Prescott’s POV
My heart ached unbearably as I strolled down the hallway with two men trailing quietly behind me. I couldn’t wait for the duet to be over so I could order for Dixon’s audience, and perhaps I would apologize for raising my voice at him the previous day. It wasn’t his fault that things had gone wrong. He had done everything he could to help the nation, and I had been ungrateful and impatient.
It was undeniable that Dixon was the best warrior in the nation, and had been for a long time. He had become the ’emperor’ the champion among the warriors, and had defended his title for years.
I felt ashamed of myself for the way I had treated Dixon. He had always been loyal and dutiful and had never once failed to complete a task I had set for him. I had expected too much of him this time, and when he hadn’t met my unrealistic expectations, I had lashed out in frustration. I knew it wasn’t his fault, and I regretted my harsh words which had been haunting me since.
My heart was racing unbearably in my chest, my mind had been so occupied lately that I tended to do things without thinking. I was taking an absentminded step, not checking out for whoever was coming from the opposite direction. I took a step, and the last step to get outside of the building happened to be so fast.
I bumped into a fragile body, I paused wanted to lash out at whoever it was until my eyes caught with Nova’s widened eyes as the cup in her hand went flying in the air.
I tensed on my spot, my heart racing crazily as the cup landed on her shoulder, “Ahhh!” Nova let out an agony cry as the cup fell on her, the hot drink splashing on her chest.
“Gracious goddess, Nova!” I cried out, my yell echoed through the hallway as I ran up to her.
“Nova?!” I yelled, my hands wrapped around her waist as I stared at her eyes, tears were streaming down her eyes as she wailed in my chest.
“Your Majesty?” Nova cried, hiding her face in my chest as she cried.
“Shhh! I’ll get the Doctors for you while you rest in my office, just try and conceal the pain.” I swept her off the floor, carrying her in my arms while rushing back in the direction of my office.
“Your Majesty!” I had forgotten about the existence of the men who were escorting me to the arena until they called out to me, I hastily stopped on my track and turned around to face them.
“Yes, what?” I howled, my eyes were burning as I stood there with Nova crying in my arms.
“W- What about the duet? It’s going to start any moment from now.” one of them stuttered.
“Duet?” I repeated, my face creased in shock as they had the guts to ask about the stupid duet when my Queen had hurt herself. If my people found the duet more important than my Queen’s life, then I better cancel the duet.
“Everyone should return to their post, I’m calling off the duet!” I barked, turned on my feet and sped back to my office.
“I need five Doctors from the infirmary in my office, now! The Queen got hurt by spilling hot drinks on herself!” I ordered the doctors at the infirmary and I could hear footsteps in the background as I end the mind link.
“You’ll be fine.” I gulped nervously as I sped to my office. Nova didn’t say anything, she only sniffed as I gently placed her on the couch, her eyes were shut tight, not wanting to look at me. I gulped down nothing and slowly reached for her palm.
“I’m sorry, I’m very sorry.” I sighed, her hand slid down from my palm and I stood up from the floor when the door opened and five men in a white long jacket ran inside my office with health kits in their hands.
“Your Majesty! We will take it from here!” they uttered, rushing towards us. My heart hammered against my chest as I watched Nova slowly open her eyes, her eyes met mine and she looked away, I gulped down the lump in my throat before turning to the doctor.
“Make sure the pain stops.” I groaned before entering the room in my office. My heart was beating louder than ever as I paced back and forth in the room. My mind was running wild as I couldn’t stop blaming myself for the incident.
“I am such an idiot!” I yelled out, kicking the wall with my feet as tears rolled down my cheeks. “Why the fuck was I walking without paying attention to where I was going?” pain surged through me as I went on my knees, caging my knees in my arms.
I hadn’t been doing anything right since I got back, I had been out of my mind and I clenched my fists tightly.
“Ahh!” agony cries filled the room, I hastily stood up from the floor and went to the door, peeping at the doctors as they surrounded Nova who was lying on the couch
I tightened my grip around the doorknob, my mind was running wild and it was beating hard against my chest. I caused her the pain, I had caused her nothing but pain since she got to the Villa. My grip on the doorknob loosened as I smacked my head against the door.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, tears flooded my eyes as I peeked at them through the door.
