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Every breath next to him is poisonous. The Crown Princess breathes the same air as the young duke, but only he can take a deep breath of air when she wants to suffocate in his sigh.
Callisto wanted to feel him nuzzling her neck, greedily swallowing the scent of her colorful perfume. How slowly he goes crazy, pressing his fingers under the tight corset.
Arrogance and pride, hardened over the years due to the oppression of her stepmother and younger sister, break like light armor from a sharp arrowhead when he hesitantly greets her, hiding his eyes.
Young Eckart was devilishly handsome, even with those hollow cheeks, excessive thinness and pallor. In her blood-red eyes, filled with malice and hatred for all living things, he looked like a beautiful white doe in a flock of high-horned deer.
Proud, but in moderation. Sensibly evaluates himself at his true worth. He is not so stupid as to measure his "horns" with other men, causing sighs of love from aristocrats.
Beautiful. His cherry wavy hair and aquamarine opals couldn't be compared to anything. He was the only man in the entire empire with such unusual features that perfectly combined, creating the image of a poisonous flower that oozed caustic statements, poisoning people's minds.
Smart. Knowing when it is better to keep silent and not tell the truth. Unlike many potential suitors who wanted to get a more advantageous position by falling in love with the "mad crown Princess" and marrying her without really asking the girl's opinion, Eckart was indifferent to power and the opportunity to get rid of the status of a weakling from the ducal family.
He doesn't care if his older sister becomes the next head of the house. While the heirs of other houses made fun of him, talking about his failure as a man, he smiled contentedly, telling about the merits of Derrick. Watching with delight how many marquises and counts displeased with pursing their lower lip, they had nothing to cover the beautiful tirade of the ducal geek.
Callisto wanted to hear about herself as much beautiful, if not more.
When he is outraged by her antics, tearing the mask of indifference from his face, she feels a strange mixture of vivid feelings. For the first time, she sees not the usual indifference to everything that is happening, but sincere, not fake feelings. He looks straight into her eyes, wanting to grab her shoulders and shake with all the dope, scolding what the world is standing on, but instead, he lowers his hands and frowns.
Penelope turns out to be the most cheeky and naive person she has ever known. His antics excite, causing anger, then laughter. He drives her out of herself, doing things that are beyond human understanding.
But Eckart wins. He comes out of the most vile and humiliating situation with her head held high, cheeky laughing at her enemies in the face.
Callisto would like to stand next to him, putting her hand on his elbow, attending a ball, a tea party… Yes, anything, just to feel this absolute confidence on yourself.
The Crown Princess attends the hated balls in beautiful white dresses, wearing the most beautiful and expensive jewelry, just to meet Eckart again. But alas. No invitation is accepted by the young man. Even a visit to the duchy does not bring any results. Callisto is only convinced that Penelope is a wonderful actor, so he would play in the theater, yes ... only he will ruin more than one hundred women's hearts.
She was so unwilling to admit that she was head over heels in love with the young duke, denying it in every possible way. She did not want to repeat the fate of her mother, she repeated, beat herself in the face, instilling the chosen principles. But no way.
And what had recently pleased Penelope in her behavior now caused a bitter smile. He wasn't interested in power, wealth, or marriage.
Beautiful empty aquamarines looked with some disgust at her suggestions, wrinkling their noses.
He sarcastically thanked, but never accepted any gifts, leaving empty-handed.
He listened indifferently to her talk about the benefits for everyone in this insensitive marriage.
He stared blankly into her face, for the first time expressing his opinion about her unbreakable principles.
Callisto wanted Penelope to love her, to make all her wishes come true, but the Crown Princess turned out to be too calculating and mercantile for the poisonous flower of the house of Eckart.
But what is even more painful is to lose to a slave who has become the object of Penelope's sighs. It has long been rumored that the young man bought the girl from the defeated kingdom and made her his personal servant out of love. It is as if Eckart, who miraculously escaped from the vengeance of a disgruntled count who was under the protection of the duchy, fell head over heels in love with the girl who helped him escape.
Callisto didn't want to think, or at least imagine, that her Penelope was having an affair with some girl who hardly speaks their language fluently. She did not want to hear unheard-of nonsense, pretending that she did not know or did not hear about it when Frederica once again tried to reason with her mistress.
Callisto hated a dummy who got everything she wanted just by showing up at the right time in the right place. She saved him at the competition, saved him from hypothermia, so why didn't he fall in love with her? Was it necessary to save then? Will it appear much earlier? Not to make that stupid mistake in the garden?..
But it was worth seeing this miracle once in the residence, which obediently carried out every order of the butler, without expressing a single emotion, even when Regulus purposefully scattered things and forced her to clean up, the languishing heart ached.
Jealousy overwhelmed the soul, turning Callisto into a real monster. Anyone, Marquise, Countess… Even the future Duchess Eckart can claim the right to be called her rival! But she is not ready to lose to a slave.
Iklisa... a pale shadow, a gray mouse with empty eyes. A timid, quiet girl who endured the attacks of the servants. The one that the young master defended, in front of his sisters and his own father, cursing until his ears rang.
