Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 217: Switched

Chapter 217: Switched

Samantha’s palms found her mouth, and she was sure she would have screamed at the sight she bore witness to. Ivan still clutched onto the blade, and when Agathe refused to let go, he yanked it from her grip, tossing it aside without bothering to glance at the direction he had flung it to.

The blades of the sword which clattered at the end of the Court, were now smeared with Ivan’s blood. The oppressive silence that occupied the Court Of Celestial Valor was palpable to the onlookers, and along with everyone’s grief came confusion and the need to understand what exactly is going on.

"You... you keep getting in my way, why do you do this all the time? You don’t need a human like her, she’s the reason why my son, your cousin is dead and you’re siding with her? A Dufort?" Agathe’s watery eyes turned desperate as she met the unwavering gaze of Ivan. "I had come here to stop it, to end it all, but I was too late, and it’s the fault of that pathetic thing standing behind you!" She pointed an accusing finger in Samantha’s direction before cursing outwardly.

"I wish I had killed you myself the very day I discovered you were Mr Dufort’s daughter. I should have known that families relating to the Dufort will bring nothing but absolute trouble in my path. You were finally leaving the palace during the blood moon so why did you stay??"

Samantha, whose eyes had turned teary could not believe Agathe was presently accusing her for her own greedy attempts. Taking a deep breath to control her nerves, she said,

"Everyone saw what happened here for themselves so I don’t need to justify my innocence to anyone. This is not even the right time to exchange words! Alistair is in dire need of help and instead of trying to figure out ways we can help him get better, you’re blaming me for his predicament? How am I responsible? I’m barely aware of what has happened to him!" Samantha retorted without trying to keep her mouth shut. Any other thing she will tolerate, but she won’t stand silently and watch herself get blamed for something she hardly knew.

If this was Agathe’s doing, then she couldn’t be more disgusted by this woman for attempting to harm her own son! She believed Agathe was capable of anything, but when it came to her sons? She saw the love in her eyes for them so just bearing witness to this only made her want to spit venom at the atrocious vampiress!

Tobias and Alistair deserved better.

"The blades of the sword is laced with poison." Agathe confessed breathlessly before sending a knowing glance at Ivan’s bleeding palm. "The poison can only be injected when it comes in contact with a vampire’s blood. The blade had struck Alistair, including Ivan, and their blood had already been injected with the poison the minute it met their flesh! Even if I lose my son tonight, we will lose together, Samantha Dufort." She declared with a vicious raise of her voice, and more bewildered gasps resounded within the space.

Samantha’s expression turned white as a ghost when she gazed at Ivan’s palm which hadn’t healed yet. His blood had slid down his fingers and was currently dropping against the surface of the gray-colored ground.

"I–Ivan...!!" Samantha tried to reach for his palm, but Ivan stopped her from holding it. Unlike Alistair whom the effect was quick to circulate through his system, the same couldn’t be said for Ivan who still stood tall, yet, Samantha could not stop herself from panicking as the effect will be bound to take place sooner or later.

"Let me have a look–"

"How did you know the blade was poisoned?" Ivan inquired from Agathe whose lunatic smile faltered at his question. He glanced at Samantha, conveying that he was fine before taking a step towards Agathe. "Is it the same poison that was laced with Grandmother’s tea every morning? The sole reason for her death? It couldn’t possibly be but you must have studied poisonology as you are well acquainted with different kinds."

"What... what are you saying?" Agathe, who realized her cover was blown, tried to come up with an abrupt excuse, but before she could dare lie, a frightened gasp escaped her lips when Ivan took another step forward, causing her to stagger back. The look in his crimson orbs was menacing, and Agathe glanced at Tobias who still crouched beside his brother’s motionless body with his head hung low.

