Your Hands Are Warm

The usually composed Alistair looked murderous while walking towards Lily Palace with a sense of urgency. 

After Osiris told him what was happening there, he felt something tugging at his chest. So he didn't even think twice when he ordered Osiris and his guard to come with him to Lily Palace. 

He knew he was being emotional right now which is not like himself.

But he couldn't deny that a month he had spent with Bella made him experience countless new emotions that he didn't know he was capable of feeling. It was the first time that he felt the urge to protect someone so badly. 

‘How many years did she have to endure it by herself? She must have suffered a lot.’  Alistair thought with worry. 

He couldn't help but blame himself. If only he knew about Bella's situation sooner. No, if only he visited her sooner.

He hated it, because it felt like he had neglected her all this time, just like his father. He really hated it... 

As soon as Alistair arrived at Lily Palace, he noticed something was different about the atmosphere. He didn't encounter anybody since he walked through the corridor. 

But he could hear some noises through his advance hearing. So he followed the sound.

And that's how he witnessed Bella slapping her servants. 

Bella was a petite girl, but right now, she was standing tall with her chin held high as she slapped those useless servants with all her might. 

Gone was her usual gentle expression, it was replaced by fury and fierceness. He was shocked.. 

But strangely he didn't hate this side of her. Far from it, he likes it very much. She looked enchanting... 

He was dumbstruck as he watched the scene, until a loud echo of her slap finally brought him back to his senses. 

His eyes caught a glimpse of her reddened hand. He noticed how her slender wrist trembled at every impact. It must have hurt so bad. 

Alistair didn't want to see her in pain any longer so he stepped forward and caught her wrist as she was about to deliver another slap. Her wrist felt so thin and fragile in his hand, he was afraid that he would break them if he gripped it too hard. 

"Stop!" 

At his word, Bella turned to him with a shocked expression

"Why are you stopping me, brother?"

Her shock was soon replaced with a fierce glare. He couldn't help but flinch at seeing her expression. He didn't want her hatred to be directed at him. 

"Don't you kn-"

"Your hand is precious,” he cut her words as he gently overlapped her small hand with his. "Let my guard do the slapping."

At his words he could see her eyes lit up and for the first time that day she looked at him with delight. 

"Okay,” she finally answered. 

He did what he promised. He commanded Osiris to slap those bastards. He knew that Osiris would also be delighted. He saw how his loyal knight looked at them with resentment.

Bella seemed shocked at the sight. But it wasn't like Osiris used even half of his strength. If he had, they would've already been dead by now. 

When he commanded his guard to bring them to the prison for them to get punished, Bella insisted that a prison sentence was enough. 

Alistair wanted them to suffer. They deserve it. But he couldn't say no to her pleading stare. She actually had a soft heart despite acting all angry.

Alistair couldn’t help but wonder how her reaction would be if she saw how he cut his enemies without even blinking an eye on the battlefield. Would she still look at him the same way?

‘Ahh.. I never knew I was this weak of a man.’ 

He sighed and in the end complied with all her requests. 

Her expression turned into relief.

"Brother..." She suddenly gripped his arm tightly and said. "...catch me."

And that's the last thing she said before she fell into his arms. 

***

I had a dream. A dream about my past life.

My career had hit a rock bottom after Eomma turned against me and revealed my past as an orphan. 

It was revealed that the story about me being the daughter of a rich conglomerate and about my parents living abroad was in fact a lie. 

The media made my already not so good image turn worse. People pointed their fingers at me, calling me a liar, a fraud, and so on.

But, was it really all my fault? I never wanted to lie to my fans. That made up story was all created by Eomma in the first place to boost my image.

I was against it. But what could I say? Cho Sarang was only an image that she created for me after all. So I didn't have a choice but to mold myself into the perfect idol for her. 

I just kept doing what she told me to do, so she wouldn't abandon me. I just did what I needed to do to survive. 

I thought success would make it worthwhile. But no matter how successful I was, how many trophies I won, how much money I earned, I still couldn't erase this hollow feeling inside my heart. 

I always performed on big stages with lots of applause, but when I came home it felt so empty. 

