Chapter 16: Honeymoon (1)

1.

Since it is midday, the streets of the inner circle were packed.

And also, I had become infamous for destroying a crystal, so people were gathering around.

“FUCK YOU MONSTER.”

A man throws a bottle at the carriage window, the bottle shatters instantly, the contents blurring up the view to the outside.

I was hoping for a warmer reception, but these inner circle people are much more reliant on the crystals than the outer circle people.

At least I think so, I really hope I'm not hated by everyone.

Lily is just waving to the people outside, a smile on her face, acting like a princess. She is not scared by the lack of warm reception. She looks back at me with the same fake smile.

“Don't worry about them Z.”

“Yeah I'm not, but uh... how are we going to leave this carriage with such a big crowd?”

“I may not look it but I’m strong, if anyone tries anything they’ll be instantly obliterated.”

Great. Good to know.

Its surprising to see these rich folk act so savagely, although I guess that's just human nature, it doesn't matter how much money you have, you are still human with human anger.

Its funny seeing women in perfect dresses cursing me out, not only me but also cursing out the Cullington family.

“Lily is your family disliked?”

She looks at me, confused as to why id ask, but then she realizes that I'm from outside the cave so I'm not aware of the politics.

“Yes. People don't like our family because we are one of the 3 royal families protecting the king, people like to call him ‘the useless king.’”

“Why? Is the king bad?”

“It's better not to talk of it.”

I guess its a touchy subject.

I'm just trying to figure out the politics of this place, now that I've been thrown into the middle of it.

God damn it I want to go back to the cabin so badly, or at least go back to Immy’s manor, why is my life so interesting? Why can't it be boring?

We arrive at the tailors, as she opens the carriage door the screams from outside become louder.

“DEMON, DEMON MARRYING ANOTHER DEMON”

What is that even supposed to mean?

“MONSTER, GO BACK OUT TO THE OUTERCIRCLE YOU RODENT”

Urgh.

“KILL HIM, KILL HIM”

The crowd begins throwing stuff, but never gets too close, I have Lily to thank for that.

We enter the tailors, It's the same place Immy took me to, the hallway is packed full of people waiting.

Screams are still very loud even from within this shop.

Lily speaks up.

“Everybody out. Now”

Instantly everyone in the waiting room leaves, if I had that sort of power id be abusing it too, I hate lines.

Theo walks out of the hairdresser's room, annoyed.

He spots me and he instantly has a face of bewilderment.

“Lily. What are you doing with this boy?”

“Haven't you heard? Its big news, I'm married to him.”

Theo gives me a look of concern.

“Does he want a haircut?”

Lily looks at me and repeats his question.

“Do you want a haircut, husband?”

Ew don't call me that.

I will take a haircut, even though the hair I have is fairly short I need time to talk privately to Theo, that guy seems to have answers.

“Yes, Thank you.”

I walk into the hairdressing room and sit in the closest chair.

“Do you want me to wait outside or be with you during the haircut?”

Lily is being incredibly considerate of my feelings. It’s nice but completely unneeded, this is a sham marriage after all.

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But I didn't want her to be here, especially when Theo seems so on edge.

“Uh, outside please.”

She looks annoyed and leaves the room, now it's just me and Theo.

Finally, I can relax, I'm scared around lily, it's not like I hate her, but she is a lot to deal with.

“So, how'd you do it?”

Theo speaks up, holding a wet rag in his hands.

“Do what?”

“Marry the daughter of the infamous Cullington family obviously.”

I guess it does seem weird, especially in his position, he just saw me with Immy 3 days ago and now I'm with another high-class individual and married to them.

“It's not a real marriage, just something she setup so I could get out of prison and become a human in the eyes of the law.”

This was supposed to be private information, but considering he kept the secret about me maybe being a monster before, I consider him a decently trustworthy person.

My hair gets covered in the rag, my hair instantly collecting the moisture.

“If the Cullington family wants someone out of prison or to be considered human, they can just demand it and it'll happen, there was no reason for her to marry you.”

Wait really?

“Are you being serious?”

“Yes. Sounds like you aren't aware of their infamy, they are one of the top families in the city and the most feared.”

“Why are they feared?”

“They helped kill the last king, replaced him with a puppet, now they can do whatever they want, within reason of course to not cause riots.”

Oh... Yikes...

He begins to cut my wet hair.

