Chapter 15
Disclosure and mystery
What's to be done? What to do if he is not a baby? I forgot how to talk out of fear. And Villian had already raised my pendant and spun it in his hands.
- What a subtle spell," he said, either approving or judgmental. - Even I couldn't figure out what was going on here. That was cleverly done, Your Highness.
- Look, Lord Willian...
- Shh, shh, shh, shh.
Villian grabbed my elbow, easily opened my secret closet, as if he always knew about it, and pushed me inside. Was it me he was following? How long has it been? Why? Why? The door closed, and other people's footsteps rushed down the hall.
- Let me go. - I moved back as far as the shelter allowed.
- Let go? Please. Only you will go to your father right now, Your Highness, and you will be married at the end of the selection process. - Willian's face remained indifferent.
- I'm looking at you and I'm thinking - maybe you're not a person at all? - I was angry.
- What? - For a moment there was a surprise in my icy eyes.
- Watch me, make me come back. Indeed, you are not the one who wants to marry the first person you meet. Otherwise, you wouldn't have done so!
Fear has retreated, a wave of indignation, resentment, and fatigue.
- Tell me, what do you want from me, Lord Willian? - I asked directly. - Are you following your father's orders? Do you want a ransom? Or... or did they conspire at all?
- Elisa, your fantasy has no limit. - Villian sighed heavily. And why are we on you? I was immediately alerted. Or maybe he is secretly in love with me? And Ari is messing with his head to find the loss and get closer?
- Villian, - I decided to play by his rules, - I told you then, before the start of the selection, that I will not accept it anyway. And you said that you would have helped, but it is not in your power. Now you can really help. Return the pendant and forget who I am. There are only a few left, only four trials.
- And then what? - Willian asked, sitting on the edge of the table. - What happens when the selection is completed?
- I will win and prove that I am capable of managing my own life!
I wanted to believe that they would hear me. They will understand. But Villian only shook his head.
- You're a silly little girl, Elisa," he said sadly. - And you don't realize you're actually signing your own sentence. When your father finds out who is hiding under the guise of Lord Cavernell, he will immediately force you to marry. It doesn't matter if you win or lose. Anyway, there will be someone who will take second place.
- Why not? Why answer it? - I also threw off the decency.
- Aldon needs support. A force that can save the country from bloodshed in case of danger. You see these lords. They crave only one thing - power.
- And the father wants to give them this power!
- No, he wants to find a worthy ally so that you can be protected and Aldon has a strong king. It does not matter whether your husband or future son. Hear me, please, and let's leave the games. The king wants to protect you. And you do everything to make it impossible for him to do so.
- If he had told me so at once, I wouldn't have escaped.
Villian's words seemed reasonable, but I wasn't going to believe him! Why would I do that? He was the enemy. And on my father's side. Nothing prevents him from immediately taking me to the king, and the lords to announce that Elias Cavernel has fallen out of trials.
- I would have escaped," Villian sighed. - Because she is stubborn. You may not believe it, but I understand you, Eliza. I understand that you are bitter and hurt because of the fact that your destiny is in the hands of others. But in life, not everything happens the way we want it to.
- Why? - I demanded an answer.
- Why - what for?
- Sitting here, talking to me. Isn't it easier to call your servants, your father? Let them lock me up and don't let me out until the end of the selection. Only I will run away anyway! Or I will die. But I will not get married.
- Why not? Do you not like any of them?
And Villian asked the right questions... A cunning, dodgy secretary!
- This has nothing to do with my decision.
- I think it does. And if you like someone, Elisa, why not lead him to victory? - Villian persisted. - I will help, I promise. Just come back and stop doing stupid things. I will even persuade His Majesty not to lock you up.
- Do you think the king will listen to his secretary? - I squint.
- The secretary, no, the son, yes.
I froze. I touched my forehead - no fever. This is not a dream or delusion. And Villian said what he said. And now he was waiting for my answer, and I realized for the first time that he was afraid too. I'm afraid I'll tell you how I'll react. His eyes were full of doom, bordering on hope. And I didn't know what to say to him. Oh, and my father! So many years of silence! I didn't even think about it... No one did. Villian behaved with all due respect. Neither a word nor a gesture... But I understood that such things are not funny. Is he my... brother?
- He won't listen," I sealed. - It's my father. I got his stubbornness.
Villian looked away. He must have had a hard time talking about it. You'd think it was easier for me. I tried to believe - and I couldn't. More precisely, I could, but I didn't. Or believed... I got confused! There was a confusion in my head.
- Will you come back, Eliza?
- No.
- It was a vicious circle," Willian muttered, but I did. I stepped to him and looked closely. You have to be blind not to notice the obvious! Yes, apparently, Villian went to his mother, but the bend of the lips, the way to look with a squint, features of the face ...
- Wait, if he has you, why don't you just leave the throne? - I asked you the most obvious question.
- Are you crazy? - Willian looked at me with disapproval. - I was nobody to him. And I'm not going to be anyone else.
- He could have admitted...
- You couldn't have. And we're done here.
- I'm sorry.