The Tyrant's Pet

"Lady Aries..." Conan pushed himself away from the bed and faced Aries. Studying her stony countenance, his lower lip quivered.

"Yes, Sir Conan?" Aries quirked a brow and tilted her head to the side. "What a surprise to see you here."

Conan frowned, sensing the distance attached to her voice. He remained quiet for a moment before he lowered his eyes. To Aries's surprise, and to Dexter, they watched Conan wobble down to his knees. Both of them furrowed their brows, scrunching their nose up while Conan rubbed his hands together.

"Please don't hate me..." Conan wept as if he was a child, afraid to get his butt whipped.

"Are you... crying?" Dexter asked in disbelief, seeing little tears filling Conan's eyes.

"Shut up!" Conan roared, glaring daggers at him before shifting his attention to Aries. The second he did, his sharp eyes were replaced with puppy ones.

"Lady Aries, please forgive me and His Majesty. We kept things from you because you might get angry and get scared! I know we're just protecting ourselves, but you have to understand. Give us a chance to explain ourselves..." He continued on and on, explaining and asking her to give them a chance. He even recalled their memories together and how happy they were. Not just that, but Conan even told her many things, such as wanting Aries to be his "best man" if he had gotten married, and the sort.

"... we promised to survive together! Don't kill me too soon..."

While Conan was prattling on and on, Aries tilted her head to the side. She couldn't help but glance at Dexter, and the latter shrugged innocently. Dexter then set his eyes back to Conan, clearly enjoying where would this unfold.

Because of Conan's loud pleas as if they weren't in hiding, Roman's eyes underneath his eyelids flickered. The seventh prince opened his eyes ever so weakly, furrowing his brows at the striking pain that went into his head. The room was dark, fortunately, but the noise was giving him a headache.

Roman glanced down to his feet to see what was going on. There, he first saw Aries's figure, and then Dexter on the armchair right beside the bed. And then Roman saw another person kneeling and begging for his life.

Did Roman wake up at an execution hour? Conan was squealing like a pig, and it was rather amusing that he was doing it when the other person was unarmed.

"Did you overdo it?" Aries broke her silence, glancing at Dexter.

The latter immediately shook his head. "I said nothing, and it's his fault for jumping to conclusions."

Hearing their exchange of words, Conan halted. He darted his eyes between the two in confusion, before he noticed Dexter running his tongue across his inner cheek to stop himself from laughing.

"You..."

"Sir Conan." Aries let out a quiet sigh, catching Conan's attention before the latter could berate Dexter. "Don't blame my brother. I was the one who asked him to keep things from you since you lot kept me in the dark."

She shook her head and marched inside. Standing beside Dexter and near the bed, she studied Roman, who was still blinking weakly.

"I was angry at first — scared, even, but it's not like it changes many things." She cast Conan a knowing look, feeling a bit guilty. "I have other things to think about, and this truth is not the painful truth to bear."

"Lady Aries..." called Conan in a muffled voice, eyes twinkling, heart moved by her words.

"Stand up there. You're making me look bad." She shook her head mildly once again, before slapping Dexter's shoulder with the back of her hand. "Don't laugh at him."

"I'm not laughing."

"Your eyes do."

Dexter bit his lower lips and shrugged, watching her roll her eyes. When he glanced at Conan, he didn't hide his ridiculing smirk, making Conan's blood pressure to peak.

"I'm going to kill you today...!" Conan's voice shook as his nose flared, smoldering in anger with the humiliation he came face to face just now. But before he could jump and strike the Marquess, Aries raised a hand at him.

"Shut up, will you? There's a patient here," she warned indifferently, keeping her eyes on Roman. "How are you, Your Highness?"

Aries bent over and pushed his shoulder blade down when Roman tried to sit up. "Rest. You need it."

"Violet..." Roman's voice was rasped, wincing at the scratch in his throat saying that name.

"She'll be fine."

Roman panted, sweats breaking out on his forehead. "How are you sure she is?"

Aries didn't respond to him while holding his eye contact. His complexion was better than yesterday, but he was still far too weak. At this rate, he would be completely useless if he didn't focus on his recovery.

"I'm not. I haven't talked to Ismael," she answered honestly. "But even if Joaquin succeeded, he won't kill Violet and her children immediately."

"Ugh!" The seventh prince ground his teeth and tried to sit up, unsatisfied with her answer. But he was too weak to even fight the hand pressing down on his shoulder blade.

"That's not enough," he hissed through his gritted teeth. "Princess Violet, she --"

"She's fine." Suddenly, Conan's voice rang in their ears. Aries glanced at him, watching him dust off his pants as he stood from his knees.

"The third prince sent reinforcement when he came to know about your arrest. Fortunately, they arrived right on time and rescued the princess and the little princes. They were now in a safe house, protected by the third prince's people and some Valiente disguised as knights," he continued, and then faced them. "The third prince likes me, apparently, and he gloats about his achievements."

"Are you --"

"I am sure," Conan answered with an indifferent shrug even before Roman could finish his sentence. "I was with him last night before I came here asking for this insufferable marquess's help."

Conan glared daggers at Dexter once again, but the latter simply averted his eyes. Meanwhile, Aries heaved a sigh of relief before gazing down at Roman.

"You heard him. Princess Violet is safe. No one will harm her. Ismael will keep his word to you unless he also wants to anger me." Aries carefully retrieved his hand from him and straightened her back. "We need you to recover as quickly as possible, Your Highness. We are already at a war. It might not appear on the outside, but we're already there. Your people, the Valiente, will need you and you need to be there for them when that time comes."

Roman breathed out heavily, holding the sharp eyes hovering over him. For obvious reasons, he wanted to believe her. Violet escaped the imperial palace because of the crown princess's help. And Violet was obviously grateful to Aries. He wanted to take one last gamble and put all his faith in her.

For the last gamble. Roman hoped he would win this time.

"That maid..." his brows furrowed when Aries spoke after a minute of silence. "Years ago, I had this young maid in charge to take care of me. But one day, she just disappeared and was replaced by another."

Roman slowly held Aries's gaze once more, and for the briefest second, he caught sadness flicker across her eyes.

"Do you know her?"