Share

XVI

Author: ATARAXIA
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

XVI – Dead Dove: Do Not Eat

Without a warning, the Princess all but grabbed Eden by the hand before the Queen could say more as she brusquely slammed the door shut behind them. 

Eden thought her highness would have released her as soon as they stepped out of Her Majesty’s chambers but… but no, the Princess’ grip remained firm and true as she continued to drag Eden far and far away until they were all but running, now in the familiar, empty halls of the west wing, the sound of their footsteps the only noise, reminding Eden just how late it was right now.

“Did she hurt you?”

The handmaiden was alarmed when she realized that the younger girl’s hand was actually trembling, “Milady,” she called, eyes wide in concern, “Is… are you alright–?”

“Did she hurt you?”

&nb

Locked Chapter
Continue to read this book on the APP

Related chapters

  • Corruption   XVII

    XVII – A Hymn to Redemption As the handmaiden continues to envelop the Princess in her arms with her entire body slightly rocking back and forth over and over again to soothe her crying… until the younger girl’s trembling faintly stills, sheknows. (As Eden hears the young girl sobbing and crying her heart out so hard that her voice practically breaks off and eventually dies down into the tiny whimpers, hiccupping here and there with the barest traces of sniffles… The sound was breaking her heart too, bit by bit, and Eden thinks she might be crumbling alongside her mistress as well. There were silent tears and dripping blood still streaking down her highness’ pale face as she coughs and hiccups so badly, which Eden shushes and wipes away with her hands, gently brushing her fingers thr

    Last Updated : 2024-10-29
  • Corruption   XVIII

    XVIII – The Concept of Mercy When the Princess was way much younger, she often dreams of dying (with the idea of staying dead still fresh in the back of her mind) whenever she wakes up screaming her lungs out in odd hours of the night. No one hears. No one comes. Back then, she didn’t mind. Back then, she thinks she was better off that way… let no one see or hear just how much her stepmother had gotten under her skin because at least, in the safety of her chambers, she can pretend that she was still whole and unbreakable, strong, still in control. (She was wrong.) Because all along, the Princess would have been fooling no one but herself if she claims outright that she had come out unscathed when her stepmother had poisoned her when she was

    Last Updated : 2024-10-29
  • Corruption   XIX

    XIX – After the Rain Jin Sanscroft’s fingers ghosted through the fine velvet that the ribbon was made of as he admired it in the dim glow of the candlelight. It was the shade of a rich, dark purple, glimmering so prettily as he turned it amongst his fingers this way and that–the color of royalty as one of his old tutors from the North had told him–soft and silky to the touch, rippling like molten lilac in his hand. He would have been so pleased at how well it turned out but… He had missed Aria’s birthday. But that’s okay, he thinks, trying to look on the bright side, looking over at the silver chest filled with books (mostly novels and collections of poetry he had bought that he knows she’ll like) sitting on the top of his bed in their home in the South, a fond smile tugging gently at the corner of his lips just at the thought of his friend.

    Last Updated : 2024-10-29
  • Corruption   XX

    XX – Cauterize the wound Jin still hasn’t come back. And Aria… has never felt so exposed, added by the knife-like feeling of humiliation, of feeling less-than human in her infuriatingly short and miserable life before, during and even hours after the ‘examination’ (for a lack of a better term) and although the Princess was more than aware that Eden had only nothing but her best interests at heart, the experience was just as life-scarring as it is. She knows Eden’s mother–is Mrs. or was it Doctor Brighton the proper name to refer to? –was not even at fault too and had been doing her job and moral duty to a patient and to her princess but Aria, no matter how irrational, how petty, and childish… she still couldn’t find it in her to quell the licks of fiery resentment bubbling up on her chest. &nb

    Last Updated : 2024-10-29
  • Corruption   XXI

    XXI – Letters to Death Winter turns to spring and it turns to summer, summer turns to autumn, autumn turns to winter again in the seasons’ hour glass. The cycle continues on and on and on. On and on, it spins. * * * * * A year had passed by since then and the young Princess of the Northern Kingdom has practically grown up to become an infamous beauty throughout the land of ice and snow as the fairest just as the Queen’s mirror had foretold the girl shall come to be. But be warned for her beauty is a kind of beauty that only a wildfire can possess, for it can only be admired from a safe distance. Snow-like skin and ebony hair with blood red colored eyes.