"Tobias!" She called for her son, "help your Mother, I promise I’ll make everything better! I just need to contact him and he’ll bring back Alistair! I just... I tried to stop it from happening, I promise!" More tears escaped her eyes when Tobias paid no heed to her words, he barely raised his head to steal a glance in her direction. Everyone was presently staring at her as if she was a new being that had been brought to a wrong planet, even her husband was avoiding to meet her stare.

"Enough with your drama," Ivan’s clear voice made Agathe fix her gaze on him. Snapping his other fingers, Herbert candidly stepped forward with the organizer she had paid to do the dirty work, and in his hand was a sword that was a replica to Maurice’s blade.

"That is the wrong blade." Ivan revealed, to everyone’s astonishment. "This is the blade that had been laced with poison." He pointed at the blade which Herbert held. "The other one was fake, there’s no poison in it."

"Huh??"

"What??" These were the whispers that could be heard within the crowd, and Queen Lucinda stepped forward to stand beside Ivan, her arms folded. Her eyes glinted with a sharp intent, and she glanced at Alistair’s motionless body.

"You can stand up now."

At her words, all eyes moved to Alistair to see his eyelids snap open. These caused some of the trainers to back away in fright, already stumbling amongst themselves when Alistair pushed his body up into a sitting position. He glanced at Tobias who hardly gave any reaction to his sudden awakening, and he simply helped his brother up to his feet. Princess Ivy reflexively spat out the drink she had secretly sipped from her glass of wine, and the silence that hung heavily in the air was thick enough to slice a sword through.

Agathe, who watched in disbelief as Alistair got up his feet, wanted to smile that her son was actually alright, she was at the verge of crying in happiness but then, she couldn’t do so. From the knowing looks on her family’s faces, it was rather obvious that everyone had planned this in order to trick her. She looked at Ivan who proceeded to explain the matter to the bewildered Agathe.

"I had Herbert keep a close eye on your movements, and that’s how I figured out your plans to harm Alistair during tonight’s training." He paused, shaking his head in complete disappointment before continuing further, "Herbert relayed your motives to me, but it wasn’t enough. I was skeptical at first, cause I believed you wanted to harm Samantha and not your son. I needed to find more answers, I couldn’t possibly act on his informations alone, and that’s when my lovely Aunt, Queen Lucinda, and Madeline told me about what they had witnessed you doing in your Chamber, as well as your selfish attempts to sacrifice one of your sons to a devil."

Agathe’s face turned ghostly pale, her body shook at the recollection of running into Lucinda and Madeline, aggrieved at the thought that they had seen her, and Ivan’s lips twitched before he proceeded.

"I had Herbert switch the swords when the organizer wasn’t looking. Like you said, they are my cousins, more like brothers to me. I couldn’t keep my motive away so I had to let them in on my plan. They got angry, it was expected as you’re their Mother, but I made them do it in order to witness the truth themselves, and if they didn’t get the deserving truth, I promised to allow them to punish me in any way they saw fit, and they agreed. Eventually, I believed you were going to change your mind considering the deal you made, and I had to stop it, so I locked you in your secretive Chamber, but not after I stole this."

Using his blood-free hand, he brought the glowing crystal that belonged to Agathe, wiggling it for her eyes to see and picture the crystal as hers. "Does this look familiar?"

"H–how... how.. did.. did you...??"

"I switched them." Ivan dropped, causing Agathe’s shoulder to tense alarmingly. "As I said, I knew you’d find ways to communicate with the Mastermind, so I had to do something to stop it. I replaced the crystal with a defunct one, and what a pity though, you must have assumed that whoever is helping you is blocking himself from contacting you, when in truth, I’m the one hindering that communication from taking place. I needed you to bear witness to what could have happened if I didn’t switch the swords. You should be thankful to me, I was generous not to harm you through them."

"How did you know I was going to change my mind?"

"You were under mind manipulation, you were bound to snap out of it sooner or later, and that later already happened." He deadpanned, "let’s not forget your other crimes shall we? Where do you want me to begin?"