The next morning, I found myself already on my way back. It rubbed my eyes and was stunned to see the ceiling of the car. It took me a while before everything that happened last night flashed back in my mind. The scene of someone dying, me going crazy, and snapping at Liam all came back to me. I could even remember every word that I had said to Liam.
Anxiety rose in my heart as I sat up hurriedly only to find an unfamiliar person on the driving seat.
Seeing my confused face, the man smiled warmly and greeted me. “Good morning, Princess. Are you feeling good?”
I continued to stare at him blankly, trying to rack my brain to try and introspect what had happened after I fell asleep last night. But no matter how much I thought, I couldn’t tell why Liam suddenly decided to send me back.
But after what I had said last night, it really wasn’t out of my expectations. Remembering my words last night, my face suddenly went gloomy. I said I hated him for making me miserable. It was true that everything started after he chose me, but it wasn’t entirely his fault. If the hunter’s leader hated me and even knew me, it was only the matter of time before I couldn’t find myself getting involved in these things.
Perhaps I would have ended up in a situation worse than present.
But I really didn’t have to say those things to Liam. Would he hate me? My eyes turned red at the thought. We had just gotten married and didn’t even get to go for a honeymoon when we had our first fight. Right now, all I wanted to do was rush back in his arms and continuously repeat how much I loved him like a parrot.
The driver cleared his throat, and I snapped back to reality. Seeing his embarrassed expression, I averted my eyes and wiped my face. I just ended up crying in front of a stranger! How embarrassing! “Where’s he?”
“Master had to go to prepare for the treaty.”
I furrowed my brows at that. So he really would prepare this treaty even after hearing those hateful words from my mouth. My heart twisted in pain upon hearing that. The amount of guilt in my heart only increased, but a trace of warmth also spread in my chest.
But I was worried about another thing. Looking up at the driver, I asked curiously, “And why is he sending me back?” Of course I had realized that I was going to the palace. Otherwise, where else would he order one of his men to drive me in the car suddenly.
The driver acted like he had expected this question. He smiled and replied, “My lady, he didn’t want to leave you alone in that place so he will temporarily send you back under the care of Daleri, and I’m responsible to guard you the entire time.”
I slumped back in the chair as my face became gloomy. That sentence seemed to say that I wouldn’t be seeing his face anytime soon. A bitter smile formed on my face. I shouldn’t have expected any different after saying those words last night. Did some ghost possess me back then to yell everything? Not 1% of my angry feelings that I had expressed were true.
Did I blame Liam for choosing me? A little bit, but seeing my magical background, I knew I couldn’t have stayed human for long. Whoever was behind it, they knew me very well and wanted to kill me. Perhaps without Liam’s protection, I would have been dead a long time ago. So the aspect that Liam was the start of everything seriously wasn’t true.
I wanted to say these words out loud so that my dear husband can hear it all. But…
Glancing at the driver silently tapping on the steering wheel and humming a song, I had a feeling that I wouldn’t see Liam for a long time. At this thought, my mood decreased below zero degrees as my shoulders dropped lifelessly. I didn’t even have the desire to look up at anything.
I remembered Liam’s silence before he spoke the words of apology last night. At that time, I hadn’t focused on the tone of his voice. But now when I remembered, his voice had a touch of sadness, exhaustion, and even regret. I had never heard him speak like this before.
Thinking about the night before, my nose went sore. Where was he? My words must have hurt him. Would he forgive me? He might have taken my words as the ultimate truth! Just thinking about it made my tears fall from the corner of my eyes as I hid my face in my palms, sobbing silently.
For a while, I felt someone’s glance directed at me once in a while and I assumed it was the driver.
***
After reaching the palace, I didn’t wait for anyone to open the door. I knew Liam wasn’t here, but I couldn’t help it! I wanted to see his room before confirming the driver’s words. I dashed across the hall and directly unlocked his room, running toward the bed.
The room was as beautiful as always with white walls, a big king sized bed, cabinets on the opposite side, and a giant mirror facing the wall. But there was no sign of Liam.
My eyes turned red again as my lower lips quivered. I wanted to say something, but the soreness of my throat blocked the words and I fell on my knees.
He wasn’t here.
What had I done? Why didn’t I just kill myself before saying those words to him?
I picked myself up with difficulty and dragged my feet toward the bed. Sliding inside the cozy blanket that still had Liam’s smell, my shoulders relaxed a bit, but the longing I felt in my heart was still intact. I still wanted to be in his arms.
That morning, I cried myself to sleep, filling my lungs with Liam’s scent.
***
I woke up when someone poked my shoulders. At first, I thought it was Liam. But when I suddenly remembered what had happened last night, my eyes fell open.
He was here! I forced myself to open my eyes to look at the newcomer, only to find Daleri standing with an apologetic face. Instantly, the heart that was bursting with joy shattered and I slumped back on bed, looking depressed.
“He’s not coming back, is he?”
Daleri said nothing, just caressed my head gently like a mother. At that time, I shifted toward her and hugged her waist, crying aloud. “Why did I have to say it? Why? He must be hating me now.”
“What happened?” Daleri had sensed something was wrong with me, but didn’t say it until she saw my crying face.
At that time, I couldn’t say anything. Whenever I opened my mouth, only sobbing noise was heard. But ultimately, I had to say something. “We… we had a fight, and I uttered some ungrateful words.” The sound of the last sentence was so low that Daleri had to lean toward me to hear. But after hearing my words, she instantly understood my difficulty and caressed my head again.
“My lady, don’t think negatively. He’s smart and knows that you were in a fit of a rage. I’m sure you don’t mean anything.”
“But Daleri, my words hit his sore spot. How could it not hurt him?” I didn’t know what I was trying to prove by saying he hadn’t forgiven me yet, but the more I spoke, the depressed I became.
