Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 47: Proof

Chapter 47: Proof

At the end of Ivan’s witty remark, the prideful look on Albert’s face immediately blanched.

"Proof, you say?" Prince Aldrich simply uttered, then frowned questionably, "this isn’t the right time to beat around the bush Ivan. As you already know, this matter concerns your life and safety."

"Who says I’m beating around the bush?" Questioned Ivan as an indecipherable smirk reached the corner of his sinful lips. "To correct you there, it’s all going according to the way ’I’ planned."

As always, his subtle retort left another heavy silence hanging in the air. Albert, who remained unusually quiet in his seat, secretly eyed the Vampire Lord with narrowed eyes. He failed to comprehend the meaning behind his so-called ’Proof’ - Moreover, it was difficult to predict what type of incongruous scenario the Vampire Lord might be thinking.

Feeling more precarious as minutes passed by, he looked down at his untouched meal and shifted uncomfortably on his seat.

"Shall we begin?" Snapping his fingers, Herbert quietly walked away from the scene. Samantha’s curious eyes followed Herbert as he disappeared from behind the bushes, and her gentle eyebrows creased dubiously.

Everyone kept waiting in silence, already getting tired of the tight suspense. Several times, Samantha would steal a glance at the bushes where Herbert had taken. She was beginning to wonder if anything happened to him when Herbert finally returned.

The only problem was, he was dragging a strange man who looked no older than thirty years of age.

"Get on your knees!" Pushing the man forward with his tone harsh, he sent him to his knees in front of Ivan. The strange injured man was dressed in an outfit that was made for only the royal subordinates of the Palace, evoking shocks and unanswered curiosity from everyone at the table.

The man’s bloody physical appearance brought back painful memories - the kind Samantha wished she could clog from her mind, and her frantic fingers nervously balled at her side.

"Come." Ivan motioned for Samantha to join him, whilst she obediently stood beside him, looking down at the bleeding servant.

"This one here," Ivan’s eyes returned to the servant. "I need you to take a good look at him. Is he the one?"

Calming her racing heart with a few intake of breaths, Samantha lowered her gaze to the servant whom she soon recognized after a minute of staring. He was the same servant who received gold coins from the Courtier! Samantha knew with no doubt that he was part of the plan to get rid of Lord Ivan, but he wasn’t the one who gave her the golden goblet.

"No." She shook her head truthfully, "it was someone else."

"Hmm, are there more?" Ivan directed his question to Herbert who nodded in response. Moving closer, he whispered something serious into the ear’s of Ivan.

"I see." Ivan acknowledged the news, his expression grim. "Bring the body instead."

"Of course, My Lord." Answering to Ivan, Herbert turned around and left. The questions in everyone’s eyes were not hidden, but Ivan had no intention of answering any of them.

Sauntering to his seat, he poured himself another glass, and when Samantha hurried forward to assist him, he rejected her help.

"Go back to where you’re standing." He motioned with his eyebrows, and Samantha, although pissed by his unruly tone, quietly moved back.

"Don’t worry, we’ll finish this off quickly and get on with the feast." He assured everyone. Herbert returned again but this time, he was carrying on his shoulders the dead body of a fake subordinate.

Samantha stifled a shocking gasp when Herbert dropped the body before Lord Ivan.

"What the crying fuck is going on here? Aren’t you seeing this?" Alistair complained to Tobias who just finished his meal. "Mhmmn." He nodded once, "let Ivan handle it, I believe he knows what he’s doing."

Meanwhile, Samantha’s eyes goggled frighteningly at the dead body of the servant, and she stepped back.

"Is this the servant?" Ivan asked, and Samantha slowly nodded, still shaken by the sight that she forgot how to speak. How is he dead?!! They just spoke a couple minutes ago when she went to get the golden goblet! How is he....?

"This plan was ostracized really well, I have to applaud the mastermind." He sighed, "but you should know by now that professionals are quite predictable in their games, it’s the amateurs that are dangerous."

