Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 34: Question In The Dungeon

Chapter 34: Question In The Dungeon

"How bold." Ivan’s response to her question held a bit of arrogance, and he raised an inquiring brow at Samantha, who felt a cold shiver graze her lower back. The look in his eyes was contemplative, but for some peculiar reason, it made Samantha gulp down her anxiety.

"Why did I save you? Why did I save you when I could have easily killed you alongside your Father? Hmmm, let me see, No, I didn’t save you in the first place." Ivan corrected as a matter-of-fact. "What I did was merely to keep you alive, cause in the absence of your late Father, I still need his children to tell me where he hid the mystic orb."

As expected, the accusation in his tone was unwavering. Samantha, who was still negatively affected by his condemnatory resonance, looked elsewhere while her shaky fingers grabbed onto the bed sheet - the stinging pain in her heart was one that would take time to heal. She wasn’t sure when, or how long it would take, but people do say time mends a broken soul, right?

In her life, she had only three lovely souls, but with two gone, she has to live for the other and make sure he’s alright wherever he might be. He was all she had left.

Presently, her main question was, why did her Father step in there in the first place? Why did he take the orb? Why did he let himself get tangled in this royal mess?? Why didn’t he try to prove his innocence?? Was he really courting death? Samantha’s lashes fluttered when she blinked away her blurriness. Just thinking about it was starting to make her dizzy, and she felt slightly overwhelmed by the emotions gathering in her heart.

It felt weighed

"You.... You believe my Father took the orb?"

"I am under no obligation to make you understand what I’m trying to do here." Ivan firmly quipped, "but let me make something clear to you." And then he raised his five fingers.

"How many do you see?"

"Uhmm... ten?"

"Good girl." He shoved his hands back into the pocket of his loose pants. "Ten royals, keep away from eight. The harmless one amongst all is the Queen Mother, but her standards are practically high, so your chances of getting her favor is 7/100. As for the eight, one is my half-elder sister, Claire. I call her the old witch who fed snow white an apple, she’s dangerous in and out, stay away from her. You’ve met Alistair already, he has an older brother named Tobias, both my cousins but I advise you don’t get close, or you’ll be dragged. Lastly we have my uncle, Abdiel and his wife, Agathe, harmless but I have my reasons for denying you any form of relationship with them."

"But... you said eight, you mentioned only five names." Samantha made her confusion known to the Vampire Lord, whilst raising her five fingers to make him know she numbered all the names he mentioned. Those names weren’t new to her except for Lady Agathe, but she was more curious about the remaining three, and she wondered why he left their names out despite warning her that she had to avoid all eight of them.

Ivan, who could easily read out her puzzled expression, clicked his tongue before saying. "Worry about the ones in the Palace. For now, I’ll be heading down for a few minutes, so listen carefully to my orders. Don’t get off this bed, or you’ll have broken legs when I return. If someone knocks on the door, don’t answer it, and lastly, be a good little lamb, and keep away from knives."

The way he spoke exuded an authority that could not be disobeyed, and Samantha could understand why he was chosen to be the Crowned Prince. Her wicked mind was telling her to do something he would not like, but regardless of what she thought, her body had a mind of its own because she was obediently nodding her head to each of his commands, like a child who was being reprimanded by her Father.

When he finally left, Samantha could breathe freely without the intimidating air. "I pray to the heavens to give me strength." She silently whispered, falling back on the bed.

Exiting his room, Ivan made his way through the dark twisted halls that led to the dungeon. His personal bodyguard waited for him at the entrance, and Ivan was handed a sword by the guard before the ones in charge of the gate quickly opened the door so he could step in.

The musty scent of damp stone and decay filled the air, causing his nostrils to flare as he walked in. As he descended deeper underground, the lights dimmed until he was left in near-total darkness. Fortunately for him, his vampiric senses allowed him to see the area more clearly, creating a glowing outline of the surrounding space.

Once he arrived, Ivan was confronted with a room filled with torturous devices of various sizes and shapes scattered about. Rust covered the edges of the metal machines that had been used to inflict pain and suffering on prisoners.

The stone walls were covered in deep-set scratches and marks, telling tales of those who had screamed and begged for mercy in the past.

He could hear a faint whimpering in the shadows, which seemed to be coming from someone in pain. Moving to the cell where the sound came from, Ivan stopped in his tracks when the mole he caught in the forest was sitting on a chair, naked, and he had painful whip marks all over his skin. One of his eyes looked swollen, same with his cheek, and the sight itself made Ivan feel quite sorry for the mole.

"I forgot how brutal Uncle can be regarding punishment." He mused, then handed his sword back to his guard since he’ll no longer be needing it.

"I’m not here to fight, how about we have a little chit-chat." His guard quickly brought a chair over, and Ivan took his seat, legs crossed as he met the snake’s man’s vicious gaze.

"So you know, I have somewhere important to be in the next thirty minutes, so let’s make this quick and not waste any more of my time, shall we?" The smile on his lips vanished, "what do your people want?"

He asked the mole who only stared at him, but said nothing. Ivan clicked his tongue, not liking the disobedience, and he took his sword from the guard, using it to tilt the man’s head up.

"I never arrive late to a meeting, but if you make me late, then be prepared to receive the punishment for wasting my time."

"You have what is ours!"

"Yours?"

"This land!" The man with eyes of a serpent raged at Ivan who remained unfazed. "You... you stole our land! Everything in it belongs to us! Including the mystic orb!"

"Hey shhhhhh..deep breaths." He silenced the mole before contemplating on the things he’s heard, "I see, so you want this land? And only the land? Is that why you’ve been attacking and abducting the humans residing in it? Don’t leave me in the dark. I’m trying to get your point here."

Ivan, who looked focused like he was receiving a tutorial lesson, waited for the mole to continue, but when the mole remained expectantly silent, Ivan reclined against his chair and asked, "how stupid do you think I am? To be honest, I’m quite offended."

Rising from his seat, Ivan’s bloody red eyes gleamed with unhidden malice as he approached the naked bruised man. "This land, it’s Empire lost the only thing that could give nature to its presence. EmptyHollow has absolutely nothing, the earth below no longer has the same value that many other kingdoms craved to steal, and all of a sudden, your little kingdom princess wants my Forbidden land? It doesn’t add up." He tched, and then his fingers elongated.

"Three months ago, three young maidens were kidnapped from this land. We never saw them again because your people took them. Tell me, do you really want the land? Or do you want the humans in the land? What are you scheming?" Hearing Ivan dig deeper into their secret caused the mole’s eyes to widen in pure disbelief. "When you kidnap innocent lives, what do your witchcraft princesses do to them? Hmm?"

"I’ll never tell!"

"Can your people be more obedient for once? Sigh... Herbert, start the fire." Ivan ordered his personal guard who bowed in affirmation before leaving to get the fire ready.

"I heard fire is your greatest enemy, would you like to meet mine?" He sneered, his eyes glinting with pure enmity, and before the mole knew what was happening, two guards suddenly showed up, untying him from his chair and dragging him into the deeper path of the cell.

"You wouldn’t dare!" The mole dared Ivan who flashed him a fiendish smile before saying. " But I love dares, and because of you, I’m late. I warned you, didn’t I?"

"No, wait!" The mole’s face had turned white when he was being tied to a plank, with no form of escape. "Please! Wait! I was only following orders! Wait! AHHHH!!!!!"

His scream of agony filled the deathly quiet dungeon as his body was pushed into a burning furnace. Tiny little devil danced in the eyes of Ivan as the flame-engulfed body mirrored in his eyes.

"My Lord! It has been done." Herbert bowed his head, and Ivan’s expression returned to its neutral form before he turned around and walked away.

Exiting the dungeon, Ivan stopped in his tracks when he found Ivy standing at the entrance, and he stopped walking. A frown painted his face when she smiled at him, and he arched a quizzical brow at her.

"What are you doing here?"

"Lord Ivan, I’ve been thinking." Ivy fidgeted in her words, and she took a deep breath before looking straight into the eyes of Ivan. "I’ve been thinking and I... I’ve made my decision concerning your offer. "