Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 212: Identical Crystals

Chapter 212: Identical Crystals

"I won’t say I’m surprised, but it still baffles me." Ivan leaned back on his chair, a thin line creeping onto his forehead as his lips curled downward. He knew there was a seventy percent chance that Agathe couldn’t have instigated her plans alone, she would need assistance in order to fool the royal family for this long but who could it be? If there was dark magic involved then Ivan only saw two options. Either she has bargained with the devil, or she has conjured some witch or whatever those creatures are to help her seal her facade. He had expected the worst but using Alistair to achieve her goals was just... and to her own son?

"Wait, you suspected her motive even before my wife told you?" Cassian inquired from Ivan who nodded stiffly, "why haven’t you held her down?"

"Cause the game won’t be any fun," he retorted and clicked his tongue. "I want to catch her in her own plight. You don’t have to worry about her, and thank you for sharing this with me. Believe it or not, you just saved my cousin from becoming her next sacrificial lamb, but I wouldn’t want to place the both of you under any sort of risk, so allow me to deal with my Aunt the way I have planned." He drummed his fingers on the table, his crimson eyes gleaming sinisterly as the information he received gave him a better idea on how to catch Agathe.... And this one, she definitely won’t see it coming.

When they were done with the discussion concerning Agathe, Ivan exited the library and took a stroll with one of the Minister’s he had sent for. They strolled into the courtyard where he found Lady Agathe conversing with the guests from yesterday night, and when he had used this opportunity to confirm her whereabouts, he glanced at the Minister who stood behind him.

"See to it that Fernwood doesn’t go three days without having a new village council. If you find someone who fails to do the recommended job as a council to my people, I will have you face the consequences for his actions."

"Of course, your Majesty. I will find the best." The Minister acknowledged his words with a bow.

"You can leave." They departed after that. Ivan’s gaze lingered on the women who were conversing with Agathe, and after making his presence less suspicious to the present souls, he turned around and left.

Going up the stairs, he could remember the spare room that was handed to Agathe. If Abdiel was unaware of his wife’s repulsive schemes, then there was absolutely no way she could harness dark magic in their matrimonial chamber. Where else can she find that privacy if not the spare chamber given to her by her husband himself?

Stopping in front of the door, Ivan cleared away the servants from that corridor, and when they were gone, all he needed to do was focus his mind on unlocking the door from inside, and a sharp ’click’ sound was heard. Glancing both ways to ensure the corridor was completely empty of the presence of servants, Ivan stepped inside, and he closed the door behind him.

His gaze scrutinized the neat-looking chamber, patiently waiting to feel the change that was prior to feeling a heavy weight drop on his shoulders, but as he waited, he sensed no compelling aura. He took a few steps forward and stopped at the center, but no matter where he looked, he couldn’t detect even the faintest of any negative energy in the air.

Did she perhaps move it away?

"That can’t be possible if Madeline caught the aura last night." Ivan shook his head at his own pensive thoughts, and rather than standing there, questioning himself, he began to search the room for more clues. He started from her drawers, her bookshelves, moving to the closed cabinet situated near her window. When he found nothing after minutes of constant searching, he moved to the dressing table to check, whilst opening all the cupboards attached to it and thoroughly going through each one.

"Is it really not here?" He murmured, eyes narrowing skeptically as he moved away from the dressing table. He ran his fingers into his hair, a little disturbed that he couldn’t sense the dark energy, but before he got a chance to walk away, a metal string had accidentally caught the cufflinks of his black sleeve, halting him in his steps. When he turned around swiftly to look at the metal string, his eyes were transfixed on the small little box that had lost a string, and out of mere instinct, he picked it out from the drawer he had unintentionally closed halfway.

Placing it on the dressing table, Ivan carefully opened the lid, and in seconds, the energy that radiated from the crystal made him close it back with quick effect. His pupils widened slightly as he was able to catch a glimpse of what the crystal looked like, he felt it, and he understood why Agathe had placed it in a box like this.

Exiting the room with the box, Ivan had used his mind-control powers to lock the doors from inside, and with the hallway still completely empty, he left the corridor and made his way to his study room.

Stepping inside, he shut the door and placed the box on his oak table.

Moving to his secured cabinet, he unlocked it and carefully took out a wrapped purple sheet from inside, placing it on the table. When he unwrapped it, the crystal that was inside came into view. To confirm his perplexed suspicion, he opened the box and took out the crystal from inside. Since his powers were no different from possessing the art of black magic, he was able to absorb its power, at least to reduce the light before dropping it beside the one he had unwrapped.

"They’re identical." He concluded,sounding quite perplexed after studying both of them. The crystal he had unwrapped belonged to Callum. It fell after his body was blown to bits, and the guards had handed it to him during the confiscation. Though it looked like a normal crystal back then, he was compelled to keep it. Unlike the crystal belonging to Callum which had lost its aura, the one he had found his Aunt using was still pulsing with a life-threatening energy.

"The hell have you gotten yourself into?" Ivan tsked, gradually making sense of the situation. At that moment, the door to his study opened to reveal Alistair who silently walked in. He was holding his chains in his hands, signifying he had taken them off without notice. There was a look of surprise in both his eyes and Ivan as he walked in, as if they weren’t expecting to find the other still in the study room.

"You took them off?!!!"

"You don’t have to raise your voice." Alistair quickly locked the doors before anyone would hear Ivan’s sudden outburst. He glanced at his cousin who was eyeing him questioningly, and Alistair sighed before saying.

"I’m secretly training myself to live without the help of these chains okay? It’s bad enough that I have a scar that can’t vanish, I wouldn’t want to bear the weight of these chains forever so don’t tell anyone or I’m gonna bury you alive."

"Since when?" Ivan asked, still stupefied, his eyes conveying his wariness, and Alistair fixed his chains back on before answering, "after that day of course, you didn’t think I’d blindly listen to what Father says to me. I’m progressing and I know it, if I can keep this up then I will stretch the days into weeks, months, until I can control my thirst."

His eyes leveled to the crystals on the table, "what are you working on?"

"Ah yes, that reminds me I have something to tell you, and it’s critically urgent."

"Oh-oh, if this is about Whiskers I swear I had nothing to do with it, Tobias is responsible!" Alistair admitted out of blue, raising his hands up in pure surrender.

"Huh? I’m not talking about– what did you say you saw Tobias do to my cat?" Ivan demanded from Alistair who realized the mistake he made.

"He... bit your cat."

"He did what?!"

"He didn’t know it was yours but no need to boil, Whisker’s isn’t dead... I hope so. Ahem..! You wanted to tell me something?" He instantly switched the topic to divert Ivan’s attention from what he just said.