The maid looked awkward to respond. There were hesitation on her face as she wrung her hands together, looking more and more nervous as time passes. Josie cleared her throat, “I won’t tell anyone that you say anything today and I will be sure to give you reward.”Hearing the word ‘reward’ the maid’s eyes sparkled. She looked happy and even eager. She managed to cool down her expression and finally spoke. “From what everyone know, milady. They were never once in a good relationship,” the maid answer with a tone that was low, still frightened someone would hear them.Josie expected the answer as Shawn had told to her about it before. He told her that he wasn’t one to be open with his emotions. Thus he was never good at expressing his own love for his older brother. She understood that but she also felt this wasn’t enough for an answer. “Well have they ever been in a fight?”“Of course, many time even,” answered the maid quickly without thinking, as if the fight had occurred for too m
Josephine couldn't tell why she felt hurt hearing Shawn's upset tone. Even though deep down she was wary of him for being the enemy against her sister, she felt really close to Shawn. She couldn't tell if it was all acting and if it is, why did he looked so hurt now that she had stopped trusting him? Was it because he was upset his little naive friend had found out the truth?Regardless, Josie decided that she should stop trusting blindly on what she sees. Her eyes could lie and people emotions could be faked so sincerely that she wouldn't know the difference of the sincere emotions and the false one.Josie recalled again when the High Authorities had came. Shawn had shown them the wounds that Lady Ashley had given to him by whips, showing that the person who was suffering under the Duchess was not only Dominic but him. She pursed her lips, wanting to know the truth which mean only to meet Lady Ashely but she was refused flatly by Shawn.Josie bite her lips, pondering on her next acti
When Rose opened her eyes, she could only stare at the ceiling before a sharp pain ache on the back of her head. She slowly pushed herself from the bed, wanting to sit up as her body felt stiff for lying on the bed for too long when she felt the weight on her hand. Lifting her blurred vision, she found Dominic who was holding to her hand while his head was rested on the bedside. He felt the small movement from the bed and slowly opened his eyes. Seeing her lovely face, it took him a while to make sure this was not in his dream before he pulled her into his embrace. His words were hoarse when he spoke, "I thought I would have gone mad.""I'm sorry," she whispered, placing her hands on his back. "You don't have to apologize. I didn't know that you felt ill but I thought I have told you the importance of telling me whether you are sick or not," Dominic looked into her green eyes, his concern was brimming. He could still remember his panic on the rainy day to find Rose walking to him ba
The sky outside the carriage turns cloudier as they rode toward the most luxurious castle in Agios. Rose and Dominic had came alone as Lord Salem and Lady Catherine decided to stay at the mansion and let the children greet the King on their own, believing they need their own time to get their questions answered. Before they had left, Rose saw Dominic who had talked with his grandparents, whispering with a faint frown between his forehead before he left the mansion. Now that they were alone, Rose curiously questioned, "What did you talked about with your grandparents?""A little about Andrius, I heard he wouldn't be able to come due to previous arrangement but I convinced them we could meet the King alone and it shouldn't be difficult," Dominic felt Rose's eyes that lingered and continued, "They also told me about Starvos and to pardon him if he had said anything that could offend us, since his words tend to be on the harsh side."Rose hummed, recalling her conversation with Starvos,
Rose was glad to see the King to be a man with an understanding and politeness. He seemed to be open handed on receiving their arrival and even seemed interested in Dominic, his cousin who he had just first met. She breathe in relieve as her first worry had been solved. They continue to the sitting room where maid quickly rushed in after them to offer them the pretty blue teacups and refreshment. Although the food looked utterly delicious, Rose wasn't in particular mood to eating, feeling nervousness creeping up from her finger when Aleks look at her. "A human," he hummed, seeing Rose. "Have anyone told you the probability of human species in Agios?"Rose shook her head, wondering to herself if humans were more compared to werewolves, or was it the opposite. "It is 2 out of ten," he answered, looking back at Dominic, "It's unusual for werewolves to decide on spending the rest of their life with a human. Not that because they share different beliefs but also the fact how mates bond
Dominic for a second thought and imagined how his father would despair if he was to know how the things he works for would be destroyed in front of his eyes. He also could tell how his father had always hated losing, which was one of the reason he still kept his mother confined in the castle despite not having a single feeling toward her anymore. Rose for a moment wondered if deep in his heart he had regret to his father and perhaps still want to mend the broken relationship between him and his father but upon looking at his firm gaze, she doubted the thought. All this time, the Duke watched as he was killed. He never intervened, he never cared about his existence, nor did he ever loved Lady Elizabeth.If he did loved her, would he had drove her to taking her own life?For someone to be driven to the edge to the point where they wish they could leave the world means there must have been something deep that the Duke had done that had truly left a deep scar to Lady Elizabeth's heart. H
The informations which was given by Starvos wasn’t a lot but it meant more than knowing nothing about the sorcerers. She pondered a little why the sorceress still lend her help toward the humans if they were clearly using her. It seemed odd how she only use her power when needed as though she was pushed to the corner. She then looked back at Starvos, “What was the food she couldn’t eat?”“Something along the line of herbs that are always used in Agios. While it’s not famous in Essex, it appeared that she once visited Agios to eat the dinner, deciding to whether agree with the peace talk or not, I didn’t know how the King managed to invite her but she did came,” continued Starvos before he sighed, giving a bad sign, “But all of a sudden after a bite to the food that was given, she began to coughed up blood,, showing signs of being poisoned. She said something about the herbs being dangerous to her and accused the King for wanting to kill her under pretense of forming a peace treaty.”
