Chapter 22: Chapter 22: I won, Theodore.
Eve watched the man with a frown.
She did not understand the significance of his question, nor the reason why he was so intrigued by her. Yet what baffled her was what had happened only a few minutes ago. She was so sure that his pale fingers had ripped through her flesh to reach her heart, she had felt it moving inside her. Yet his hands were unblemished, just like her skin that felt as smooth to touch as always.
She turned back to the silent crowd with the same curious expression. What had they seen that they had looked like they'd seen death itself only a while ago? Her gaze locked with a pair of large brown eyes. Viola's delicate jaw clenched and unclenched, her gaze filled with contempt towards her.
"What is with the silence, my dear people?" The man asked again, stepping towards the crowd slowly. His voice dropped to a dangerous low as he continued, "Does none of you want to see tomorrow?"
The threat in his words was evident. Eve watched him gaze at the crowd from beside her. Everything about him from head to toe screamed danger. She wanted to run, yet at the same time, she wanted to stay. And by the looks of Viola's worshipping eyes upon him, she knew that it was not just her who felt the same, at least the latter part.
She watched her stepmother fidget with the loose hairs on her bun- a habit that often signaled her nervousness. It was evident that she didn't want to be called out. The woman was smart if not anything. She could see the danger in front of her better than her eldest daughter. The wolves circling the crowd started to growl, inching towards them through the rows of soldiers, baring their fangs hungrily.
Finally, someone broke the silence.
"It's her!" The butcher shouted, pointing an obese finger towards a startled Dodie. "It's this woman!"
The man turned in the direction the butcher's finger pointed towards, tucking a lock of silvery blonde hair behind his ears gracefully. Every movement he made was breathtakingly beautiful. Almost too good to be real, she thought, the one side of her mind pushing her towards him as the other issued a warning.
Eve licked her drying lips, tuning into the sensation of the wetness smoothening the chapped skin to ground herself. Even the worst of her nightmares couldn't be compared to the situation that she had somehow ended up in. She ignored the hateful stares that she received from the scared villagers.
She knew that the fools had somehow turned the blame of the entire situation to her in their minds, like always. She wondered what sin she had committed in order to be tested to such extents, her mind going back to the event of the previous night. It didn't seem that long since she had witnessed her father's body fall to the ground from the sky magically.
Her brows creased at the memory. Who was it that she had followed out the forest if not for her mother? What did they have to do with her? And why had they tried so hard to frame her? It was humanly impossible to flash through the forest at such speed, she thought, her eyes suspiciously darting towards the few women garbed in green, their eyes scanning the crowd with an expression that almost seemed like sympathy.
Emilya turned to her with a frown, her purple gaze falling on her in irritation. Eve stared back with the same amount of contempt, narrowing her eyes at the woman. She was about to say something when Dodie's voice rose high above the crowd.
"My lord! I am her mother!" The middle-aged woman exclaimed, falling to her knees in submission.
The man huffed, dismissing her cry with a wave."You don't look it, woman. I was looking for a father figure." He said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared, reappearing right next to the cowering woman in less than a fraction of a second. "But since no one else is coming forward to claim her, I assume she's free to take?" He asked, pointing back towards her.
Eve stepped back in shock. "What?!" She exclaimed, startled by the languidness in his question. The man was talking about her as if she was an object- again. "What do you-"
The man turned towards her, his sparkling gray eyes locking into her gaze for a second. His lips curled up to the brightest of smiles that she had ever seen- so breathtakingly beautiful that her stomach flipped at the sight and her knees weakened.
She had often imagined fallen angels- beautiful creatures from heaven that roamed the earth free wooing women at their pleasure. But this man in front of her beat every image in her head, grabbing her heart by a tilt of his lips. He chuckled at her reaction, shaking his head as he turned towards her confused stepmother once again.
"If that is what you wish..?" Dodie mumbled meekly, trailing off expectantly.
"Regent." The man replied, his eyes narrowing at the woman in irritation.
"Y-yes, Regent." Dodie stammered, stepping back in fear.
He nodded, ignoring a blushing Viola. In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of Eve. Pointing a pale finger towards her, he said, "Cut her open."
Eve staggered back in fear, the flowery feelings in her stomach taking a full three-sixty degree turn. As Ivan's sword rose high, she screamed, closing her eyes as she covered her ears in fright. No no no no! What kind of a monster was he? How could she even fool herself into thinking-
Before she could finish that line of thought, something wet landed on her face, dripping down her cheek warmly into her mouth. Eve gagged as the metallic taste filled her senses. Her eyes flew open as she heard something hit the ground next to her.
Rosie's head rolled all the way up to her feet before the bovine's body crashed, splattering blood all over her. Hot warm liquid oozed out of her severed neck, spraying here and there. It pooled around something shiny that lay on the ground, inches from the animal's head.
Eve watched in horror as Emilya bent down to pick the object, kneeling quickly before her master as she raised the green stone to him.
"Vasily's Emerald, my lord." She declared, offering the blood-covered gem to him.
"Finally." The man said, picking it up with a triumphant look on his face. "I won, Theodore."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone