Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 184: What Do You Have In Mind?

Chapter 184: What Do You Have In Mind?

"Fernwood village?" Ivan blinked puzzledly at her request.

His crimson eyes studied her anticipatory demeanor as she awaited his response, whilst he saw her nod her head in answer to his inquiries. His current state of mind made him take more time than required to ponder extensively on her request before querying further. He could use this conversation as a method to distract his demons from clouding his thoughts with more irrelevant conceptions.

"This is abrupt." Ivan finally answered, his tone laced with slight abstruseness before gazing at her face questioningly. "Is there a reason behind your visit to your hometown?" At his question, he noticed the way her eyes widened upon referring to the place as her hometown. She must have presumed he forgot the name of her village; would she find it more creepy that he has all her personal records kept in his archive?

"Y... yes." Samantha brought herself to answer before jagging her fingers together, and she hesitated for a moment before looking up to meet his eyes. "I didn’t know you’d recognize the name of the place so easily."

"That’s because I have somewhere urgent to be tomorrow, and I will be away for two days." He told her, causing Samantha’s gentle eyebrows to furrow at him since he never informed her of this.

"Where are you going?"

"Fernwood." He dropped before moving his eyes to meet her surprised ones. "There’s news that the village council of Fernwood is subjecting my people to hunger. I’m going there to investigate the matter myself, and it will take me two days to sort the issue before I can return."

"Fernwood councils again? I always assumed those men would change," Samantha shook her head in disappointment as she remembered those old councilmen in Fernwood. "I’ve had a few unlucky encounters with them myself, and I’d have to sacrifice a few of my silver coins just so they don’t take our food resources away. From what you’re saying, it seems they’ve grown more hardihood to deprive the land of what they have. Fernwood is not even that big. Why would they do something like that?"

"So it’s true." Ivan hummed as she blurted out her encounter, a frown dawning his visage. They’ve bothered his little lamb as well. "Now I’m more eager to meet these corrupt officials. It’s quite obvious they’re depriving the people of their resources to increase illegal trading. I’ll have to arrange more goods for the villagers now."

"Can I come with you on your trip to Fernwood then?" She requested, and Ivan met her gleaming eyes with a questioning gaze. "Actually I... want to visit my old home in Fernwood, there’s something important that I need to find and I won’t bother your investigation, but I can’t leave the Palace without your permission." She pleaded softly. She knew Ivan had a problem with allowing her venture anywhere that isn’t within the Palace, but this matter is more critical than the rest she’s ever experienced, cause if she doesn’t go back and have a thorough check, she might not find the evidence that would clear her Father’s name.

"Granting you that request is not something I have a problem with." Ivan answered candidly, "but what I have a problem with is the fact that you won’t tell me what’s bothering you. You want to visit your old home, that’s fine with me, but no matter how hard you try to maneuver your way from telling me what’s going on, I always know, for example, like how I know you never went to the garden, and that mark on your neck didn’t come from the pricks of a thorn."

"What?"

Samantha’s eyes narrowed in bewilderment, but what stunned her more was when he opened his drawer to bring out the little dagger Agathe had used to threaten her. Ivan twirled the dagger in his fingers, and he noticed how her eyes were glazed with apprehension at the mere sight of it. Her masked expression dropped, and her anxiety was no longer hidden, as though she had grown tired of hiding it.

"I told you I wasn’t going to force it out of you but I can’t bear to see you suffer this alone." He began with all seriousness in his voice. "You were in that chamber with Agathe and you know this already, I always find you. I had sensed your presence, your scent, your heartbeat, and I had a reason for calling Albert over at that specific spot to question him. My presence seemed to have done the trick, cause she stepped out a minute later. I never left, and I knew immediately that something was off. When you told me you went to the garden I had questioned Albert on my way to the council meeting if he saw you, and he clearly didn’t."

Samantha gazed at him, speechless and worried. Unable to defend herself, she lowered her gaze dejectedly only to hear him add. "I don’t know what happened in detail but I won’t be happy if you start developing the habit to hide things from me. I need you to trust me and tell me what really happened between you and Agathe... is she threatening you? I need to know in order to help you." His crimson eyes revealed his seriousness, but before he could persuade her further, he heard her stifle a cry, and the sound of it had caught him off guard.

"Little Lamb?" His serious facade dropped into instant concern. Samantha palmed her face with both of her hands before shaking her head. She hadn’t intended to baffle him with her sobs but she knew eventually she was going to crack. She hated herself for not being strong enough to deal with matters on her own, she hated how weak she was, and now, she was upsetting Ivan with her own stupid decisions to even hide it in the first place.

"Little Lamb." He called her name gently, and when she looked at him, he beckoned her over. When she stood up to make it to his side, she hardly knew, but she found herself sitting beside him on his mattress. As much as he wanted to comfort her, he couldn’t risk it to hold her even when his very essence begged him to.

"You know you can talk to me." He uttered, and Samantha eventually found the strength to speak.

"Lady Agathe..." she whispered before meeting Ivan’s crimson eyes, her own eyes becoming glossy with tears. "she’s... she’s responsible for the Queen Mother’s death." She revealed, and Ivan’s face momentarily paled.

"What?"

Samantha proceeded to tell him everything, when she arrived and how she followed Agathe to the cell where Caddel was imprisoned. The revelation and how she got caught. The truth about what happened the night of Muzan’s death and how she had orchestrated everything till this very day. The more she spoke, the more Ivan found it difficult to believe, and when she was done, the fury in his eyes blazed.

"She threatened me not to tell anyone, else she’ll go after Maurice. I got so scared and I didn’t want to come up with any abrupt decisions due to what I felt at that moment. I wanted to kill her myself, I just wanted to hurt her back but.... My vines weren’t responding to me, so I had to play safe.... She knew the truth of that night, she planned everything."

"She killed Grandmother." Ivan tried not to laugh as he found the revelation to be some sort of joke, but it sounded diabolic. His hands felt cold, and he glanced at his little lamb who happened to be a victim of her threats. As difficult as it was to believe, he knew she wouldn’t lie about something like this... and what made him believe her was when he saw Agathe step out of the room he had sensed his little lamb was in. He never really left, he just never understood what transpired between them, and now that he knew, he felt stupid.. so so stupid for overlooking Agathe, but, how could she do this??

Angered, Ivan got up from his bed, but before he could step out of his room, Samantha immediately blocked his path. His gaze lowered to look at the woman who had stopped him from leaving, and her eyes were still glazed.

"Don’t go to her, I beg you." Samantha pleaded, "she could harm Maurice and I don’t want that. I’ve already lost both families, I can’t afford to lose another." She shook her head, and Ivan closed his eyes to suppress his anger as he did not like to see his little lamb beg him like this. His hand reached her face as he gently wiped away the tears that were about to spill from her eyes.

"I won’t go to her."

"Thank you."

"But I can’t sit back either," he shook his head, dark lines forming on his forehead, "because of her I accused an innocent man for a crime he never committed. You and your brother’s lives were miserably affected due to my actions and you certainly can’t expect me to let her be. I will strangle her."

"If you take actions without proof then Alistair and Tobias will hate you. She’s their Mother and I don’t want them to think otherwise." Samantha quickly explained her worries. "We need to find concrete evidence, and if my Father took the orb, he must have left a note or something that would describe where he kept it. I need to visit Fernwood in order to find it, do you get my point?"

"What about Agathe?"

"I have a plan," she whispered, "but I need you to trust me on this one."

"What do you have in mind?"