The Grand Duke's Soulmate
Chapter 48: A Bouquet with A Red Ribbon

Chapter 48: A Bouquet with A Red Ribbon

Eyes wide open, Anna looked at Kyren with speechless lips and a petrified body. The shout rang in her ears like a roar, loud and seething with rage.

The commander’s cheeks blazed with redness as his breath puffed out rapidly.

From the moment he saw the flowers, he already had the urge to yank and destroy them. It was his pride that stopped him from doing so before Armel. Nevertheless, his patience was let loose when Anna’s stubbornness annoyed him.

"That’s not true! Armel never did that! He...," her voice choked when the tears began to brim in her eyes.

An emerging sadness and disappointment prevailed in her heart at the accusation.

"I am not blind! I saw the way he looked at you. And that bouquet even has a red ribbon. Do you take me for a fool?" Kyren yelled.

The men who heard the racket began to gather and watch. Those inside the nearby tents came out and stared at the fighting couple.

"That... is a gift to me... my first present..."

Her voice cracked as it was caught in her throat when she blinked away her tears. Her eyes fell on the bouquet that had been crushed by her husband’s foot. The beautiful flowers were now squashed into pieces and smeared with dirt on the ground.

Holding back the racking sobs, Anna’s hand clasped at her heart.

"You’re my wife! Know your place and start to act like one! You should never get close to any other man! Do you understand?"

The commander’s domineering behaviour was kicking in. He would not allow any chance for her to walk into any other man’s arms. Even the teen was no exception.

Anna’s eyes shot to him, her heart raced, and her veins throbbed.

"You’re mean!" she cried.

Kyren’s eyes hardened and narrowed into a slit.

"What did you say?"

"You’re mean! I hate you!"

This time, the princess shouted loud and clear. At the bursting emotion, she shoved him backwards and sprinted out of the entrance.

"Anna!"

The commander clenched his fists on his sides. He dashed ahead, following her.

Kyren was halted when a hand suddenly held back his shoulder. He turned to the person who hindered his steps, ready to spit out his anger.

"Don’t pursue her now. It’ll get worse," Eric, the person who stopped him, quickly advised.

"She’s going to the forest!"

"The escorts will accompany her. Just cool down for a minute," the knight persuaded.

Eric quickly signalled to Damon and Eli, who witnessed the heated argument. The two knights who understood the unspoken command rushed to follow the commander’s wife.

Kyren grunted. He would have run after his wife and carried her back to the tent if it were him. Nevertheless, when he saw the eyes of the knights staring at him, he did not follow suit.

Eric gestured to the men who were watching the quarrel. Following his order, they began to retreat and return to their activities.

"Did you see what happened? She defied me!" the commander expressed his discontent to Eric.

"I saw everything."

The knight who had been there since the carrier arrived was among the rest who watched the scene.

"I’m her husband, and she dared to defy me!" Kyren repeated in dissatisfaction.

Eric shook his head and said, "How could you yell at her like that over a bouquet? From the look of it, I don’t think she understood the meaning of flowers tied up with a red ribbon. She was just happy to receive a present."

"How come she doesn’t know? It’s obvious that the boy is after her!"

The commander defended his stand.

"She’s an Ardelian and new here. You can’t expect her to know everything. You could at least explain it to her rather than seize the flowers and destroy them like that. Do you notice how upset she was?" the ’Love Coach’ began to rant.

"She should have listened to my order!" The grand duke hissed.

"She’s your wife, not your subordinates. You took away her present and crushed it before her eyes. She said it herself. It was the first gift she had received. Of course she would be mad," Eric responded.

"I will never let her betray me! Not a chance!" he scolded vehemently.

"I know you’re angry, but it’s too childish to get worked up over a kid and act like this," Eric said.

"She shouldn’t get close to him. That could’ve led to something." Kyren’s voice was toned down but still laced with grouchiness.

Eric patted the commander’s shoulder a few times.

"You should have known your wife better by now. That kind of woman who even sacrificed her own blood for the sake of others would never be a betrayer," he spouted, shaking his head in disagreement with Kyren’s action.

Eric exhaled before continuing.

"Do you realise that you’ve shouted at her publicly? The lady has just recovered. It’s unfair to treat her like that after she did a huge favour for us."

Kyren pursed his lips. His breath huffed rapidly as he tried to get a hold of himself.

Eric’s words made the commander realise that this was the first time he had shouted at Anna.

Knowing he had overreacted to her, a pang of guilt began to soar. His eyes fell to the ground, looking at the flattened flowers. What had been done could not be undone.

The knight’s raspy voice broke the profound silence.

"Please go back to your tent and calm down for now. She’ll return to you soon. When she does, please do not act recklessly. If you’re too hard on her, she will hate you."

