The Amorous Mate

Chapter 27: His Hug

“Here, my Lord, do you think this would fit me?” Cassiopeia showed Lord Matthew a yellow-colored dress filled with designs of yellow kinds of flowers. The hems in the long blooming skirt of the dress were lined with black-colored fabric.

“Your highness! What fit could that be for you,” the Modiste said, smiling, even though she was not the one Princess Cassiopeia asked about the dress.

“Indeed, Princess. I am certain that you will look dainty with that dress.” From the other corner of the room, Prince Nigel agreed to the Modiste.

“Was it?” Cassiopeia asked. It seemed she has doubts to the dress she found displayed at the store. To find out if it was indeed suiting her, she looked at Lord Matthew. “What do you think, my Lord?” she asked.

The Baron Lord awkwardly avoided his gaze at Princess Cassiopeia. The princess saw him swallowing his saliva, as if he was trying to suppress the hindrance on his throat which caused him not to answer.

“My Lord, I am certain you have something in your mind you wish to tell to me,” Princess Cassiopeia demanded. “Do speak, and I promise I will never get offended,” she assured.

Lord Matthew looked at her once again. Decided that he will be truthful to his opinion, he said, “I believe, you will look like a mere bee, your Highness.”

The Modiste gasped in shock soon after he heard the lord’s comment. “How dare such a mere baron slander the beauty of your highness!” the Modiste exclaimed. “It is not just she whom you disrated, but my own craft too!”

Lord Matthew looked at him with sharp glares, making her stop her angry shouting. She was tamed.

“Was it wrong to tell what I thought about her dress? One lady may have the fit to that gown, but for a princess, it would only look as if she was a bee instead of someone who is a fleur d’innocence.”

“F-Fleur d’innocence,” Cassiopeia repeated. “I think I like that name.”

“B-But your highness, this gown is a fit for you,” the Modiste insisted. “Whatever gown you must wear, your ethereal beauty will always compliment!”

Cassiopeia looked at the Modiste, assessing what she said. However, after few seconds, the princess ignored her and instead, she looked at Lord Matthew.

“Say, my lord. In what way does a fleur d’innocence would look like?” Cassiopeia asked.

Behind her, the Modiste madly looked at the Baron Lord, but when the Baron Lord fought back with that stare, she almost whimpered; frightened.

He looked back at Princess Cassiopeia. “Your highness, what fleur d’innocence symbolizes, is innocence and purity. For such a young, delicate maiden such as you, it would be fit if you must look like fleur de lis. A white lily.”

After Lord Matthew’s expression of what style would the princess fit, Prince Nigel coughed, as if mocking the lord’s opinion. “Do you think that look would make the princess stand out among the rest? A bright color was more than enough to highlight her beauty. Such color as yellow would be amazing to you, your highness.”

“Indeed, your highness. The prince was right. Besides, what would a mere Baron know about fashion?” the Modiste asked, looking with disgust at the lord.

“No, I think my lord was right,” Cassiopeia defended with the lord. She was looking above the ceiling with dreamy stares. “Fleur d’innocence . . . I can imagine how would I look, how shall I move, how shall I . . . I smile, with such kind of innocence.”

Prince Nigel and the Modiste could not speak nor disagree to the excitement felt by the princess. For Prince Nigel, he believes that a strong color would make anyone standing out, that is why he suggested the yellow gown, even though he had no idea if that would really fit her, or not. For the Modiste, moreover, she only insisted the yellow gown all because that dress has long been a stock in the boutique, and none of her customers wants to buy and wear it, because it was out of fashion. She was just hoping that the princess would buy it so that her effort and the materials used in the gown would not go into waste.

“Besides, I do not want to stand out in the eyes of hundreds. I only want to stand out in the eyes of my destined soul,” added Princess Cassiopeia. She looked at the Modiste with enthusiasm and thrill. “I suppose you have that kind of gown Lord Matthew described?” she asked to the Modiste. Luckily, the she nodded.

“Indeed, I do have it, your highness.” The Modiste escorted the princess at the shop’s second floor. On the rooms above, there the other dresses could be found, and there the ideal gown the princess wanted, was stored.

Now, the only left at the main shop was both the lord and the prince who was silently sitting far from each other.

“You do have some courage, Baron Lord,” Prince Nigel said to start a conversation. However, Lord Matthew did not speak nor answer him.

“If I was a mere baron, I would not dare speaking something degrading as what you have done to the princess. Such courage, I commend you for that,” the Prince added.

“The Princess sensed that it was not a slander nor a form of degradation to her nobility, but a statement of genuine opinion. She’s more intelligent than how you think she was, your highness. She understands what I intended. She wasn’t a fool.”