Callisto wanted to be wrong in his own conclusions. Penelope loves weak, weak-willed women who can only crawl on their knees, hiding behind someone else's back. But she couldn't and didn't want to become like this for him.
Victory after victory, saving other people's lives one by one, fierce battles with the mad. Regulus stuck a sharp heel into the men who stood across the throat of her lover, but never received any thanks for her help and support.
Callisto felt herself slowly but surely treading in her own mother's footsteps. It's time for her to stop and retreat, no matter how bitter and painful it is — the first love, forever remains the brightest and most sensual, but not the last. Perhaps she will be able to fall in love with her partner without imagining Penelope in his place?..
But when the young man who had been avoiding her all evening, at the end of the ball, finally approached her and presented her with a pair of beautiful ruby earrings, Callisto realized that she could not. It would be unthinkable for her to sleep with a man she wouldn't love. She won't be able to love her own child if he doesn't have those curly cherry hair and beautiful aquamarine eyes…
"Congratulations, Prince," putting on the earrings, the Crown Princess cracked a smile at the dumbfounded Eckart, who watched with fright as the girl pierced her ears right in front of his eyes. "You were able to do what no enemy of mine has been able to do."
"Your Highness…"
"I hope you're happy now. Because I can't explain to myself in any other way how you can play with someone else's heart, giving false hopes. That's probably a reason to be proud, right? The fact that the most cruel and crazy princess of the empire is in love with you and runs like a dog on a leash, unable to escape from her own heart, causes admiration around you?" She said." Well done."
She rubbed the drops of blood on her palms with indifference.
"No, really, bravo," Regulus patted, getting closer and closer to him. "You, having neither strength, nor power, nor opportunities, made my own father more sick. Although I thought that no one would surpass him in this. But you proved the opposite. Therefore, I will give you good advice for the future: becoming the new head of the House of Eckart, do not be afraid of your sisters, but of me, because when I become empress, I will do everything to make you experience what I am experiencing now. And believe me, I will surpass your sisters in this so much that what was before will seem like paradise to you."
Inhaling the tart perfume of lavender and bergamot, Callisto looked into his eyes for the last time, remembering how the gray aquamarines stared at her with animal fear, clenching their wet palms into fists. He turned noticeably pale and scared, retreating a few steps back, backing away. The girl smiled bitterly and turned on her heels and headed for the exit of the hall.
"Your Highness..." But when she was almost touching the door handle, Penelope suddenly spoke. "Do you still think that love is nonsense, invented for weaklings?"
"Wh-what..." she winced as if from a surreptitious blow."What did you say?!"
"Now do you understand what it was like for me when you said these words with an intelligent face, standing in the same place?" Eckart continued to speak insensitively."When, just like me, they gave false hopes, falling in love with themselves more and more, and then trampling everything with a single phrase to the nines? What does it feel like to be a weakling, tell me?"
"Do you have the audacity to insult me, after everything you've done?!" she literally ran into him, grabbing his neck with her hands." It seems that you have become bolder and in the end insolent, since you have already decided that I will allow you to humiliate me openly!"
But the young man did not pay attention to the threatening look, nor to the cold, hard fingers that gradually squeezed his throat, depriving him of air. He didn't make a sound when the Crown Princess pressed him against the wall, voicing everything that was going on in her soul.
"The Eckart's rabid dog has never learned not to bite the owner's hand feeding it, so let me do it--"
But instead of another sharp phrase, Callisto felt wet lips on her own. The touch was so fleeting, but exciting, that she was confused for a moment. Penelope, bending down, gently touched her, exhaling a barely noticeable smell of expensive wine. When the Crown Princess loosened her grip on his neck, lowering her hands to his chest, he took her palms in his, interlacing his fingers.
"Y—you..." - the girl stared at the duke in surprise, not even knowing what to say.
But they didn't give it to her, luring her into a more passionate kiss, pressing her to herself, weaving her fingers into golden curls.
"If you really like me, then stop talking this nonsense with everything attached. Having been in my shoes, now do you understand how unpleasant and insulting it is when the person you love behaves like a mercantile asshole?" he spoke boldly.
"So you knew I was in love with you, but you still pretended to be a jerk?"
"I wasn't pretending, I really didn't know, and I didn't want to mislead myself with your antics," Penelope turned away."And since you are a big fan of joking, I didn't understand what was really a joke and what was said seriously. You interfere with everything at once, and then you cut from the shoulder."
"Don't justify your outburst," she grabbed his chin and turned him back to her. "And look me in the eye when you talk."
"And the fact that you will again threaten to be executed for showing disrespect to a member of the imperial family?"
"No, not that," she pursed her lip matter-of-factly. "If you continue to talk to me like that, I will kiss you to death, which will not be necessary for execution."
But Penelope did not heed her threats and sheepishly turned his head sideways, not hiding his rosy cheeks, silently accepting another "punishment" from the Crown Princess.