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21: Turning Point

21: Turning Point

I felt Hendrix's hands quiver when he touched my neck. Nagdidilim ang kanyang mga mata habang pinagmamasdan ang mga pasa ko. My cheeks ache so bad and even an ice pack can't help. I let out a whimper when a strand of my hair fell on my right cheek and Hendrix immediately cursed as he could not take it.

"I swear I'll fucking kill him," he exclaimed.

I shut my eyes forcibly and bit my lower lip. Inalalayan niya akong makatayo at umalis sa tub bago nito kinuha kay Isla ang aking roba at dahan-dahan na pinasuot sa akin. Hendrix initiated to bathe me, and fuel his anger of how miserable I look. He and Isla helped me dress, make me look pristine again but the thought still lingers in my mind.

"Young Master," Sir Recto said. "The Ducal Couple has arrived in the Jade Castle."

I tried to stay calm when the room suddenly went cold, and Hendrix's palms formed into a fist. Hinawakan ko ang isa sa mga kamay niya to try calming him down and loosening it. I slid my fingers into his hand and looked at his furious face. He eventually calms down, and we face the Ducal Couple after my cue.

"Oh, my poor daughter," Duchess Jasmine hurriedly went in my direction as her arms opened wide. Her face showered with concern that made the corners of my eyelids water. She embraced me tightly. "I am so sorry, Bella. I should have put an array of Knights for you."

"What is done, is done," Duke Mulach uttered, bearing a serious face. He then looked at Hendrix. "It is my mishaps that brought her to this mess. I should have cut ties with the Hampress before, but their alliance is powerful for the Dukedom. Yet, what they did to our daughter is immeasurable, and therefore I no longer need to send a warning, but a legion instead."

"I will lead them," Hendrix firmly said. "I want to kill him with my own hands, and the rest of his family will suffer the same fate."

"If you do that, then you will start a rebellion."

"He touched my wife," he said as he tried to calm his anger. "He raped her in my tent, in my territory! What else could there be a reason for not beheading him? He brought this upon himself and I am guilt-free!"

This is the first time I saw too much rage in him. He looked at the Duke with overflowing fury. Pumuputok na ang ugat ni Hendrix sa kanyang noo, kaya't napilitan akong kalmahin siya. When he felt my hand, he swung away immediately into my embrace. Napamaang pa ako dahil sa ginawa niya.

"Hendrix!" Duchess Jasmine suddenly shouted. Her panicked enveloped the entire room. "Summon Sir Recto immediately!"

My heart sank when Hendrix pulled his hair to release his frustration. He screamed at us, and that's where I saw how clouded his eyes were. He's having an episode, his phobia is surging out.

"Hendrix," I called out his name as I was drawing near. I tried to catch his stares but they always eloped whenever I caught it for a second. "Please, calm down."

"He raped you!" he exclaimed. "He can touch everything else but not you. He cannot take what's mine, Bella. He should no longer live, and don't stop me..."

I nodded slowly. I bit my lower lip to suppress my sobs, and smiled dryly at him. "I won't, but please calm down first."

What factor did arrived in the past that made him annihilate the Hampress? If I based it on their conversation, the Duke and Hendrix had known their enemies ever since. But, what made Hendrix kill everyone in the County and erased their kind in the Northern Land as if they didn't truly exist?

Hendrix clung into me and breathed in and out for a while. I was consoling his rage in a method that I don't even understand if it works, but he truly hushed down.

"Hendrix," I whispered his name. "Tell me the truth, are you preparing something against the Kingdom?"

His body stiffened. Kumalas ang mga bisig niya sa akin at bahagyang lumayo para magtama ang aming mga tingin. I showered in my eyes the questions I spoke, and his bothered look made me realize I didn't know him at all.

"We will wait for your decision, son," Duke Mulach said when they feel like they have to give us space. "My wife and I will never let this pass. A word from you and my power will be yours, my nephew."

They left us in the guest room. My body was then pulled to the nearest sofa and he let me sit there before he kneeled in one knee, holding my hands and looking at me with remorse.

"My mother was killed in her sleep," he softly said as his eyes beamed the pain he had been hiding all through these years. "She was recently sick and bedridden for a while. The doctors had said her body couldn't take the illness that struck her, but I know...I knew it wasn't the case. Someone killed my mother, something was truly odd in the Palace."

He caressed my hands with his shaking palms. "I've been sent to the North to recuperate from the incident, but ever since my arrival, I had been preparing to uncover my mother's death. I'm here to know where they made the toxin that killed her and I've been consuming it-"

My whole system rumbled. "You know you've been consuming that poison?!"

"I want to know what my mother felt when she had been consuming that since my Father's lover arrived," he replied.

My hands covered my mouth from shock. I was speechless, my body couldn't move as I allowed realization to hit me. Hendrix circled his arms around my waist and he leaned a little closer, but I lay back my body to the sofa.

"My plans have been commencing before you came," he whispered to me but the seriousness is evident. "I held my fortress strong but you rumbled it in one move. I know it was my fault to put you into this mess, that is why forgive me, wife. I will not let this pass, I will not let him live for another day."

"I am a burden," I said, swallowing the lump building in my throat. "I shouldn't have come..." I pushed him a little and stood up. "I should have stayed away. I should have focused on myself, rather than on you!"

"Bella-"

"I thought if I could save you, I would attain a happy ever after!" I exclaimed, and then let out a scoff. "But, I was blinded with love, with the passion of meeting you without considering the odds. I...I put this on myself."

I brushed my fingers on my hair. I didn't know attaining such easy words could be this hard in action. All my hopes rumbled like a glass falling down from a high place. My eyes went back to Hendrix and I couldn't swallow the truth.

"Do you love me?" I said, and it made his mouth gape. "Or was I just an intervention you never wished to arrive?"

"Bella," he softly said. "You are a turning point in my life."

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