205 A Cold Night
“He’s proposing?!” One of the maids exclaimed with a surprised gasp, looking awed to see his highness go on his knees, to propose a marriage not just to anyone, but to a human?? Soft murmurings flowed amongst the rest of the servants and their faces expressed shock and delight.
Anna remained still like an unmoved statue, her delicate fingers clutching tightly to her dress, keeping her nervousness hidden as Roshan’s word replayed a thousand times in her head. But along with it came the happiness that streamed through her heart and tingled her poor soul.
‘Am I dreaming? I’m definitely dreaming! This can’t be real, I must still be dead and floating in my fantasy world again, that should be the case.’ she inwardly told herself with a slight nod, this happiness she felt was too good to actually be true, and she didn’t want to come out of her dream state just yet.
Roshan proposing a marriage to her was like a dream come true, not just in front of her, but to everyone as a witness, and no words could describe what this act of his meant to her, it was one she wouldn’t forget, even in her afterlife.
Sensing her delay, Roshan’s hope faded a little, he was starting to have second thoughts about her choice of agreeing to marry him, not until she extended her hand forward, grinning from ear to ear and she nodded her head.
“Yes.”
“Yes what?” He asked with a look of hope, wanting her to complete it and Anna lowered her gaze, feeling all mushy on the inside.
“Yes, I’ll marry you.” She shyly added. Roshan’s face brightened at her response and he got to his feet. Holding her extended hand, he slipped the cute ring right in, and it was a perfect fit.
“Thank you.”
.....
Levi’s loud clap of congratulation was the first to go round before everyone else joined in, including the maids. Lady Odette didn’t seem to approve of it, her face was currently twisted with rage at the abominable show displaying in front of her, but to her greatest shock, Letitia was also clapping for them.
“Are you really in approval of this??”
“When will you get rid of your hate, she deserves a chance, just let her be.” Letitia tried to console the Matriarch but she shook her head, unwilling to let herself budge and fall into the spell that silly humans had casted on almost everyone in the Viscarrian Palace.
“I am not giving my consent for this!” She strictly announced, gaining everyone’s attention and silence returned, “I really can’t believe you all are agreeing to this, nothing has gone right with that girl here and–”
“And if you utter another outrageous word about my wife-to-be, then you might as well be ready to leave the Viscarrian Palace, cause she’s going to be the Queen of Viscarrian, with or without your blessings!”
Roshan’s sharp decisive tone threw Odette off guard, he sounded serious with that shocking phrase of his and all Lady Odette could do was stare in disbelief, as though she never expected such attitude from Roshan, needless to think that he’d want her out of the palace.
“Are you really saying that to me, don’t you consider your family??”
“How can I consider you as family when all you do is ruin my chances of getting the happiness I deserve.” He retorted, “you’re a self-centered, poisonous toad that just hops on people’s destruction, but not today Aunt, so you either learn to live with it or get the hell out!”
He pointed at the main door, signifying the way out of the palace if she can’t handle his relationship with Annalise.
Meanwhile, Anna’s eyes widened at Roshan’s reaction and how he stood up for her. She already knew the elder lady won’t accept her union with Roshan, she sensed it all even before she said yes to him, but to think Roshan would send her out just so they could be together- her heart can’t take all of this.
“This girl will bring you bad luck!” Odette spoke up, not willing back down, “you’re so blinded by this thing you call love to not see the truth.”
“I don’t care what the truth is,” he snapped at her, “but the only badluck I see is you, cause you tend to ruin things for me with your stupid laid-out facts, so just shut up and eat them, cause no one wants to hear it.”
“You’ll regret this decision of yours Roshan, and when you realize it, it’ll already be too late. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Odette was beyond furious, Roshan had the audacity to speak to her with such disrespect and it’s all because of the witch of a human, else how is she alive??
Eyeing Anna with visible hatred, she walked off and headed up the stairs. Levi and the rest quietly made way for her to pass and when she was out of sight, Levi looked at Gemma who watched him mimic Odette’s angry walk style and she held back a giggle, covering her mouth with her palm.
Azazel, who wasn’t a man known for smiling, felt his lips curve a little at Levi’s imitation of Odette. He intended to look away but his eyes accidentally shifted, meeting the gaze of Calista who smiled his way, and his own smile vanished from his lips.
Calista wanted to say something but he deliberately looked somewhere else, ignoring her completely, but Calista still chose to speak as she moved closer to him.
“Unbreakable iceberg, can you take me back home.” She asked sweetly, her lashes adorably batting at him and even Levi couldn’t ignore how pretty the princess of Euphrasia looked.
“Azazel is so terrible with this,” he whispered to Gemma whose eyes narrowed as she watched her favorite Azazel ignoring such a nice lady.
“He’s even worse than Roshan, if I was Azazel, I’d sweep the lady off her feet, but again, I feel grateful that I’m not Azazel, I mean look at her–”
Gemma looked at her brother with one slender brow raised in suspicion, but Levi blocked her ears with his palm before hissing out. “I forgot I was talking to a child, for once I feel glad she can’t speak,” he shuddered at the thought of what Azazel would do to him if he heard all these things he said to Gemma.
Downstairs, Anna watched the Matriarch leave the dining room with such vexation, but Roshan blocked her view before Odette’s rejection could sink into her heart.
“Don’t stare too much,” he whispered, “people like her will leave your eyes sore, I want your eyes on me Anna, no one else.”
Smiling again, Anna reached out to hug him, and he embraced her, planting a kiss on her forehead and Levi and the rest suddenly crowded them.
——
Standing before the window in Roshan’s chamber, Anna stared at the golden ring in her finger, gently rubbing her thumb along the side to feel its smooth texture. There was a small circular gemstone in the middle, adding to the beauty of the ring and Anna found herself smiling.
“And why’s she smiling all to herself?” Came the voice of Roshan who stood behind Anna, and her heart skipped after realizing who it was, leading her to turn around and her eyes lit up at the sight of him.
“You’re here already.”
“I wish I was here sooner,” he sighed before turning Anna around so they could watch the snow falling outside, as always his hands would link themselves around her waist, pulling her close to him but Anna didn’t try to run away from his hold.
The snow falling outside the window was a sight that only started to appear beautiful before Anna’s gaze, the snow continuously fell straight and steadily from the sky, looking like angels that chose to finally visit the earth while falling with such grace and elegance, it was a remarkable sight that left a satisfying sigh escaping from Anna’s lips.
“The snow is beautiful.” She commented, and when Roshan didn’t respond, she continued, “am I dreaming?”
To her surprise, Roshan placed a kiss on her cheek, leaving her eyes to widen and after studying her expression, he shook his head.
“If it was a dream, you’d have woken up right after I kissed you, so it’s not a dream.” He didn’t stop, he continued to drop soft kisses along the side of her face, to her cheek and down to her jawline before going back up to start and Anna shivered from the intimate touch.
“Wait-” she freed herself from his hold, and to her surprise he let go. She turned around to look at him, and his intentions became clearer when he placed a hand against the window she was currently backing, trapping her there and it made sense now as to why he released her.
His eyes were burning and before Anna could speak, he hushed her up.
“It’s a cold night,” he uttered sexily, “and I feel cold.” He leaned in, forcing Anna to shift back while pressing her back against the cold glass of the window and she flinched, but forced herself to remain where she was.
“Tsk! I guess I’m not the only one cold,” he teased, “how about we be each other’s warmth tonight.” With that being said, the scheming being slowly began to unbutton, and Anna’s face turned scarlet.
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