    Last Updated : 2024-10-29
  • Corruption   XXII

    XXII – The Rightful Heir The next morning, Princess Aria very nearly crushed the delicate porcelain teacup she had been holding in her hand when she heard from her father during breakfast that Sir Edward of House Sanscroft has passed away in his sleep peacefully last night. And so, out of respect for Sir Edward Sanscroft–and to her father–Aria forced herself to attend the morning meal (despite wanting to get the hell away from there as soon as possible, run to Jin’s arms and mourn with him, she'll allow herself to mourn for Sir Edward herself behind closed doors much, much later because right now, her friend needs her more than ever) and listen to King Arion lament of his friend’s past endeavors and bravery during the entire meal. Her father looked like he was this close to tears but managed to keep it together as he hold his chin up as proud as any k

    Last Updated : 2024-10-29
  • Corruption   XXIII

    XXIII – Danse Macabre Darkness was the first thing he sees. Everything was black, nothingness. Jin blinked. Why was everything so dark? Confused, he blinked again. And that was when the world righted itself once more when he found that he was somehow, in some way… lying in the middle of a garden filled with the choicest of flowers that the earth could ever behold. Pink, yellow, white, blue, violet, and red… Each and every single one of the flowers around him seemed to dance to the invisible tune of a soft, summer breeze. Blinding s

    Last Updated : 2024-10-29
  • Corruption   XXIV

    XXIV – The Monster When Jin finally came to, he was surprised to find himself lying on a bed in one of their many guest-rooms that was located in the… upper floors–still feeling a little dizzy but all the more better than he remembered earlier. His wounds were already cleaned and bandaged from what he can tell as he began to sit up, careful to not make a sound. Confused, Jin looked around the room… only to find the Princess of the kingdom on a lone settee in a far corner of the room, a few meters away from where he was with her head a bit turned away. Her expression told him that the Princess was strangely but not unusually distracted, probably lost in her own thoughts–which was normal, she was usually like that after all but she–she was literally staring blankly at the doorway, her posture slack

    Last Updated : 2024-10-29

Latest chapter

  • Corruption   The Missing Pages

    “The stars, they said goodnight So, sleep till morning light Someday, I'll stay And dream for eternity With you… O beloved from above Until then It's only a matter of when When he draws near To take thee away O beloved from above Your hymns, I shall sing with love Until time passes me by So don’t kiss me goodbye Grant me another chance Spare me a second glance Let me… be with you again Beloved…” . . . . . . When Sir Hans Bathory finally came to, the world was already burning down all around him. And there’s nothing stopping it even as he sees the first, blindingly bright rays of the sun. Utterly confused and feeling panic and something like despair bubbling up from within the depths of his chest, the feeling of wrongness roaring everywhere around him, the knight finally gathers the strength, the courage to stumble and search through the torn-apart castle, one hand crawling and clawing at his neck (because he was so sure he was supposed to be dead–) while the other

  • Corruption   Special Chapter: Spider's Thread

    “Do you know what it is like to live but not be in control? To watch your ‘self’, your own body living a life that was supposedly yours… to becoming nothing more but a vessel of a parasitic being you weren’t even fully aware of that was just there, watching and waiting… simply existing inside you?” Proserpina says nothing to that merely cants her head a touch in a barest hint of a nod because really… she understands. Because this is the curse of things that should be dead but still failed to die… for as long it still had its consciousness, a vessel… it would continue to exist, would continue to remain. …until the end of time. And as the young goddess continues to appraise the being that disturbingly looked far too human than the others residing within the depths of Tartarus… she thinks it was like staring at herself in years she didn’t even want to think of.

  • Corruption   Epilogue

    Proserpina turns to the next page, squinting hard. When the next words makes absolutely no sense and still doesn’t change at all no matter how much she stares and wills for it to change, the goddess of shadows finally blurted out the words that probably will make sense out of it all because seriously– “…What the hell?” “What is it?” another voice piped up. Her entire body jolted. Quickly, the young goddess turned to look behind her with a deer in the headlights look in her face… but it was only her younger brother, William, standing by the doorway, a black knapsack carelessly slung over one shoulder, a hand in his pocket while the other was loosely holding his phone, looking over at her with a weirded-out stare. Embarrassingly enough, it took her a moment or two to final

