Xander's gaze lingered on me for a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity.
"I declared a scandal because you were seconds away from being dragged off like a criminal," he repeated slowly as if I were some child not able to understand the so-called master plan.
In that moment, the urge to punch him in his face was too alluring, but I controlled myself. I really need to.
Also, look at the positive side that at least he got distracted from my modern term, but I eventually circled back to the fact that he announced to the world that we are in love when we are literally just strangers met last night.
Like I know him, cause I designed him, wrote him, at least for the personality part.
I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it again. My pulse was still racing, my thoughts were still a tangled mess.
"You could've denied it differently. There were a hundred other excuses." I shot back.
"Then I apologize for saving you," he said, every word dripped in pure sarcasm.
I stared at him blankly.
This man, standing right in front of me, was the third prince.
The ultimate villain of my novel.
And now...My supposed lover was now standing there like a big beast, taunting me.
I had a terrible feeling this mess had only just begun. He wasn't even part of the first season.
He was supposed to enter in the middle of season two when Marcus and Selene were having their sweet moment in the countryside, but he just got obsessed with her or something.
I don't even know why he should be the villain, as it was a half written plot. A half-written character.
Which scared me the most because he was unpredictable. No knowledge is bad, but half-knowledge is dangerous.
I let out a slow, unsteady breath, rubbing my temples as if that might force the world back into something sensible. "Do you have any idea what you have just done to my life?" I said quietly.
Xander tilted his head slightly, studying me with that infuriating calm of his, as if we had merely escaped an awkward conversation rather than scandalized half the ton. "Most people would call that an improvement," he replied.
"That was one problem. You solved one problem by creating ten more. Do you know what people will say now? About me? About...about us?" I snapped, finally finding my voice.
A corner of his lips lifted, not quite a smile, "They will say you just caught the attention of a prince."
"I didn't want attention. I wanted to stay alive," I shot back.
"And you are. At least, for now," he said simply, which gave me pause.
For now. The words were too hard to swallow. He was right, whether that dream was true or not, but I was sure that there was definitely a system.
I laughed, but it held no humor, as my mind wasn't able to take it all. "You talk about this like it's a game."
His gaze sharpened ever so slightly. "No, it's not a game but a system."
I stilled at his answer. A system.
It was a freaking system that would do anything to keep every character on the plot, and if not, it might decide to sideline them or get them out of the story. Forever.
I folded my arms around myself, the chill settling deep into my bones. "Why show me such favor, when I am but a stranger in your eyes?" I asked.
For a moment, Xander did not answer.
He turned away from me, his gaze drifting toward the tall arched windows lining the corridor. Sunlight spilled through them in long bands of gold, warm and indifferent, as if the world beyond had not just tried to crush me beneath suspicion and spectacle.
When he finally spoke, his voice was lower. Gone was the teasing lilt, the careless calm.
"Tell me something, Lady Irene. Do you know what you risked last night?" he said slowly.
I blinked, thrown off by the question. "I… helped you. You were unwell."
"Yes," he said, turning back to face me. His eyes were sharp, assessing. "And by doing so, you placed your honor in jeopardy."
The word struck something deep.
Honor.
Ah.
My chest tightened as understanding dawned, slow but painful. In my previous life, staying with a sick stranger had been called humane. Decent. Nothing more.
Unfortunately, this wasn't my world.
This was an era where a woman's honor was currency, and once spent, never returned.
I forgot. Damn.
I pressed my lips together, saying nothing. His gaze held mine as he opened his mouth.
"You could have left. Any sensible lady would have. No one would have blamed you. Yet you remained. Even knowing what others might assume." Xander continued.
My throat tightened.
"That choice tells me more about you than any accusation ever could." He said quietly. I swallowed, forcing my voice to remain even, "I didn't think that far."
"I know," he replied back.
Silence stretched between us, and then he straightened. The moment softened a bit, or so I thought.
"I do not care for being indebted. Especially not for something I did not ask for, " Xander went on calmly.
I frowned. "Indebted? How?"
"You spared me trouble last night. So I repaid it, " he said, which made me exhale sharply.
By declaring we were in love? What a sharp yet stupid mind he has. I thought to myself.
"If all you needed was an excuse. You could have claimed you were ill. That I merely tended to you as duty demanded. Why..." I hesitated for a moment if speaking the next words was appropriate or not, but then pressed on anyway, "...why love, of all things?"
For a heartbeat, something changed.
It was subtle, but I could sense it. Even my body realized it before my mind, as goosebumps spread all over my skin.
The calm, collected personality vanished in thin air.
The corner of his lips curved into a smile, but it was not warm or kind. Hell, if I knew what he was thinking while passing that stupid grin.
Mocking me on my stupidity or something else.
Something like deliberate or more like predatory. The sort of smile a man wore when he finally stopped pretending. That he removed the facade he was wearing all this time.
My mind alerted me to run away, but my body remained solid in its place as if my nervous system stopped working.
He stepped closer just enough for me to feel the shift. My feet moved back in reflex. That protected feeling vanished instead, and fear and caution took its place.
"When a man claims a woman as his heart's choice, others cease asking questions. They whisper, yes, but they do not challenge." Xander spoke, breaking the suffocating silence, his voice low and deliberate.
I stared at him in complete disbelief and silence, "So this was never about saving me." I asked, knowing that I wouldn't like the answer.
"Oh, it was, but survival, Lady Irene, always has a price," he replied with ease.
A chill crept down my spine.
"And mine is…?" My lungs almost gave out while asking back.
His smile deepened, almost making him look like a maniac.
"You will remain at my side. Not in reality, but in the eyes of others. Attend when required.
Stand where I stand. Smile when expected." He declared as if it were some fact.
He wanted us to be a fake couple, but the main question was why?
He straightened, expression returning to composed nobility as if the moment had never slipped.
"You wished to avoid arrest. This is the favor in return." His warning almost felt as if he was telling about some usual shit. Like sun rise in the east kinda shit.
I stared at him, my heartbeat loud in my ears.
This man is standing right in front of me. The so-called third prince and the villain of my story.
The villain I never finished writing.
And now...the man who had just claimed my reputation and life as collateral.