MasukBecca sat silently near the window in one of the cushioned chairs in her chambers, still wearing the dress from the duel stained with Eugene’s blood.Her hands rested protectively over her stomach while her eyes stared blankly ahead, unfocused and exhausted.She looked emotionally drained, broken by the events of the night.Across the room, Mira stood with her arms crossed tightly as she stared furiously at Ariel.Ariel's eyes were swollen from crying, her hands trembled violently and she couldn’t even properly lift her head anymore.“I still cannot believe you did this,” Mira snapped sharply.Ariel flinched immediately.“Mira, please—”Mira stepped closer.“No, don’t plead now. You stood beside Becca every single day. You listened to her cry. You comforted her while secretly reporting everything back to Desmond" she snapped. Her voice carried genuine anger and Ariel lowered her head further. She closed her eyes tightly as tears slid down her cheeks again.Becca remained silent near
Desmond moved quickly down the dim hallway despite the agony tearing through his body. Every step hurt, his ribs burned, his shoulder throbbed violently and dried blood still stained the black fabric wrapped around his torso beneath his cloak.But none of that mattered. He refused to stay.Behind him, Seraphina and Ava struggled to keep up.“Slow down. You’re going to collapse” Seraphina hissed under her breath. Desmond didn’t even look at her.“If I collapse, drag me” he said.Ava nervously glanced around the empty hallway.The mansion suddenly felt unfamiliar now. Every servant they passed immediately lowered their heads and hurried away, clearly aware of what had happened at the duel grounds.Desmond noticed it too and he hated it.The fear was still there but the respect was gone and that realization made his jaw tighten painfully.“We need to leave before Eugene wakes up,” he muttered coldly.Seraphina folded her arms tightly around herself.“You really think he’ll execute us?”
The weight of Desmond’s revelation sat heavily over the room like a storm cloud ready to collapse.Ariel stood near the doorway trembling violently, her pale hands clenched tightly against her dress while tears gathered desperately in her eyes.Across from her, Becca stared at her like she no longer recognized her. The hurt in her expression was almost unbearable to witness.“No…” Ariel whispered shakily.Her head moved rapidly as if denying the truth could somehow erase it.“No, that’s not true…”Desmond laughed softly from where he sat against the healer’s bed.“Oh, stop embarrassing yourself.”Ariel’s frightened eyes snapped toward him instantly.“Please…”Desmond’s expression remained cold.“You’ve already been exposed.”Ariel immediately turned back toward Becca desperately.“He’s lying!”The words came out too fast.Desmond tilted his head with amusement.“You really should stop denying it,” he said lazily, then slowly he looked toward everyone else.“I recruited her shortly aft
The healer’s chambers had become suffocating.The air itself seemed heavy beneath the overwhelming scent of blood, medicine, sweat, and fear. Servants hurried from one side of the room to another carrying bowls of steaming water and stained cloths while the healer barked exhausted instructions at anyone within hearing distance.The chamber felt less like a place of healing now and more like the aftermath of war at the center of it all, Eugene lay unconscious.Fresh bandages had already been wrapped tightly around the deep wound in his chest, but blood continued seeping through no matter how many times the healer tried to stop it.Becca sat beside him on the edge of the bed, gripping his hand tightly between both of hers as if letting go would somehow allow death to take him away completely.Her face was pale, tear-streaked and exhausted, yet she refused to move even for a second.“Please come back to me” she whispered shakily while brushing damp strands of hair away from Eugene’s for
The healer’s chambers had descended into complete chaos. The scent of blood already filled the air heavily, mixing with crushed herbs, smoke from healing incense, and the metallic sting of panic.Servants rushed frantically from one side of the massive chamber to another carrying bowls of steaming water, clean cloths, medicine trays, and bundles of healing plants. The atmosphere felt suffocating, loud, and tense enough to snap at any moment and at the center of it all Desmond Blackwood was making everything worse.“MOVE!”His furious roar echoed through the chamber so violently that one of the younger maids nearly dropped the tray in her hands.Desmond sat partially upright on one of the healer’s large beds despite the obvious agony his body was in. Thick bandages wrapped around his ribs and shoulder while bruises and cuts covered nearly every inch of exposed skin.One arm had been crudely stabilized because of a fracture, his breathing was uneven, his face pale from blood loss and y
For several long seconds after Eugene returned to himself, the entire arena remained silent.The oppressive darkness that had nearly crushed the entire arena moments ago was gone completely now, replaced by the familiar aura everyone once knew.Eugene still held Becca close against him, his breathing uneven as though he had just awakened from a nightmare. His hands trembled slightly around her waist, not from rage anymore but shock.His eyes slowly moved around the battlefield, finally seeing clearly what he had become only moments earlier.The fear still lingering on people’s faces, Brian’s lifeless body lying not too far away and the blood covering his own hands.His stomach twisted violently.Becca immediately cupped his face gently.“You came back. That’s what matters” she whispered quickly but Eugene looked shattered.His gaze moved toward Brian’s body again and guilt hit him so hard his knees nearly buckled.“No, I killed him” he said.He pulled slightly away from Becca, staring
Garran’s heart hammered against his ribs as Desmond’s guard stepped forward, his shadow stretching across the wooden floor.Desmond didn’t blink. His stare was fixed on Garran as cold as steel.“Your child will remember you as a coward,” he said. “But at least he will remember you.”Garran frowned,
The Blackwood dungeon always seemed to vibrate with a cold aura, like a slow, chi exhale that seeped through the narrow corridors of stone. A weird wetness clung to the walls like sweat, and the torches flickered with a sickly, orange light. Jack sat against the farthest wall of his cell, his han
Becca sat in the corner beside Mira, both of them bound once again. Their cloaks were damp, their skin cold, but neither of them spoke. The silence between them was taut, full of words they couldn’t afford to say.Becca’s eyes drifted to the boy sleeping across the room. He was better, breathing e
The maid moved swiftly through the dim hallways, her torchlight flickering against the walls. Her footsteps were almost soundless as though she had walked these corridors her entire life.Becca kept close behind her, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds. “Who are you?” Becca whispered.“My







