It wasn’t until I went back to the palace that my heartbeat sped up. I suddenly realized what I had chosen. What would happen to my child? I panicked even thinking of that.
But when I remembered Liam’s affectionate eyes when we had sex before I could come back, I couldn’t help but melt. How can a woman choose between her husband and daughter? What kind of situation was this?
I was helpless and anxious thinking of the situation of my child as I paced inside. On the way, I had already thought of multiple ways to deal with Lilith. First, I would stop thinking about Liam, and only focus on whether my girl was fine or not. And the rest of the time, I would try and keep my mind empty of thoughts. The best thing would be to keep my mind on my Gramps.
Thinking like this, I went back and entered the dark room again where Lilith’s brother was waiting for me. I felt a little frightened, but I gathered my thoughts and pursed my lips. “Where’s my baby?”
“What’s the hurry?” The man said. “Tell me if you did it or not.”
I glared at him. “Where’s my damn kid?!”
Seeing my expression, the man narrowed his eyes before nodding. “Fine. Go back to your room. She’s been waiting for you.”
And just like that, I began to fool these people.
Everything went well until the next eclipse where the guards suddenly captured and took my baby away. I watched the scene with widened eyes as I struggled against the man.”Let go of me!”
“You lied, didn’t you?” Lilith stared at me dangerously before touching my chin, forcing me to look into her eyes. I hadn’t noticed before, she would always wear white gloves in her hands. But then again, I wasn’t that curious about her private life. I returned the stare, not a little bit afraid of her.
This woman ruined my life, and I didn’t even know why. I had a hunch that the reason was probably something more than the ritual.
A while later, she ignored me and backed away. “Fine. You leave me no choice. On twilight today, we will sacrifice your kid. I wanted to leave your kid alive while taking her blood and Liam’s dead body, but since you failed to complete the task, you have to compensate!” Saying that, she grabbed the little kid roughly. The girl was crying loudly, but there was no one who could coax her.
I could only stare at the baby with a lingering gaze. Why?! Why was it like this? Tears began to fall from my eyes. I rushed over to her and begged. “Please, don’t kill her! I will do anything. There must be something other than killing. I really don’t want to kill others anymore. Please!” My voice was hoarse from crying and screaming.
Lilith looked at me indifferently and said, “Fine, I’ll save your kid, and use her’s and her father’s blood, but she will become a normal human in the end.”
I nodded. That would do. I didn’t even care about the fact that she was probably lying. I was desperate at this moment, so I couldn’t think straight. Without asking twice, I rushed outside the palace, heading toward the fountain garden. It wasn’t late yet, so I could perhaps see him before hurrying back to save our daughter!
It was just I hadn’t thought that as soon as I’d reach the place, Liam would just pounce on me and kiss the hell out of me, without even letting me say a single word. Was last time not enough?! My entire body was still paining from all the positions we took that day! I wanted to push him away, but somehow, he seemed even more powerful than the last time. Was he holding himself back while fighting me?
But my little girl was still in trouble! How could I just waste time here?! I got a chance to breathe and said to him in a low voice, “Our daughter’s in danger. We have to hurry.”
He froze and looked at me with a trace of fear in his eyes. “In danger?”
I nodded, but for a second, I was in a daze after seeing such an emotion on his face. It seemed as if someone close to him had just died. He hadn’t even seen his own daughter’s face, and now he was hearing she was in danger. Who wouldn’t show a hint of fear in their eyes? My heart melted seeing his face, and I stood up on my tiptoes to kiss his lips.
“I have a way to save her. I begged her not to kill our daughter.” I paused and saw his confused face. So I instantly revealed what had happened a while ago in the bedroom, and how Lilith wanted me to bring Liam’s blood. “So she will be fine if we can get your blood. I don’t care if she remains a human for the rest of her life. At least she’ll be away from the messy things that come with magic.”
Liam thought for a long time before he pursed his lips and nodded. He seemed reluctant, but still he took out a small bottle, bit his finger, and dropped blood inside the bottle. Giving it to me, he smiled gently. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”
I was mesmerized by his gaze. This time, he wasn’t just holding himself back from showing emotions on his face. Affection for me seemed to pour out of his eyes without stopping. I stared at him without blinking before silently retracting my eyes. There was a hint of blush on my cheeks as I walked back to the palace. It was already late afternoon, and twilight was nearing. I had to hurry!
I didn’t turn back, but I could still feel his lingering gaze as I disappeared into the forest. I didn’t know what he would do, but I felt like this kind of gaze of his seemed a bit unnatural. I was used to seeing him restrained and cold with a bit of amusement in his eyes whenever I would do something worth laughing at. But I rarely saw him openly gazing at me so affectionately like this.