Finally, Daleri couldn’t see my sad face anymore and instantly changed the topic. “You haven’t seen the online vampire’s forum, have you?”
It took my time to register her words, but when I did, I stopped sobbing and looked at her. For a moment, I was in a daze staring at her, confusedly. What did she mean by vampire’s forum? Was there really such a thing?
Sensing my confusion, Daleri smiled and gave me her phone after opening an app.
The app was similar to Glassdoor where you are only allowed to reveal reviews about a certain company without mentioning your identity. At this time, the app didn’t include the company, but people, specifically Liam and me.
The moment I clicked on the thread with my name, I was shocked after seeing the number of dislikes I had. The likes were only in hundreds while dislikes were still rising by thousands.
[Catfish: I used to think the new human queen would be delicate and heavenly like Melody, but who would have thought that this person would be a vampire magician?]
[Fireflies: What are you saying? @catfish? How can you discriminate like this? She didn’t kill anyone in front of you, did she?]
[Catfish: You’re so naive to think like this. More than half the council members have evidence against her. What more do you need? She was photographed while killing those three vampires from the hunter’s group! She was even seen in a photo where she had raised her hand toward the old king, Derrick. God knows what she did to him!]
[Superman: @catfish How do you know?]
[Catfish: I have attached the photo below and you can see it with your own eyes. {Attachment} {Attachment}]
[Fireflies: OMG! How could she do this? This is an evil spy meant to doom all the American vampires! Is she out to get us all?]
And the discussion continued, but I didn’t focus on that because I was too busy staring at the photos with widened eyes. The pics made me so shocked that I didn’t utter a single word for a whole minute.
Those pics did depict reality. In one pic, I was standing outside the car, just glancing at the dead bodies indifferently. I remembered this scene. I was just about to go and find Derrick at that time. And the second was when I had raised my hand to kill the person who was after Derrick. Although the person wasn’t visible in the pic. If someone would see this picture, they would assume that my attack was directed toward Derrick. This was such a big misunderstanding! Just who was it that decided to snap a pic of me?!
My heartbeat sped up in an instant seeing these attachments as a trace of fear crept up my heart. Someone lingered around me just when I had unlocked my powers. This thought itself was so terrifying that my knees felt weak. My face went pale as I considered the thought of someone manipulating my timing of unlocking my powers. Was this all planned from the start?
A chill spread on my spine. I didn’t want to believe this, but the more I looked at this photo, the more I considered the fact to be the truth. Someone did manipulate the situation to make me unlock my powers.
In the end, I was too shocked to continue seeing the pics. The phone slipped out of my hands as I looked at Daleri. My eyes had a trace of lingering fear.
“Daleri, this…” I really had no words at this. What should I say? Even though Daleri didn’t know everything about what was happening, she at least could believe that I was innocent. Her gaze carried a touch of sympathy for me before she gave me a warm hug.
“My lady, you’re like my child. Please calm down. You still have me, don’t you?”
I nodded. But just as I was about to relax, a thought suddenly flashed in my eyes.
Lucy!
What if she was in danger? The villain behind the scenes seems to be cruel and manipulative. And Lucy was the most innocent person I had ever seen! I feared that the person would perhaps end up attacking my sister in the garb of tricking me.
The thought was enough to terrify me. I started trembling in Daleri’s arms. Only if I could talk to her once. “Lucy, is she alright?” I blurted out in a soft voice with difficulty.
“Do you want to talk to her?” Daleri said after a long pause.
I looked at her in surprise. I could talk to her freely! In an instant, I nodded without thinking twice. Daleri smiled warmly at me before holding her phone before dialing a number.
“Hello, Alex?… Yes, can you connect your phone to George’s house?” Daleri waited for the other side for a while and I continued to look at her in confusion. Just what was happening? Who was Daleri talking to? I didn’t have any time to figure it out when she started speaking. “Lucy! Thank goodness you’re alright! Here, Emily wants to talk to you.”
I grabbed the phone with shaking hands. Excitement appeared in my moistened eyes as I pressed the phone against my ears, yearning for hearing a familiar voice. “Lucy!” My voice choked with emotions as I cried out. Only my sister could understand my turmoil. I had no one to depend on except for her. Thinking of someone as Lucy still by my side, I couldn’t help but relax my shoulders. And after that, I blurted out everything in an instant. I uttered everything, omitting a few things such as Liam’s plan for a treaty, and all the important things related to his mission. I just told her things about my speculations, my recent fight with Liam, and how someone was manipulating me to kill people randomly!
In the end, I heard a helpless sigh from the other side. “Emily, I know you’re troubled, but can you please calm down?”
“Yes.” I suddenly felt relief after blurting out my emotions to Lucy.
“Now where’s Liam?”
Hearing his name, I felt a little depressed, but I didn’t want to burden Lucy with my problems. So, I lied. “He’s here.”
Hearing that, Lucy’s tone sounded relaxed. “Thank God you’ve reconciled. Just stay with him, okay?”
My nose went sore at that. He wasn’t here. So how could I stay with him? But I couldn’t say that to Lucy. It was good enough that I got to talk to her like this. “Okay. Lucy, if anything happens, please tell me, okay?”
My sister, “En…”
We talked briefly about other things before cutting off the call. After the call, I really felt relaxed as I leaned back toward Daleri’s motherly figure, wiping my tears. “Thank you, Daleri.”
“It’s okay.” She didn’t say anything, but just caressed my head.
At the same time, I just remembered that I was curious about the person Daleri contacted. I raised my eyes and gave her a questioning look. “Who’s Alex?”
“The guard master Liam appointed a few months ago to protect your sister.”
Hearing that, my heart couldn’t help but feel warmed. I suddenly missed him.