Chapter 399 1,343

"Not a sound, darling. Not a breath."

Aries closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. She lowered her head until her forehead was resting on her sweating arm propped on the coffee table.

"Damn it..." she whispered, refraining from speaking in her head. Abel was listening; he was in her head. He had always been there like a creep who wanted to know everything — even though he had always known everything.

'I'm fine,' she told him in her head. 'Don't worry.'

'I didn't say I was worried.' His voice was cold and plain, low and dangerously magnetic. 'Angry... that is the term.'

'Don't kill Sir Conan.'

'Pray to God, darling, he might listen and stop me.'

'Kill Sir Isaiah, instead.' Aries ground her teeth, apologizing to Isaiah in her heart.

'He just died... oh, he's back on his feet.'

Her face contorted, imagining what was now happening on his side. She knew Abel would come the moment she bled, but Conan and Isaiah did a great job restraining him. Abel would definitely ruin everything just because his mood was ruined.

'Aries.' Her back stiffened, feeling a chill down her spine with his voice in her head. He truly sounded angry. Although his tone was plain and alarmingly calm, it still sounded ten times more haunting. It was enough to make one stay up all night.

'I compromised and allowed a scratch. One scratch.'

She gulped. 'Sorry...'

'That's a million strike now.' Aries sighed quietly at the exaggerated calculations he kept in his tabs. 'A million, Aries.'

'Abel, darling, my moon and stars, my sun who brightens up day —'

'Ten million.'

Aries winced as blood spurted on her back because of the pressure Abel was pressing on her. 'I love you…?'

'…'

'My fiance.' She glanced at the door, seeing movements underneath the shut doors. 'We already talked about this, right? I know it pissed you off, but bear with me. Just this once. I'll get treated and stay here for a while. Keep talking to me so I don't get bored.'

'Later.'

'Abel…' Aries closed her eyes momentarily, reopening them when she heard the door rattling. Silence returned in her head as if he had just disappeared, but she knew he was still there. She promised Abel to stay connected to him since he was crazy enough to listen to her all day long. So, she knew he was just keeping quiet, but he was still listening.

'I don't regret this, my Abel.' She kept her eyes on the door and watched it open. 'I'll see you at the altar.'

Her expression changed to utter coldness as soon as she caught the physician entering the room to treat her.

******

CLANG! 

Conan kept flinching every single time he would hear a plate shatter. He had been listening to this crisp sound resonating in the kitchen for almost an hour now. But he hadn't gotten used to it and would jolt every single time.

Who wouldn't? He was scared that at this rate, all the plates in the imperial palace would be gone!

If Abel's anger wasn't quenched after he broke every plate, glass, and everything. What would he do? Conan could only think of the worst.

Conan glanced to his left and caught Isaiah holding on to a table, standing up weakly. He clicked his tongue and shook his head mildly. But Conan kept his disappointment at Isaiah to himself and then set his eyes on Abel's figure.

Abel consistently broke the stacked plates one by one, dropping them inside a long crate. Conan cleared his throat and drew a deep breath.

"Your Ma —" Conan bit his tongue when Abel froze like a mannequin.

Keeping his stance like that — holding a plate with only his thumb and index — Abel only moved his eyes to Conan. He didn't even speak or move his head to face Conan, just his eyes, sending this immense horror to his dear vassal.

Conan laughed awkwardly and moved his hands. "Please continue. I ordered more plates to bring here from the other palace. You'll have an unlimited supply to break."

CLANG!

Conan flinched once again when Abel dropped the plate to join the shattered ones inside the crate. His lips pressed into a thin, tight slash as Abel kept breaking plates while keeping his eyes glued on Conan.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty!!" he wept desperately, almost in tears, having Abel's attention on him. "I am simply fulfilling your bride's wishes before her wedding! This is the dowry she wanted! Stop looking at me, please!"

Conan had already known this would happen when Aries uttered the first in her list of wedding wishes. But alas, that was the bride's wish! And thus, he had to fulfill it as the wedding coordinator and organizer. This wedding… was the hardest task Conan had to work on throughout his time as Abel's legal adviser.

The groom was making impossible requests such as inviting angels as choir and something as an on-site statue that would be made throughout the ceremony! Meanwhile, the bride's wishes weren't as impossible as Abel's, but they were not any less extreme!

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

As the sound of breaking porcelain continued, Conan heaved a sigh of relief when Abel peeled his eyes away from him after the longest minutes of Conan's life. Conan's eyes fell on the crate and sighed once more.

'At least, he's not making a mess.' He nodded mentally, wanting to focus on the positive things. 'Things will run in motion if he doesn't ruin it.'

His eyes observed Abel while the latter continued to drop fragile items in the crate. It also appeared Abel didn't plan to ruin it. Or rather, Abel was controlling his anger quite perfectly. If he didn't want to honor Aries's wishes, Abel would have been dining with Joaquin with Aries on his lap and not in here breaking everything he could.

"Your Grace, Lady Aries will appreciate your sacrifice," Conan expressed in Aries's stead, only for his face to contort as Abel lazily rebutted.

"She asked me to kill Isaiah instead of Conan." Abel dropped another plate and raised his eyes at Isaiah, who was leaning against the table to rest. "Isaiah, Conan is brainwashing her."

Isaiah blinked twice and glanced at Conan. The latter scrunched his nose up, waving and shaking his head frantically.

"Not true!" Conan exclaimed in defense, denying it despite knowing this was his condition to Aries to save his life.

Isaiah simply let out a quiet sigh, ignoring Conan. He didn't even show the slightest sign of surprise; it wasn't worth his time and energy.

"One thousand three hundred forty-three," said Isaiah in his usual dull tone. "That is the accurate count the crown prince touched Lady Aries." — not ten million.

"What?" Conan's nose crinkled. "You're counting?"

"I'm keeping track," Abel replied, followed by another piercing sound of shattering glass. "How many pieces of glass dug into her skin?"

Isaiah went silent to ponder for a second. "Morro said around twenty — the smallest pieces included."

"Multiple it to a thousand." Abel picked up the plate on top of the stacked plates. "Conan, I need nineteen thousand seven hundred more plates to break and a bigger crate."

Conan's Adam's apple bobbed upon hearing the order. "Yes, Your Majesty." Nevertheless, he abided, knowing it was pointless to oppose it. That many plates would keep Abel at bay for the time being.

But then again, Conan frowned. Where the hell would he get that much plate!?