✓ | The Assailant's Affection (Fate's Transgression Series, #5)

TAA 30: Evil

CHAPTER 30: EVIL

OMNISCIENT

A series of footsteps echoed through the hallowed halls of the Royal Palace, the sound resonating with an eerie significance. Within the meeting room, worried eyes and restless souls gathered, their thoughts scattered as they tried to come to terms with a truth that hung heavy in the air. The return of Fate of Esher to Arcadia signaled one inevitable reality—the commencement of the trial of the fragments.

“We are expecting this to happen, right?” Seisha asked her husband, the King of Zegordia as she arrived in the meeting room, where the gentry, the second prince of Zegordia– prince Lurren, and Frencia were comfortably seated on the chairs, but with worried eyes.

“We are, but we didn’t know it was this soon,” Lucius said as he held his wife’s hand and tried to calm her. The king is worried about his wife, for Seisha hasn't had a peaceful sleep since Zaryn arrives bearing news.

“It is my negligence that made Fabienne go with her, please punish me accordingly,” the gentry, lord Zaryn Callaghan— or was that truly his name, said with a low voice. He is reflecting towards his incompetence.

“Fate of Esher is sly, if you continue insisting, she might not pardon you, so it is alright that you took a step back. We don’t want a Prince from a neighboring kingdom to suffer in our land,” Frencia, the only Princess of Zegordia said. Despite her young age, she’s remarkably equipped with high intelligence and compassion.

“Yet still, Fabienne is now in the Emerald Forest, we don’t know what Fate of Esher will do to her there,” Zaryn said in a worried voice. His palms curled into a fist, still blaming himself for his weakness.

“When I received the instructions for this trial, I knew Fate of Esher was expanding her rebellion. She’s using Emerald Forest and the Netherworld to fight. Even Nitrus, the god of death, arrived just to protect the Netherworld. This is not the same as the previous trials, this involves a lot of deities, and a lot of realms,” salaysay ng reyna habang pinipigilan na mamuo ang luha sa kanyang mga mata.

“What should we do?” Frencia asked, trying to lift up the people by suggesting solutions. “Kuya Lurren, can you talk to that god of death? It seems like he has a beef with Fate of Esher, he may spill something about what will happen in their realms? This is quite the disadvantage of being human right, we don’t travel far beyond our own realm.”

“I don’t talk to that old man due to his narcissistic and annoying personalities, but I can pay him a visit and extract information,” Lurren uttered, reassuring that something good will happen. It also seems like Lurren has a personal beef with the god of death. Well, becoming the god of death, soul, and darkness, it is just right to have a lot of enemies, since they rule life after death.

“I apologize for my incompetence,” Zaryn uttered softly, lowering his head to express his forgiveness. “I am still struggling to find these missing people, and the mission to protect the conductor failed. It seems like I am bound to disappoint you, your majesty.”

“Don’t apologize, Callaghan. It is true that I am wary of your actions due to your origin, and sometimes I am hard with you because of the fear that your Kingdom will attack ours. But, when I learned the truth about the Crown Princess of Ulez, it made me feel terrible. Never apologize for you are not bound by these problems, it is my mishap, and I am the one to blame,” Seisha uttered firmly, looking at everyone to express her intent.

“This is not your fault, my love,” Lucius uttered softly as he tried to caress his wife’s shoulder. “This is what Fate of Esher wants, to break us apart, to make us betray each other. At this point of time, we must stay united.”