It’s Rafael To You
“Are you jealous, Princess?”Rafael locked his hands on both sides of her on the table. Elora’s breath hitched and she instantly tried to put a distance between them but there was no space and no escape with him.“You are jealous.”Immediately, she rebuked. “I’m not.” Heat spread from her ears to her cheeks. She forced her eyes away from him and repeated. “I’m not jealous of anything.”A sly smirk spread across his lips. “But it seems just so to me. You sounded like you dislike me having concubines.”“I don’t care what you do or how many concubines you decide to have. Our…our marriage is fake after all.”His smile disappeared. “And what gave you such delusions? Our marriage is very much real and if you’re still having a hard time accepting it, I believe I must help you. I’m your husband and you, are my wife. Do you understand?”Elora’s mouth parted. Her heart picked up its pace and she clutched her dress as if trying to calm the racing heart. He’d declared their marriage real. But if their marriage was real, how could he try to take a concubine only so soon? She grumbled inwardly. Worse, it was a spoiled vampire noble who was promising her hell. Her bitterness only seemed to increase at the thought.“Do you understand, Princess?”She shook her head. “Let me go.”Rafael examined her for a while. He picked up the sight of her flushed cheeks, the twitch of her eyes, and the large pout that settled on her plump lips. He couldn’t help a chuckle.“What? Is there something funny on my face?”“I must admit, you look quite admirable while angry.” He reached out and softly tilted her chin upward. “I’m getting no concubine. She’s gone.”She stared at him. “Re…really?”“Yes, wife. I never planned to.”Elora didn’t know why but her cheeks reddened even further. Perhaps from the embarrassment of throwing a tantrum as such a non-issue? She lifted her hand to her neck and nervously scratched it.“So will you have dinner now?”She remembered her empty stomach and placed a hand over it. Although she’d been hungry, she’d refused food from the servants because of the thought of Zireya and him together. Throughout the afternoon, fake images of them both had kept playing in her head and food was definitely the last thing that she thought about. The thought of her repeated nightmares didn’t help either. It worsened how restless she became.She slowly nodded her head in agreement.“Good girl.”A fluttering breath escaped her lips.He pushed away from her and walked to the door. Only a few seconds later, he returned to her with a platter of food in his hands. The smell of rice porridge wafted through the air and she could hear her stomach rumble in hunger and her mouth watered.Taking his stand in front of her, he stirred the porridge with a spoon and scooping a spoonful, he gently blew on it and brought it to her lips.“Your highness, I’m an adult. I…I can feed myself.”“I know you can. Consider this a pay for being the cause of your anger.”“But…”He brought the spoonful of rice porridge closer to her face and the sweet and savoury aroma hit her nose. Parting her pouty lips, she received the food in her mouth.“Hmmm,” she instantly moaned. “It’s really great.” In fact, all the food she’d eaten in Elyria has been great. Plus she didn’t expect a rice pudding today. After all, rice was really rare. “I haven’t had rice in years.”He brought another spoonful of porridge to her lips. She didn’t resist or insist on feeding herself this time. He forcefully tore his gaze off her mouth “And why is that?”With rice stuffed in her mouth, she answered. “Who eats rice in exile? You can’t have such luxury.”“What did you eat then?”“More vegetables, unleavened bread, corn, and on good days, once in a while potatoes.” She listed and although it was no big deal to her, his expression turned grim. Her father had better pray he never crosses his path.How dare he feed his daughter such food? Yet again, it made him wonder. Why had the little princess been exiled? Looking at her, with her jiggling feet and happy face just from being fed the right food, he knew that she was incapable of hurting even a fly.“Will you tell me the reason for your exile, princess?” He lifted another spoonful as if trying to bribe her to keep speaking. But Elora’s face fell and she turned her head from the food. “I promise, no matter what it is, I’ll be silent. Tell me, did you get framed?”She shook her head.“Were you forcefully thrown in exile?” His fist tightened on the spoon.Yet again, she shook her head.“You can tell me. I only want to know about you.”“I…I can’t remember.”“Make me understand.”She shifted uncomfortably and her head dropped as she blinked back her tears.“The thing is… the thing is, I…I don’t remember why I was sent away. I don’t have the memories of my life before I turned fifteen.”Silence reigned between them afterward. She waited for his reaction but when he said nothing and only stared at her, her face fell even further.“I’m not lying.”“I never said you were.”Their eyes locked again. Neither of them said anything or moved. The atmosphere around them grew thicker. Elora’s breath quickened as she watched his eyes drop down to her mouth. She stiffened.The world around them seemed to halt for a moment. He sucked in a sharp breath and before either of them knew it, their faces drew closer. Butterflies fluttered to life in her stomach and her legs trembled a bit.“Your…your highness,” she breathed, his face moving an inch closer.“It’s Rafael to you. Rafael, okay?”