Chapter 22: Irresistible offers

Egon von Conradie was a formidable opponent with overbearing manners, but if she so wished, the Archduke's daughter could be on par with his arrogance. She has long since been taught that attacking was the best form of defense in case of an inescapable disagreement.

Inescapable it is...

She gulped down, "What are you doing here?"

Egon threw his dark cloak with his hand, ridding his contemptuous face of the shadow.

"I am restoring this area along with these cottages, is it odd for me to check on my investment?"

She had nothing to say to that. If it was not for the rumors about the merchants being out of Lanark for the time being, she would not have risked coming here.

His big hawklike eyes raked over her.

"Now let's see if you can answer the same question. What are you doing here?"

"I…" She looked away and took a deep breath, "I came here to…" she hesitated.

"You came here to…What? Insult my people and dig up dirt on me?"

His bluntness astounded her, she was regathering her wits when he slowly strode close causing her to step back involuntarily, the space behind her was so narrow that her back soon hit the wall.

"A nose up in the air, is this the best they taught you about nobility?"

Her heart raced, "What you saw earlier..." she could not finish, her throat dried out on her.

"What I saw earlier?"

She looked left and right desperately trying to plan an escape route away from the predator-like man who shamelessly closed in on her, only stopping when she could feel the heat his body emitted and hear the very breath his lungs drew in. But there was no way left to go.

"You were saying?"

"...I am not obligated to give you answers when your manner of speaking and conduct are nowhere near adequate," she managed to mutter as she glared at him.

He smirked victoriously, enjoying her entrapment, "Where will you leave this time?"

"Move away at once!"

"Is that an order?"

Speechless, she stared up at him with screaming eyes. It was only the other day when she aspired to be civilized with him, but how could she possibly accomplish that mission when he insisted on building these unpassable walls between them?

I am not the conceited one in here!

He towered over her, every cell exceeding authority and establishing dominance. With such proximity, she found herself less intimidated by the contrast of their frames, and more concerned with his unnecessary ruthless expression. His eyes shook with anger above lips that quirked up revealing a set of perfectly aligned teeth, but he was far from smiling, a snarling lion bared more resemblance to Egon von Conradie at the present moment.

Be it as it may, being cornered like this for the first time in her life was not something Adela de Lanark took lightly.

"I said move, Egon!"

A thrill ran inside her spine saying his name out loud for the first time.

"These are things you needed to consider before barging into my property and tyrannizing my men like an immoral oppressor,"

She raised a hand to slap the audacious man in the face, but his big gloved hand held hers by the wrist and pinned it to the wall behind her. Her other hand tried to push him away but ended up pinned to the cold wall next to the other one.

Gasping for air, her lips parted under his scrutinizing gaze that was pinned on them. Utterly mortified to lose control of her own body like that, she closed her eyes and tried not to feel what she was feeling, she forced herself to remember the worst things about him.

Images of the last time he manhandled her were welcomed ones.

She locked these in the forefront of her vision and then opened her eyes to verbally attack him since she had failed to do so physically.

Egon's broad chest heaved.

Adela was the one to receive the first blow when she rediscovered his dark eyes, thin irises around pupils that had dilated so much, the intense eye contact between the two of them threatened to pull her into a bottomless abyss, one that she was too curious about for her own good.

The strange magic-like sensation broke when his eyes closed and stayed closed, giving her room to remember what she had to say to him.

"What comes next?... Will you hit me as you did on that hill?"

He lifted his eyelids lazily, and the potent pull inside of them was nowhere to be found.

"I would never do that to you,"

His sudden sincere whispers were louder than shouts, yet she rebelled against his statement. An enemy, it was what he called himself on that hill.

"Wouldn't you? Are you not here to settle some kind of an old score with house de Lanark?"

He let go of her wrists but did not take a step back. The transparent melancholy that veiled his eyes put all the distance in the world between the two of them.

"I have nothing against you,"

She searched his face for a long moment looking for traces of dishonesty, having found none, she dared probe him about the past.

"...What about my father?"

The immediate fury that sparked behind his eyes told her everything she needed to know, whatever Egon von Conradie's issue was, it was certainly with the Archduke of Lanark.

She glared at him, "Father is the most precious existence to me... He is me! He is the whole household... The lines you are trying to draw do not exist!"

"You don't know anything," he hissed.

"No... It is you who knows not of Kaiser de Lanark... Otherwise, you would have been bound to respect and look up to him,"

He snorted, "How burdensome of you, looking up to somebody instead of allowing them to fall down in peace,"

It was by far, the worst thing he had ever said to her.

"Unlike you, sir. I neither wish to burden him nor be the source of his problems,"

He scoffed, "The source? Your father's debt was not caused by me. Didn't I help him save face by becoming the sole owner of his fortified lands? "

She dropped her eyes, too worried about what the heartless man would see in them otherwise.

"…Perhaps I should have let you explain, perhaps the lady came here putting her massive ego aside to express her gratitude like a civilized maiden,"

She found herself compelled to direct another glare at him.

"But no, those eyes of yours that drip poison and glare with hate, they do not belong to a thankful person,"

It is you who keep on provoking me. She gulped the words and almost choked on them then searched for ones that would convey the opposite of gratitude and tried to do it calmly this time.

"Father says he will get those lands back, and the Archduke's words are simply delayed promises, so you enjoy throwing away your money on this land while you can, kind sir,"

"What I enjoy has nothing to do with money or land... In fact, you could get back everything your father lost if you entered an agreement with me,"

There was a long pause between the two of them while she waited for the laughter part to come, but it never did, and the step he took backward aided her efforts to recollect herself.

"Only a cruel person would make such inappropriate jokes," she murmured.

He turned around and walked away then paused by the door to speak without looking at her.

"I just made you a non-negotiable business offer that expires by sundown tomorrow. I need somebody with knowledge of medicine to work for me. What is your final decision?"

Dumbfounded by his sudden offer, she blurted out the first thing she could think of, "I must think about it,"

Egon started a monologue about still acting arrogant as if she had other choices then continued on his way.