Mei Ruan March 29th, 20XX
A slender figure burst into my courtyard, their lavender and bronze wings beating up a storm as they hurtled themselves towards me.
Lillian looked over from where she was and started to move towards the figure in order to block them from reaching me but I waved her off and let him reach me.
‘Him’ being my fiancee...or rather my ex fiancee now.
Akseli Linus.
The Linus family could only barely be considered a noble family, having fallen out of favor with the royal family a few centuries ago and now constantly bounced around the circle of established nobles, trying to find their way back in.
After my elder sister had figured out that the prince who had not been seen in public for the past 15 years was actually missing she had attempted to match me with another family but my usually absentee mother randomly decided to intervene and let me choose on my own.
I had eventually decided on the oldest son of the Linus family in order to gain access to their many resources and connections but upon hearing news of the prince’s return I had quickly ended the courtship in order to honor my previous engagement.
It seemed that Akseli had disagreed with this decision and had personally come to see me. He flew towards me with a distressed look on his usually calm face and a few tears beaded in his thin and sharp eyes.
“ Mei Ruan!”
His usually soft voice boomed in as powerful of a voice as he dared take in front of me and his unnecessarily thin clothing flew askew in the wind generated by his own frustrated flapping.
“ I demand an explanation! How could I hear about the annulment of our engagement from a messenger servant?! Isn’t that just too cold hearted?”
It wasn’t that I didn't pity him; after all the Linius family were the only ones crazy enough to have made multiple sons and trade them off like commodities in order to form connections with other high ranking families.
And for the most part it had worked and their family could now count for half of the reputation of a clan, which was quite an accomplishment.
Aside from the Ruan Clan, the Linus family had already married off three of their ‘successful’ sons to branches of the other three noble clans; the Durand Family from the West, Aslan from the south and Nicosia from the east.
As for the other less powerful sons; they had been all but thrown at minor branches of those same families or at only slightly higher ranking families to live as little more than slaves.
His marriage to me was probably his best chance of living the type of life he thought he deserved but that gave him absolutely no right to barge into my quarters and order me about in such a manner.
Lillian quickly and quietly dismissed all of the surrounding servants while I only stared him down, unwilling to respond to the ridiculous display he was putting on. Of course I wouldn't physically harm him on account of all of the time we had spent together, but that didn't mean I was going to humor him. He finally seemed to realize that I wasn't going to respond to him and more importantly where he was and who he was speaking to.
Askeli finally descended onto the ground, lightly and delicately, as if to spite the screaming show he had put on earlier and quickly fixed himself up. Putting his hair into order and fixing his robes to fall around him in a flattering manner. He then quickly put back up the persona he had slowly built up over the years in order to please me and all his other suitors.
“ Mei~”
He began in a sticky and ingratiating voice that only served to tick me off even more and began to slowly walk towards me in a meaningful manner that made even the stoic Lillian look twice.
Well not that I could blame him.
Half of his status in his family was due to his beauty; with features seemingly carved from ice and a cold demeanor that seemed to lure one into a pleasant but icy death but unfortunately for him it had little to no effect on me as I was so used to him using it as a weapon against me and any other woman in the area.
He draped himself around me like a venomous python and continued on speaking in that same slippery and tempting voice.
“ Mei~. Are you really going to leave me? after how long we’ve been together? Surely you must have some affections remaining from me. Look, You even still wear the scabbard I had crafted for you.”
In a single motion I ripped the decorative scabbard from my waist and threw it onto the ground. Such a cheap gift was not worth the hefty price of putting up with this nonsense. His icy facade almost completely cracked at the sight and a million thoughts whirled behind his eyes as he formulated a new battle plan.
Very slowly and gracefully he knelt down, picked up the discarded item and carefully wiped it off, like one would do with a child, and with that same impression he cradled it in his grasp and looked at me like a monster that would throw such a precious item onto the ground.
“Mei..What do you mean by this?”
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“ You’ve always been a smart man Askeli. In fact it was one of the things I liked the best about you. But for you to be acting this way, like a brain dead entertainer at a low class establishment.”
I couldn't help but let out a disappointed sigh.
“ I’m almost ashamed of ever being interested in you.”
A few more cracks appeared on his facade as he tried to salvage the situation. He fell heavily onto his knees, which generated a soft thud on the ground and a small cloud of dust was launched into the air. I pretended not to notice the small spell his servant cast, which made the cloud of dust rise and encircle him like a romantic illusion and watched on as he grabbed at my tunic with soft hands and looked up at me with a pitiful expression that didn't suit his mature features in the least.
“ Mei pl-”
Seeing him put on such an act was putting me in a bad mood. Like he was trying to play me for a fool.
You dare act like i'm abandoning you? Trying to guilt me into staying with you? Such a low class act.
