Sherli stared at the words in bold. Dead. Her eyes blurred. Her beloved was dead. What meaning was there in life?
They had worked so so hard just to get to this stage and it was futile now. All their efforts to build a life together had disappeared with this letter.
Numbed, she crushed the spotted letter. They held her tears.
"Is everything alright?" her step mother asked, observing the change in her demeanour.
Smile. Fake it till you make it. She pulled her lips upwards. Hid her letter and she turned around.
"I'm fine, mother. The wedding will proceed as planned," she uttered softly.
A pawn. She was just a mere pawn anyway in this household. The only one who saw her worth was Him. And he was dead.
Buried. Gone.
She has to get used to this, the idea that her love was dead. Her hands clasped the hems of her skirt and she struggled to breathe.
Breathe.
"Good, you have to understand that it's an honour to marry the Crown Prince, you'll have to cherish this opportunity and rise up as soon as you can," her step mother ordered.
She nodded her head.
"An honour, of course," she repeated.
-
She's a little slow in her head. Those were his first thoughts. Mechanical. Wooden.
Weak. Docile. A pawn in the game.
But yet so very perfect as he wasn't keen on anything complicated either.
"You'll open to roam anywhere you wish. Just show up when it matters," Cian instructed. He smiled in a genteel manner that barely met his eyes.
Sherli blinked. For a moment, he reminded her of Him. Her heart sped a little and she held her skirt.
Feeling as though the rays were finally seeping in, she felt a crack within the ice. Her stone cold heart.
"At your request, your Highness," she responded with the slightest smile.