The Prince again scoffed. “Such luck, I can say.”

Silence swirled in the betweens of the gentlemen, both controlling their raging pride and egos.

But then, after few wordless seconds, Prince Nigel again spoke. “Rumors says, Princess Demeter’s heart belongs . . . to someone. To a Baron Lord,” he said.

Lord Matthew secretly smirked. “What then about that?” he asked.

“By all hopes, I don’t think it was you,” the prince replied.

Lord Matthew’s far, avoiding stares shifted straightly towards the prince. His smirk was revealed, and he did not try to hide it anymore.

“You never know,” he said, giving mystery to his words.

Before he could remove his gaze from him, he saw the prince’s mad eyes and his tightly clenched fist. He was about to say something again, but a door from the second floor came bursting open. It was from the door where ‘first’ Princess Andromeda was picking her dress.

“Your highness,” called Andromeda with a flirtatious smile. “Mind if I ask you some favor?” she asked.

Prince Nigel tried to calm down his rage. “What is it, princess?”

“Might you come up here and help me decide what gown shall I wear? I have picked around ten of my taste, and heaven forgive, I do not know what to choose among them!” she exclaimed.

Prince Nigel again sighed. He looked at Lord Matthew who was also looking at him. Their intense gazes collided with each other, and if those stares could physically affect the world, the Modiste’s boutique would have been ravaged by now.

“I am coming, your highness.”

Hearing Prince Nigel’s words, Lord Matthew saw Princess Demeter’s face lightening up—as if she was triumphant over something.

“Thank you so much, my prince.”

Prince Nigel started to climb the stairs and went inside first Princess Andromeda’s room.

Lord Matthew weakly stood. Pale and with deep breath, he grunted. He held his chest who has been suffering from extreme pain and constriction of air. Ever since morning, he felt bad and sick. But, something was telling him that he should go in the city and look for Princess Demeter. He could not explain, but he followed his desire. He just did his best to hide the pain and weakness that has been bothering him.

“Lord Matthew?” someone called.

When he looked back, he saw Princess Demeter. Despite the fact that he was in pain and was sick, he could not help himself but admire the beauty the princess possess.

She was wearing a royal blue gown with glittering small diamonds to highlight the dress. Her hair were brushed towards her left shoulder, revealing her neck and her prominent collar bone. Her oceanic blue eyes complimented the royal aura of the long gown.

“What happened to you?” Princess Demeter asked.

He wanted to say she was beautiful, but he felt shy and hesitating.

Not receiving any answer, the princess neared him and touched his forehead.

“Bullshit, Matthew, you are sick!” she exclaimed. “You are burning in fever!”

She was to panic, but it suddenly stopped when Lord Matthew hugged her and unexpectedly buried his face on her exposed neck. “You don’t have to worry. I just need this,” Lord Matthew whispered.

“M-Matthew . . .”

“Shh . . .”

Though confused, Princess Demeter just went silent and only let the lord hug her.

Lord Matthew’s guess was correct. When he had miraculously shifted as wolf last night, it was because she was in danger. The need rises the urge for him to shift, in order to protect her, even though the right age destined for wolf shifting, of 21, was still not reached by him. Because of that shifting, he grew weak and sick.

But then, as he rest at the Silver Feather Mansion, a voice kept on calling him, as if telling him that in order to get back his strength, he must go to the princess. And so, even though he was told to just rest and recover, he snuck out of the mansion and went to the city.

The voice was indeed, right. Because the moment that he saw Demeter earlier, outside the Modiste’s shop, he felt somehow better. And now that he was hugging her, his energy were surging back at him. He does not know the reason why it was happening. He could not explain why.

He could not straightly think because of him being sick, that is why he could not do anything but just hug the princess even tighter—because apparently, it was making him feeling better.

“I-I think we should look for more fleur d’innocence type of gown above, right, madame Modiste? After all, I’m still innocent.”

Lord Matthew and Princess Demeter instantly removed their hug to each other. They panicked. However, it was already too late because Princess Cassiopeia and the Modiste went back up above the second floor, haste to enter the earlier room they had went. They have seen more than enough. They have clearly seen how the lord and the princess was hugging each other affectionately.

Lord Matthew chuckled, laughing at the sudden nervousness that pumped on their chests. Princess Demeter stared at her and punched him, but now that he gained his energy back, her punch has not moved him, nor made him feel any pain.

“What was that for?!” Princess Demeter asked, enraged.

Lord Matthew shrugged. “A hug,” he clarified.