𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐄 || 𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰

Chapter Seventeen

Edward spent the next few days finding and poring over anything he could find about Sebastian as well as what Ruth had told him. Any bit of information—even if it was a stretch—he took it. Rolf had been increasingly distant as he didn't want to entertain this odd and particularly worrying obsession. Edward didn't seem to notice, though.

Rolf believed Sebastian was truly just an ordinary man and that he and Vienne had the right to love each other. However, his cowardice kept him from saying that to Edward, and he felt ashamed of it. But every time he tried to speak, the words would get stuck in his throat, or he was shut down by Edward. Speaking up seemed useless.

Meanwhile, Vienne was blissfully unaware of the seriousness of the situation. Sure, the thought of Edward and her anxiety over him was still there, but she knew not of his endeavors to completely eradicate her relationship with Sebastian.

She continued on as usual, giddily reading her owls from Sebastian and longing to see him every day. Sebastian didn't disclose anything regarding Edward in his letters, so truly, Vienne had no idea what was going on. She was enjoying the freedom she thought she had, and he didn't want to take that away from her.

Ominis was trying his best to keep close tabs on everything, but there was only so much he could do to help. Even trying his absolute best to figure out what exactly Edward had planned didn't do much.

Edward continued to try his best to find out something about Sebastian, but at one point, it felt like it was going nowhere. He wasn't important enough for anything to be written of him. That was until one day Ruth had asked someone to go to London and to dig around through the Daily Prophet newspapers from the past few years after having a hunch that if he had done anything in the past worth using against him, it ought to have been in the paper.

And unfortunately for Sebastian, she was right.

Then finally, a newspaper landed on Edwards' desk one day: an excerpt from the Daily Prophet from nearly ten years ago. His mother told him it was a "rather interesting read" and to not "ask her how she had gotten it." How could this possibly be relevant? Well, Edward found that out the moment he turned the paper over to see the headline.

"Sixteen-year-old sentenced to ten years in prison for murder of his uncle!"

Edward's brows furrowed as his eyes trailed down from the headline to the words below explaining everything. Sometimes titles could be exaggerated to pull you in, but that's when he read the one thing that caught his eye.

The name Sebastian Sallow was printed several times throughout the explanation.

Edward's eyes widened as he eagerly read over the entire thing; joy was rising slowly in his stomach as he read over the words. This was it; this was finally what he needed. He found out that not only was Sebastian charged with murder, but he was also charged with improper use of the Dark Arts, possession of an illegal relic, and use of an Unforgivable curse, which only added to his excitement.

Of course, the paper failed to mention anything that Solomon had done or the abuse that had driven Sebastian to a point where he impulsively felt that that was the only way out of the hellhole he felt stuck in while trying to save his sister. Nor did the paper mention anything of Solomon's neglect that was brought up in the case by Sebastian, Ominis, and their friend that was present there.

However, with all these charges stacked up, Edward wondered why he had only gotten ten years. Perhaps it was because of his age at the time, or perhaps Ominis had pulled some strings to get his sentence shortened. Either way, part of him was upset Sebastian didn't get more time because if he did, he wouldn't be here "ruining" things for him.