The Duke's Passion

652  [Bonus chapter]Things seemed to get worse by the second

Rufus stood in front of the throne hall he was too familiar with. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he just stood there motionless.

Rufus rushed to the capital with no concrete plan in mind. It was out of his character, but all he had in mind was to find Lilou. The reason he wasn't a bit surprised at not being able to meet Stefan.

At this time, Stefan was still the king of this kingdom. And he... was nothing but a knight who was currently in charge of Grimsbanne.

It was finally sinking in.

With the knight's uniform guarding the doors, the air in this place, the people, and everything. This reality was finally sinking in and it was crippling him bit by bit.

"You're still here?" Rufus snapped his eyes as he slowly turned to his right. "You're quite persistent, huh?"

There, approaching him arrogantly, was Dominique. His eyes fell on Dominique's hand, making Rufus clench his hand into a tight fist. This man whom he fought to death in the past, and also the person who ended up being his most trusted confidante, was now staring at him mockingly.

They were back to square one, and his heart kept sinking deeper.

"Is this matter so important that you truly want to see His Majesty?" asked Dominique, snapping a finger to catch Rufus' attention. "You're zoning out, Sir Knight. It must be important for you to lose your composure."

Dominique took a step forward and bobbed his head to examine Rufus, arms crossed. "You seemed to have gotten older too. Just what happened to you, Sir Knight? You make me feel grateful for being a vampire and retain my good looks."

"I'll bring you back," came out a low voice, causing Dominique's brows to furrow. The latter frowned when Rufus planted his palms on his shoulders, staring at his eyes with confusion.

"I don't know how... but I promise." Rufus squeezed Dominique's shoulders lightly. "I'll definitely... do that."

"Sir Barrett... you're acting very strange." Dominique clicked his tongue as he brushed Rufus's hands from his shoulders. "Has your brother poisoning you or what? I never liked you, but man, stay away from your bother. You'll never know when he'd snap."

Rufus took a step back and ignored Dominique's comments. Instead, he stared at him in silence before turning around without saying another word.

"Had your brother influenced you?" asked Dominique, watching Rufus walk away silently. But the latter didn't even look back or spoke a word, causing Dominique to look at him with disdain.

"People in here are getting weirder by the day." He snapped his tongue once again while shaking his head. As he walked away in the opposite direction, he stretched his neck from one side to the other.

*****

00:52

'There's no point,'

"What did His Majesty do for that man to rush in here?" he wondered, waltzing through the hallway before pausing to look back to where Rufus had left. Dominique tilted his head to the side, knitting his brows.

"That's strange," he mumbled as he peeled his eyes away to continue walking, scratching the back of his head. "I don't recall being close with him. Why would he look at me as if we fought life and death together?"

*****

'There's no point,'

Rufus balled his hands into a fist as he stormed through the hallway of the inner palace. He didn't know what to do. He didn't have an ally or anyone who could understand the situation. Samael was still deep in slumber and he couldn't force his way to meet Stefan.

He didn't even know if Stefan was in this place. They just told him he wasn't accepting an audience at the moment.

'Is forcing to meet him the only way?' he wondered as his eyes darkened. This felt like he was trapped in the corner.

 Rufus slowly halted when he took a turn at the end of the hallway. His eyes landed on the woman leaning on the wall, sniffing the bouquet of flowers in her hand.

"Bad day?" she asked, raising her eyes up and smiling subtly.

"Greetings to Your Royal Highness." For formality, Rufus slightly bowed to greet Stefan's other wife and also his biological sister, Cassara.

"It was nice seeing you too, Sir Barrett."

When Rufus raised his head, his aloof countenance remained. He didn't idle for too long as he excused himself. However, just as he took a step, Rufus stopped once again and looked back at her, wide-eyed.

"How about a tea?" she asked with a kind smile. "Teas are good at making a bad day a little better. After all, you will not meet Stefan since he is busy playing house with Lilou."

"You..."

The corners of her lips stretched, eyes soaking with clarity. "You know the palace." She peeled her back from the wall, walking towards him until they were toe to toe.

"It's full of eyes and ears and virulent tongues. Catching up over tea is better, Sir Knight. You should calm down for now since... there's nothing you can do about it." Unlike the distressed Rufus, Cassara was oddly calm and mature. It was as though a different spirit was occupying her body, but Rufus knew it was because she wasn't the same Cassara anymore.

She brushed his chest, smirking playfully at him. "Will you indulge with me, Sir Barrett?" her eyelashes fluttered coquettishly whilst keeping eye contact with him.

"Stefan doesn't know that I remembered. Just you. It'll be nice to have a little chat with you." she stood on her toes, clipping his coat to pull him down. She whispered in his ears. "After all, we have found the same equilibrium we didn't have years later."

Cassara grinned as she let him go, biting her lips to suppress her stretching grin. Her eyes were filled with amusement at Rufus's blank eyes.

"Shall we?" she raised her brows, tilting her head to the side. "I've also been itching to tell my story. Who would believe it? I once died, but now, alive and just as beautiful. Come, I won't seduce you… although that is what it would look like."

She giggled as she reached for his hand, dragging him with her. Meanwhile, Rufus could only follow

her while he gazed at her back, listening to her jolly humming. He didn't know how the time was reversed, or how he retained his memories.

But one thing was for sure. It was possible that it was not just Stefan and Rufus who remembered things… and this just became an added worry in his heart.

Who else remembered? So far, it seemed only the bad guys do.