Perfect. Gentle. Lovely. Puppy. Head tilts. Those were things that she loved about him. Her lover. Her love. Her life. They had met when she just turned twelve. Six years. They had painstakingly kept this illicit relationship for six years.
Hidden, under wraps.
On the seventh year. They would have been together. Build a life, a family. That was the plan. She would have quietly requested for her name to be blotted away from the family.
She would have feigned her death or mentioned that she was with a kid. Her family would have abandoned her in an instant.
Marked her as a blot. A blot of shame. Sitting under the tree, she placed a hand above her face and stared at the eucalyptus tree. It smelled exactly like Him.
"Miss, miss! You're requested for," a maidservant called out for her anxiously.
Blinking, she got up slowly and dusted the leaves away from her skirt. She wouldn't deny that the Crown Prince was devastatingly good looking. There was even a moment she could pretend that he was Him. They had similar height.
But that was all the similarity that they shared. Anyone with sight could see that they were two entirely different beings.
"... I need a model, and you're perfect," Cian lifted his eyes and smiled.
Sherli blinked twice. "Me?" she repeated and Cian nodded. He pointed to a painting on the table. Her eyes followed his index finger. Her eyes widened when she saw someone familiar.
"I didn't realise that I've been sitting at that spot for that long," she observed. She didn't realise that was how she looked. Fair, broken. Unsmiling. Heartbroken.
"It wouldn't be long, just thirty minutes each day. I'm sure I'll be able to draw something worthy of your time," Cian smiled and handed the drawing to her.
"A welcome gift, my beloved mistress of the house," he bestowed and Sherli took the drawing.
She wondered if she could...