The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 52: The Red Dress

Chapter 52: The Red Dress

"Are you sure you want me to wear this?" Annalise asked for the nth time as she stared at the red dress that Kenric had brought for her to wear.

It was a really beautiful dress, but a bold one too. The v-neckline was quite deep that would leave her cleavage clearly visible. The sleeves were made of the thinnest fabric that could have ever existed, it barely felt like there were any sleeves, to begin with. Her shoulders and arms would definitely be on full display too.

She had rarely seen such revealing dresses but she knew that they existed and she would probably get to see women wearing them in brothels and such places. The thought only made her feel more repulsive toward the dress.

"Yes," Kenric replied in a flat tone as he looked at her with raised eyebrows. He had been trying to convince her to wear that dress for quite some time by now but no matter whatever he said, she wasn’t convinced even a little bit.

"Kenric, I’ll be meeting my parents today. This is the last dress I would want to wear in front of them." She tried to make the man understand just how stupid his idea was.

"My dear wife, did you forget the part where I told you that I’ll cast a spell on the dress to make it look like a normal one? Only us brothers, your husbands, will be able to see the actual design of the dress." Kenric tried again and even though the idea sounded convincing, Annalise wasn’t sold yet.

"Still, I’m not wearing it." She responded with a shake of her head as she turned to look through the other dresses that Sera had picked for her to choose from.

Kenric moved closer and pulled her away from the dresses and back towards the red dress. "This dress is really important to continue with our revenge plan. You have to wear this. Besides, who knows you will actually end up falling in love with this dress after putting it on."

Annalise scrunched her nose as she stared at the dress and tried to imagine herself liking it, even the thought didn’t sit right with her. "Kenric..."

"At least put it on to try first. If you will still want to wear something else, I won’t force you." Kenric promised and finally saw Annalise thinking about his proposal seriously.

"You promise?"

"Promise."

Annalise picked up the dress and nodded her head as she spoke, "Alright. Wait outside, I’ll get dressed."

Kenric gave her a small wink as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, but instead of waiting outside the room, he headed downstairs in search of his second brother. Damian was the key to making Annalise love that red dress.

-

Annalise stared at her reflection in the mirror as she adjusted her hair which was a beautiful mess of curls.

The dress fit her body like a second skin, molded over her curves perfectly. Her cleavage was indeed showing and so were her shoulders and arms. She couldn’t recall wearing any dress in such a bright color that was in so much contrast with her hair and eye color.

Letting out a small sigh, she turned away from the mirror and headed towards the door to look for Kenric who was supposed to waiting for her outside the room.

She opened the door and stepped outside only to find Lord Damien standing there instead of Kenric. Her mouth remained hanging open as words refused to come out, she even forgot what she was going to say to Kenric in the first place.

But it was not only her who was left dumbfounded, the look on Lord Damien’s face matched with hers almost to the full extent. But he was more surprised after seeing her dress instead of seeing her.

His eyes traveled over her body from head to toe, his orbs turning crimson and for a moment, Annalise almost felt like she saw desire flashing in them but it was gone just as quick as it appeared.

"See? I told you that you will look pretty in it." Kenric was suddenly beside her, his hands wrapping around her waist as he pulled her closer without any care about his brother’s presence.

"I..."

"She’s looking pretty in it, isn’t she?" Kenric cut her off even before she could have spoken more than a single word, his question directed at his brother who seemed to be struggling with words as he just shook his head before nodding it and then again shaking it. He seemed to conflict with his thoughts.

"I... I have things to do." Damien hurriedly said as he almost ran away from there without a single glance back in their direction.

"See? I told you that this dress will be worth it." This time, Kenric’s voice was much lower as his words were only meant for Annalise.

"This is insane!" Annalise muttered as she shook her head as she allowed Kenric to pull her back into the bedroom.

*****

"You must be kidding me."

Valerius stated in pure surprise as he looked at Kenric in question. He could hardly believe that his brother had really made their wife wear such a revealing dress even though it was an enchanting one, only the three of them could see its real appearance.

"Don’t tell me she’s not looking gorgeous," Kenric responded with his signature smile playing on his lips as he watched Damien standing on the other side of the living room with his gaze fixed on Annalise.

Valerius followed his line of sight and noticed Damien. But it seemed like their brother also felt their gazes on him and it made him finally divert his attention from Annalise and turn it towards them.

The murderous glare that he gave them clearly stated that he was somewhat aware of what Kenric was up to but the knowledge wasn’t helping him much because he was still getting affected by their wife.

"She is indeed looking so pretty but again, she looks pretty every day. I don’t see any need for this dress." Valerius responded as he once again found himself looking at their wife. He couldn’t deny that the red dress was attracting his attention more than he wanted to admit.

"You will realize just how great my plan is going when you will spend some time paying attention to our brother. That dress is especially for him. After all, he loves that color." Kenric responded as he nodded in Damian’s direction who was on his way to head out of the living room.

"Just don’t come to me when he will come to murder you," Valerius stated with a pat on Kenric’s shoulder before he moved away to head toward their wife.

"It won’t be that bad," Kenric muttered as he passed a quick look at Damien. But even though he spoke these words, a part of him could already see Damian haunting him for revenge by the end of the day.

As it was already nine o’clock in the morning, they all decided to head to the capital so that they won’t be late.

Kenric, Valerius, and Damien chose to ride on horses along with Garron and Mr. Warren while Annalise, Sera, and Aunt Claire settled down inside the carriage.

The journey to the Capital City was pretty much filled with silence between the brothers while the three women chatted inside the carriage. After all, the latter had a lot of things to talk about as they were returning to their previous home, not like the dark lords who were going to meet their In-laws for the very first time.

"Let me ask you, are you guys feeling nervous?" Kenric asked his brothers as he thought about meeting his Father and Mother-In-Law.

"Why should we?" Damien asked in his gruff tone as spared a bored look in Kenric’s direction.

"We are going to meet our In-laws and if you guys have forgotten, then let me remind you that we didn’t attend our wedding ceremony. Do you think we will be welcomed with open arms?" Kenric reminded his brother.

Even though they had already been to the Capital City a few days ago to meet the King, they still didn’t get the chance to meet the Grand Duke. All in all, it was indeed their first time to meet both of their In-laws.

"What’s done is done. There’s nothing that we can change about our wedding night. Let’s just hope that the Grand Duke and Duchess won’t hold grudges against us." Valerius finally spoke.

"Yeah, let’s just hope that they don’t believe in the rumors that run through the capital city about the three of us because I won’t know how to face a mother-in-law who will mistake me as a devil just like the rumors say," Kenric added with a shake of his head.

It took them nearly an hour before they finally reached the Grand Duke’s mansion. The Grand Duke and Duchess were waiting for them along with the Steward and a group of servants.