"What was the last all about?" Lucas asked as soon as Sebastian entered his office.
The vampire prince went near his desk, playing with the skull-shaped paper stopper before looking at Lucas.
"What do you mean?" He played dumb, and Lucas sighed.
"I am not a fool, sir. I could see what you were doing," Lucas added, and Sebastian hummed.
"What do you think it was?" Sebastian's voice was cold, but he looked strangely in a good mood.
"I am not even sure what I am asking about. Is it that you asked the girl that tricky question the first thing you brought her to the palace, or am I asking about the fact that you asked her to call you Marino? You have never allowed anyone that," Lucas walked to the desk and pulled out the file he wanted to discuss with the prince.
"Why are you shocked? It's not like I was married before. Do you not want to see me happy with my bride?" Sebastian's question made Lucas roll his eyes.
"I would've believed you if the bride was a vampire. But a human bride, that to be from hunter bloodline? I would never believe that. I know you a little too well, sir," Lucas walked to him before sighing exasperatedly.
"This brings me to my next question. Why did you agree to the marriage? This was the perfect chance to ask your grandpa to attack the hunters and kill them all. They have duped us with another girl. How dare they! It makes my blood boil -"
"You are too noisy today," Sebastian's words made Lucas look at him warily.
The prince was seriously acting strange today. Why was he still calm? If it had been any other day, he would've been raging and raising hell already.
"Have you forgiven the hunters, sir? Have you forgotten how they were the ones because of whom your mother isn't alive and -"
"I haven't forgotten anything, Lucas. I never will. It's because of that particular reason I agreed to marry this girl called Elliana. Revenge is a dish better served cold. I want to serve them this dish on a silver platter," Sebastian's curt voice with red blazing eyes cut Lucas mid-sentence.
Seeing the same anger and fire in the prince's eyes, Lucas hummed before giving the file to Sebastian.
"You are planning something," Lucas stated more than asked, and Sebastian turned before walking out of the balcony to look at the moon and bask in its moonlight.
Seeing slight movement in his left direction, he looked at the other side of the palace, to his room, where Elliana was also standing on the balcony, looking at the moon.
"Indeed. I plan to infiltrate this hunter's family slowly and kill every single person there with my bare hands. If Grandpa really wanted to help me avenge my mother, he would've never proposed this marriage in the first place when he knows how much I hate these hunters," Sebastian clenched his fists on the railing.
He will never forgive that man for playing a trick like this.
If he thinks he can put him down by distracting him with family drama, he was wrong. Sebastian was ready to do anything and fight any power to get to the throne.
That was the ultimate power Sebastian was after so that he could run this vampire kingdom as he wanted, and annihilating the entire hunter's bloodline who killed his mother in cold blood would be the first thing on his to-do list.
"This girl, I want all the information you can gather about her. For some reason, she feels different," Sebastian looked at the girl, who stood there with her eyes closed and hands open in the air as if she was embracing the wind or probably her new life.
"Different? What do you mean? I mean I can see that she is sweet and innocent, but it can be a facade too. We can never judge and interpret these greedy humans. They are a species with the most two-faced people in all the species I have met," Lucas gritted his teeth, and Sebastian sighed before he extended his hand.
He captured the girl's form between his thumb and index finger, looking at her in a new light as her hair came undone and blew in the wind magically.
"I don't know, Lucas. Even at the wedding, her aura was the strongest and purest in the entire area, and it ticks me off. She has no blood on her hand, not even the hunter vibes. How is that possible?" Sebastian half turned his body to look at Lucas.
"All hunters are strong and not someone to be believed easily, but I think this girl is the most dangerous among all the hunters I met till now. She has this allure to her, and her face doesn't help it either. Maybe she is used to using her innocence on people to get her things done?" Sebastian scoffed.
"This brain is more powerful than any kind of strength, and I think she knows how to use it to her benefit. You asked me why I asked her that question immediately after I brought her here. That's the reason. I wanted to see her thought process, and seeing how cunningly she got away with it, she is someone you will have to keep a close eye on. You are getting my point?" Sebastian asked Lucas.
Lucas also looked at the girl who was too carefree for someone, who was offered to a species she didn't have any inkling about.
Any normal human girl would either be scared to move on her first day or would try to create connections if she is a cunning one. However, this girl was truly different.
"Right. I will do that. This reminds me, I received a call from your grandpa. He wants to come and meet your bride tomorrow. He asked me to tell you beforehand so that if you have any plans, you can reschedule them. He emphasized the fact that you are to be with your bride for at least a week so that she feels comfortable," Lucas said.
"Cunning old man. I know why he is doing this," Sebastian kept looking at the girl.
Something was too different about this girl. Sebastian hated it. The idea of not knowing what it was, was annoying him.
He was used to having things under control, and this girl was stirring up things she shouldn't. Like back in the hall when she said those words so effortlessly without even blinking and raised that warmth inside his chest. He hated it.
He can't allow anyone to stir up any kind of emotion in his heart, especially a human from the hunter's bloodline. They don't deserve any mercy or warmth from him. He doesn't want to feel warmth for any hunter.
Not only Lucas but Sebastian also surprised himself when he asked her to call him Marino. This was a name that only his mother used to call him, and he hasn't allowed anyone to utter this name since then.
'Don't overthink. It's because I am planning to be near the girl to infiltrate those hunters and hurt them in a way that would bring them down for once and all,' Sebastian told himself, his gaze going back to the girl involuntarily.
Why was she standing near the balcony for so long? Was she planning on something? Could it be, similar to him, she is here for the same thing and is planning something with her family against the vampires too?
If he can think about it when they killed his mother, the hunters can also come up with the same plan since he had killed the entire boot camps of hunters in his fit of rage.
Anything was possible right now. And to come to a point, he will have to keep a keen eye on her.
Earlier, Sebastian was a little wary of sleeping and living with the girl of the same bloodline who took everything from him, but now that he thinks about it, it was the only way to keep her under keen observation 24/7.
The sight of her was starting to irritate him now, and he was minutes away from going to that balcony of his room, pushing her on the bed, gripping her neck in a tight fist, and asking what her purpose was.
Why was she igniting the emotions that she shouldn't? Sebastian wasn't the one to lose control easily, but even when she hadn't particularly done anything, she ignited rage, warmth, annoyance, hatred, and whatnot from him.
Maybe because she didn't do anything it raged him so much? Nothing made sense.
"I can't take any chances, Lucas. You will have to keep a keen eye on her. She is more lethal than she looks," Sebastian gritted his teeth, and Lucas looked at the girl, who was standing on the balcony innocently with a sigh.
She looked nothing but innocent. It was okay for the prince to be suspicious of her, but wasn't he overdoing it now? It was sounding more like his paranoia. As if he was trying to blame her for something. Lucas thought but kept his thoughts to himself.
Elliana, who felt someone staring at her for quite some time, opened her eyes and looked in that direction with scrunched brows.
However, when her eyes met the prince's, she felt her breath hitching. It was almost dark, but even with so much darkness, she could see how his eyes were slightly redder than before, and she gulped.
He caught her gaze, and she didn't know what to do anymore. If she looks away it will be considered disrespectful. But it would be disrespectful if she kept staring at him too, right?
It was hard to decipher what he was thinking about from under his mask. Elliana clenched her fists around her dress nervously before taking a deep breath and smiling at the prince.
Sebastian looked at her nervous smile and turned around, walking back inside his office.
Elliana breathed a sigh of relief before she went inside the room and looked at her luggage bag in the corner.
She should get out of this heavy dress first. She nodded at herself before taking a random pair of clothes and entering the washroom.