Matrimony
I eyed him with keen interest. The way he moved. So agile. So flawless. So deathly.
Sebastian Michaelis, my head butler, swiftly prepared my cup of Earl Grey Tea. He set it down on the table in front of me with equal flawlessness. Even after he walks off, my eyes trailed after him.
"Hmm." A brief cough interrupted my train of thoughts.
I turned to my esteemed guest. Monsieur Palencia from Paris and his butler had arrived this morning, seeking to see me. The question as to why they are here is yet to be answered.
"Mademoiselle Ravensway! It's so nice to finally meet you!!" Monsieur Palencia said. He stopped when he saw Sebastian. He gaped as Sebastian placed his cup of tea on the table.
I smiled to myself as I reached out for my cup of tea. Even he gets distracted.
Monsieur Palencia let out a laugh. "My, my! I guess nobles would have the best servants after all!" he said. I smirked. "Yes. Yes we do." I said and sipped my tea.
Monsieur Palencia cleared his throat. "Forgive me, Mademoiselle Ravensway. You must be wondering as to why I am here." He said. "Please, by all means, do enlighten me." I said.
"I have no idea how much the late Monsieur Ravensway and his wife has told you about me."
"Not at all, as a matter of fact. They never made it a point to mention you before. This is clearly my first time hearing of you." I replied.
His face contorted into surprise. "Really? How odd this must be! Forgive me if this sounds a bit too blunt, but Mademoiselle Ravensway, you are, in fact… my betrothed." he said.
I almost chocked on my tea. "WHAT??!!"
"Why, yes! We have been betrothed since you were a wee baby. Surely your parents must have mentioned it before." Monsieur Palencia explained.
I heard a low chuckle behind me. I turned around and saw Sebastian smiling. "My, my!! My lady is betrothed?! Who would have thought of such thing?!" he said.
Before I could reply, the door burst open. "Mistress is betrothed??!!" Baldroy, Finnian and Mey-Rin yelled. I looked at them in surprise. "Were you three eavesdropping?!" I asked.
Before any of them could answer, Prince Soma pushed his way through. "Cordelia is betrothed??!!" he yelled with tears trickling down his cheeks.
I smacked my head and groaned. "Not you too." I muttered.
He ran in and hugged me tightly. "Your highness!!" Agni warned. Prince Soma ignored him and still clung tight to me. "NO!! You can't marry some stranger, Cordelia!! Besides, we are engaged!!" he cried out.
"No, we are not, you daft dimbo!!! Don't go around saying things that you want!!" I yelled.
Monsieur Palencia clapped his hands. "Then it is settled!! We'll have the wedding next Saturday! We'll have to…"
As he was mumbling about the wedding preparations, Prince Soma was still crying in my shoulder. Agni was busily consoling him and the three servants were happily dancing away. Tanaka was sipping his tea quietly in a corner. Sebastian still had that infuriating smirk plastered on his face, I sighed in resignation. Can this day get any worse?
Obviously, it can.
Forced to do nothing but agree on the marriage, I retired to bed early that night. As usual, Sebastian prepared me for bed by dressing me in my nightgown. He has been doing it for six years now that I do not feel shy if he saw my naked form.
I sat on my bed as he kneeled down before me to take off my boots. I studied him carefully. "What do you think about…the marriage?" I asked him slowly.
"I think it is a wonderful idea. All those revenge-seeking dreams has turned you cold and solemn. A little smile of joy wouldn't hurt." he said. He looked up at me and smiled.
I stared down at him. "Ever since that tragic day, I have forgotten how to smile." I said. He rose to his feet. "Well, then. Let's hope that Monsieur Palencia is the man that will bring your smile back." he said.
"Then, you truly don't mind if I marry him?" I asked as I looked up at him. "Of course not. Why would I?" he asked.
That was his greatest mistake.
In the blink of an eye, I rose to my feet and landed a slap on his face. His smirk wiped of, Sebastian looked at me in disbelief.
I stared hard at him. "Are you blind??!! I expected you, of all people, should have noticed it. Given the fact that you are a demon!" I said.
"And what exactly, is it, that I might have missed?"
"I love you!!!"
There was an unbearable awkward moment of silence as we both stared at each other. His eyes widened in surprised.
