Ensnaring his Dark Moon-Chapter 345: Avoiding me?

The next day.

’’When are you coming back?" Duke Maverick questioned Aleister as they walked out of the castle followed by their entourage.

Aleister halted in his tracks, his gaze roaming across the crowd to find Esme standing at a distance, talking to Luciana, ’’Whenever she wants to.’’

Duke Maverick followed his gaze, ’’This little girl’s identity is no longer the same as it used to be,’’ he sighed, ’’Nor is yours. But nothing changes the fact that I am your uncle. If Esme refuses to visit this old man, would you not come to find me as well?"

Aleister’s lips twitched.

Duke Maverick chuckled and patted Aleister’s shoulder, ’’My good nephew, I have faith in the both of you. I believe you would not abandon me.’’

Aleister fell speechless for a moment.

It seemed like his uncle was in high spirits and after befriending Rezeph. The man had adapted some of his new friend’s crafty mannerisms.

Duke Maverick hesitated for a moment before he asked, ’’Do you resent your mother, Aleister?"

Aleister paused and looked at his uncle, not expecting him to ask something like that out of nowhere.

But under Duke Maverick’s expectant gaze, Aleister spoke up, ’’I admire her,’’ he whispered and looked up at the sky, ’’She loved, she lost and she was brave enough to stand up again.’’

There was a time he might not have felt like it. There was a time he believed that his mother should have forbade herself from getting involved with a married man, and a man who was not even a human.

’’She was brave enough to leave my father when she found him with another woman. She was noble and admirable,’’ because I am not. I can never be like her.

Aleister’s gaze found Esme in the midst of the crowd as the thought crossed his mind. Even if she were to cheat on me, even if she were to entertain the presence of another man, I would let her trample all over my pride while loving every inch of her soul till she found her way back to me again. I would never leave her, nor would I ever let her leave me.

Unaware of the thoughts running in Aleister’s mind, Duke Maverick smiled softly, content with the response that he received.

He turned around to walk away but then he halted in his tracks, ’’About your brother... take care of him. He saved you,’’ Duke Maverick said nonchalantly before he went to Esme and the King.

Aleister’s eyes flashed with surprise when he heard his uncle’s words. He never thought there would be a reconciliation point between his uncle and Cardan but it seemed like certain things happened beyond his expectations, even though they happened at his expense.

’’Your Highness.’’

The voice had Aleister snap out of his thoughts.

He turned to look at Rowan who got down on one of his knees and pressed his fist to his chest, his eyes filled with endless guilt, ’’My life is unworthy for you to...’’

Before he could finish speaking, a golden ray wrapped around his body and hoisted him up.

Aleister approached the man and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

’’If there is danger, then fight, but survive. You have saved me when I was at my lowest, you have given me a friend I could never have asked for in the abyss that I crawled out from. You are not to sacrifice yourself like a pawn. That is not what you are.’’

Rowan had been a stalwart knight all his life, somehow he laughed around with people yet never had it occurred to him that a few words could make him emotional, until that day.

Such simple words yet his eyes reddened and something akin to warmth spread inside him.

’’Oww...’’ Rowan winced as Aleister punched the man away, ’’Your highness.’’

’’You can’t stain my clothes with that filth,’’ Aleister pointed his chin at the man’s face where tears came rolling down his cheeks. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

’’You are bullying me again!" Rowan frowned and somehow coincidentally, his gaze met with Esme who happened to be looking at him.

She smiled at him and as beautiful as the smile was, goosebumps broke on his body.

Regardless of how kind the princess was rumoured to be, the night where she strangled him with one hand while being in a daze was scarier than death itself, leaving a shadow of terror in his heart.

He gulped and forced a smile back at her.

Soon after, Duke Maverick and Rowan set out for Visteria. After the interregnum, the kingdom needed to be restored and the subjects of Visteria needed to be taken care of. And until all of that was done, Duke Maverick would not be able to rest assured.

Later that night.

’’My Lady, His Highness has been resting. Once he wakes up, he will find you.’’

Luciana frowned as she looked at the guards in front of Cardan’s room.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

The guards lowered their heads.

But after a few moments, Luciana did not utter a word as she left.

Once she was gone, the door opened and Cardan stepped out, ’’What did she say? Tell me every word she said.’’

It had become a daily routine for the guards so they immediately assumed their positions and started narrating Luciana’s words to Cardan.

’’Why don’t you ask me what I was saying?"

Cardan froze when he heard that familiar voice.

Luciana, who had supposedly left, walked out of the wall she was standing behind. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glanced at Cardan, ’’It has been days since you are doing this. Sometimes, you are sleeping, sometimes bathing, and sometimes your guards send me away by telling me that you are occupied with something.’’

’’I...’’

Luciana placed her hands down and stepped towards him. ’’If you do not want to have anything to do with me, then say it, Cardan. What right do you have to avoid me? It is not my concern how mighty your identity is, if you treat me the way you are doing at the moment, then I would not spare you another look after this.’’