DAHLIA:
I looked at Lady Livia’s pallid face as Count Jeteris helplessly dragged her away, and I was instantly reminded of the way I must have looked when papa slapped me on the wedding day. Despite what I feel towards her, I cannot ignore the tug of my heart.
“Wait one moment. I’ll just go to the powder room,” I told Tristan.
“I’ll come with you.”
“No… Please stay. I’ll be right back,” I said.
My heart still felt sore from what I had witnessed between him and Lady Livia earlier. He did not say anything else as I hurried to leave.
I went back to the house and into the front door. The pathway where I saw Count Jeteris drag his daughter could only lead back to this part of the house, so I was sure they would be there.
Even before I had reached the front door, I heard a few skirmishes.
“Where the hell did you disappear into, you rascal?!”
“
DAHLIA:“Come with me first.”I led Lady Livia into the end of the eastern wing and into the bedroom I shared with my husband.“Sit here,” I said, directing her into the sofa. I entered another room where I had kept my dresses and shoes. I began leafing through the boxes, searching for one particular item...“What are you doing? Why did you take me here,” the lady said curtly from the main room.“Uh, just one second,” I replied. I reached to the top shelf where a dark, rectangular box was kept. I opened it, and thankfully, it contained what I was looking for.“Here,” I said, going back into the room where Lady Livia was still seated. “Try this on.”The moment I showed her the pair of shoes that were inside the box, her eyes popped out in shock. She looked at me and back into the box.“Come on, take it,” I said. When she still did not move a few
KAIST:After the firework show ended, everybody knew that the party had reached its highlight, and so they began to leave the garden in throngs.I was still looking at the sky, transfixed. This had been a long night…I pulled my hood closer to my face. I used it as a disguise when I entered the villa, but my interactions on this fateful night had made me forget I that I should hide my face well.Thankfully, I did not attract a lot of attention. The people were too busy wondering why the count and countess had periodically disappeared from their own party to pay attention to me in the shadows.Before anyone could throw me any suspicious glance, I slipped by the side gate of the villa where Pelle and my coachman would be waiting for me.I was still thinking of how Pelle would lecture me on how I never kept my promise to just stay for a few minutes when I saw another person slip by the shadows before me. Based on the fluff of her ball go
DAHLIA:“Countess Abell?... What in the world are you doing here?”Lady Livia’s jaw was hanging wide open as she said this, and I understood her perfectly. Surely, she did not expect me to come. I didn’t expect to find her soon too at the heart of the city.“Lady Livia,” I said, smiling at her more as an instinct rather than reflective of what I truly felt. Appearing at the middle of the street did save me some time. At least now I don’t have to look for her. “I’m glad to see you here. Are you busy?”“Busy,” her face gave an alarmed look. “Did you perhaps come here for me?”“Well,” I said, nervous whether she will buy my excuse. “We came here to give out some food and medicine. We will need some help. Are you perhaps free?”I can’t possibly tell her that I sought her because I heard someone she knew was sick. I really took a chan
DAHLIA: It was already dusk when Lady Livia and I had a chance to speak. “Go ahead and ask it,” she said. True, I wanted to know her relationship with my husband. I think the term ‘friends’ do not quite fit them well. However, looking back at the relationship that Kaist and I had and how we almost married each other even though we were just friends made me feel that maybe such a relationship could exist for Tristan too. “Lady Livia… Why are you staying here and not in your father’s house?” Lady Livia’s face once again drew a surprised expression at my sudden question, but it went to being expressionless in a few seconds. She sighed heavily before she spoke. “To ask what others shunned to ask… you really are something, Countess Abell… “Father - Count Jeteris - isn’t really my biological dad. He registered my birth and gave me his last name, but he is more like my owner than my father,” she continued after a few moments of silenc
KAIST:It has been a month since the banquet where I had becoming acquainted with the mysterious and haughty daughter of Count Jeteris. Since then, I had been doing my best to find out about what she said.“Pelle, is there anything you have to report to me today,” I told my secretary, who also happened to be my loyal escort.“Unfortunately, sire, there’s nothing. Count Abell has been doing his business as usual. He is meeting traders and business partners in the morning and then going home in the afternoon to his wife.”“How about Lady Jeteris? Is she doing anything suspicious?”“No… Ever since she started working alongside Count Abell, she hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary so far…”I tossed Pelle’s report at the top of my table in the study. “Very well. You may go.”“Alright, sire.” He bit his lower lip for a while before bo
KAIST:Dahlly’s dream was to become a doctor. In the past, I had somewhat discouraged her to pursue it because I thought she was frail, and I didn’t want her to waste her health on too much studying.However, after what happened in our engagement and during our last talk, I realized that I may have been part of the reason why Dahlia felt caged. When we were together, she did not get to do the things she wanted to do. She was always restricted, always controlled.Perhaps the surest way into her heart was to become a more supportive person to her, and that’s what I shall do starting just about now.“Come on. Let’s go to the investigation site. I’m sure you can find plenty of clues that could help us there.”Just as I thought, the smile on Dahlly’s face when I said this was priceless.It took us less than thirty minutes for me to help her on my horse and gallop our way towards the crime scene.
DAHLIA (WALKING WITHIN CORLION’S MEMORY):Seeing the great, black werewolf before me, I immediately fell into my knees and started to beg.“H-Have mercy! M-My daughter, she needs help! Have mercy!”I tried to cover Cara’s head further, shielding her from the massacre that was happening before my very eyes…At the background, I saw countless vampires being slain by werewolves left and right. They were shooting blessed arrows towards my kind, turning them into ashes in an instant.I shivered. This wolf before me had no blessed arrows anywhere within range, but I knew he could still snap my head away in a second with his sharp paws or those raw, jagged teeth of his.“Please… My daughter is still young! Let her live!” I begged the wolf before me.He only looked at me with a fierce stare. Suddenly, I felt my heart ac
DAHLIA:My heart stilled as Kaist’s words sank into me…He was right. That wolf bearing a dark violet rune on his forehead could only be a wolf from the Shadow Rune Pack.But how can that be? Didn’t the whole pack go extinct twenty years ago? Did they not mysteriously vanish out of thin air over night? Why would they reappear now then and wreck havoc towards those they allied with before?“I-It doesn’t make any sense, Prince Kaist… Why would the Shadow Runes return, and why would they attack their own allies?”Kaist’s face was also distorted in disbelief. “I don’t know too… But whatever their reason was, we must investigate further. For now, can you keep this a secret, Dahlly, even to your husband?”I looked around and realized that I was the only one outside of the palace’s official people who had witnessed what the memory projection crystal contained. Kaist wo