After what felt like an eternity, I could hear their voices in my mind, telling me they were done and that Nova was feeling back.
“You can leave. Thank you!” I croaked, my fists clenched as I watched them bowed slightly to Nova who was now seated on her butt. I watched the doctors walk out of my office before walking out of the room.
Nova darted her head to me, her eyes were filled with emotion. I gulped down nervously before walking up to her.
“Y-You’re okay now, right?” I cleared my throat, hitching my nape as I stared down at my feet.
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine now.” Nova mumbled, her voice was low that if it wasn’t for my great sense of hearing I wouldn’t have heard what she had said.
“I’m sorry for bumping into you!”
“I’m sorry for keeping you here!”
We both said in unison. I sighed and took the seat beside her. Nova shifted uncomfortably and I felt my heart breaks into tiny pieces.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, didn’t know why I was feeling guilty all of a sudden. Was it because I had been ignoring her? Was it because I had missed her? Was it because I was making her uncomfortable? I had no idea.
I had been dying to have her caged in my arms, but here we were, been uncomfortable to even form a complete sentence.
“No, please don’t say ‘sorry’, please let me be the one to say sorry!” Nova cried out, she turned and grabbed my hand in her palms.
Huh? I arched my brows while staring at her. Nova blinked rapidly, trying to stop her tears from falling.
“I’m sorry for what happened! I swear, I didn’t mean to do it, I was talked into doing it. I would never do such a thing on my free will.” she blurted out, her hands were trembling as she slowly let go of my hand.
I didn’t know what to say, I sat there, trying to force myself to get mad over what happened back at the pack, but I couldn’t bring myself to get mad at her. I was no longer feeling mad over what happened.
“I know it would be so hard for you to believe me, but I swear to…”
“Shhh!” I placed a finger on her lips, stopping her from swearing. I wasn’t even mad at her, and I had completely forgotten about the incident. The reason why I was avoiding her was because I wanted to free her from being with someone she didn’t want to be with.
I thought I was holding her hostage by marrying her, I thought she wasn’t okay with the idea of marrying me and I did that for her to be free from me. I didn’t know I was hurting her by trying to give her freedom.
“I’m not mad at you. In fact, I have forgiven you of your crime, so don’t worry about it.” I uttered, moving my hand to her face.
“If truly you weren’t holding a grudge against me, why were you avoiding me? Why did you write in your letter that you’re going to denounce me as the Queen? Why did you ordered the guards to not let me in your office?” Nova cried out, more tears streamed down her cheeks as I slowly moved away strands of hair off her face.
“Because I didn’t want you to be in a marriage you never wanted!” I gulped, saying that out to her face hurt me so much that I couldn’t look her in the face.
“Huh?” Nova scoffed, slapping my hand off her face, “Why would you assume such? Why would you say I never wanted to be in a marriage with you?” her voice shook as she yelled out those questions at me, I hastily moved my gaze to look at her, her lips trembled as she bit her lips, she was trying not to break down in front of me.
“Indeed, you don’t want this marriage, we didn’t start things like every other couple does. You didn’t like the idea of being in a marriage with a man like me, so I thought it would be better if I let you go.” I howled, the fact that she was making me say those words broke my heart and I wished she would stop letting me hurt myself more than I had.
“It was true that I never wanted to get married to you. It was true that I detest you in the beginning, but not anymore. I didn’t know how or when it started, maybe it was when you came to console me that night at the pack. Maybe it was even before that time. But I later realized you were not the person I had pictured you to be. All my life, I had pictured you as a blood thirsty beast who derived joy from hurting people. I thought you were an heartless son of a bitch! But no, you are not like that. A few days I spent with you, I realized you are a man with a great heart. A man who would do anything to keep his people safe. You may give people wrong impression about yourself but that’s not what you are. My heart has been yearning for you since I got to learn the truth about you. My heart had been bleeding since the day you left me at my pack. I thought you also felt what I was feeling.” Nova paused, her eyes sparked as she stared into my eyes.
I gulped down hard. My throat felt heavy as I gulped down the sudden lump, my eyes dilated as I watched her bit her bottom lip, she slowly moved her lips and said,
“I have come to realize that I love you. I love you that it hurts me when you’re not near.”