Cassius and Marissa share the sa mother and father, but Malvo? He’s different. Unlike the two, he doesn’t have the current King’s blood in him, inheriting nothing except the surna due to his mother’s marriage. So it was expected that he had more of Morgana’s blood than his and would always choose to be on his mother’s side rather than any of the vampires in the castle.
After thinking, Arabella beca even more by the edge that Malvo was curious about her.
Seeing her startled and her green eyes glaring at his entire movent, flinching whenever he made the slightest move, Malvo seed to capture what Arabella had in her mind. Unlike the rest of the people in the castle, after all, she was easier to read, easier to tell, and though that could be dangerous, the way she had mastered herself wasn’t all too bad, thought Malvo in his head.
He took two steps back, "I must have startled you. For a human, I have quite a tall figure myself, so people would feel deterred seeing my height."
Arabella shook her head, "That’s alright." Well, his height was never the problem. It was his hidden intention that she couldn’t quite tell yet.
"Hm, you are very on guard despite our first eting. Let guess, did my mother sohow threaten you?" Malvo asked, taking her aback as she hadn’t expected him to ever ask such a question aloud with such an innocent smile as if he had just asked whether she had breakfast yet or not.
With a hesitant rub on her head, she coughed, "I don’t know what you’re saying."
"Oh, don’t lie, you seem like a good liar, but my mother is quite predictable, you know. If you could stay for so long beside Cassius, she must have tried threatening you once or twice," Malvo said with a laidback tone, but how could she trust that he truly ant no ill will? For one, he was the ultimate example of soone who would be hateful toward Cassius, perhaps deep down wanting to steal the heir that currently fell into Cassius’s hands.
Malvo leaned and looked to his left and right before whispering, "Don’t worry, I’m a human like you and I grew up with my father’s, I an late father’s lessons. Unlike my mother, I don’t have any attachnt to this castle, the power and authority, or even the wealth. Brother Cassius can vouch that I’m not going to harm you."
Arabella eyed him, finding this honesty rather scary. One would know not to be all honest and good in a castle filled with vampires and treacherous humans. So why was it so easy for him to babble about which side he was on?
So confidently even?
"I see," she answered him briefly, not wanting to press on in any question when suddenly she heard the sound of horse neighing which caught her attention at once.
Curiosity brimd in her as she leaned her face forward, finding the window and realizing that there were so many carriages lining outside the castle’s entrance. There were even vampires with brown honey-like skin decorated with golds over their neck as they stepped out from the carriage.
"Envoys from the neighboring kingdom," Malvo said at the sa ti she had questioned if they were the envoys Cassius had ntioned in his letter before he left this morning.
She warily turned back at Malvo who kept his smile pristine on his face, almost too flawless and too humble that crawled her skin.
"Those people hail from the desert. A land with just sand and an oasis," said Malvo, "Do you know that they have more gold than Versailles could ever dream to see? That one is the Princess of that Kingdom, pretty isn’t she?"
Arabella’s green eyes, despite her better judgnt, drifted toward the princess Malvo had pointed out. She hadn’t wanted to look, truly, but it was as though so invisible thread tugged her gaze forward, forcing her to see. There, amidst the crowd, stood a vision so striking it seed the very air around her bent in reverence.
The lady’s hair tumbled in dark, ebony curls, cascading like black silk over skin the color of sun ward honey. A delicate lilac veil obscured half of her face, but rather than hiding her beauty, it only sharpened the focus on her most arresting feature her vivid, round crimson eyes, so luminous and lively. Just a single glance from her, and it felt as though she could pluck the soul right from your chest with no more effort than lifting a hand.
Even with half her features concealed, there was no mistaking the effect she had. Those who caught sight found themselves stunned in awe, their conversations trailing off into breathtaking silence.
Beneath that lace veil was a beauty so profound, so srizing, that anyone near her seed to fade into irrelevance, their colors dulled by re proximity to her radiant beauty.
A Princess... Arabella thought in her head. The Princess she had seen had the air that Princess Marissa also held though was much softer as she playfully interacted with her maid, while the rest of the servants who attended her all seems to genuinely enjoy her company.
They were close to each other even though most of those servants are... humans.
"Do you know why they are here?" Malvo asked and she shook her head, keeping no words from her mouth at all as she knew it could be a catalyst to sothing dangerous. Even though she didn’t speak, she was almost killed by Adele and she knew it would be foolish to repeat the sa incident twice.
Better careful than sorry.
"You see," Malvo continued, "Aunt Genevieve had made sure that she had called all the best Princess across the entire world to find one who could stand beside Brother Cassius. That’s why there had been around seventeen Princess called to the castle starting from today. Most of them are pureblood vampires, but of course, especially since Cassius’s bloodline is so thick of pureblood that thinning it would beco just such a sha."
Arabella who was wary began to turn curious despite her own better judgent.
Her eyes locked with Malvo’s brown ones and she furrowed her eyebrows, "Seventeen Princess for Cassius? But why?" If they need princess to stand by his side, two is enough is it not? Cassius only have two sides after all, the right and the left.
"Marriage of course," said Malvo with a shrug, "The King ordered that it’s already the ti for Cassius to be married to a Princess. Taking consorts are also fine with him as long as Cassius would find a woman who could bear him the perfect heir. And only after Cassius have a heir will the King step down from his throne and pass it to him."
And though Arabella’s expression didn’t change, she could hear sowhere in the back of her ears that sounded like a horrible crack and crash.
Like a shatter.
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