After a long while, Dominic didn’t came back with Starvos. Rose, who was alone, had decided to take a stroll inside the castle as the King had allowed her to. As she did, she met the servants who smiled upon meeting her gaze and she noted how they were much more friendlier compared to the servants back in the Duchy’s house. Not knowing where to go, she had decided to admire the paintings that were settled on the gallery. In contrast to the red wall was the beautiful paintings of people and landscapes. Not long after, Dominic stood beside her. She lifted her face, turning and tilting her head as she couldn’t find Starvos near him.“He said he needed to talk to the King,” Dominic continued, having her to nod. “How did your talk went with him?” She carefully touched the topic as she found he admired the paintings after her. “Did you talked about your mother?”Dominic shook his head, “I didn’t ask. I thought when I saw him, I wanted to ask about the side of my mother that I hadn’t seen
The guests had filled the entrance of the castle faster than how a fire would spread. Colors filled the white walls as not a single place inside was missed from being decorated. Some of the guests gladly greeted Dominic and his wife, Rose. They had acknowledge her soon and even called Dominic “duke”. As soon after the incident, Dominic ruled out is father’s death and take over the duchy, being the new ruler of his fief. “Congratulation on your marriage, I apologize for being late with my words of happiness, Duke Dominic,” said one of the guest, Mr. Hanggs. “It’s nice to see you too, madam Rose.”“Pleasure to meet you,” Rose greeted the man’s words back. “How is the land now to you, Mr. Hanggs?” Dominic asked the wise man who seemed to be quiet. “It does feel different now. I gradually found people who could suddenly fill empty barrel with water as miracle instead of fearing them. I’m also glad to see how wise our King is as he had rooted off all the corrupted royals. Now Essex fee
The ground shook and the impact of the explosion launched both Dominic and Rose backward. When Rose couldn’t hold him tighter anymore, she almost slipped from his back and fell. Seeing that, Dominic changed to his human form, capturing her body even though he was on air and shielded her in a tight hug as they roll down across the cold floor with a harsh thud. Both Shawn and Gallahan was thrown backward. They tried to nail their feet on the floor to no avail as the extreme explosion would had destroyed the entire land if not because of the shield that Gallahan had perfected for years from his life. The entire world turn black for a moment and by the time it turn brighter again, Shawn saw Gallahan who had sprawled across the floor and Balbazor who had been reduced into a scorched human corpse. Even after that however, Balbazor didn’t stop moving. He crawled with his body like a snake, disregarding how his fingers had been turned into ash. No one could ever see his features anymore, o
Gallahan faced off Balbazor alone. It was a crazy feat to not even die after receiving the harmful attack that was made to eradicate humans and Gallahan’s performance so far have shocked everyone including Balbazor himself. “You are agile,” commented Balbazor. “But if this tentacles weren’t around me, I would have destroyed you in seconds by now.” “Making excuses now? When you killed my family with your curse, you were extremely silent. I’ll put that mouth of yours to rest too,” Gallahan quirked a smirked, urging anger and fuming Balbazor. The ancient demon opened his mouth again but this time, Gallahan had a smarter option. Rather than shielding himself, he rushed forward. Balbazor smiled, thinking how foolish this human is for coming on to him face to face but he was startled as he saw Gallahan had dodged his previous explosion attack. This time, Gallahan murmured a spell and a sharp blue light appeared from his hand which went straight directly to Balbazor’s thick neck. The an
“Brother, are we not related?” Young Shawn’s voice echoed against his ears. Dominic looked down at the child that had overheard the conversation of the adult. Gently he wrapped his fingers around his brother’s little ones and gave him a gentle smile, “Does it matter? Nothing will change even if we aren’t related, you will always be my brother.”Back to the present, Dominic found himself yelling at Shawn’s name as Balbazor had thrown a powerful magic at them. Rose’s eyes snapped open, showing the glistening green eyes of her had changed into purple. At the same time she uttered her spell, the wall broke. Dominic took no chance. He jumped from the staircase, landing down his two feet as a wolf and ran after Shawn. Surprisingly, Gallahan had stood in front of Shawn, shielding them both from the explosion. “I told you to stay away child!” Gallahan yelled to Rose who had rebuilt the wall.“I can help you ease the miasma,” she said, convincing the man only to see him frowning in disagre