“Sounds like they need you for something, if I were you, I'd get out of there, your new father-in-law is a very, very dangerous person.”

This is a lot of new information, I hate politics so much.

“Do you want me to dye your hair again?”

“I'm fine, thank you Theo.”

“no problem.”

He works fast, cutting my hair to be more styled, adding texture and layering.

I look into the mirror and notice my red colored eyes are even more prominent.

“Those eyes sure are unique, ominous even... anyways, I gave you the classic royal haircut with a bit of texturization because you seem to like messy hair”

I don't like messy hair. I just always had messy hair due to never cleaning it, but it does look nice, the front of my hair still rests nicely on my forehead near my brows, my hair looks curlier as well, the sides of my hair are a lot fluffier, giving volume to the shape of my face.

It’s basically just a longer middle part haircut.

“Royals love these types of haircuts, you'll fit right in.”

He pats me on the back twice.

“By the way, what happened between you and Imogen?”

Right of course he would ask that, my situation is incredibly weird.

“Nothing? Last time we talked she was very nice to me.”

“Expect that to change.”

“Huh?”

“I doubt Imogen will ever forgive you for marrying into her worst enemy’s family.”

Great. That is some very valuable information.

I got out of the chair and walked to the door.

“You have no idea how helpful you have been today, Theo.”

“I'm aware how helpful I've been, I expect you to pay me back sometime.”

I chuckled a bit, Theo is a very chill person, almost someone I could consider a friend if I knew him better.

As soon as I began to open the door Lily barged in.

“Hello Theodore, did you tell Z here any information that would be considered against my families name and image?”

Oh...

Theo looks at her, he has a relaxed look.

“Yeah, I did, you know where I stand Lily.”

Lily stares daggers into him with anger, but quickly dismisses that emotion when she looked into my eyes.

“Z, you mustn't worry yourself with politics, I promise our family history isn't as bad as it seems, a lot of the rumors are old and bloated with lies.”

Yeah, okay whatever.

“Now Theo. If you are done filling this boys head with your ideology, can you please escort us to the tailor room, I want you to make Z the nicest clothing you can make. Actually I want a dozen sets of outfits he can wear, all hand made, today.”

Theo sighs “you'll have to wait a few hours, are you okay with that?”

“It just means I have more alone time with my husband, come on lets go through the city.”

She grabs my hand and walks out to the hallway, then to the front door.

She opens it and the street is empty, completely empty.

“Guards probably cleared the street.”

How did they make it empty? I really hope force wasn't used, there doesn't seem to be any blood on the roads...

How can you get rid of hundreds of angry people this quickly?

“Z? Come on let's walk the streets.”

2.

I must admit, even though Theodore is a traitor, he knows how to style people's hair.

Z looks considerably better than before, and his eyes, his red eye color is beautiful, never seen anyone with that eye color before, he looks almost evil, I love it.

My plan is going perfectly, I'm going to pamper him like a wife would, until he cant live without me, naturally he will fall in love with me and I will make him my puppet.

Father will be happy with how well my plan is going, I cant wait to tell him.

I spot a nice famous bakery café down the road, this is a perfect place to feed him.

“Z, can we go to that bakery please?”

The most important part of this is making him seem in control, men love it when they completely dominate a woman, ill have to play that part.

Its all for the greater good.

He looks at me then the bakery.

“Sure, but can I be a bit selfish?”

“Yes, you can. Anything I have is yours, even my own body.”

Haha he is blushing, I am nailing this.

“Uh... Right... Can we go to Immy’s manor? And clear the air?”

What? Obviously, the answer is no, are you stupid?

“We can't... I'm sorry but Imogen dislikes me very much”

Are you dense? Can't you see that we are enemies?

“Okay, I promised not to pry so I won't, but Immy treated me very well, so if you can both make it up to each other and somehow mend the bridge id greatly appreciate it.”

Haah,

That isn't going to happen, not one chance, not after what my father did.

“Yes, I can get my father to arrange a talk, now can we please go to the bakery?”

He is rather selfish. Not selfish for himself, but selfish for the people he thinks he cares about.

You have a beautiful girl on your arm and all you can think about is creating an alliance between my family and Imogen's? For what?

Does he even consider himself human? Does he matter to himself?

We arrive at the bakery, nobody was in it, the only person was someone at the front desk.