Shaking my head, I entered the palace only to find that it was empty. I stared at it in confusion. Where was everybody? Other days, guards would be there to block the path, and stop me from escaping. But now, I could find no one else around this place. It felt like it didn’t even matter if I left. But I couldn’t leave, not without my sister and daughter!
I didn’t know whether Liam could enter this place or not. Since he had already told me not to worry, I could only deduce from this that he was planning to enter this place.
I walked slowly toward the front of the palace only to find everyone assembled in the hall, and there was a stage in front of everyone. On the stage, two familiar faces were there. One was the masked lady, Lilith, and another her brother. But the lady was wearing big red robes with giant sleeves. It almost felt as if I had entered the world of Easter fantasy. But I wasn’t in a mood to appreciate it. I walked over to a guard and handed him the blood.
Just as I was walking back outside to search my kid, I heard voices from the corridor.
Two maids were talking.
“Master is so lucky! She finally found the ingredients. Now the world will be saved! That evil vampire Emily will finally be killed!”
I hid behind the window and stared at the maid on the left nodding her head. There was a smile on her face. “That’s true! We have to bring the child from the north-east room, and mission accomplished!”
“I finally feel free.”
Free? I sneered in my heart. I knew how free they were! These people just were blindly believing in every word told by Lilith. They didn’t even know that they were being manipulated. It seemed Lilith’s power grew strong enough to manipulate a bunch of people at once! This was terrifying. I didn’t know what the ritual. was about, but I could tell that it was related to her power. If she were to enhance, how many people might come under her control in the future? Even thinking about it sent a chill down my spine.
After learning about my child, I didn’t stand at the ceremony, and decided to take my kid away. I rushed toward the north-east side of the palace, and hurriedly opened every single room. Just when I was about to open another room, footsteps sounded from the corridor. My face went pale and I quickly opened another room and hid inside. I could still hear their voices.
“Let’s get the child already. My legs are tired.”
“Yes, I would need a spa treatment after today’s ritual.”
The voices were so near that I could hear their conversation clearly. Someone took out the key with a ‘ting’ noise and inserted it in a door only to pause in surprise. “Have you opened this room before?”
“I don’t know. But let’s take a look.” The other voice said worriedly.
My breath caught in my throat, but suddenly, my gaze stopped at a certain small bundle of joy, my little girl. She was lying inside her crib, sleeping soundly. I hurried my steps, picked her up, and went to the balcony. I didn’t have much time to think of dealing with these people at this time. All I could do was escape!
I rushed toward the balcony, and jumped over to the balcony on the other side. Thankfully, the rooms were close enough, otherwise, I wouldn’t have jumped so easily.
Tucking my kid in my arms, I walked out. But the surprising thing was, not only my child didn’t wake up even after shaking her gently, but her complexion paled and breathing slowed down as I was about to cross the border of the palace.
I stopped on my tracks and stared at her with widened eyes. What the hell? Did she put a curse on my little girl or something? I gritted my teeth and headed inside again. This time, I didn’t linger outside, but snuck inside the hall. Since Lilith had put a curse on my baby, I didn’t have any fear of her waking up and crying to attract the attention of others. But who would’ve thought that as soon as I would enter, I would end up hearing ‘cling’ sound again and again as if two sharp knives were being rubbed against each other. After hiding behind a pillar, I looked up only to see a familiar face. Liam and his complexion was already pale.
My eyes widened at this. Just what was he doing here?! I knew he was supposed to come here, but I hadn’t expected it to be so soon. He also had a sword at hand! It was big, just like a Japanese Katana. Opposite to him were two people. One Lilith, with a similar sword, and her brother having nothing but a ball of purplish energy on his palms brimming with electricity.
Just then, he launched the attack toward Liam. At this time, everything happened in a slow motion. The energy slowly attacked my husband with all its might as Liam’s body flew back toward the entrance.
My mind went blank. What was happening? Did someone just try to kill Liam before my eyes? Just as I was about to rush over to him, I saw him sharply staring at Lilith with his bloodshot eyes. His complexion couldn’t be paler than it already was, which made me feel frightened. I clutched my baby tighter in my arms.
Just then, he struggled to get up and As soon as he was on his feet, he flashed and the two sides collided. This time, Lilith’s brother couldn’t protect his sister, and she was thrown off the stage and her body rolled down toward me. On the way, she screamed as her mask tore in the process.
The scream went louder as her body collided with a sharp thing lying on the ground. Blood oozed out of her body as a sharp scream rushed out of throat.
Just when she was injured, I felt the energy that was restricting me earlier loosened, and it flowed in my veins out of the blue, making me stumble back. But I wasn’t really in the mood to appreciate it.
My gaze swept past at a familiar face. It was Lucy.