❦❦❦
BACK at the Selden estate, Yuuri decided to have a bath and change her clothes before speaking with Ernest again. She only realized how much danger she had been in once she saw how red her cheek was in the mirror. Imagining what could have happened had Ernest not come to her rescue made her eyes well up with tears.
After Tarrah finished helping her get ready, Yuuri made her way to her usual guest room, where Ernest was waiting.
“Are you hungry?”
“Not really…”
She had missed lunch due to all that had happened, but she found she didn’t have much of an appetite.
After some time, black tea and baked goods were delivered to her room. Ernest urged her to at least drink something, so Yuuri drained a cup of tea blended with plenty of sugar.
Ernest took a seat next to Yuuri, just as he did back at her shop. She felt uneasy though. It wasn’t that Ernest had done anything wrong. She just didn’t want him to see her swollen cheek up close. Not only that, but her wrist where the baron had grabbed her felt dirty even after her bath. She felt embarrassed to even be sitting next to him.
“Do you feel up to talking? I thought maybe I was just paranoid, but I had a couple of my personal guards stationed around your shop, just in case.”
“Why?”
“Because it was made public that I was the one who had infiltrated the illegal gambling ring. You’re…my weakness. I was afraid someone might take you hostage, you know?”
Ernest had to sneak into the illegal gambling ring in order to bring its illicit dealings to light. But when he was the only one not busted, it quickly became clear that he was the mole.
He couldn’t avoid the fear that someone would seek revenge, so he sent guards to those closest to him just to be safe.
“So the people I ran away from were actually the guards you sent to protect me?”
“I should have told you. I’m sorry. And I never expected he of all people would target you.”
Yesterday, all Ernest knew was that Yuuri had a visitor. He hadn’t learned the visitor’s loose connection to Baron Thewlis until this morning. By the time he thought to have her brought to his manor for safekeeping, she had already left the shop.
That was when Ernest went to Major Conquest and asked him and his subordinates to help him “pay a friend a visit”.
“Normally, a warrant would be required to investigate someone’s home, but if serious crimes like kidnapping or assault become apparent during a routine visit, the military police are able to take drastic measures.”
“I really was careless. I’m so sorry.”
Ernest had scolded her for her recklessness many times. And yet, Yuuri had trusted Rosie and Dan so readily and in turn, been tricked.
“You need to be mindful of those around you… You especially need to heed your intuition when it comes to other men. This time was my fault though, so I won’t badger you about it further.”
Baron Thewlis had become infatuated with a page by the name of Saizoh and sought to have him for himself. He was quickly able to determine that the page had some sort of connection to Watoh Company because he served Ernest.
No matter how he searched, he could find no information on a black-haired, black-eyed boy. But Yuuri likely did come up over the course of his search.
The baron didn’t care if Yuuri was Saizoh or vice-a-versa; either would do. He saw Yuuri as a rare raven-haired doll to be put on display for the amusement of his peers.
“Where’s Rosie?”
“It seems she knew about her fiancée’s debt all along and agreed to play along. It wasn’t mere happenstance that she found her way to your shop. She bore you no ill will, but she wasn’t exactly upstanding either.”
One condition of Baron Thewlis paying off Dan’s debt was that they would bring Yuuri to him. It was the baron’s steward who had penned this illicit farce, with Dan and Rosie aware of their parts well in advance.
But the two of them had no malicious intentions. They were merely under the impression that they were facilitating a meeting between Yuuri and the baron. So when they saw what the baron was really planning, they tried to help her escape.
“It’s precisely because there wasn’t a hint of malice in them that you were so easily deceived,” Ernest said, his eyes fixed on the witch as the truth finally dawned on her.
He was far from his usual lighthearted self. That lighthearted nature made him seem so gentle and kind. Because everything was a joke with him, it gave Yuuri a way out if she was feeling uncomfortable. But there wasn’t a hint of that gentleness now. He was letting her feel the full weight of just how much trouble she had caused him—and just how much worry.
He had lied when he said, “I’m not angry with you.” He was angry.
“You poor thing, your cheek’s all bruised.”
Yuuri knew that, as much as she might want to, she couldn’t pull away from his hand nor avoid his gaze.
“You don’t want me to touch you?”
“You’re a little scary right now. But…”
“But what?”
“But you’re here with me, so I don’t want to waste a second of my time with you… I hated it. You’re the only one I want to touch me or call me by my name…that’s why…that’s why…”
Yuuri buried her face in Ernest’s chest. As soon as she did, it felt like all of her horrible thoughts and feelings had been swept away.
“That’s right. You’re mine and mine alone,” Ernest proclaimed, asserting his claim on Yuuri once more. It was terribly arrogant of him.
But Yuuri was his, for she was so fragile that she would die without him.
Was it really because of her vampirism? Or because of her feelings for him? She couldn’t be sure. But she wanted to give him everything he ever wanted. And at the same time, she wanted all he was to be hers as well.
She decided that it was time. There should be no secrets between them anymore.
“I have something I’ve never shared with you before…can I tell you now?”
Without him to give her blood, Yuuri would die.
She had been terrified to tell him of the burden that rested on his shoulders. But she felt like a traitor for keeping it from him for so long.
Ernest had always been so forthcoming, so considerate of Yuuri. He always made sure she knew exactly how he felt. Yuuri resolved to do the same for him.
“All right.”
He flashed Yuuri his usual grin for the first time that day.
“For those of us descended from vampires—”
Just as she was about to tell him, she sensed someone was in the hall. Tarrah knocked on the door, informing them of a visitor.
“We’ll talk tonight.”
Major Conquest had arrived to interview Yuuri and Rosie.
Ernest had promised they would speak that night, but Yuuri was afraid her courage would wane long before then.