Why the Villain Should Avoid Letting the Heroine Take His Gloves Hostage

“I’m surprised to see you already back at the mansion, my lord.” Keillweist manages again to find me, not long after my return. “Does it mean that Baron Gallghaid showed up just like you expected?”

    I pause in front of the fireplace, the mild season letting it already be devoid of any fresh cinders.

“He didn’t, alas.”

“I see. He must have heard of the announcement, though, unless he found death by other hands.” My butler notes before shaking his head. “Definitely a heartless man. Not only did he betray your father, but now he has abandoned his own parents. What a shame.”

    My fingers hanging loosely at my sides tighten into fists as I avert my gaze. And here I hoped to forget about that incident for a while. Of course, there’s no way nor real reason to hide the truth from my butler. Since he handles a lot of tasks for me, he’d soon end up knowing about my failure.

“My lord?”

    I sigh.

“The execution did not occur.”

    The silence of Keillweist, his observant cyan gaze, harasses me more than any words he could tell. It is a skill he acquired over the years, allowing him to obtain more information than with words likely to get him fired.

    If my strength is evilness, his is stillness. An old oak whose presence is enough.

“The Marquessa Ambrillia was here again…” I end up admitting. “Her good aura dampened the mood, so I had no other choice but to postpone it. Just imagine an execution without a crowd bathing in hatred, either directed at the executioner or the executed, Keillweist. That would be of poor taste.”

    A pause. A different kind of silence than the previous, though.

“My lord, did you fall in love with her?”

    The boldness catches me aback as I turn wide eyes to my butler.

“Of course, it’s a rhetorical question at this point, so let me rephrase.” Keillweist resumes before I can come up with a reaction that would be evil enough. “Are you really going to let her sway you? The evil duke should show no weaknesses.”

    A pause.

“Isn’t it what you always told me?”

    Still slightly agape, I try to gather my thoughts. But a knock at the door captures my attention. That’s exactly what I needed! Before my butler has time to take the initiative, I move towards the unexpected escape route. What a perfect opportunity! Whoever this is, they’re about to be turned into the marionettes which will prove to Keillweist how his suspicions are pointless.

    Grabbing both handles, I thus pull the doors open. A grim aura welcomes the visitor… Failing to compromise her smile.

    Ahh… Maybe that’s it, after all. Maybe I’m seeing things.

“Keillweist… Who stands beyond the entrance?” I utter in disbelief.

“The Marquessa Ambrillia, my lord.”

    A pause.

“I see. So that is a collective hallucination then.”

    As I’m about to close the door to my imagination, the hallucination clears her throat.

“Didn’t you forget something in town, Duke Luphor?”

    At her words, my golden eyes drift to the pieces of white fabric she holds between her frail fingers. No doubt these are the gloves I threw on the scaffold before leaving, though… Why would a noblewoman like her take the time to retrieve them and bring them to me? Sure she suspects that I have more than a single pair of gloves.

“Why would she bother with such futilities?” I raise an eyebrow at these thoughts.

    That’s when I feel a sudden pressure. A glance back reminds me of Keillweist’s presence. Fine. It’s my chance! If I want to keep my honour, I have to pour all my evilness into the words I’ll address to her.

    I let out a mocking chuckle.

“Ohh? How kind of you to pick up my rubbish, marquessa. I didn’t know this was part of your hobbies.” I thus snap my fingers with a smirk. “Keillweist, would you mind taking that for me?”

    In the blink of an eye, my butler appears by my side, reaching out his hand. Holding a handkerchief, he intends to retrieve the dirty gloves with it.

“Ahh I want to die. Let me cut this tongue of mine for uttering such harsh words towards a maiden deserving nothing but to be praised for the melodic yet discreet tone of her voice. I want to die I want to die I want to die.”

    The moment my butler is about to catch the gloves, though, the marquessa pulls her hand away. Puzzled for a bit, my butler tries then again… Only for the marquessa to pull them out of his reach… Again and again. No matter how precise and efficient his gestures are.

    Raising my hand, I gesture to Keillweist to pause his attempts.

“Wasn’t your intent to give them back to me?” I ask, baffled by her lack of cooperation.

“I never said such a thing.” Her smile widens ever so slightly. “Actually, I just pointed out that you forgot them. If you want to retrieve them, you’ll have to give me something in exchange.”

    There it is! She finally shows her true face, her true colours! All this time she was lurking, awaiting an occasion to extort all my wealth, my lands, and…

    Wait.

“Why would I want to retrieve a simple pair of gloves at any price?” I utter with a frown.

    It stinks of a rookie move. And to say that she almost frightened me… but here she is, all words no swords.

“Are you sure?” She wonders.

“What.”

“Are you sure that you want me to keep them? There are just… so many things I could do with your gloves.”

    And as she lowers her voice, Ambrillia brings them closer to her delicate lips.

“What do you mean…….”

    For no apparent reason, I can feel a shiver run up my back. This woman is playing with my nerves. She won’t fool me, though. These are just gloves, mere and plain gloves.

“I mean,” Ambrillia brushes the fabric with her fingertips, carefully, almost as if they were gifted with nerves, “I wonder too. Imagine a maiden getting hold of gloves belonging to the man she’s attracted to…” She trails off, her fingers venturing now into the folds of the fabric as she slowly pulls her hand into one of the gloves.

    I gulp. Attracted? Did she just say attracted?

“I know, at least, that I would keep them close.” She raises her fox-like eyes at me, her hands close to her face, a fabric too large for her covering her fingers. “And you, what would you do in such a case, Duke Luphor?”

    I can feel my braincells melting, smoke painfully escaping my ears.

“…”

    For devil’s sake, these gloves are just pieces of fabric why does the sight of her wearing mine force me to resist the urge to keep her closer?? Of course if I had her gloves in my possession I would keep them as a precious treasure just to make sure they’re never damaged nor sullied.

    With my mind corrupted by the schemes of the marquessa, my consciousness is about to be consumed when I feel the piercing look of my butler.

    The thoughts. They. They have. To.

“Begone!!”

    With a sudden surge of strength, I throw a side blow at the door.

    A thud.

    The moment my arm hits the wooden panel, a loud crack ensues.

    When I raise my head back at Ambrillia, I catch her tilting her head as if completely innocent. I knew this woman was dangerous the moment I saw her, but to think that she would go for such inhuman schemes…

“What… do you want?” I cautiously ask, panting as if I just returned from a long visit through hell.

“Go on a date with me.”

    The words echo through my mind. Like hearing words in a foreign language for the first time, it takes a few loops for them to form coherent sounds, let alone to associate them with words I’m supposed to know.

    Are words supposed to sound like this? Different according to who utters them?

“On… On a d..da….d..date?” I bashfully whisper, afraid that I misheard.

    Her first reply is a mere nod.

    Her second offensive reply is a discreet brush of her lips against the back of my glove.

“Unless… You prefer that I keep them?”

    The mere thought of being aware that she would be in possession of my gloves without knowing what she would be doing with them causes another shiver to run up my spine. I simply wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.

    This woman… If she wanted to, she would be able to become a torturer feared by the worst criminals in the whole kingdom.

    Briefly, a vision of her in such attire passes through my mind. The sound of my chains is almost resonating in my ears as Ambrillia leans forward, grabbing my chin between her soft fingers and… STOP THAT.

“This is inappropriate!!!!”

    A loud thud echoes my inner scream as I just turned to face the door and throw a punch at it.

“Duke Luphor?” Ambrillia chimes in with an evilly serene smile. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine.” I turn a glance at her, facing my fate. “Very well. I’ll go out on a date with you.”