His Dark Desire: Tales of a Yandere

198 vi. You Belong to Me

As he took her hand in his, she felt light tremors in her skin. It must undeniably be because of the way his body heat seemed to radiate into the air.

She closed her eyes before focusing on the path ahead. The crown prince is leading her into a maze adorned with rose bushes.

She felt a bit impressed over that small coincidence about someone as irrelevant as her sharing the same favorite flower as the crown prince.

“The roses are very pretty,” she would mindlessly mention.

He would stop and look at her, a shy smile forming on his lips, “I am glad you liked them. But they are nowhere as pretty as you, my lady.”

She blushed at his words, “You must be mistaken, your highness. I am not someone pretty. That word doesn’t fit me in any way.”

The crown prince frowned a bit before his expression would ease, and in a serious voice said, “You are right. Pretty doesn’t suit you at all, my lady.”

She felt her heart sink. but tried to let out a fake chuckle. What was she expecting anyway? Surely she didn’t really believe he meant it.

Her eyes widened in shock as he stopped walking and brought her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it gently, “It is only a fool who would think of you as pretty when in fact what you have always been... is beautiful.”

.....

“No. I mean, that’s not what I was trying to say, your highness. I am not someone beautiful or attractive, I am a very plain human being,” she said, earning a lighthearted laugh from his royal highness.

“Then what you are trying to say is that I am mistaken in my own judgment? But how can you say that easily when you haven’t looked at yourself the way I look at you myself,” his voice carries a sweet quality to it, or maybe it is the words he said that made her heart flutter so.

“I am saying the royal highness is kind enough to give me undeserved praise. For that I feel grateful, but also it feels overwhelming to be extended such excessive magnanimity that is truly unmerited,” her cheeks would flame, and she was quite sure she has appeared as red as ripe tomatoes before his royal highness.

“Nonsense,” his voice turned serious and his gaze burned her from the inside as he continued, “You are the single most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my whole life. That would explain my enchantment from the very beginning. For ever since I have met you, I have never once been able to turn my sight away from you.”

She shook her head, her mind unable to comprehend the royal highness’s joke. How can he feel that way toward her?

He who has always done nothing else but cause her misery throughout those years of them knowing each other. There must be some catch somewhere.

His expression became fierce, as if something was not pleasing to him at all, “Why do you shake your head like that? It is the absolute truth. I have never once looked at anyone but you after that.”

“Do you even know when we first met your highness?” her voice quaked a bit, surely the royal highness must stop this sick joke once and for all.

Because listening to all this false sweetness is just making her feel a bit disoriented. It is doing much damage to her poor heart, hearing sweet lies that do nothing but pour acid into an open wound.

“April 16th, on the 100th year of the lord of peace. I met you at the tea party my mother held. You came with your mother and the duchess. You were in your pigtails, wearing a pink dress with silk ribbons,” he said, his voice was serious and she had an impression that he can recall the details so vividly.

“You were smiling so brightly when the other kids came, that I couldn’t help but feel this terrible feeling that I should rip them apart so they never see your light shine like that again,” his eyes would turn into murky gold as he said this.

“That’s why I did what I must to isolate you. Because I wanted you only for myself. I want to be the only one to stand by your side. The only one you can depend on and cherish. All these times, and in the future, I want to be the only one to bask in your light,” the prince’s deep voice shook her to the core.

Shocked, she would blink before she had the nerve to correct the crown prince’s misconception, “With all due respect your royal highness. I am not in any way something that belongs to you. If you seek to justify your rude behavior all these years, then there is no need. I have already formed an opinion on the matter.”

As he reached out his hand to touch her cheek, her body stiffened and froze, “Is it really alright to let you have that opinion of me? I am not trying to justify my past actions because they have served their purpose until now. I brought this issue for the matter of you not belonging to me.”

“What do you mean your highness?” she swore she could hear the fast beating of her heart.

“Ahhh,” the crown prince would caress her cold cheek, “Simply put, I seek to remedy the situation. By the end of the selection, you will belong to me.”

She shook her head, “I do not wish to be yours. I came here out of familial duties, not by my own will. I respectfully decline your highness’s kind offer, but do not desire to be owned by you.”

Hearing her say these words, his grip would tighten on her jaw, “No, you must have mistaken my lady.”

His golden eyes focused on hers, his hot breath hitting her neck as he whispered, “I am not taking no for an answer. Being mine is your destiny, Mary. You have to agree on this matter. Belong to me and be only mine, because there is just no way for me to let you go.”