Jasmine was giving me her perplexed face, not knowing what would happen next.
It was still quite early in the evening, so the night activities were out of option.
We had to go out for dinner in a few hours anyway.
I moved closer and sat beside her.
“So Jasmine, tell me about your life goals!”
“Everyone wants to pursue something..sure enough, a capable young girl like you must have planned something for the future right?”
“Hmmm, well I never thought much about these things!” she spoke in her uninterested tone.
She closed her eyes for a few seconds thinking about how to answer the sudden question thrown at her.
At first, she wanted to just stay quiet and mind her own business but she already knew Elandor was quite a shameless fellow!
She had already seen how Aushima was encouraged by me to display our love blatantly in front of her, her pure eyes had already seen too much these past 2 days.
She knew if she stayed quiet, she would be endlessly annoyed and bothered by him unless she was ready to open her mouth.
In the last two days, she had seen the strength of Elandor while he was hunting dinner and also saw him practising all sorts of magic in his free time and was sure that she was not his opponent.
Neither she had any other place to go nor was she sure if she could survive the pursuit of Evelyn and other royal knights.
She already knew that sooner or later her servants would be interrogated and to save their lives they wouldn’t mind selling her.
Thus feeling no way out, and getting quite bored, she helplessly agreed to talk with Elandor.
“Well to be honest I was made David’s fiance quite early on so all my life I never tried to think about myself!”
“My mother used to tell me that rich and noble people have lots of wives and if you are not talented enough, your husband will be snatched by other vixens.”
“Therefore I tried my best to learn how to be the most virtuous wife.”
“I knew if a girl had no other use she would just be like a vase… a decorative housewife!”
“Therefore I tried my best to master my wind magic skills to prove my worth as an excellent archer!”
“My plan was doing fine until..!”
I interrupted her, “Until I came in, right?”
She puffed up her cheeks in acknowledgement.
“And now I have no chance with David!”
“You must be feeling proud of your plan and actions.”
I once again interrupted her.
“But it’s not really what you want, right?”
“I could feel your envious eyes when you saw me and Aushima.”
“I know you have a lot of feelings buried deep inside your heart that you are trying to desperately hide and run away from!”
“I want to hear those things.”
“Answer obediently, you know.. What do I want to hear? Otherwise, I will throw you out of the room, then you can try your luck renting a room in this city without a single penny.”
She tried to look at me with her aggrieved eyes telling me not to continue the topic further but seeing my persistent gaze her resolve finally broke down.
She gave a deep sigh,
“Fine, you win!”
“Yes from childhood I was filled with the idea of being this perfect wife.”
“I tried my best.”
” I learned cooking, learned sewing, learned fkinn archery and even read all those books that are famous in the market that tell how to prepare yourself to be a perfect wife!”
” All this so I could get a shoulder to rely and lean upon!”
“Was it too much to ask for someone to hold my hand?…take me to buy things?… take me to visit places I have never been before?”
“Like other girls, I also wanna feel the warmth of being embraced, the thrill of kissing and the joy when the boy says those cheesy lines to you!”
“David was made my fiance, I did my best as all these years I stood by his side ready to obey his every command.”
“So tell me why?”
“Elandor…Why?”
“Why did David not pay any attention to me?”
“Even though I knew he treated me like some disposable pawn, after marriage, I always carried this faint hope that our condition will improve!”
“But even that faint hope is now gone, Elandor.”
“You asked me if I have any life goals?”
“I’m telling you right now because of you I no longer have any reason to live.”
“I… I don’t even know what to do now?”
“Just keep running away like some guilty renegade?”
I knew she had long locked all her desires to live her identity as a fiance.
As a young girl who was yet to see the world and spend her childhood playing with kids of similar age, her heart was already being filled by her family with the notion to marry someone she didn’t even know.
I could genuinely feel from her words that she was beginning to open up.
I was probably the first person to force her to open up her long bottled-up feelings.
I wanted her to confide in me and face the reality which she was trying to run away from.
I wanted to make it clear to her that she no longer had any chance with David….so I can enter the void that was created inside her.
And finally, it happened!
She was no longer able to stop her overflowing emotions.
Her words started stuttering, her breathing became ragged, and tears started running down her cheeks.
Like a dam waiting for a crack to appear, everything burst open inside her.
She tried to stop herself but the more she tried to stop the more the tears fell.
She started sobbing and her cry had many mixed emotions.
There was a part that told she felt happy after finally finding someone to confide in, the other part told of her helplessness and hardships she had been enduring all these years while there was also a small part that told she was fearful of what would happen in the unseen future!