It wasn't like I didn't know about the other suitors he had entertained during our courtship, I had just ignored it since I knew none of them were my competition. But the only real reason I had chosen to go after him was because I knew my sister had taken a fancy to him but she considered her status as too high to consider marrying one of the Linus family into the Ruan family as her first partner.
There was also the fact that during our first meeting he had shown little to no interest in her, opting to chat with me instead. He made it clear that he preferred my ‘useless good looks’ to her stern and ‘reliable’ aesthetic.
Being dismissed in favor of me had been too large of a nail into her pride so what type of sister would I be if I had let the chance to drive that nail in even further pass?
But disregarding that? Well the comparison between a mere Linus family son and a royal prince was just ridiculous.
“ Askeli. Do you know why I broke off the engagement?”
From his kneeling position on the ground his drooped wings slunk even further and he began to cry into my clothing, feeling more upset than I hadn't helped him up yet. His voice had quieted to the size of a pin as he replied.
“ I just heard that you wanted to break off the engagement because you found another. That's the only reason I felt confident enough to come here in the first place!”
He suddenly stopped crying and looked up at me with resentful anger in his eyes, showing his true personality behind the mask he had so carefully constructed.
“ Which other male in this kingdom can match to me in terms of appearance? In temperment? in skill?!”
The sheer amount of self satisfaction and pride in his voice at such completely useless accomplishments was enough to make want to me kick him off my leg and stride away but I restrained myself.
I began in a low tone, disliking the fact that my youngest sister was watching this scene like one of the drama shows she enjoyed so much.
“ Askeli. Out of respect of the last few years we have been together as well as respect for the weaker sex, I will not physically harm you however if you keep clinging onto me then I’ll no longer feel the need to respect you as such.”
He quickly let go and scrambled to his feet but as he did so an expression of clear disbelief played across his handsome features as he realized that everything he had done hadn’t worked to make me change my mind.
“ Fine then. At least tell me who this person is then? Who is so amazing that you can fling me away in such a cruel manner?”
Such a high amount of baseless confidence in the self; I was sure even Jaya herself couldn't match him; but it had a charm in its own way. Sort of like watching a cat try to jump much further than its physical capabilities would allow. But how could I even consider marrying someone that puts off such a clownish impression? Wouldn’t that make me a laughing stock as well?
Before I could finally answer him my younger sister finally lost patience and yelled out from her hiding place in the shrubs, Her strong and high pitched voice bursting with frustration at the drawn out scene.
“ Mei is getting married to the prince okay?! At this point you don't even qualify as a contender!”
She burst out of the shrub and shook out her underdeveloped wings in an obvious attempt to copy the slightly threatening flare that I did when I was angry.
She only ended up looking adorable and I wanted to wrap her up and send her back to her father’s side, where she had stayed for the most of her life but I decided to let her stay, thinking she could properly end this situation.
In fact from the exited glint in her eyes I could tell she had been thinking up this speech for a while.
“ How dare you! A mere male from the Linus family talk to our Ruan CLan like that! Even if Mei wasn’t marrying the prince what right have you to speak to her like that? I know that Mei indulges you alot but know your place! Don’t you realize that you are speaking to the future Queen of the kingdom?! If she takes offence do you realize that you've doomed your entire family?! And never mind in the future` what about right now? What do you think the prince would do if he found out out you are so actively trying to steal his fiancee?! Remember that unlike you he actually has the right to barge into another's home and wreak havoc! ”
In her excited state she ended up fully extending her wings and flapping up and down like a little puppet so Askeli had to keep looking at her while keeping his head bowed in respect and ended up doing as weird neck dance that elicited a small smile from me.
He also grew paler and paler as she spoke, finally realizing that the consequences of his actions went further than securing a comfortable life after marriage.
“Aruna.”
She looked back at me with a slightly disappointed pout on her lovely little face but I stood firm and glared right back at her. Finally she stepped back and pretended to return to her quarters even though I knew she was only going to her second hiding place on the roof.
“ Askeli.”
He looked up hopefully at my gentle tone, but he soon realized that it was only because of my little sister and it faded into a dead expression.
“ General Ruan?”
He switched to referring to me formally and his icy facade was fully up again with no signs of ever no signs of coming back down.
That was really one of the things I had previously liked about him. Regardless of whatever he had to do, or how lowly he acted at times he knew when to cut his losses and never lost his ridiculous sense of pride...unlike myself.
Because of this I softened my tone a bit as I said my last words to him.
“ Worry not. I won’t hold a grudge over this. I understand that you were taken with your emotions and wont hold it against you.. But you’ll understand when I say I never want to see you again.”
He stiffly nodded, showing that he understood and then sank into a formal bow and strode away on his own with his back ramrod straight and his wings completely flared.
Askeli was a man with as many virtues as flaws but for some reason I could never consider his pride as one of them.