The Royal Baby

something is off.

Nicholas POV

I knew something was off with her with the way she speaks and agreed to everything Raymond was listing down. she looked as if she had lost all zeal to fight. Angelica stared blankly at no one in particular when I asked her the question.

"Angelica!" I waved my hands in her face until she sighed and looked at me. "what is going on with you?" I asked.

"she is probably on her heart," Raymond answered and burst into laughter. I found his answers offensive but I ignored him because I was in no mood to argue with him.

"There is..." Angelica's voice shook terribly as she replied to me. "I am not just in the mood for all of this,'' she said and placed a hand on her forehead, and my eyes saw the bruise on her wrist.

" look away Nicholas," I muttered to myself and closed my eyes. I wasn't supposed to get involved in her business since I was technically her brother-in-law.

I was supposed to let her out of my mind for me not known as the brother who betrayed his own for his mate. when I fluttered my eyes open again, I noticed the bruised hand, and my instinct kicked into her action as I grabbed her hand and stared at her wrist. "who did this to you?'' I asked her.

she cleared her throat and looked towards the entrance of the room. she did not attempt to answer me but instead, she yanked her hand freed from mine. " There is no need to worry. "

"was it Alaric?" His name was the first thing that I could of. Her wrist had changed to a shade of brown which made me believe that whoever had hurt her did it on purpose as if they were leaving a sight.

"no!" she answered and shook her head. "it is not Prince Alaric. "

"Then who?" I shouted at her. I hated that I had to see her in pain and it breaks my heart when I had no idea who could have hurt her.

"let it go!" she shouted at me and stood up. "This meeting is not always progressive and I hoped that we come up with something different before the ball! I don't want to fail the Queen," she placed her hand on her chest. "I can't stay here while I let you talk about me as if you know me!"

Now she was acting like a hypocrite. I only asked about her hand being bruised and didn't look like something that would be healed so quickly. "what the hell is wrong with you huh" I shouted at her.

"I don't need you wondering about I am supposed to live my life!" She sniffled and wiped a lone tear from her eyes and headed toward the entrance of the meeting room. "I think this meeting is already over since Prince Raymond had taken over it," she stated and walked out of the room without turning back.

it was when she left that I understood what she had said. ''What did you say or do to her?" I asked him.

Raymond chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "you believe that I did something to her?" he asked furrowing his brows at me. "if you think that I did something then you must be crazy!" he stood up. "since we are following my color, I should be grateful to the crown princess for not arguing with me," he chuckled.

"seat down Raymond," I ordered him sounding authoritative as I used my Command tone on him.

"what the hell are you doing?" he frowned at me. "if this is about Angelica then should she be your business huh!" Raymond asked.

I folded my arms and watched as his mouth moved. his lips were lifted mischievously and I understood what that meant. He was lying or probably trying so hard to cover up something and I knew from his stupid look that it had to do with Angelica.

"What did you do to her?" I slammed my hand on the table as I asked her.

"What makes you think that I did something huh!" He yelled back at me. "This is the problem with you Nicholas!" he pointed a finger at me. "you care too much and to be honest, it is why you are like this!"

I heaved a deep sigh wondering what he meant by that. if he was referring to Angelica then he was right. I cared for her because she was my first love and was always by my side when we were younger. That was enough reason to care for her and not give up on her but Raymond had no idea that everything I was doing was to see if I still care for Angelica.

He was right because I deeply cared for her. she was toying with my heart but I didn't care about that. I wanted her to be with me and I thought that I could convince her but recently, she was not easy to understand. I couldn't figure out why she was acting differently.

"hey," Raymond slammed his hand on the table. "This is what I was saying when I told you that you care too much, " he tapped his fingers on the table aggressively showing how frustrated he was. "you are annoying and I thought that Alaric was the awful one but you are much worse."

I kept mute and lowered my head. "I am talking to you!"

"Enough!" I yelled back at him. "stop yelling at me Raymond," I told up from my chair and in the blink of an eye, I was in front of him. I grabbed him by the collar and pinned him to the world. "maybe you are right about me being good but I want you to stay away from Angelica and stop hurting her!"

Raymond tried to slap my hand away but I had the upper hand. I grabbed his hand and pinned it to the world. "Stop hurting her and let the past be the past," I told him and let go of him pushing him to the ground and I turned to leave.

"you have gone crazy," he said and I nodded in response.

"yes," I agreed. "it is why you should steer away from her," I warned hoping that he won't do anything to hurt Angelica again.