The Tyrant's Pet

Time seemed to stop for Aries as she reached her hand out, only to clasp the air. The tree wasn't that tall for Aries to die from the fall, but it could hurt and break a few of her bones. But that didn't scare her.

Amidst falling, her eyes dilated from shock. Somehow, this unprecedented fall made her recall the taste of falling from grace. Just like this one, she was simply falling, sinking deeper to meet with the ground.

'No,' was what came into her mind before time started clicking at its normal pace.

CRASH!

Everything happened so fast that Aries couldn't prepare for her landing. Thankfully, Dexter was there to catch her, albeit he also stumbled down and ended up being her cushion.

"Ughh..." she gritted her teeth, feeling a striking pain on her head as she hit it somewhere. Aries grunted, planting her fist on his chest to sit up. As she did, she opened one of her eyes, her gaze instantly catching Dexter underneath her.

Drip... drip...

She blinked, trying to get a clear view of him. The second her vision grew clearer, her eyes dilated upon noticing the blood on his forehead to the temple.

"Brother!" she panicked and her complexion made an immediate shift to pale. "I — I —" Her lips quivered, knowing it was her fault why he was bleeding. Her hands trembled, hovering over him but never touching him. So Aries ended up raising her head at the servant.

"Call for help," she breathed out, barely finding her voice to speak. She didn't even notice how the servant looked back at her with confusion and shock.

"What are you waiting for?!" her voice thundered as her eyes turned bloodshot when the maid didn't act immediately. "Call for help! The Marquess --"

"Dan," called Dexter, holding her wrist to calm her down. When Aries gazed down at him, he could see the genuine worry and panic filling her eyes. She could fake everything, but her pale complexion was also the biggest sign she was also starting to believe her own lies.

Not only she was trying to deceive him, but Aries was also convincing herself she was Daniella. He didn't approve of it, but it felt nice to have someone look at him as if he mattered.

"I'm fine," he reassured, using his elbow to assist himself to sit up. Meeting her eye to eye, he raised his hand and wiped the blood on the space between her forehead and temple.

"Call for a physician at once," he ordered to the servant, who replied that they already did. "I am fine, Dan."

"What... but you're bleeding!" she argued.

"That's not mine," he said under his breath, softening his eyes from her wound to her eyes. "It's yours, not mine."

"Huh?" Baffled, Aries touched her temple and checked her fingertips. Seeing blood on it, she raised her head once again and studied his charming face.

"So, you're alright?" she inquired, eyes scanning his face thoroughly. When she was certain the blood on his face was hers and only dripped down on him, she heaved a sigh of relief.

A smile slowly turned up on her face as she patted her chest.  "That's good, then. I thought for a second you..."

"Daniella." She trailed off upon Dexter's cold voice, staring at her with dark eyes. His jaw tightened, eyes piercing through her soul.

"You're the one who's injured. What are you sighing in relief for?" his tone was crisped, displeased by her lack of concern for herself. Aries hit her head against his tie pin, grazing it against the metal material holding the gem. Although he knew it wasn't a grave injury, it was still a bad practice not to care for herself.

A shallow breath slipped past his lips as he snapped his eyes at the servant. "Prepare everything for her wound. I'll take her to her room," he ordered, refusing the knights who rushed to help Aries.

"Brother, I --"

"Shut up. Let's talk later."

With the help of the few knights and servants, Dexter carried Aries in his arms back to her room. She didn't fight or argue with him, holding her hand while staring at the blood on her palm. She didn't feel anything. That was why she didn't mind it. Or rather, she felt the sting, but it was way more bearable.

She went through worse than this. The slight pain... she could take it. She was used to it. Wasn't that the reason Abel was going crazy for her? Not because she enjoyed the pain, but she found the beauty in her tolerance in it.

The two of them remained silent even when they reached her room and he laid her on the bed. The servants arrived no more than a minute after they did, bringing water and bandage to clean her wound for first aid while the physician hadn't arrived.

"Are you angry?" she asked, breaking the thickening silence in the room. Dexter told the servants to leave them while he tended to her wound himself.

Silence. He didn't answer, making her purse her lips, eyes up at him.

"It doesn't hurt... much," she muttered with a frown, fidgeting with her fingers, but nothing. He kept quiet the entire time until Aries finally lost reasonings and shut up. But when she did, Dexter finally spoke in his usual stoic tone with a touch of slight gentleness.

"Stop it, Aries," he said, dabbing the cloth against the slice on her temple. "Daniella isn't like this. I wished she was, but she's terrible, selfish, and greedy. I love her, but I also knew what kind of person she was."

He paused, retracting his hand as he looked at her in the eye. "I know what you are doing, but you're not fooling anyone here."

Aries pressed her lips, staring at him straight in the eye. Dexter said all that, but... his eyes told her otherwise. He might be telling her the truth that the Daniella she was portraying wasn't the same as what he had in his memories. But that only worked for his advantage because this version of 'Daniella' was what he wished he had for her sister.

"I'm not trying to fool you," she lied with a subtle and bitter smile, clipping her finger on his sleeve. "I'm not Daniella. I'm not trying to be her. What I'm doing is something... I wished I had done to my brother."

That wasn't a lie, not completely. For her, she didn't mind treating Dexter as her own brother because, at some point, he reminded her of her late brother. The deceased crown prince of Rikhill.