Not My Sins

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Doni did his work diligently, it's not like he had another job to do but it was hectic, taking care of more than 300 horses the Duchy owned, was more than enough to tire him out every day but he was in love with the animals to care about the fatigue.

 He took out the pile of trays and took it by the riverside to scrub them clean.

 Some of the bolts have been removed and some of the trays have been torn, sometimes the beast loved to play too roughly, and because of their weight they tend to destroy them unconsciously, some of which he could fix but at this point, it is safe to consider writing a request to the Duchess sometimes, so they can replace them.

"What are you doing?" He flinched slightly when she heard the small squeak behind him, he didn't even hear the footsteps, and he had been too focusing scrubbing the dirt off the pan. He soon relaxes when he notices the harmless woman behind him is just Rain.

He turned towards her and his eyes widened slightly, she was in her night dress, it had a transparent bodice and lace in the front. Doni tore his eyes away from her immediately, what the hell was she wearing?

"That is a question I should be asking you," he muttered with a sharp frown, still having his back turned towards her. "What are you doing here?"

"I was unable to sleep." She answered joining him at the mouth of the stream, she stared down at the ground, there were a lot of dirty pans, that was a lot of work for him. He might dismiss her with the excuse that he is busy.

"Didn't anyone tell you it is dangerous to be with a man around this time at night," He muttered trying his best to not look at her, he wished she would just get angry and leave him alone. He wasn't in the mood to have a conversation with her.

His surprise intensified when she dropped to her knees and picked up one of the dirty pans, in surprise he turned towards her.

"What do you think you are doing?" He asked curiously and she shrugged.

"I want to talk to you but I know you are busy," She said with a slight smile, she took one of the soapy rags he used and ran it along the pan. "So I thought if I helped you, you would listen to me."

"Please go back inside." He gripped her wrist tightly in his hands, and she jerked towards him. "I just told you it is dangerous to be walking around here dressed like that."

She turned her gaze to the bodice of her dress, and a soft color reached her cheeks, in embarrassment, she recoiled from him and let down her hair letting it cover her chest.

"Nobody is going to hurt me." She answered and Doni shook his head.

"You can't trust anyone." He muttered with a frown on his face. "So, please go inside."

"You are not going to hurt me," She answered confidently.

"Saying that too boldly to someone who had tried once." He muttered making her heart skip another beat, he suddenly got up and strolled towards her, and she shifted away slightly, his demeanor had changed and she noticed there was now a bloodlust in his eyes.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a shaky voice, she tried her best to feign courage and not move but he gripped her arms and yanked her up.

"Doing it a second time wouldn't be so hard." He growled softly in her face. "You shouldn't get too confident around me princess, because I am being too nice, doesn't mean I am less of a threat."

"So," she whispered, her voice shaking, Doni noticed that her voice wasn't the only thing that was shaking, even her lips quivered and her hands shook. "What are you going to do? Are you going to kill me?"

"No…" He answered letting her go, she staggered slightly.

"You didn't give me any answer." She reminded. "If you want to get rid of me, then you have to answer me."

"What?"

"I told you that I like you," She continued. "I liked you so much, from the first time I saw you. That afternoon, I was sitting in one of the valleys with Lily for breakfast, I remember being upset because I was bullied by the maids. It was your hair."

Instinctively, she raised her hands to his now black hair and ran her fingers into it, she paused for a while, waiting for him to react but nothing. It wasn't as repulsive as he expected her touch to be, her touch burned him but he was unable to push her away.

"It was your hair," She repeated. "They shone like gold, I saw it everywhere, even when I closed my eyes, I wanted to touch it like this, I wanted to hold it in my hands but I was just too afraid to get close to you."

He pushed her slightly, her hands finally leaving his hair, and a moan of disappointment escaped her.

"Why don't you ever call me?" He asked curiously.

"Call you?"

"Doni…" A small smirk hung at the edge of the lips. "Everyone calls me Doni, but not once have I heard you call my name. Is this probably because of a pang of guilt or something?"

"I can't," She murmured, ignoring the sarcasm his voice held. "It's too inhumane to call you that, it isn't even a genuine name."

"It is the name your father had given to me out of the goodness of his heart." He was being sarcastic again, she turned away from him, but he held her closer, forcing her eyes back to his. "Why can't you call me?"

"Because I can't." Her eyes dropped, she understood his sarcasm, the reason why he could never love her, and he had just rejected her even without speaking it directly, tears bested up in her eyes she answered confidently. "I already promised yourself that I would never call you Doni."

"Um… are you sad?" He muttered tilting her face upwards, he then noticed there were tears in her eyes, but she held on to it stubbornly.

"I understand just how difficult it is for you to love someone like me, but please don't look at me like that," She turned away from his gaze, she hated the fact that she could see the hatred in his eyes every time he looked at her. "It's not me you hate, it's my father. So if you can't love me, don't act like this."

She was about to leave when he held her in his arms and his lips suddenly descended and crashed against hers. Rain jolted in surprise, but she didn't disengage from him after all she had imagined things like this I'm her dreams.

But she was too surprised it was happening in real life, or maybe she stood still because it felt like a dream and she feared that if she moved, she could wake up.

 Doni caressed her, his long fingers snaked their way into her thick hair and they pulled on them, not hard enough to cause her pain, his other hand pulled her even more into his arms and shared some of his warmth with her.

Rain's eyes water.

Maybe this was Donis way of consoling her for rejecting her, rather than loving her.