"She already did. She said she hated me," Kyren said dryly.

"She didn’t mean it. She was angry."

Kyren turned away, not even looking at Eric. After a moment, he opened his mouth and said quietly, "Make sure she’s safe. It’s already late afternoon."

The commander took his steps and retreated from the site, leaving Eric there, watching his back moving away.

***

Sitting at the buttress of a tree near the lake, Anna could not help weeping with a bowed head. As the tears broke down like a waterfall, she sniffled and bit her lower lip to hold back the crying.

However, the overall feeling of heaviness kept pulling her down, making her succumb to her sadness.

Damon and Eli, who went and rushed for her, stood several steps away. They could hear the sobbing coming from under the tree. Both glanced at each other, trying to figure out what to do. It was a pitiful sight seeing the little lady bursting into tears alone in the middle of the forest.

Eli elbowed Damon’s arm and gestured with his chin. The senior knight signalled with his hand, telling the younger one to be patient. After a few moments, he took a few steps ahead and approached the commander’s wife.

"My lady, are you all right?" he hesitantly asked.

Realising that her two escorts were there, Anna quickly wiped her bloodshot eyes with her sleeve and looked away.

"Oh... This is embarrassing!" She tried to calm down, but the tears kept gushing down her reddened cheeks.

"There’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s fine to cry if you’re sad. We all do." Damon sat beside her at the buttress.

Eli came up slowly and knelt before Anna, handing her a handkerchief.

"Thank you," she said, reaching for it and wiping her tears.

"Keep it with you."

The lady shook her head.

"I’ll return it to you after cleaning it. Kyren might get angry if I receive anything from anyone again," she sobbed.

Her shoulders drooped and trembled a little from the stir of deep emotion.

"It’s fine. You don’t have to clean it. You can throw it away after usage. I got plenty," Eli responded.

Anna thanked the young knight again.

"The commander is not a senseless person. He doesn’t get angry without a proper reason. Perhaps, could you tell us what happened?" asked Damon.

"Yes, yes! Actually, we saw the quarrel between you and the commander. But since we were quite a distance away, we were not sure what it was all about," Eli, intrigued by the cause of the argument, intervened.

Slowly, Anna opened up and told them about the racket. As they listened, both knights knitted their brows.

"He did that over a bouquet? That’s absurd!" protested Eli.

Damon did not respond. Instead, he frowned with a brooding look for a moment. Then, something came up in his mind.

"My lady, perhaps, was the bouquet tied with a red ribbon?" he asked.

Anna turned to the knight and blinked a few times. By now, she had stopped crying and was only sniffling her nose.

"Yes. Why?"

Eli opened his mouth wide, fully understanding the reason behind the sudden anger of the commander.

"Aahh... no wonder the commander is so mad!"

"Why? I don’t get it. He accused Armel of flirting with me, but that never happened," Anna rebuked.

"My lady, the truth is, that was a flirt. In Cassian culture, when a man presents a bouquet tied with a red ribbon to a woman, it means he likes her a great deal. In other words, it’s a confession of love," Damon explained.

Eli nodded fervently, supporting his fellow knight’s statement.

Anna’s eyes shook as she looked at both of them.

"What?! That can’t be! I barely knew him!" she countered.

"That’s why the commander threw a fit. Someone tried to court his wife. Any man would be angry over this kind of act. Armel was lucky not to get hit," Eli continued.

Anna pouted her lips.

"I didn’t know that. No wonder Armel’s face changed when I told him I’m married."

"You told him, and he still gave you the flowers? That is so daring!" Damon cried out.

"No. He gave the flowers first. Then only I told him."

"Oh... I guess he doesn’t know you’re an Ardelian. So, he must be confused too." Eli rubbed his chin.

"No, he doesn’t. We didn’t meet after the incident that day until today. He did look bewildered for a moment after I told him I’m married," said the princess.

"That explains everything. Well... you’ve already taken the flowers, and he couldn’t ask for them back anyway," Damon spoke up.

"Let’s go back, shall we, my lady? The sun will set soon, and it’ll get dark here," Eli suggested.

Anna nodded lightly.

’Hnggh.... hnggh...’

A timid, whimpering sound suddenly emerged from behind the tree as they were about to stand up.

"What’s that sound?" Anna turned her head, looking for it.

Eli quickly leapt and went searching.

"Oh, my!" he exclaimed.

"What? What is it?" Damon, who was guarding the commander’s wife, quickly asked.

The young knight’s steps rustled through the dry leaves and branches. He bent down and picked up something on the ground. As he turned around, a white fluffy animal nestled in his arms.

"Look! It’s a puppy!"