I was lonely. I didn't have family, I didn't even have friends. That's what I thought. 

But here he was, sitting beside me without saying anything. 

I knew he was being considerate by not asking me about the scandal. But just his presence alone was enough to give me reassurance that I wasn't alone. For that, I was grateful. 

"Tae..." 

I didn't know since when I started calling him by his nickname, probably because he kept on insisting for me to do so.

I opened my palm and continued. "Will you hold my hand?"

And he did. He wordlessly put his big hand on top of mine. It felt warm. 

***

When I opened my eyes, I could barely fight the dizziness. I blinked my eyes a few times while trying to remember what occurred. 

‘What the hell! Who would faint after slapping a few people?’ 

I couldn’t help but curse at myself.

‘If this continues, I might even be killed by the ground next.’ I thought sarcastically.

This wasn’t a sitcom, right? It would be so annoying if my death ended up to be so hilariously pathetic that a drowning fish would seem like a bodhisattva’s ascension in comparison.

When I finally regained my vision, I noticed that I wasn't in my own room. it wasn't Bella's room. This golden canopy and these silk sheets were obviously too luxurious to belong to the Lily Palace. 

‘Where the hell am I? Shit, am I being transmigrated somewhere again?’ 

I started to panic when I finally realized that I was currently holding someone's warm hand. 

"Bella, you're awake." 

This familiar timbre voice. 

"Brother..." 

I never thought I'd ever breathe in relief for waking up to his ridiculously handsome face. But at least I didn’t get transmigrated to some random place again.

I glanced at my bandaged hand and it became my reality slap, that I was indeed still in this novel world. Fuck! I don't know whether to be happy or sad anymore.

"I'll call the doctor." 

He tried to get up but I held his hand. 

"No, I'm fine brother. Just a little dizzy." 

"But Bell-"

"Can you just stay with me for a while?" 

I tightened my grip on his hand, for some reason I felt a sense of melancholy. I just don't want to be alone. 

He sighed in defeat. "Okay."

His face had a sombre expression as he used his other hand to caress my hair gently. His eyes turned more sad when they met mine. It was the first time I've ever seen him like this.

"Where am I, brother?" I asked. 

"This is Star Palace." 

His hand never stopped caressing me as he answered. 

Star Palace is a palace belonging to the crown prince. So I was currently in his residence.

"Ehm, why am I in your palace, brother?"

"From today onwards, you'll move to the Star Palace."

I almost choked on my own spit. "What?" I gaped at him. "...why?"

"Lily Palace wasn't a suitable place for a princess," he stated matter of factly.

Well, he wasn't wrong about that. That dreary old castle looked more suitable as a haunted house. But at least, the garden was beautiful. 

Still, he could just give me another palace. So why should I live in his palace? 

It was a big red flag. No matter how much I loved to see his handsome face, trouble will always follow the main lead, and it would be bad to get caught up in the middle. 

"Brother.. Isn't that a bit too much? I'm okay with Lily Palace. It might be a little old, but the garden is nice." I tried to reason with him. 

"I'll give you a new garden, twice bigger than the garden in Lily Palace. You can do whatever you want, plant any flower that you want, everything. I'll make sure of it." 

He suddenly brought my hand to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss. 

‘What the fuck? Did he plan to kill me by making my heart burst? Is it normal to do this here?’

Shit! I could never get used to this old fashion custom no matter how romantic it was in a movie. 

And how could I say no to that? Damn it! 

"Fine," I agreed for now. 

His face brightened at my answer. I thought I was going to get blind. Tsk... 

As expected, the main lead is a whole other species. 

Let's think about another plan later. My mind was too exhausted right now. 

I didn't know how those transmigrated heroines in novels could make perfect schemes and adapt to their new world so fast. 

While in reality it was far from it. Surviving just another day was already hard enough, let alone scheming this and that. 

Was I too dumb? 

I didn't think so. I was just being realistic. You know, there's a huge difference between expectation and reality. 

Come to think of it, I almost forgot the most important thing. How heartless could I be?

"Brother.. Where's nanny Elle?" I asked worriedly. 

