Chapter 39: Madeline's evil plan

Elliana walked towards the forest in hurried steps to reach there and find the truth about her hallucinations.

'Maybe, it was all my fault. If I had thought about him or called him sooner, he would've probably arrived earlier,' Elliana thought before sighing.

Is my anger really not justified? It's been eight years, and we can't forget how people change in this span, can we? What will I really do if he is indeed real? He is definitely not human if he can vanish and appear like this. Am I even doing the right thing by going there? Elliana's mind was a mess, but she didn't stop.

She needed this. Even if she had a thousand reasons for not going there, the prominent one being that he might not be real or even humane, she had one big reason to meet him. She needed to see and ask him why he left her like that.

She also knew that if she didn't go there, her mind wouldn't be at ease.

As Elliana entered the forest, Madeline, sitting in her cultural class, looked out the window and narrowed her eyes.

Where was this stupid stepsister of hers going? Was she meeting someone secretly in the forest? It has always been like this, no? Whenever she finds a forest, she can't help herself from going inside, like a moth to a flame. Madeline scoffed.

Earlier, when they were kids, Madeline was sure that Elliana used to go to the forest to meet someone. She had a solid reason to believe that. Elliana was always excited for the evening, and as soon as the clock struck 5:00, she would rush out of the palace.

Her happiness and impatience to go into the forest were beyond describable and unordinary.

A couple of times Madeline even followed her, but she never found anyone, not even Elliana.

'Are you really ready to be a queen or the wife of the council head's son when you can't even handle a useless stepsister?' Marla's words echoed in her ears, and Madeline stood from her place.

"Yes, Miss Heart?" The professor looked at her, and Madeline was brought out of her gaze.

"Miss, I need to use the restroom urgently," Madeline said, and the professor nodded at her.

Madeline rushed out of the seminar room, running in the direction where she had seen Elliana entering the forest.

She quickly dialed a number while running.

"Hello, yes. Where are you guys? The girl I told you to take care of, remember? Right now is the perfect time. Come towards the backside of the University. Don't worry. I will ask Aditya to put in good words for you to the council.

Your skills will be tested today. If you did a good job, you would surely get the job in the council," Madeline said before ending the call, an evil glint passing through her eyes.

After her mom scolded her, the first thing she did was gather information about people she could use to hurt Elliana at University.

Madeline knew that she needed students from the University itself because it was almost impossible to bring people from outside to the university to hurt the girl.

This girl doesn't step out until it's in that ugly prince's car. This was the perfect opportunity.

Wasn't God on her side since he gave her this wonderful opportunity and sent Elliana to seclusion where she could easily hurt her without anyone knowing about it? Madeline looked ahead as she saw the boys she called walking towards her.

"You know what to do, right? Let's not kill her immediately. I want her to feel the pain. Beat her black and blue. I don't care. Break a few bones, and make her unable to move for a month or two. Once she recovers from this, we will repeat the process until she drops out from the university," Madeline said, and the boys looked at the evilness of the princess, nodding at her nonetheless.

It's true that one should not get on the wrong side of the royals, no?

"Don't forget your promise, princess. I hope you won't double-cross us once your work is done," one of the boys said, and Madeline scoffed.

"Do you think I am petty and don't really have the power to do what I promised? If you have second thoughts, go away. I can always get a new set of boys to do my work. I am sure many people would kill to get a position in the council," Madeline looked at them challengingly.

"We are not backing off or doubting you, but we also hope you understand that we aren't some daily thugs. The information about what you are trying to make us do is already recorded. So if you backstabbed us in any way -" the boy left his sentence hanging, and Madeline gritted her teeth.

"Just do the work, will you?" She stepped forward, letting them see that she wasn't someone they could easily bully and threaten, and the rest of the boys pulled that boy back.

"We will do the work, princess. Wait for the happy news," The boy finally said and walked inside the forest, making Madeline sigh.

She looked at the forest with one last lingering look before a smirk made its way to her lips.

This time, I will surely get rid of you, my lovely pest of a stepsister.

Madine smiled and turned around, almost squeaking in shock.

"Madeline-"

Aditya stopped when she squealed.

"God, you almost scared me," Madeline took a deep breath before placing her hand on her heart to calm her raging heart.