"My my, Lady Ravensway!! Are you perhaps practicing reciting those three words to your beloved fiancée? Well, you are doing marvelously!" he replied with a smile.
I clenched my fist, trying to subside my anger. "You think this is a joke? You fool! I don't give a damn if you are a demon, don't you ever mock my feelings!!" I yelled furiously.
"I..."
"Get out! Now!!" I shouted while pointing at the door.
Sebastian was still staring at me in surprise. His face changed from surprise to confusion. As far as I knew, Sebastian was never confused about anything. He was a demon after all.
Sebastian took the candle holder from my bedside table and walked out quietly. With a sigh, I tucked into bed and cried myself to sleep.
For the next whole week, I tried my level best to avoid Sebastian. I appointed Tanaka to be my head butler to avoid running into Sebastian. Sebastian, in the meantime, carried on his usual chores.
It had also been a tiring week. Preparations for the wedding were carried out. I brought Mey-Rin along to shop for a wedding dress. Monsieur Palencia would drop by once in a while to make sure everything went well.
It's not that I don't like Monsieur Palencia, but my heart is Sebastian's. I love him! Unfortunately, that idiotic demon doesn't seem to understand that!
What does he see? A beautiful 18 years old woman? Or still a 12 years old girl?
Even worse, does he only see a delicious soul that he gets to devour when the time comes?
The day of the wedding is finally here. I stood at my foyer, dressed in my wedding dress. The carriage will be here any minute now. I gulped nervously and gripped my flowers tightly in my sweaty hands.
Mey-Rin was busily adjusting my dress. Baldroy and Finnian were doing their silly little dance. Prince Soma was leaning against the wall and crying with Agni trying to console him.
I drifted my eyes to the right and caught his red fuchsia eyes. Sebastian was standing in the shadows and studying me.
I sucked in a breath and immediately looked away, willing my damn heart to stop beating so fast.
A moment later, Tanaka entered the foyer and bowed. "My lady, your carriage awaits." he said.
There was a hushed silence as everyone turned to me. I took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay." I said.
I slid my hand into Tanaka's and followed him. Before exiting the foyer, I turned to Sebastian.
"Sebastian!" Sebastian merely raised an eyebrow.
"I order you to not attend my wedding with Monsieur Palencia!" I ordered.
He smiled thinly and bowed. "As you wish, my lady." he said.
I blankly looked out the carriage window. The countryside sceneries flashed by in a daze. The only thing playing in my mind was the memories I had with Sebastian.
The reason I made the deal with a demon was to avenge my loved ones. I lost my parents six years ago.
Yet, here I am, falling for a demon. My rescuer. My loyal dog. My destroyer. Irony, isn't it?
Suddenly, there was a loud thud followed by a grunt from the driver. The carriage lurched a little to the left. I looked around in alarm. "What's going on?" I asked in a panicked tone.
"Probably the driver is feeling a little dizzy." Tanaka assured me. I eyed him suspiciously, but decided to drop the topic. The carriage continued it's journey without any other incident.
After half an hour, we still hadn't reached our destination! "I most definitely do not remember the church this far away." I complained. "Maybe the driver lost his way?" Tanaka said. I slumped back in my seat. "Wonderful! Just wonderful. What kind of driver did they hire?" I mumbled.
It was only a matter of minutes before the carriage stopped. "Finally!" I exclaimed. Tanaka got out and held the door open. I took his outstretched hand and descended from the carriage.
"Mistress!!"
I was surprised to see Baldroy, Mey-Rin and Finnian waiting for me. "You three!! What are you doing here?" I asked. "Why, to attend your wedding of course! He said we could come and watch!" Baldroy said.
"Monsieur Palencia?" I asked. Finnian and Mey-Rin giggled.
I looked around and noticed something odd. I immediately looked at Tanaka. "Tanaka, we are at the wrong church! This isn't the church Monsieur Palencia and I agreed on!" I exclaimed.
The driver turned to me and I gasped in surprise. "Undertaker??!!" What are you doing??!! Where is the driver??!!" I asked.
He giggled creepily. "Oh, Lady Ravensway! What's life without a few surprises?" he asked. With that, he tugged on the reins and the carriage moved away.
I looked back at Tanaka. "Tanaka, what…"
He smiled at me. "Come, mistress." he said gently as he held a hand out.