He returned his serious gaze to everyone. "Sending imposters dressed as one of my servants was a dirty trick, but I was hoping for something more challenging. My aide here informed me about the gold and how someone from the royal court threatened him to keep quiet. Without his help, I would have been a dead man. " He revealed, and Samantha gazed at Ivan, astonished by the fact he was also giving her some credit since she informed him earlier about what she witnessed in the forest.

At this point, Albert could feel a sweat roll down his pale face. How was he caught?? Shouldn’t the idiot have fled from the forest a long time already???

Albert opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped himself when Ivan turned to the servant brought before him. When the servant knelt in front of him with his hands and head on the ground, Ivan mercilessly stepped on his hand.

"Ahh!!! Ow!!! Your Highness!!"

"Highness?" A disdainful scoff exited his lips, and he didn’t take his feet away from the hand he continuously stepped on. "Did you think of me as your Highness before receiving gold to poison me?? Ahhh.... I can’t remember when the cry of an enemy sounded so satisfying."

Taking his feet away from the hand that presently bled, Ivan crouched on both knees, making the servant meet his frightening gaze. "Do you wish to know how I plan on killing you? Ever heard of chop chop?"

He made a gesture with his hands as if he was decapitating on something, sending cold shivers down the spine of the guard. "First off, I’ll skin you alive, get rid of all the skins like how they treat animals. Then I slice you into pieces, small pieces and feed it to the wild."

"Pardon my actions, your Highness!! I’ll do anything." He begged, placing his head to the ground again.

"Hmmm, you killed your fellow companion and still beg for mercy? Let’s leave it at that, I can decide to free you if you tell me the truth, and only the truth." He cocked his head to the side. "Who sent you?"

There was a warning in his tone that could not be ignored. Samantha who had witnessed enough horrid sight couldn’t bear to watch anymore as she looked away.

The servant, who was shaking like a leaf against the cold gaze of Ivan, moved his eyeballs to where Albert sat. Before the man could reveal the name, Albert got to his feet and wanted to run away.

"They never learn.... Hand me my chain." Moving away from the servant, Herbert handed Ivan his chain that was filled with spikes, a chain that was familiar to the eyes of Samantha. Smirking devilishly, he lunged the chain at Albert.

Hooking his leg and making him drop face first to the ground, the spikes hooked against the skin of his limbs through his outfit, and a painful cry left his lips. Ivan, who appeared unbothered, pulled the chain back and drew the Courtier along with it.

"Let me go! Let me go!" He tried desperately to grab at anything, but it was impossible to escape when Ivan was the one who had him trapped in his clutches.

"Where are you going?" Ivan coolly asked, "the nights are only getting started."

"Albert??!!" Abdiel’s eyes widened in disbelief. "You planned this?!"

"He is not meant to rule and we all know it!!" Albert raised his voice at them before looking at Ivan with pure hostility. "You do not deserve the throne! You do not_h_gh!!"

The unforeseen slicing of someone’s head forced Samantha to turn her head away as Albert was silenced at the spot. Looking up, everyone’s flabbergasted gaze landed on Tobias who placed his bloody scythe on his shoulder, and he met their gazes.

"What?" He blinked, "one of us had to do it, his voice was starting to irritate me."

Samantha could feel her mind go numb as her gaze drifted to the head that had been severed from Albert’s body. She came to the conclusion that everyone in the royal Chevalier family was indeed mad.

When the feast ended like nothing happened, Samantha had to return to the tent that was set up for her. Taking off her disguise and changing into her nightwear, she laid on the mat with the hopes that she could get some sleep.

Closing her eyes, her stomach suddenly grumbled. She found it totally absurd to still feel hungry after being a witness to that terrible scene.

Unable to fall asleep, Samantha decided to take a bath.

Hiding her face with a shawl, she sneaked out of her tent, tip-toed past the guards and made her way to the stream that wasn’t far from where her tent laid.

Removing her dress, she stepped into the refreshing water, and a sigh left her lips.

Her golden-blonde hair shone under the moonlight, and Samantha peacefully enjoyed the tranquility of the water. That was until she heard a manly voice say.

"Do you really not fear for your life?"