Kissing Hellfire: Marry Me, Evil Lord
Chapter 121: Not Yet Home

Chapter 121: Not Yet Home

The deranged girl looked at her father who fell back on the floor, terrified of what his daughter had become. But Ericka’s heart and mind were now corrupted and all she could feel was the need to kill.

Before the girl could attack anyone in the house, Alec raised his hand and a huge band of blue fire enveloped the girl’s body, tying her arms and legs so she couldn’t move.

"Please, Your Majesty! Don’t hurt my child!" Helena wailed.

"Your daughter is dead. This girl is nothing but a monster who will kill every person she encounters," said Alec sternly. He then turned to the councilman who stood at the corner. "Bring them out."

Fred heeded his word and he helped Helena’s husband to drag the woman out who was reluctant to leave.

Lauren remained to stare at Ericka who was trying to escape the band tying her body. She remembered how the girl sweetly smiled at her just a while ago, but her eyes that once had a pair of deep brown orbs had become lifeless.

"Even though it seems impossible, Dr. Bentley keeps on conducting tests with the first deranged man’s body to see if there is a way to revive a corrupted human heart. However, he hasn’t made any progress so we don’t have a choice but to kill her," Alec said, looking at Lauren with weighing eyes.

"I will take care of it. You should wait outside," he added. Her cold expression may not say it but he knew she felt bad for the young girl. It was an unfortunate accident that led to a tragedy.

Without saying anything, Lauren stepped out of the house. She stopped when she was ten feet away from the door and closed her eyes. She then took a deep breath. How many more lives would that evil woman take?

The whole ride to the town, she was silent and Alec didn’t disturb her silence.

Alec told Simon to bring the rose to the council laboratory and have Dr. Bentley examine it.

The next day, Alec summoned the senior members of the council including the chief in the castle for a meeting. Now that another human was corrupted, it was only a matter of time before the entire Evardin would know about the deranged humans’ existence. Alec told the council to stop hiding it from the people to raise awareness.

While Alec was in the courtroom with the council, Lauren was making her way out of the castle in a fur coat when Matthias suddenly appeared by his side.

"Are you leaving, Your Majesty?" He asked while keeping a one-meter distance, just like how Alec wanted it to be. The guards and other male servants in the castle received the same order.

"Yes. I will be back before sunset. Why?"

"Well..." Matthias cleared his throat. "His Majesty had the kitchen maids cook your favorite dishes. I suppose he wants to have lunch with you."

"I see, but I don’t have the appetite." She didn’t say more and walked past Matthias whose face was distorted in distress. He knew Alec wouldn’t like it and he would become the subject of his ire.

Lauren went to meet Ethan in his family’s establishment. Wearing a thick black and white fur coat above her dress and a laced hat, the people in the establishment’s hall didn’t recognize her. She was the Queen now and almost everyone in Evardin knew her face. She didn’t want to create a fuss when she was in public, so she wore a hat to make her face less visible.

She went to the front desk and asked Ethan’s trusted attendant if his employer was in the establishment. After receiving a positive answer, she went upstairs to Ethan’s private room.

She pushed the door opened and her eyes flew to the sofa where Ethan was. But he wasn’t alone. Julian was walking towards Ethan with a basin of warm water and a cloth.

"You are here, Julian?" She asked and took off her hat. She didn’t like wearing hats and only wore them occasionally when she was trying to blend in with people as a commoner.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty!" Julian greeted.

Lauren looked at Ethan and this time she noticed the stain of blood on his gray shirt. He was wounded on his arm.

"You’re wounded? Did you get into trouble?" She sat beside him to take a closer look at his arm.

"Don’t worry. It won’t kill me. The physician is on the way," Ethan assured and ripped off the sleeve of his shirt that was covering his wound.

Julian laid the basin of warm water on the small table at the center. He was about to help Ethan in cleaning his wound but Lauren grabbed the cloth from his hand and did it herself.

"This seems to be a serious wound. How did you get it?" Lauren asked as she wiped off the blood around the wound with the cloth. It seemed to be a wound caused by a blade.

Ethan threw his head back and sighed. He massaged the bridge of his nose with his other hand. "Father came. He discovered how I sabotaged my supposed engagement with Jennifer Haystone. We argued and in the middle of his outrage, he threw his dagger at me. If not for my fast reflexes he would have killed me."

"You should have talked it out with your father first—wait, Jennifer Haystone? Did I hear you right?" Lauren knitted her brows.

How could she forget Eloise’s witch best friend during their childhood? Jennifer was the girl who had her pet snake bite Lauren back then. She kept on visiting the castle because she was a minister’s daughter. But eight years ago, her parents separated and her mother brought her to Acheron. It was the first time after years that Lauren heard about Jennifer, and worse, she was even supposed to be Ethan’s betrothed.

"Yes, the only daughter of Minister Haystone. You know her, right? I remember her being one of Eloise’s friends back then. She stayed in Acheron for eight years with her mother when her parents annulled their marriage, but after her mother died, she was taken back by Minister Haystone."

"What a news," Lauren arched her brow as she continued cleaning Ethan’s wound. "Did you meet her? She was a mean girl in the past, I suppose she has changed."

"I can’t tell. I only met her briefly. But I guess she is smart. She immediately understood that I don’t want to marry her and did not insist on it."

"Good to hear that you managed to escape an arranged marriage. You learned well from me." Lauren smirked and looked at Julian who was holding a bowl of grapes across from them. "I still haven’t asked you, Julian. What brought you here?"

"Well, I am currently on the task you gave me which requires me to stay in the town. Sir Ethan is a kind man who offered me to stay here instead of renting a room. It is a good man’s grace, so how can I refuse?" Julian threw a grape in the air and caught it with his mouth.

By the time Lauren finished cleaning Ethan’s wound, the physician arrived and gave him the medical attention he needed. His cut was large and deep so a healing spell wasn’t enough. He needed to put healing ointments and rest his arm for a few days.

Lauren went to Sullivan’s establishment to get her something she left last time and wasn’t supposed to take long. However, Vivian arrived later that afternoon and asked for a drinking session because the next day was her birthday and she wouldn’t get to celebrate it with them since she would go visit her aunt, Lady Priscilla.

"Cheers!" Vivian raised her glass with a flushed face. They were drinking strong liquors instead of sweet wines. It was what they usually did the day before Vivian’s birthday and Ethan and Lauren couldn’t say no to her. Only that this time they weren’t three but four. Julian joined them who was also a heavy drinker.

In the castle, Alec was in his office and reading reports from the ministers. A servant came to tell him that the dinner was ready and it was only then he noticed what time it was. He went downstairs and asked if Lauren had returned but Matthias said she hadn’t come home since she left earlier that noon.

"Do you know where she went?" Alec asked Matthias, hoping that Lauren mentioned a place even though he knew that she wasn’t the kind who shared her whereabouts with anyone.

"No, Your Majesty," Matthias replied in a quiet tone with his head lowered down.

Alec thought about where Lauren could be at such a time and he remembered when he caught her going to a theater with her friends last time.

"Prepare the carriage," he ordered and when he got inside the carriage, he told the coachman to bring him to Sullivan’s establishment.

What a headache she was for a wife... Alec thought darkly.