Sacrificial Bride to the Feared Lord Hastings-Chapter 158: Life and death (4)

Dante helped Ophelia to mount the horse and got up behind her. His plans at first were to have an outing with Ophelia, but now he wanted to take her back to the castle.

"I know you heard what she said. I hope you aren’t going to avoid me because you think you will kill me. I don’t believe you will kill me or that the beast will do it. You mustn’t let this come between us," Ophelia requested.

"I won’t let it come between us, but I have decided to keep you away from the dungeon when the full moon comes-"

"Dante," Ophelia sighed.

"I find it best that you are out of the castle by the full moon. I’ll arrange for guards I can trust to protect you and Theo away from the castle. You will not return until it is safe," Dante decided.

"We have been through this. How am I to know what I am up against if I do not see it? You heard her. All everyone does is cage you away when you are the beast. It doesn’t seem that even your mother can stomach looking at you, but I am willing to do it," Ophelia pointed out.

"You are too stubborn."

"And you are too afraid," Ophelia fired back. "It is my life, and I am willing to take the chance to see you. We won’t be in the same chamber since I know that would be too dangerous, but I want to see. I want to see what it is I am getting myself into so that I know."

"Know what? If you will stay?" Dante asked.

"Would that be unreasonable? You have told me that you are a beast. I would like to see how true it is and the other side of who I lie with. I cannot go a lifetime with you and not see that side of you. I will not do it," Ophelia said, refusing to hide as the others did.

Ophelia tried to look over her shoulder to see Dante’s face. "It seems that all the people in your family do is hide from each other. That is not me. I will face this, and I will be wise as I do so. Neither me nor you want to harm the other. It is the people around us, so we should keep them out of the castle."

"Don’t you agree?"

Dante couldn’t rid himself of thoughts about Ophelia dying since it came from Ester. It was too out of the blue for Ester to know there was danger coming to Ophelia, and at the moment, Dante was the greatest danger to Ophelia.

"I hope you would have some confidence in yourself to believe you wouldn’t kill me, but I see you are still stuck in not believing in yourself. What if it one day becomes that it is not only the full moon that changes you, but it happens on a whim? What if we are alone at the moment?" Ophelia asked, raising more concerns.

"Are you trying to get me to have doubts about having you stay by my side?" Dante asked, not liking the direction Ophelia was going.

"I told you that I don’t want to start loving you only for you to get scared later on. I understand your fears, but I am pushing through mine to be at your side. I am not afraid of seeing you as the beast, but now you are having many doubts about this," Ophelia said, starting to feel they made the wrong choice.

"Dante, if I give you my all just for you to lose confidence in yourself and send me away, I will never come back to you. I have to be honest with you now so that if it comes to that, you know what the price will be. I believe you cannot control the beast because you are not confident in yourself," Ophelia concluded.

Ophelia wished that Dante, who led his men to protect his land from Joel and other enemies, would be the one to put up a fight when the beast tried to control him.

"You must be more confident in yourself and try to fight this. If not for yourself, then for me. I know you must have tried before and did not succeed, but am I not a good enough reason for you to try again?" Ophelia asked, her fingers crossed that Dante would listen.

"You are. I don’t want to hurt you," Dante said, his concerns still present.

"With this attitude, you are bound to. Let us make a deal with each other. When you must be locked away, I will come only for a moment to get a look at what I am dealing with. I won’t stay for long. I will return to a place I have prepared to hide, surrounded by knights," Ophelia proposed.

Ophelia continued to say, "I won’t tell you where it is that I will hide with Theo until you are back to normal. We shall do this along with ensuring that you are well guarded. If we plan well, there won’t be anyone harmed. Do you trust me?"

"I do, but you must promise me that if there are signs of danger at that time, you will take your brother as well as Thomas and get out of the castle. We mustn’t take any chances. I will have my mother confined to her home, and no one is allowed to speak to her and Victoria," said Dante.

"It is a good idea. I want to live, Dante. I know that at the first sign of danger, I am to go running. At the start of our marriage, I would have run from the moment Ester told me of death without hesitation, but I know your heart. I know that you could be strong to resist," Ophelia said, keeping faith in Dante.

"Speaking with Ester has not discouraged me from finding an answer. I stand with my theory that instead of fighting against the beast, you must accept it. You must accept it, and everyone around you must do the same. It seems that everyone simply gets scared and guards themself when the time comes," Ophelia said.

"If there truly is no way to cure you, then I can accept it," Ophelia said, willing to take Dante as he was. "You are a good man, and I stand by it. I won’t turn away from you because of what another man did. Keep your faith in me as I have faith in you. Do you hear me? Dante?"

"Dante!" Ophelia screamed as Dante’s body no longer felt behind her, and she caught a glimpse of him falling off the horse, only after it was too late for her to hold onto him.