Bride To His Darkness-Chapter 353: Tasting Sweets

The room fell inexplicably silent, and Lucy watched him take off his long royal coat as he walked away from her, leaving himself clothed in just his white tunic tucked in fitting pants. He hung it on the makeshift stand and moved to the table to sit down, and for some reason, he couldn’t help but glance her way, only to find her watching him, but she had that familiar worried expression on her face this time around.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked softly, maintaining her distance. It sounded like she was being careful not to anger him further, and a sudden feeling of guilt took over his conscience. He could sense her genuine worry, the unmistakable pull he always felt around her, including that sweet scent she unexpectedly emitted – the familiar scent that made him blurt out the word, ’mate’ by accident.

"It’s... it’s nothing."

He averted his gaze from her own, wanting to ignore this feeling that was starting to creep onto his chest. He tried to keep himself busy, fixating his eyes elsewhere, but there was nothing he found meaningful to do at the moment. Knowing there was no escaping her harmless question, he shook his head mildly and buried his face on both his palms.

"You did nothing wrong," he answered more audibly, leaning back against his chair. He was starting to sound like himself again, but the way he responded gave her the feeling that he never wanted to react that way with her, but Lucy refused to believe her thoughts, not when they’d make up enough excuses to keep her deluded in her unrequited feelings for him.

"There must be something I did wrong, else you wouldn’t be angry with me." Lucy pointed out before delving into her thoughts to try and remember if there was anything she might have accidentally done to anger him, but she heard him sigh all of a sudden, and he murmured gently.

"I’m not upset, or angry with you. I just want you to stop all these things you’re doing for me." He explained, and a flicker of sadness penetrated his usually unwavering gaze, "I don’t want to get used to this, and I hope you understand the boundaries enough to avoid crossing them."

"Boundaries? But I haven’t even started crossing them, and you’ve always been kind to me so the least I can do is make you feel comfortable in your stay here," Lucy stated, taking the risk of dropping her thoughts, "I know I’m nothing more than just a servant assigned to you, or the lady you believe can help you in some way but to me, you’re someone I really look up to! Both in height and personality." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

She smiled gently, but her inner thoughts were slapping her across the face for indirectly calling herself short. Duncan’s facade still remained the same, despite her attempt to liven his mood, and he seemed to doubt her cause he was no longer looking in her direction.

"It will be better if you don’t hold me in such high regard." He insisted, "you may not realize it now, but eventually, like everyone else, my presence will start to repulse you."

"Are you worried that I will desert myself from you?" Lucy’s brown eyes sparkled, catching Duncan off-guard. He couldn’t understand what that reaction was for, but she was inching closer to his table, ignoring his boundaries yet again. She crouched to her knees at the edge of his table, watching him with the same happy look on her face.

"I won’t leave his Majesty’s side if that’s what he wants." She promised, and certainly not because that’s what she wants, "I’ll stay with you for as long as you want if you let me."

"Are you making some kind of confession to me?"

"Me? I wouldn’t dare!" Lucy immediately rose to her feet and bowed her head politely. "I’m just a servant serving her master, afterall, I’m going to be all yours when we return to your Kingdom."

"Uh-huh." Duncan arched an eyebrow at her declaration. No matter how innocent she tried to make that sound, he knew she was referring to something lewd, and he wasn’t interested in diving into that matter.

For now.

"Since I’ve succeeded in clearing your doubts, does this mean you’ll accept my sweets? But if you don’t want it I won’t force you, I mean why tolerate such bitterness when there’s a sweetener in my hand to cure that but who am I to go against his Majesty? I’ll hand it over to little Ali and his friend." She shrugged at the end of her statement and was about to exit his tent, and Duncan realized she was being serious this time around.

"Wait." He called back. Lucy halted just in time, and she turned, quick enough to catch his flustered expression before he looked elsewhere and cleared his throat.

"Since you brought it with good intention, it would be wrong of me to refuse your little gift." He stretched his hand to the side, prompting Lucy to hand the sweet to him, and she eagerly gave them to him. He peeled off the leather and gazed at the pink, oval-shaped sweet on his palm.

"Why’s it shaped like a medicine?"

"If medicines tasted as nice as this, I’d be immune to disease till my lifespan expires." Lucy stated, and that only piqued Duncan’s curiosity. He eventually tasted it, taking it into his mouth, and Lucy noticed instantly how his facade softened.

"Feeling better, your Majesty?" She asked, tilting her head to get a better view of his handsome face.

"It’s...it’s okay." He feigned indecisiveness, but Lucy knew better than to believe it.

"There’s one more remaining, if you don’t like it then–"

"I said it was okay, I didn’t say I hated it." He looked at her with a slight glare, and Lucy tried to suppress her chuckle when he hid the second sweet from her. Honestly, she couldn’t believe he’s never taken sweets before, she wondered how he coped all this while, maybe he used brown sugar? Or milk? But he’s never asked for those.

"If you want I can always bring you some sweets along with your medicine, I brought a bunch with me from the Palace." She said, and then noticed how he smiled softly. That smile will leave rent free in her head till the day she dies!!

"But can I ask you something? How is it possible that you’ve never taken sweets." Lucy couldn’t stop herself from asking, "are you speaking about this particular sweet or you’ve never tasted a single sweet, like donuts, cake, there are many lists of sweets.

"Let’s just say, the things I took were limited." He shrugged, "sweets aren’t fancied in the Palace, so there’s rarely any in my Kingdom. I guess I’ll have to enjoy the ones I can lay my hands on before going back."

"Oh," Lucy seemed surprised by it, and an idea popped in her head, "you’ll have me."

For some reason, Duncan’s body went stiff when she confidently blurted that out.

"I’ve gotten away with many things in the Palace, you won’t have to miss taking them, cause I’ll make sure you have them, even if it’s in your Kingdom, but it will be minimal since they have their own disadvantages."

"I... I see." Duncan lowered his gaze. ’So that’s what she meant.’ he thought almost shamefully, wondering why his mind even bothered to divert elsewhere.

Lucienne, she was starting to rub off on him.

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