Celeste~

"A while ago Latía convinced Judias that Ana was gonna tell his secret unless he makes me sign a contract to marry her. Judias has a few tricks up his sleeve though, when the secret is released it was always going to be on Latías time because that is her man, so he convinces Latía that Anastasia was flirting with him and trying to break them up by revealing it because if she can't have what she wants then neither can she. She half believed it so now she's taking the evidence from her and just keeping it for herself. She only cares about herself so giving her friend the option to marry me was just a fun thing they did because they could, not out of loyalty or anything. The only issue now is that my job is going to get taken away. I could have let that one slide if that was just the case though it would have only had been for a couple of years. She's now threatening to release our marriage contract and the voice recording of your conversation to try and say that we were childhood lovers but I betrayed her out of temptation for you."

Even as someone who found the essence of reputation and hierarchy so very stupid. The guilt I felt because I knew how bad this was was indescribable.

He would be berated by everyone, how can he be trusted if he betrayed his own partner?

I couldn't imagine what his parents would say, or Judias' parents. Even the Royals would have been brought into this because she's Latías friend. This was bad.

"Firstly, I'm very sorry that I said what I said. I really didn't think that something as little as that could possibly cause something like this."

"It's okay it's not your fault. She's a manipulative bitch who will do almost anything to get her way. It's okay because I can just say that while we did have a contract, we were not in a relationship. There are no romantic pictures, not a single date. But she's a princess' friend, they'll still talk. And I still have a job to do which depends on me demonstrating loyalty." So he needs another contract.

"I need something that makes what 'I did' okay, and acceptable without tying me into something I don't want to be tied into."

"Yeah I've read enough romance novels to know where this is going."

He chuckled a little. "Yeah, this isn't that type of thing though. It's easy and comes with no complications, all we have to do is pretend that we met here and fell head over heels because of that fight or something and that we're gonna get married later. Which we won't because you don't care for my status and I don't care for anyone." So, I have enough power to make this whole relationship palpable, but not enough status to stop him from divorcing me or breaking the contract if he chooses to. Not too bad.

"I see, so what happens if we actually fall in love throughout all of this."

"Are you saying that because you're already halfway there? I get it, I'm not easy to resist." He said playfully.

"Hey, no. I'm just being realistic, I think we both know how this usually goes." I wasn't that naive. I wasn't going to claim that I was some sort of superhuman with no feelings whatsoever. Pretending to be in a relationship could definitely facilitate real feelings and I didn't have the time for that if there was no way out.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"I'm not an asshole, if one of us happens to fall in love then we can just call it off, say that my parents have someone else for me. I just need a valid reason as to why I was so 'dishonest' towards Anastasia if she releases what she recorded. After that, it's fair game."

Hm. Okay then.

"And even if both of us happen to fall for each other so what? Great, I have a wife and you have me. It's all good."

The ego of this man!

"Like me having you is such a privilege huh? I mean I would say that I'm the one that would be settling in this dynamic but each to our own." He just thinks he's the centre of everyone's universe doesn't he.

"Oh, and why's that?" He questioned.

"There's a lot of nonsense that comes with being with an assassin you know, not knowing if they're safe, if they're doing anything behind your back. It's just a whole lot. Plus there's a lot of emotional baggage that comes with having a career path that involves killing people."

His blue and red eyes stared at me for a second before he spoke.

"Fair enough, it's true, it's a career that comes with a lot. It's definitely not for everyone. But that just makes this deal even better."

"I guess you could say that." It was true.

"So we have another deal then?"

"Yes we do."

The conversation lasted longer than I had realised. It was already late when we finished the last Trial so by the time we were done, Chloe and Rain had already made their way back to their rooms and were heading to sleep.

I did the same, with thankfully no interruptions from weird females on my way there.

With all of the excitement from the Trial and the conversation with Caspian, I hadn’t even realised how tired I was. I passed out as soon as I came out of the shower and fell asleep in my towel once again.

*Buzz

What the fuck, we didn’t even have a Trial today. There was no reason as to why I should be awoken by the sound of my phone at 7 in the morning.

Although the Academy sent a message about being aware of the potential to be called back for further examination, it was not the notification that set my phone off.

Chloe-“Hey girl, I set my alarm bright and early today just for you xx”

Rain-“Where’s the teaaaa?”

Chloe-“Don’t ignore, you know what I’m here for.”

Rain-“Caspian and Celeste kissing in a tree

k.i.s.s.i.n.g.”

Chloe-“We shall all meet at 8:30am in Rain’s room. Be punctual people.”

Rain-“It’s raining it’s pouring Celeste’s love life is boring, till Caspian wakes her up and fucks her till the morning.”

It was a catchy song but that wasn’t the point. There was nothing between me and Caspian and even if there was, they should have been trying to deter me from him at any chance they could get considering who he is.

They most definitely weren’t going to believe me after they heard what he proposed to me but to hell with it all. I got ready even though I was already exhausted from the future conversation that I was going to have with them and went into the shower.

I was thankful that we were finished with this whole Trial thing. It was something that was built up for all of us as the most important days of our lives, it was hard to hear that constantly and still be calm while you were here.

My body was relaxed in ways I didn’t even know it needed to be, and my muscles lost the tension that I didn’t even know it had. I finally felt at peace. My path was already made for me and there was nothing I could do about the outcome of my rank at this point and It gave me the space I needed to finally breathe.

I defined my curls and did my hair in a nice updo that would keep it out of my face for today.

I put on a casual outfit that consisted of a nice halter top and denim jeans to go with it. Making sure I didn’t forget anything I needed I looked around before heading out of the door.

There was hardly anyone out at this time, I guess there was no reason to keep up appearances if we would all be separated and with thousands of new people soon.