When Dominic and Rose arrived at the foot of the door, they found that the glow of purple light had stopped and was quickly greeted by the roar of a monster. “It’s Balbazor, the ancient demon,” Rose explained, jumping down from his body. Dominic shook off his fur and turned into his human form, standing right beside her fully clothed. Although there are other pressing matter she couldn’t help and pointed out, “You can be clothed now?” “Hm?” Dominic looked down on himself, “Right I got taught by the other werewolves how to do that the last time we met.” Rose smiled, thinking how surely the relationship between him and his father had evolved into something closer where they could teach and talk to each other eye to eye. Seeing the progress, she felt moved. “Well what is with this Balbazor?” Dominic pushed the door open for her, they both entering the mansion only to feel the ground beneath them shaking. “He is the ancient demon who had formed contract with the first sorceress. She
Gallahan wasn’t daunted by the fact that Balbazor was more than fifth fold of him, looking even bigger and monstrous. Shawn could feel that demon had no pity or hesitation on him, willingly killing anyone who stood on his way. For a moment Shawn questioned how he could ever kill this monstrous being in front of him, finding it abhorrent that his entire instinct yelled that killing it would be close to impossible. Even coming near the monster he could feel the brimming heat that would burn his skin. “Shawn,” Gallahan called his attention to make sure the younger man wouldn’t feel daunted and eaten alive by his own fear. Shawn then watched Gallahan who in comparison seemed to be eagerly waiting for this chance to come his hand. It was something he had been waiting for a long time… finally he could avenge the death of his family who all ended due this demon’s twisted curse! “I want to kill you, you won’t even believe how much I have been looking forward to this day. My heart is beati
Dominic’s silver eyes also noticed the swirl of purple glow from the black mansion and turned his head again to the view before him. “What did you and the Master talked about?” Inquired Dominic while they run through the forest. “I told him that I will do something about the demon inside Isaac if he could help me end my curse but then he surprised me by saying that he doesn’t need help.” Rose responded. “I trust him.” “I do think he is someone who wouldn’t hurt his fellow sorcerer, you weren’t wrong in trusting him,” Dominic encouraged her. “But that sound too good to be true. He always ask people for payment if he help them.” “He did ask for something, he said to continue fooling my demon, Babylion,” uttered Rose. “I asked him why and he told me so he could use Babylion to kill that ancient demon in response.”“So this entire charade is because of him.” Dominic narrowed his eyes. They can’t seem to trust the Master completely, that man would do anything if it means to fulfil his
Shawn’s eyebrows furrowed as he saw a bright purple glow appearing from the room where the master and Isaac had fought in. As the master’s hand had been touched, Isaac had fulfilled his promise to erase the curse that plagued the Master. This should have call for a celebration regardless of the Master’s wish of never leaving the cave. But by fulfilling Isaac’s promise, the demon in him finally demanded for his reward and that reward was… for him to manifest into the world inside his body!When something suddenly clicked in his mind, Shawn bubbled out of anger.“Damn it! Damn it!” Shawn yelled, finally realizing the big mistake that he made by trusting that damn sorcerer king! He rushed out of the room, questioning everything that the sorcerer had done. He first of told him to imbue his magic on the crystal ball as if doing that would help. He said that by calming Isaac, he could convince him to drive out the demon inside. He also claimed that he wouldn’t kill Isaac thus why he had
Rose could feel the dark magic that entered her skin, crawling in such a disgusting way that she wanted to hurl but she couldn’t. There was something that was stopping her from moving and she couldn’t understand it as it felt slightly different when compared to the demonic magic that he uses on her. “Rose, make my life more colorful, won’t you?” Whispered Babylion. “Now go and betray your beloved. I want to see his face twisting in pain. From your memories, he seemed to the most fun to mess with.” Rose wanted to say no, she wanted to yell and disagree with Babylion’s words but she couldn’t move. She then had the sudden idea to play by what Babylion wanted and nodded her head slowly, agreeing that she would betray Dominic while her eyes turning unfocused, looking exactly similar as to someone who had just been bewitched.“Good, now play with me.” Back to the present, Rose run through her thins hands between her hair and pushed the golden locks to the back of her head, she sighed hea