  • Corruption   XLI

    XLI–A Grim Fairytale The bats screeched then, erupting into a violent waterfall of darkness raining down upon them and an ungodly roar of outrage seemed to fill the entire world just as Jin felt himself crumble to his knees once more, white noise instantly filling his head as the white-hot pain consumed him. For a moment, Jin felt one of his hands blindly, weakly pawing all over on his side, on the floor that was becoming stained quickly with blood… his blood. “Now, it would never have one of our own,” he heard Sir Hans Bathory saying above him, his voice shaking with what seemed to be remorse and trepidation at once, “That demon would never ever have you, who bear the blood of Sans…” Jin can vaguely feel a familiar, cold darkness creeping and licking at the fra

  • Corruption   XL

    XL–An Execution Jin Sanscroft yanked his uncle close to him as they rounded another hallway before the old man could be mauled by an ungodly maw while firing a round of bullets towards the other beast that suddenly leapt from the shadows out of nowhere with his other hand. He could feel Sir Ainsworth speaking over the commotion, but he couldn’t hear him. His eyes were firmly locked upon some of the beasts that were snarling and gnashing their teeth at him. And the beast’s eyes locked upon him. Red eyes, those eyes… its eyes looked like Aria’s on that day she tried to kill me, Jin thought with a sense of growing dread more than a passing thought as he lowered the pistol, just as the beast fell to the ground with a loud thud. Inaudibly, he swa

  • Corruption   XXXIX

    XXXIX – Judge, Jury, and Executioner “...Do you hear that, though?” her smile seems to grow a touch wider. Sir Hans Bathory paused as well, a bit disturbed upon hearing the sound of upcoming footsteps and Queen Ysabel’s cries and pleas well as it was growing louder and louder–they, whoever had the Queen, they must be coming close to the throne room–yet he did not dare to move nor take away his gaze from the demon standing right in front of him. The enemy was just sitting right there– “It’s the sound of an animal being led to slaughter…oh, such music to my ears,” she… the demon was practically moaning in sheer pleasure as she closes her eyes for a moment, as though relishing the ungodly screams before they opened, regarding him once more with those surreal eyes of blood, “Which reminds me: don’t you hav

  • Corruption   XXXVIII

    XXXVIII – A Prophecy to fulfill Ysabel all but stumbled forward clumsily in her heels with Sir Quentin leading her with a firm grip by the arm, “Are you sure you know where we are going, you fool?” He didn’t answer. She scowled, “We’re lost, aren’t we?!” “No, no milady I was just… I truly apologize for the inconvenience, but this is the safest route we can take in the palace wall, out of sight from everyone,” the knight replied, looking around a bit too frantically for her tastes, “…and safe from those creatures,” She bit her lip, opting to keep her mouth shut, cradling the sack she brought with her containing all the jewelries and gold she managed to steal and gather from her vault and the King’s chambers–it was fortunate they had not decided to clean her deceased husband’s chambers just y

  • Corruption   XXXVII

    XXXVII– The Prophecy Sir Hans Bathory frowned upon finding the throne room vacated. Not to mention, it was quiet–too quiet to be even considered normal. If the knight hadn’t known any better he would have assumed that the Queen and her cronies had all but fled the palace by now, abandoning her people to their fate to the beasts, gone to who knows where. Now, by all means, Sir Hans wasn’t political savvy but that doesn’t mean he was plain stupid, he had known all along that the Queen was up to no good (he’d still choose the witch over any other day than having to actually bow his head to a demon playing human) but still… it was kind of annoying to be stuck in this current predicament without an authority figure. Especially since they were all looking at him for guidance…

  • Corruption   XXXVI

    XXXVI – Unveiled “What is the meaning of this?!” The mirror watched on in glee as Queen Ysabel with her usually fashioned dark blonde hair now completely messed up and her gown wrinkled as she frantically paced back and forth in front of her distorted reflection, her hands running through her tangled locks as she continued to panic. News of the kingdom being invaded in the middle of the night by demonic beasts that simply won’t die had finally reached her ears in the midst of her supposedly victorious celebration, the people being hunted and devoured like livestock as they speak, the land pillaged and stained with blood and the only thing protecting her right now from them are the palace gates and very few of her men armed by mere swords and bows, becoming less and less– “Why is this happening? Wh

DMCA.com Protection Status