Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 122: Consultation In The Dungeon

Chapter 122: Consultation In The Dungeon

"It’s you!" Claire subconsciously pointed a finger at him, instantly remembering him as the same person whom Ivan had brought in the other day. Once again, looking into his eyes that reminded her of an early morning coffee made her feel inexplicably strange, and she recoiled her finger, dropping it at her side before darting a suspicious glance at Samantha, then at the unknown stranger who dared to speak for her.

"Do you know who I am?" Claire raised a questioning eyebrow that hinted at her haughtiness. "It is useless defending a fellow prisoner in front of me because you are no different, but let me remind you of something important, and that is the fact that I’m THE princess of EmptyHollow, sister to the future King of this Kingdom, and you, as a lowly peasant, shall not speak to me in that tone! I could have you punished for your audacity to pose a threat to me."

"I don’t care who or what you think you are." Caddel came to stand beside Samantha who was still very much frozen at the sight of him, but the young hunter’s defiant gaze remained fixed on the Vampiress, already irked. "It will be best if you leave to avoid trouble, a dungeon is not a place where a Princess should stay for too long. The pungent smell gets stuck to your skin, and it won’t be gone for a really long time. Being a vampire you should know this already, unless your senses aren’t that profound."

"That profound?? Did you just– AHHH!!!" Claire’s panicked scream resonated within the confines of the dungeon as a rat scurried right past where she stood, and Samantha, who was grieving silently, was instantly compelled to laugh but had covered her mouth with her palm on time. Listening to the vampiress speak as if the world was below her feet had Samantha’s eardrums hurting in reaction, but noticing her frights for rats and how she had screamed as if a knife was pointed at her throat, gave Samantha a little bit of satisfaction.

"I– I will be back! Just you wait and see.. ahhh!! Get away!" Unable to linger around the dungeon as more rats stepped out of their hiding place, Claire immediately exited the place.

Once she was gone, Caddel turned his attention to Samantha who shooed away the rats that were about to enter the cell, and they scurried off in another direction to hunt for food.

"Do you frequent yourselves with miniature animals?" He asked, finding her reaction to the presence of those hungry rats one he hardly sees in females. If he wanted to be hundred percent honest, he expected her to have also freaked out like the vampiress.

Samantha let out a dejected sigh before shaking her head. "They have been an impact in my life story." Letting her shoulders drop at the thought of how miserable her life had always been, Samantha instantly remembered her earlier shock to have found the same hunter in the dungeon.

"How are you here?!"

"Guess." Caddel took his seat beside Samantha who could now see his face without the mask, and she had to admit that he would look more good-looking if he wasn’t frowning all the time. "I can ask you the same thing though," Caddel suddenly added as his brown eyes moved to meet her green ones. "If I’m not mistaken, you wanted to run away, weren’t you? Or did I perhaps read your intentions wrongly?"

"No, you didn’t, and I once did." Samantha responded depressedly before letting out a deep breath, and she gazed at the ceiling. "When there’s life, there’s hope. Isn’t that what they always say? Well In a matter of hours, there will be no hope for me. Imagine spending all your life, feeling yellow, then one day you brush against something dark, and it’s not even black– more like a flick from red, blue, or purple, it all depends, and then viola, the rest of your life you’re green." Her wavering gaze drifted to Caddel as she flashed a wry smile in his direction.

"You’re not a bad person are you?" Samantha dared to ask. She noticed the way his eyes narrowed at her question, as if telling her not to pry in his matter, but then Samantha chose to play dumb as she continued. "Everyone has a reason for being what they are, reasons why they choose to become the bad person in a picture, but in reality, that is only the half-truth. What is your reason?"

For a few passing seconds, Caddel said nothing else as he let the meaning behind her words and question sink in. After interacting with her brother whom he was sure was in the good hands of Macho, Caddel couldn’t differ between who was grieving more, and he knew from the onset that she wasn’t a terrible being either, his instincts were quick to pick that up, but after listening to the things she said, Caddel didn’t have the strength to hold a grudge with someone who was suffering as much as him.

Averting his gaze elsewhere, Caddel exhaled softly, but it was one that expressed his woe.

"I have a little sister who is about the age of nine." Caddel suddenly began as his usually gruff tone inexplicably softened, gaining him Samantha’s full attention, and he continued. "It happened a few months ago before the news of abduction grew rampant. My little sister was playing outside on a cool, normal night when she got abducted right in front of me... it happened right before my eyes– I witnessed it all in a blur but.... There was nothing I could do to save her since her abductor possessed the speed that only vampires could inherit.... the eyes of her abductor are etched onto my memories, it’s still vivid. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t rest till I get her back. It was unforgettable, and those crimson eyes that I saw matched the exact replica of Lord Ivan."

Caddel could remember it, the eyes that he saw before the strange person in a black cloak disappeared with his little sister, it fitted the description of the vampire Lord’s eyes.

"Lord...Ivan?" Samantha shook her head in quick denial. "No, that can’t be true. I can agree about other things, but Lord Ivan isn’t the type of man who would abduct a child.... or anyone. He can be anything else, but not that. You must have been tricked by whoever took your sister. The eyes don’t only play tricks on us, but they tell half the truth of what we see these days." Samantha said to Caddel as she wasn’t ready to believe Ivan would be responsible for something that despicable, she knew this much due to her level of understanding when it came to Ivan, and how he operated.

Caddel, who was surprised by her quick backup, wanted to refute her statement on Lord Ivan, but he couldn’t. When he was brought down here to the dungeon, he found no sign of human captivity, not even one, and that has left him guessing in different dimensions as to what had happened to them, cause he knew exactly what he saw that horrible night.

"I am sorry you had to be separated from your little sister," Samantha sympathized with him. "I... also know what it feels like to be separated from a family you adore, so I do not blame you for taking the steps you were forced to make." Eyes flickering at the thought of her brother, Samantha’s hand subconsciously reached for the pendant around her neck, feeling the only thing that she had left of her brother.

Caddel’s eyes studied the young maiden who seemed to be losing her spirit as she stared into space. Unable to hold it back, he uttered. "Your brother, his name is Maurice, right? Dirty-blonde hair, brown eyes, once held in a slave establishment?"

"What?" Snapped out of her trance upon hearing Caddel mention the name of her brother, her head whipped in his direction only to see him waiting for answer, whilst she blinked in pure bewilderment as she stuttered. "I– I mean yes but... but how did you... know all of these details?" Inquired Samantha in a low tone, her stupefied gaze raking Caddel as he was starting to creep her out.

"I know because I’ve seen your brother." He dropped, "I found him on my way past the Perpetual valley and–"

"Maurice is... alive?" Samantha’s green eyes dilated in wonder as she shifted from her position to move closer to Caddel who had been thrown off-guard by her reaction. "Maurice is my brother he’s... he’s... you’re right about the slave establishment, that was the reason why I escaped, so I could find him but.... Did you just say you’ve seen my brother?! Is he fine? How- how is he? Where is he??"

Samantha’s eyes watered with hope as she waited for Caddel to answer her question. She had heard it the first time, but she wanted to hear it for the second time to be sure she hadn’t misheard what he told her. That means Lucy was right about her keeping hopes on her brother and now...!!!

Caddel’s lips parted as he wanted to answer her question, but before he got the chance, two guards suddenly stormed into the dungeon, interrupting their conversation, and when they opened the cell, one of them stepped inside to reach for Samantha as he pulled her up to her feet.

"Let’s go! Your trial begins now." Said the guard as he took Samantha away.