"What are you doing here? I thought you would be in the cultural class," Aditya looked at her suspiciously before looking at the forest.

He had been observing her from the moment he started walking towards her, and she had been gazing at the forest with a weird smile that looked too sinister to be called hers. It was almost as if she was planning something.

"It's nothing. I was feeling kind of uneasy. So I came out for a walk. What are you doing here? I thought you went home after your father called you for the emergency meeting," Madeline looked at Aditya awkwardly.

If this boy even got a hint of what Madeline was doing, he wouldn't waste a second rushing to Elliana to save her.

In his eyes, Elliana was the bad girl, and Madeline was though witty, she wasn't as cunning as to plot something like this.

"Hmm. I didn't go. Dad called again when I was about to leave and said that the man he wanted me to meet didn't arrive and I shouldn't bother with the other members. Since the lecture had started, I didn't return to the class," Aditya explained, and Madeline nodded.

"Well, since we missed our lecture, why don't we go out to spend some time together? It's been so long since we spent some quality time," Madeline wanted Aditya out of the area so he won't even hear Elliana's screams, if there would be any.

"Okay, let's go," Adityas said, slight suspicion lingering in his heart, and they walked out of the university hand in hand.

Meanwhile, Elliana, who sat near the pond to finish what she started earlier, smiled in apprehension when the water beads greeted her again. It almost looked like they were dancing under her palm now.

'You are so beautiful,' Elliana giggled at them as if they were alive, and she moved closer to them.

It was strange. When Daniel arrived earlier, she was sure she fell into the mud and spoiled her dress. How come her dress was as good as new when she stood? Everything was turning quite strange around her, no? It looks like it's more important than ever to call that number G had mentioned. Elliana stood from her place and took off her sandals before walking inside the pond slightly.

Her legs were submerged till above her ankles, and feeling the coldness of the water, she smiled and looked at the water when it started trembling under her hands.

This was truly beautiful. She can't understand why G asked her to not do anything like this. It was making her so happy rather than sad and scared. She felt this was supposed to be, that she belonged with nature. Elliana sighed and smiled when she noticed the water clearing around her again.

She bent slightly to see her reflection in the water and was about to wave at it with a happy smile when she looked at her eyes in the reflection.

Thump. Her heart skipped a beat at what she was seeing.

Elliana stumbled back in shock. Her eyes were not the same. They weren't the amber-brown color they were supposed to be. They were turning a darker shade, something close to blue and purple.

Was it because of the water? Were the energies from the pond doing this to her? She only knew about the glow in her hand absorbing the light around her. Was it happening with her eyes too? Was it a good or bad sign?

Elliana stepped further away, and was about to walk out of the pond when she heard some noises from behind her.

Someone was walking toward her.

No. It wasn't someone. It was a group of people. And they were talking about something unpleasant.

Her mind started to panic slightly when she noticed her eyes were still bluish-purple.

She can't let anyone see her like this. She was herself feeling afraid of what was happening with little to no knowledge about this.

What would she explain to others if they asked what in the mysterious world was she becoming or doing? She looked around to see where she could go when a large tree came into her vision. It was right beside her.

Was this tree always here? Why didn't she notice it before?

Maybe she is just overthinking. She is always so lost in her thought process that she doesn't even enjoy and sees things around her. Elliana huffed and bit her lips after coming to a conclusion.

With a resolution to hide behind the tree, Elliana tried to step out of the pond, but to her surprise, her foot was stuck in the wet soil. If it had been something alive, she was sure it would've looked like the person was holding on to her. Was the water holding onto her? She narrowed her eyes and grabbed her leg to pull it out.

"Are you sure it's okay to do this? Weirdly enough, I don't have a good feeling about it,"

"Just shut up and search for her. We have taken the money too,"

The voices neared her, and for some reason, Elliana felt like these people were searching for her, and her mind became even more anxious as she grabbed her foot tightly to pull it out.

"Hey, there she is," she heard the voices, and she turned around with panicked eyes.

However, as soon as she turned, a loud splash resounded behind her, and the water behind her raised in the air before creating a shield in front of her. It was a mixture of clean water towards her but mud water towards the boys.

Elliana looked at the water with wide eyes as the hair on her hands and neck rose.

Was this really happening? If yes, then what exactly was she?

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