Exiled Prince: I'm the Unexpected Extra in the Novel-Chapter 169: Can I... braid your hair?

The War for The North [56]

Chapter 169: Can I... braid your hair

With Cryomara leaving the room and slowly closing the door behind her, the silence left behind suddenly grew heavy.

Cecilia rose from where she sat. Her blue eyes shone in the room’s light. She approached Cassian with slow, almost gliding steps. With every step, the invisible wall between them thinned a little more.

Finally, she stopped right in front of him. She was so close that Cassian could feel the scent of her shampoo, fresh snow and lilies, filling his lungs. She was looking into Cassian’s eyes.

"Can I braid your hair?"

Cassian couldn’t comprehend what he heard for a moment. His eyebrows furrowed, he pulled his head back slightly.

"Huh?"

Cecilia repeated her question, her voice a bit softer this time but losing none of its determination.

"Can I... braid your hair?"

Cassian was bewildered by this strange and unexpected request. Just moments ago they were making war plans, threatening lords, talking about divine powers. Now, how had the topic come to hair braiding?

’Why would she want such a thing?’ he thought.

’Okay, maybe my hair is a bit too long... But braiding my hair like a girl? That... that is too embarrassing.’

A scene involuntarily came before his eyes. He imagined walking in the castle at the crack of dawn, his hair braided on two sides, perhaps with ribbons at the ends.

And Fredrinn appearing before him. He could imagine the look of disgust that would appear on his face at that moment, followed by the laughter he would burst into. Kael and Rod’s mocking, Eric’s disappointment, Rose’s disdainful smirk... No, this would be social suicide.

"No way!" Cassian replied immediately, his voice firm and closed to discussion.

However, Cecilia acted as if she hadn’t heard Cassian’s harsh rejection at all. A childish and cheerful smile that warmed one’s heart spread across her face.

"Great!" she said, clapping her hands. "Then let’s go to my room. We can’t be comfortable here. I need to comb your hair first."

Cassian rolled his eyes. "Hey! I said ’no way’ to you! Are you not listening to me?"

Ignoring him, Cecilia linked her arm with Cassian’s and started dragging him towards the door.

"You will look so cute!" she said, giggling.

Cassian tried to resist, but he couldn’t find the strength in himself to oppose Cecilia’s energy at that moment. He let out a deep sigh and was dragged along, accepting his fate.

Shortly after, they arrived at Cecilia’s room.

"Sit on the bed," Cecilia said, pushing Cassian towards the large bed in the middle of the room. "I’ll be right back."

Cassian sat calmly on the edge of the bed. He felt strangely vulnerable.

Cecilia headed to her wardrobe, took a few pieces of comfortable clothing from inside, and rushed towards the bathroom.

"I’ll change and come back. Don’t you dare disappear anywhere!"

When the bathroom door closed, Cassian was left alone on the bed. He rubbed his face with his hands.

"What am I doing?" he muttered to himself.

He wanted to reject Cecilia, slam the door and leave. logic told him this.

But as Cecilia’s cheerful laugh from moments ago came to his mind...

There was enough pain in this girl’s life. If a ridiculous braid would make her happy, Cassian could endure it. Besides, he didn’t want to upset her again, to destroy the fragile trust.

A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened and Cecilia came out in a hurry.

She had gotten rid of the formal, heavy Duchess dresses she was wearing. Now she had on simple, sky-blue pajamas made of soft fabric.

Her bluish-white hair was let loose, cascading down her back like a waterfall. In this state, she looked more like a young girl getting ready for a slumber party than the feared ruler of the North.

She quickly opened the drawer of the vanity table, took an elegant comb, and without wasting any time, got on the bed behind Cassian. Kneeling on the bed, she positioned herself behind him.

"I’m starting," she whispered.

She plunged her hands into Cassian’s white hair. When her fingers touched his scalp, and her delicate hand made contact with his neck, Cassian flinched involuntarily. His shoulders tensed.

Noticing this flinch, Cecilia stopped. She brought her face close to Cassian’s shoulder, her breath touching his ear.

"Is something wrong? Did I hurt you?"

"No," said Cassian, trying to keep his voice steady. "I’m just... not used to it. Continue."

"Okay."

Cecilia took the comb and started combing the hair. Her movements were slow, rhythmic, and extremely gentle.

She was attentive as if processing the world’s most precious silk. The rustle made as the comb slid through the hair was the only sound filling the silence in the room.

For a while, she continued to comb Cassian’s hair silently, with just the peace of this rhythm. Cassian also felt himself slowly relaxing, the burden on his shoulders lightening.

"Thank you..."

Cecilia’s voice was so faint that Cassian thought he heard wrong.

"What?" he asked, trying to turn his head slightly back.

Cecilia continued without stopping combing. Her voice was trembling; there was a flood of suppressed emotion inside.

"After losing my family..." she said, her eyes on Cassian’s hair but her mind far away. "And after Cryomara slaughtered most of the nobles in Frosthelm, those who betrayed us, on that bloody night... I was alone. All alone."

Cassian listened silently.

"Cryomara was always with me," Cecilia continued. "She wasn’t just a protector. Mother, father, sister, and best friend... She tried to be everything for me. She split into a thousand pieces to fill my void."

Her voice cracked.

"When necessary, she took on the role of a ruthless monster against my enemies, turning them into ice statues. But when night fell and I had nightmares, she became a compassionate mother stroking my hair by my bedside. At the same time, when I was still a child and didn’t know how to rule, she held the duchy together alone."

She took a deep breath.

"She was enough for me. I thought so. I didn’t need anyone else... Because whoever I reached out to, I found a dagger in my back."

She put down the comb and started smoothing the hair with her fingers.

"Because everyone wanted to use me."

"Fancy envoys from the Empire... They smiled in my face and said, ’Surrender the North, marry the First Prince, let us help you.’ They saw me as an object, a piece of land. When Cryomara froze and killed them in that room, I wasn’t even scared. I was just disgusted."

"Then that disgusting help offer from the Demon Empire... Pelagorn’s merchants... Even the sneaky lords of the Eastern Duchy... They all wore down my door."

Cecilia’s voice hardened.

"But their aim was all the same: To use us. That’s why I sealed my heart. Trusting no one, I lived a lonely life in an ice tower."

Her fingers pulled Cassian’s hair slightly, not to hurt him this time, but to feel his presence.

"When you showed up... That day when you entered my room and demanded the sword with that arrogant attitude... I thought you were like the others. I even thought you were worse than them, an opportunistic scum."

Cecilia deliberately tugged a bit on Cassian’s hair. Giving him a small punishment for that moment.

"Cryomara..." said Cecilia, smiling. "That day, she told me not to send you away, that I should trust you. She went even further, making persistent requests for me to bind you to myself, to make you ’ours’. ’Give him a chance, he is different,’ she said. ’He is wounded like you,’ she said."

Cecilia giggled, but it was a sad giggle.

"I didn’t know how to form a bond with you... I never had friends. I don’t even know when was the last time I spoke to someone my age. My social skills... are frozen."

She rested her head on Cassian’s back.

"I know my behavior seems strange to you, that I scare you. Those meaningless outbursts, my anger... But I don’t know how else to prove I care about you. This is the only thing I can do..."

Cassian paused for a moment. This confession of Cecilia had touched somewhere inside him.

"So..." said Cassian, with a mocking tone to soften the mood a bit.

"As a solution, you found forcing me into marriage and sitting me here to braid my hair? Your strategic genius brings tears to my eyes."

Cecilia lifted her head in panic, her face turning bright red.

"I-I am as against this as you are!" she went on the defensive. "I mean, the marriage part! But Cryomara... She keeps whispering in my ear. ’If you do this, he will be yours forever, he can’t go anywhere,’ she says! She egged me on!"

Cassian muttered tensely. "That butterfly... I feel like she is taking out the anger of what she lived with Kaiser, of her unfinished story, on me. Trying to repair her own past through us."

Sensing Cassian tense up, Cecilia changed the subject and asked curiously:

"By the way... You are contracted with a mystic beast like me, right? But I learned the name Kaiser for the first time after you showed up. Cryomara wouldn’t even mention his name. I know she has secrets and hides them from me."

She left the comb on the bed.

"So who is Kaiser? What kind of person is he?"

Cassian’s voice cut off. His mind went to the massive and terrifying entity amidst black flames.

The next moment he lifted his head towards the ceiling, his eyes staring into the void.

"I don’t know," he said honestly. "I know almost nothing about him. Neither his past nor his great fight with Cryomara."

He looked at his hands.

"Just... I owe him my life. Just like you owe Cryomara. He extended his hand to me when I needed help the most. He gave me his power, his will."

His voice turned into a sad whisper.

"I think... he might be a father figure for me that I never had."

Cecilia noticed the deep sadness in Cassian’s voice. She reached from behind and cupped Cassian’s cheeks with both hands at once.

"What are you doing again?" muttered Cassian, his voice sounding muffled because his cheeks were being squeezed.

"Turn towards me," said Cecilia, trying to turn him to herself by holding his shoulders. "Don’t frown. I’m starting to braid your hair."

Cassian was having a hard time keeping up with her sudden mood swings.

"Doesn’t my back need to be turned to you if you’re going to braid my hair?" he asked logically. "How will you braid it looking at my face?"

Cecilia stopped. She tilted her head to the side, a shy but determined expression appearing on her face.

"Do you want me to braid the back of your hair?" she asked. "Well... I can do that but... that’s not the style I want to do, the one I think will suit you. Girls usually use that style."

She pointed to the thin, elegant braid on the front part of her own hair, descending from the side of her temple.

"This," said Cecilia, twirling the braid between her fingers. "Is a very old culture in the North, sinking into oblivion. There is almost no one left who remembers or practices it."

She averted her eyes.

"Honestly, I didn’t know either. I didn’t know its meaning. But Cryomara told me. The other night."

Cassian was looking at her curiously. "What did she tell you?"

Cecilia turned to Cassian who was looking curiously. Her face had turned red, hotter than the fireplace fire.

"In the old times..." she said with a trembling voice. "Northern women would do this to men going to war or the men they loved. If you loved someone... To confess your loyalty, your love to him, they used this method where words fell short. They would take a lock from the front of his hair and braid it. This meant, ’You are mine and I am yours’."

Cassian’s eyes widened. His heart started pounding in his chest. What had this girl... just said?

Trying not to avert her eyes anymore, Cecilia gathered all the courage inside her. Her blue eyes got lost in Cassian’s reds.

"Cassian!" she said, her voice clear and strong.

"Can I... braid your hair?"