He stroked my hair. "I brought her here. She's in the guest room. A doctor already treated her, there's nothing too serious so you don't have to worry."

'Ahh, at least he was being considerate.'

But the doctor's treatment still needs quite some time to heal. I could heal those kinds of injuries in no time. I couldn't let her suffer for too long, could I? I already promised to fix her up after all. 

"Can you bring me to her room?"

"You can do it tomorrow. You need to rest for today."

"Please, brother," I gave him my best pleading look. 

Woah, I cringed at my own action. 

"Bell.."

"Please..." I leaned closer and reached out to touch his cheek. 

He sighed. "I could never win against you, couldn't I?"

I grinned. I thought he already knew that his little sister was quite sly. 

"You can't, brother."

He just shook his head and gave me a faint smile. I thought these days, his expression became gentler. 

I thought his character was supposed to be cold. Except towards the heroine of course. But honestly, I don't think he was that cold of a person like how the novel described him. 

I threw the silky sheets to the side and got ready to get up when Alistair suddenly slid an arm under my knees and his other arm went down to the middle of my back, and before I knew it, I was in a princess carry. 

"Br-brother.. What are you..." 

"I'll take you to her room. A patient shouldn't walk by herself." 

I blushed. Damn, why are you so nice to villainess?

I was too tired to argue, so I just wrapped my arms around his neck and let him carry me. He smelled nice. It was like a mix of peppermint and musk. 

The crown prince of the empire carried me as if I was as light as a feather. 

Well, this wasn't bad. 

***

When we arrived at Elle's bedroom, the first thing I noticed was how clean and luxurious this guest room was compared to the main bedroom in Lily Palace. 

Why was I not even surprised? Tsk. 

I don't know how the original Bella could survive twenty years of this wretched plot. It took me only a couple months to snap. 

I guess I'm really not a patient person. 

When we reached the bed, I saw that Elle was sleeping peacefully. She had a bandage around her right ankle, and some bruises here and there. But I could see that there's nothing life threatening. 

Alistair put me down to sit on the edge of the bed. 

I reached out my hand and grabbed Elle's hand gently. She didn't wake up, so I guessed the doctor had given her something to sleep. 

She was really a kind lady, and she took care of me. That's why I felt a pang of guilt for turning a blind eye. I felt bad, really. 

But if I was given the chance to go back, I think I’d still make the same choice. Not all of us could be the hero, you know. 

I'm too busy trying to save myself to even think about saving others. 

"I'm sorry, you must have suffered a lot because of me," I whispered softly. 

Poor woman. She was just a victim, just like Bella. They were both victims. 

My eyes got teary at the thought. But I wiped it away with the back of my hand before it could fall. I had cried enough, at least for today. I shall save it for another day 

I gently put my right hand on top of her chest and started murmuring the healing spells that I had memorized. A purple glow erupted from my hand, and all the bruises and cuts on Elle's body were gone. 

"H-how did you..?" Alistair stared at me with wide eyes, obviously surprised after witnessing me doing magic. 

I removed my hand from Elle's chest and closed my eyes for a second to ease the dizziness that hit me everytime I used magic. This damn body!

Why bother to have healing magic if you can't use it for yourself? It's unfair!

I opened my eyes slowly and stared back at those mesmerizing amethyst eyes, then I gave him a small smile. 

"I'm a mage, brother. I can do healing magic."

It took him some time to respond. "I see... You did a great job." He patted my head. 

I almost rolled my eyes at his gesture. Why did I feel like a kid being praised for doing something good? I'm an adult and I'm much older than you, you know. 

But whatever, I'll just forget about everything and be a kid for today. I deserved some rest. 

"Brother..." I held out my arms toward him, like a child asking their favorite person to pick them up. "Can you carry me to my room? I'm a little tired."

I saw it. It was a small smile, secretly tugging at the corner of his lips. But it was the most genuine smile that he ever gave me. 

For the third time that day, I was wrapped in Alistair's arms. My side pressed against his chest, an arm wrapped around his neck. 

As expected, the strong male lead. 

Ahh...He was dangerous.