to break this date but I need to go back to the castle." I said. Kaine quickly protested. "Hell what?! Why??" he questioned to which I answered calmly. It was urgent, yes, and haste wasn't the best solution but...

"To find out the truth behind all this once and for all."