Weird how nobody was in this bakery, usually this place is packed.

“Hello, I would like to be served, quickly please.”

The bakery was huge, it was a bar, bakery and cafe in one.

The woman at the front desk just smiled, she was ginger and had freckles, which was rare in this world.

She looks familiar...

“Uhh...Please come in... Miss... sorry Mrs!! Mrs cullington!”

Hahah, she is scared, its so funny seeing normal people react to me.

Z follows me like a puppy, maybe he is the kind of man who wants to be dominated, it makes sense with how little desire he has outwardly shown when it comes to my advances.

Its funny to see his reactions though, he is kind of aloof.

We both sit down at a two-person table, the girl asks us to order.

“Can I get a coffee?” Z says.

Coffee? That disgusting drink? I cant risk him having a bad time here, ill get him a better drink.

“Z, how about you have some wine?”

“Yeah I guess that's fine? ill have some wine.”

He really just doesn't care about himself does he?

“Ill have wine as well, please give me your most expensive bottle.”

Wine is romantic, this is perfect. I've set the mood.

The girl brings us two glasses and a bottle of expensive looking wine, I'm not exactly a wine expert but this one would probably cost a pretty penny.

Who cares, my family basically has infinite money.

“Me and Z would also like some pastries, bring out any”

I’m being such a pure little good wife.

Z stares at me, what is he thinking right now?

I watch him take a sip of the wine, I copy him and take a sip of my own.

It tastes nice and refreshing, my mom would always make me drink wine, she is such a wine fanatic, she drinks a whole bottle almost every night, I dream to be able to do that but I'm too busy... maybe when I'm older and settle down...

He looks disgusted by the wine. Why? Did I mess up?

Its fine, nothing has been ruined yet.

“So Z, tell me about yourself.”

“Do you just want general information or my entire backstory?”

“Backstory please, how did you end up here?”

“I uh, this is going to sound weird but I survived in the wilderness for 18 years.”

18 years? My blessing is telling me he isn’t lying… is he really that old? Has he not aged?

18 years in the wild, that definitely explains his behavior, lack of basic social instincts as well.

“Really? How’d you survive?”

Stupid question considering he is immortal, am I messing this up?

“I’d normally… gather berries and catch rabbits. I had a run-down cabin I lived in.”

Catch rabbits? Those creatures that are incredibly fast and agile? This boy caught them? In the snow no less.

Is he actually talented?

I saw him fight Kal, he didn’t have much combat experience, but he seemed very sharp in his planning.

His plan to drop that crystal was also very interesting.

I’m guessing he was the one to raise the smoke alarm with the explosion as well.

Is he smart?

“Lily? You’re staring off into space.”

Oh right. I’m thinking too much, he still acts like a child socially so I can still manipulate him.

“Yes sorry… I was just thinking about how cute your eyes were”

Perfect move, I see him blush, 10 points.

I need to be less seductive and more romantic, like the character in the book.

I take another sip of my wine.

“Uhhh.. thanks Lily, I must say you are looking great as well.”

Well, yeah, I know! I look like this because of you! It’s for you.

It felt nice to hear him recognize my effort.

“Thank you, I work very hard on my appearance.”

“I can tell, you really do work hard don’t you? I think it’sa great quality to have.”

Finally! someone gets it!

“I know right?? Most people don’t see that, they think I don’t put any effort in because I'm blessed, when I clearly am trying hard all the time. I work my ass off and what do I get? Just more orders, more commands, when do I get a break?”

I showed too much emotion, oops. I guess I like being complimented, that’s a weakness I need to destroy.

Z leans over the table and strokes the top of my head... what?

“Why are you doing this?”

“It’s to show that I appreciate the work you put into things.”

It feels nice…

I close my eyes and listen to Z’s voice.

“I’m proud of you.”

Proud of me? I haven’t heard those words in a while.

I snap out of it and quickly slap his hand away.

“Oh. Sorry. I, cannot be seen with you stroking my hair, you understand.”

I look around, nobody is here, this is incredibly strange. This place should be bustling.

Where are the pastries? This place did not live up to the praise it was given.

I take another sip of my wine, the whole glass is almost gone.

Where are those damned pastries?

I feel sick…

“Forgive me… Z… I feel lightheaded…”

I get up, am I about to faint? Did I drink too much?

Oh great...

Thud.

Darkness.

End of chapter 16