I looked at him, then at his hand, then slowly back at him. I sighed and slowly took his hand. We walked to the church and the three servants pushed open the doors.
It took me a few moments to absorb the scene around me.
It wasn't as crowded as I expected. Only the first few rows were occupied…and they were people that I knew!! There was Lady Elizabeth Midford and her maid, Prince Soma, Agni, Lau, Ran-Mao, Lady Red and many more.
There were no French people present. Monsieur Palencia was nowhere in sight.
WAIT!! If Monsieur Palencia wasn't here, who could possibly be standing at the altar?
The man turned and I gasped. I gripped my flowers tightly and breathed heavily. My heart wouldn't stop pounding as I stared into his red fuchsia eyes. Into Sebastian Michaelis's eyes.
Sebastian was clad in a white tuxedo and pants with a bow. His black raven hair looked as perfect as ever. I rolled my eyes. White is so not his color.
I wanted to run. I wanted to vomit. I wanted to throw my flowers at him and scream "WHY??!!"
But I also wanted to run to him. I wanted to fling my arms around him and hug him tightly, never letting go. I wanted to bury my head in his shoulder and breathe in his scent.
Tanaka gripped my hand reassuringly and we walked slowly. The three servants were walking in front of us and scattering rose petals on the aisle. The guests stood up as I walked past. Agni was playing a soft tune on the piano.
I couldn't look at anyone. I wasn't even focusing on them. All I could even think about was how I loved the way his hair fell over his face, his smiles and smirks, his infuriating behavior, and even the way his finger grazed my skin as he dressed me.
Without even realizing, I was standing in front of him. He smirked as he studied me. I blushed and looked down, gripping Tanaka's hand for comfort.
"I took the liberty of preparing everything myself, my lady." he said. I finally mustered the courage to look at him. "I gave you clear orders, Sebastian. I told you not to come." I said.
He smiled. "Ah, yes! You told me specifically to not attend your wedding with Monsieur Palencia. As you can see, you aren't marrying Monsieur Palencia. So, I didn't defy your orders." he said.
I stared at him in surprise. He twisted my words!
Sebastian looked at me seriously. "Lady Ravensway, I…"
"Cordelia. Cordelia is fine." I said softly.
He gave me a soft smile. "Cordelia, I have been meaning to ask you a question for a long time." he said. I raised an eyebrow. "Well?" I asked.
"I think you know what it is that I wanted to ask."
"And I think you know my answer to that."
We both stared at each other. "Well?" he asked as he held out a hand.
I let go of Tanaka's hand and took Sebastian's. "You once asked me what I wanted the most. I carelessly answered revenge, for I thought I had no loved ones left. But I was wrong."
I stared deep into his eyes. My own reflection stared back at me. "I do have loved ones. And they are all here today." I said as I looked around. The guests smiled at me.
"I take it back. I don't want revenge anymore. I don't want anger, or sadness, or darkness anymore."
I looked back at him. He tentatively pushed a strand of hair away from my face. "What do you want, Cordelia?" Sebastian whispered gently.
"I want you, Sebastian. I want to spend a lifetime with you." I whispered back.
A warm smile crept onto his face. I slid my arms around his neck and slowly pushed him down. Our lips were centimeters from touching. My damn heart couldn't remain still. So close! So close!!!
Suddenly, I was yanked away from Sebastian!!!
"No, Cordelia!!! You can't marry Sebastian!! You are betrothed to me!!" Prince Soma wailed. "Soma??!! Not you again!!" I exclaimed. "Your highness! Please let go of Lady Ravensway!!" Agni warned him.
Prince Soma ignored him and flung me over his shoulders. He started walking down the aisle. "Put me down, you daft dimbo!!! That's an order!! Put me down!!" I yelled as I furiously beat his back. "Don't worry. You'll love being the princess of India." Prince Soma said.
"NO!! I don't want to be!! Let me go!! Sebastian!! SEBASTIAN!!" I yelled.
"Your highness! Please stop!!" Agni shouted desperately. He sighed and turned to Sebastian. "Forgive me, Sebastian. It seems my prince has stubbornly decided to claim Lady Ravensway as his." Agni said.
Sebastian smiled at him. "No need to worry. I'll get Cordelia back. After all…"
He slid his glove off his hands and his red fuchsia eyes glowed. "I am one hell of a soon-to-be husband."