Vow Of Silence

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

1st PERSON: Pelomina Lorenzo-Capiz

“Pardon?” he replied. It also seemed like he stumbled a little, but maybe I’m just seeing things,

I cleared my throat, “I don’t mean it disrespectfully my lord, it’s just…” I trailed off, pausing to reword some terms in my head before I run my mouth freely, and the next thing I knew I’d given him more insults than compliments.

I won’t say that I thought he was and cold unfeeling reptile and he turned out to be a majestic lion. If the first part of that sentence was ever said to me, I would be upset to the point of anger and decade-long grudges.

“Well, please do not take this the wrong way… but you seem more handsome when you act more amicable,” I clarified, the more I add on to my explanation, the more I realize HOW FREAKING EMBARASSING this thing is that I’m doing. I felt like I needed to let him know but I forgot that we’ll have to talk about it after.

“It’s… rather hard to take the wrong, wife, to clarify, are you perhaps giving me a compliment?” He asked, turning to look at me with a confused yet pleasant smile.

‘That’s a foul!’

I cleared my throat, “Perhaps, well… yes, I am giving you a compliment, my lord,” I replied. Come on. If he keeps up with this nicer attitude, it’ll be impossible to bash on him. You’re not going to look me in the eye and tell me that a Greek god personified is not worth gawking over in whatever circumstances.

I won’t think he’s any better of a person just because of an hour-long uninterrupted streak of him being a decent human being, maybe even being nice but I’ll use that word sparingly, I don’t think of him as suddenly turning over a new leaf because his smile is pretty but boy, oh, boy, does being attractive lessen the anger.

This is what pretty privilege looks like, and Lykus mastered the art form of using it.

He chuckled again. At this point, I think he knows what he’s doing. Looking at me over his shoulder, “Is it because I’m buying you jewelry?” he asked, and I blew raspberries,

“Oh please, my lord it’s not because of that,” I replied and clasped a hand over my mouth. Crap—I might’ve overstepped with my tone on that one. “I-I didn’t mean to disrespect,” I followed, he huffed and did something that resembles a smile as he looked ahead,

“Of course my lady,” he began, “I know you’re not the kind of person to be charmed by wealth in all its form,” he followed, making me purse my lips. Really? If lady Pelomina isn’t someone charmed by wealth, then why did she stay with Lykus all these times?

Was it because of these rare moments when he’s not acting like a douche?

I don’t know what exactly made his mood suddenly chipper, but I’ll be damned if I don’t find out. After a few more blocks or so, we arrived at another street now; it was still filled with passing people, unlike the street where Lady Illescent’s shop was situated. We stopped in front of a very obvious jewelry store, and again, unlike the previous shop, this one was filled with other women.

When we entered the shop, the bell by the doorframe rang again, but it was hardly noticeable and drowned with the amount of chattering and gushing voices, this place has a very light and peppery vibe, the walls were bright wood, littered with hanging plants and pastel-like colored drapes,

A woman and a man approached us as we walked in and both bowed deeply, “My lord, my lady,” the man greeted, nodding to us respectfully. Lykus nodded to him and the woman while I just did a curtsy, kind of becoming a habit. It feels so darn elegant when I do that.

“How can we serve you today?” the woman asked with a light smile. Lykus looked around before placing his hand on the small of her back,

“Anything that would look good on her,” he said, and the woman chuckled.

“My lord, anything would look good on the lady,” she said,

Lykus scoffed and raised his brow at her, “Exactly,” he replied, looking at me from head to toe. The man and the woman exchanged glances with nervous smiles.

“My lord, if we empty our stock…” the man trailed off, making Lykus furrow his brows, not in an angry manner per se, but in a questioning one. I cleared my throat and stepped in, it’s obvious that they don’t want to blow up their whole stock for a single woman, it’ll be poor marketing for the business compared to when every woman wore something of their product, it is more visibility for their favor.

I raised my hand a little, “If I may interrupt, my lord… wouldn’t it be better if we just chose one or two?” I said to him in a hushed tone, and he scoffed at me with a sneer,

“Nonsense, we can’t just shop for one or two, we’re not commoners, wife,” he said, casually tucking a stray strand of hair from my face to the back of my ear, not in a romantic way either, in fact, it’s almost like he did it because it was bothersome and it ticked him off.

That didn’t stop my heart from fluttering because…. come on! He’s a gosh-dolly darn good-looking man.

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO REACT WHEN HE DOES GESTURES LIKE THAT?

“N-No, of course not… but you see, I already have a lot of those, and wouldn’t it be better appreciated when it’s a piece that we both chose?” I reasoned, and he was about to speak, but words didn’t come out and he just sighed, straightening his back and looking away with a huff.

“Fine,” he said,

The man and the woman exchanged glances when I looked back at them. “Then… can we just take our time to choose from your products?” I asked, and they nodded with a smile.

“Most certainly, my lady, please call on us once you made your choice,” the man assured, and I nodded at him and the woman as they left to entertain the other patrons.

Lykus threw a look at me and crossed his arms, “Just so you know… I could afford all of this,” he flaunted in a hushed voice and I giggled at his notion, he’s acting childish for someone who’s grown up in every aspect,

“And I believe you,” I replied as we walked ahead, there were mannequins from the chest to the top of the head that held the prettiest necklaces and earrings I’ve ever seen in my life, these things remind me that this is what jewelry is supposed to look like, bog gems of every colored, skillfully arranged into an intricate metallic design.

They made metal look flexible, some even looked like they were braided, while the gems glistened with an array of colorful prisms once view under a light, “These are… amazing,” I mumbled, it’s just the same thing as saying ‘wow’ or ‘awesome’. I’m looking at authentic gemstones, for heaven’s sake, not those plastic-made ones from my real world.

“Well, have you decided yet?” Lykus asked from beside me,

“Are you not going to help me decide, like with the dress?” I asked,

He tilted his head at me and sighed as he also took a closer look at the selection, looking back at me and looking back at it, I snorted at his serious expression and he huffed, “You said ‘we’, how come I’m the only one looking,” he scolded and I nodded as I also looked further along, from the color to the shape, and even in its holding, the choices were endless.

But to be honest, I was looking for the more subtle ones. I don’t feel that comfortable wearing such aggrandized accessories, “How about this?” I heard Lykus ask as he lifted the very thing I said I don’t feel comfortable wearing. It was like a whole neckpiece of purple gems, cut in rectangles. That thing will drape over my whole clavicle.

I placed a hand on my chest with a sigh, “My lord, isn’t that too much?” I reasoned,

He looked at me and back on the neckpiece, “It’s a bit less if you ask me,” he trailed off, walking closer to me and placing one of the gem pieces right beside my eye, his brows furrowed, “It doesn’t even shine like your eyes, nor is it the same vibrant shade,” he complained, pulling it away and placing it back on the mannequin.

I briefly shut my eyes and made deep breaths. This is freaking impossible. Why is he like this? If he keeps acting like this, I’m afraid I might waver, but no, let’s see. If things continue to be favorable between us, I might just gather enough courage to explain the whole ordeal to him,

But… if he knows that I’m not his real wife… will he continue to be nice to me? Or would he be angry that I’ve been lying to him all these times?

“Wife, what about this?” He called again, gesturing at a different set.

‘… I’ll just cross the bridge when we get there,’