The Dragon Prince's Bride
Chapter 41. I kissed her first.

Chapter 41: 41. I kissed her first.

"What you’re holding is the Gaskiya. With that flower in your hands, the moment you tell one single lie, the glow of a petal shall be quenched. The more lies you tell, the more petals that shall lose their light. If it is a great lie, the flower shall shrivel and die." Estella explained.

Barak nodded in acceptance as he lifted his eyes to look at Neriah and a scoff left his lips. His flower was definitely not going to have any reason to lose its shine, nor would it shrivel.

But he could clearly see that there was no light in her eyes, only fear and desperation. And she was definitely going to shrivel.

"Now that the Royal detector has arrived and the necessary measures have been taken, Prince Barak, I shall now hear your own side of the story. And I promise you if the glow of that flower flickers even once then your head most definitely will roll."

"Aye, Your Majesty. Now where do I begin?" He looked at her, pinching herself desperately. He could almost see her inner prayers and he could guess what those prayers were. That he was struck by lightning out of nowhere. Or that he just dropped dead from an unknown disease. But he planned to do neither of those.

"I first saw that woman while I was resting within the land you had assigned to us throughout our stay. I thought she was a spy sent by Your Majesty." Barak began.

"What! What nonsense? We are at peace. Why would I send a spy? That is preposterous!" Gerald instantly refuted.

"Aye, I thought so too. But I could not help but think that way seeing that she was desperately trying to climb over the walls of the castle you assigned to us." At his words, there were gasps and murmurs among the musicians who were supposed to entertain but were watching free entertainment instead. And the servants and guards. Everyone seemed to be shocked by his words.

Barak could only wonder why they were this shocked when they had not even heard the main story.

All eyes were on Neriah, she was shaking, visibly so. "N_Nay! He lies!" She could not stand the suspicious eyes. "For what reason would I have climbed over any walls? I am no gecko! That flower is useless! It does not work!" She pointed at the Gaskiya flower in his hand.

"Grandfather says it would be better that the princess also be given a Gaskiya."

"Nay!!" She instantly refused.

"Why Your Highness? You say the Gaskiya flower is not effective which means it won’t flicker in your hands either. So there is no reason not to hold one too." Estella shrugged and Neriah wished to tear her apart. She wondered how such a puny girl could dare to talk in front of her. If this was a different setting she would have had some senses whipped into her.

Estella shifted her gaze to the king, who at the moment held utmost power. Gerald fist clenched. His eyes shifted to the flower in Barak’s hand. It did not flicker. Not even once. It was still shining bright. He was starting to tremble inwardly. Could his daughter be lying? Since it had gotten to this, all eyes were on him, he could not refuse something like this. He prayed to the goddess in his heart that she helped him.

"Neriah, accept the flower." He ordered and Neriah’s eyes opened even wider with disbelief.

"Nay father! Why should I? I am the one who has been wronged, why should I still need to prove that—"

"Accept the flower this instant!" Gerald ordered sternly and she trembled even more as she fell silent, biting her bottom lip with much vehemence.

Estella brought out another gaskiya and handed it over to her grandfather. Doing the same thing he had done with the flower he handed to Barak, he walked over slowly to Neriah and as he handed her the glowing gaskiya, if eyes could kill, then he would most definitely have died from her glare.

"Do you have anything to say now?" Gerald asked, and Neriah could only sit back down, biting her lip, with the stem of the Gaskiya tightly held in her hand.

"May I continue then?" There was so much mockery in his voice that Neriah wished she would die.

Gerald breathed heavily and nodded.

"When I realized she was a woman, I had doubts that the king had sent a woman, so I guessed it was probably the princess who had sent someone to spy on me. I needed to know more, so I indeed lied to her that a maid had been sent for and pretended to think she was the maid. She fell for that lie and followed me into the castle of her own freewill." He paused, she was biting down on her lips viciously. His flower was still glowing. Magically so.

"Oh, I must admit though, I was indeed smitten by the beauty of the woman the moment my eyes touched her. I will not deny that I was entranced, even." He confessed. "I mean look at those eyes, what man would not be enchanted by them?" There was bitterness in his words. And Gerald was already getting uncomfortable. He didn’t like where this was going. The flower still glowed... Brightly.

"Once inside the castle, I informed her that I knew she was a spy and told her the truth that no maid was sent for in the first place. Aye, I was enchanted by her fierceness, and indeed I kissed her first. More than once, Aye. I was intrigued, you see. I thought she was a maid of the princess who was sent to spy on me, the prince. I wondered how a maid could be so pompous and prideful. I thought I could make her fall for my charms, but she was a vicious cat so I let her be. I gave her my word that I wouldn’t touch her. And I kept it. All I asked was that she told me who she was and why she had come."

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