The Crown’s Obsession

When Vladimir offered his charming smile, he noticed the vein on Helena's forehead pop up in annoyance. He could tell that she was trying to control her anger from saying or doing something to him. But the way her eyes blazed, he couldn't help but poke her.

"Let's move to the dining room," proposed Vladimir and the woman quietly glared before following his lead.

Watching the back of Vladimir's head, Helena gritted her teeth. If she could, she would have shot him dead for annoying her and for unnecessarily wasting her time. But this was no ordinary mortal. If she did something, who knew what the consequences would be? The sooner she would finish the meal, the faster she could get him out of her hair.

"I took the liberty to prepare some of your favourites after having Odin ask the people who know you closely," said Vladimir, his head turning to look at her with that evil smile that represented him.

The dining room was big, and going to one side of the head of the table, Vladimir pulled out the chair for her. Helena gingerly sat down, and Vladimir took the other end to sit opposite of her. He stared at her while she glared at him, neither of their gazes dropping.

"You haven't spoken much since you arrived here. The more you stay quiet it only makes me think that you want to stay mysterious so that I can find more about you," smiled Vladimir.

"It seems like you are not good when it comes to reading people, Mr. Lazarus. I don't think you have heard of the term called personal space," responded Helena. The look in her red eyes was fierce with a no-nonsense attitude.

Vladimir closed his eyes, his head down as if she had said something she was not supposed to. He then looked up and said, "Please. Call me Vlad."

"You aren't my relative or someone close to you to be calling you by first name," replied Helena.

"Then it is only right that we familiarise ourselves," said Vladimir with a bright smile. 𝘧𝓇𝗲𝑒we𝙗noѵ𝑒l.𝐜o𝘮

Odin, who had just entered the room, cleared his throat without using words to interrupt them. Helena's eyes snapped to look at Odin, who brought the wine bottle forward, "Wine?"

She leaned her back against the chair, watching Odin pour the wine into her glass and then move to where the Devil sat before pouring the wine into his glass.

Helena didn't touch her wine glass, but she did see Vladimir pick up his glass, taking a sip as if he was enjoying this moment.

"I am not here to familiarize with you. I am being polite and I would request you to stop showing up in front of me. You might have a lot of free time in your hands, Mr. Lazarus, but I have a place to work that needs my attention," stated Helena.

"You speak as if I am next to you all the time. You must be remembering me a lot, it isn't truly my fault now, isn't it?" He raised his eyebrows.

If Helena had a branch of the tree right now, she would have beaten the man until he came to his senses. Instead, her hand reached for the wine, and she took a sip from it.

"It seems like the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree," she replied, her tongue cl.i.c.k.i.n.g in the end.

Vladimir beamed at Helena's words. He then looked at Odin and said, "Get the first round of food, Odin." When the servant left, the smile on Vladimir's lips slowly slipped from his face. Running his finger around the rim of the glass, he asked, "I heard you weren't like this when you were young. What happened?"

"Aren't you nosey," came the calm and collected words from Helena, who took a few more sips from the glass.

"I am. I hope you can overlook it," responded Vladimir while waiting for Helena to speak.

For a person who got his minion to find what she liked to eat, Helena couldn't help but question if he had already done a background check on her.

Helena didn't speak for a few seconds, and she then said, "Why don't you speak about yourself."

"I am the Devil from Hell and that," he looked at Odin, who entered the room, "That is my faithful demon Odin. I have a handsome grandson and a cute great grandchild. I was hoping you could turn into their grandmother."

The annoyance in Helena's eyes increased, "I don't know where you have picked up these lines, but you should stop.

"Does it make your heart race?" he asked her.

"It makes me cringe.

Vladimir chuckled, "I am an old fashioned man, that must be the reason. Would you prefer if I tried something else?"

"What I prefer is for you to not bother me," saying this, she took a bite from the food. f𝙧𝒆𝚎𝑤e𝚋𝓷o𝘷𝗲l.c𝐨m

"Hmm...I can tell you you want to throw the knife at me," commented Vladimir when he noticed Helena's eyes on the cutlery. "But people don't often live after they try something like that on me."

"I am not afraid of death," responded Helena, meeting his eyes, and he smirked.

"So I have noted."

The rest of the meal time went in silence, and when the time to leave appeared, Helena hoped that Vladimir wouldn't follow her anymore. Walking out of the castle, she said, "Thank you for the meal."

"We should do this often," proposed Vladimir.

"No," came the quick response from Helena. "I hope since you are an old fashioned man, you will respect my thoughts and not come in front of me anymore."

Vladimir gave it some thought before he nodded his head, "Okay."

Offering him a bow, Helena walked back to the carriage, and she returned to her work.

A week passed since she had last seen Vladimir, and without him, she felt peace was back in her life. The decorum in the High House had returned to its normal state that was busy with meetings and papers that needed to be read and sealed.

She leaned against the plush chair, closing her eyes for a moment in the room.

"You should take a break from work, if you don't want early wrinkles on that pretty face." Hearing the Devil's voice from behind her, she turned herself and saw it was indeed him.

"You," she grumbled.

"You said not to come in front of you, nothing about showing up behind you," smirked Vladimir. Helena felt her headache return.