Kissing Hellfire: Marry Me, Evil Lord
Chapter 45: Possessive lord

Chapter 45: Possessive lord

"It is our pleasure to have you here in our small village, Lord Everston," said the middle-aged magistrate. "I thank you on behalf of the villagers who were relieved of you killing the black mage, milord. If you don’t mind, I would like to invite you to my house. I shall prepare a feast for you!" he laughed at the end of his words, but Alec’s face remained stoic.

"Oh, you have beautiful companies," the magistrate noted when he noticed Lauren and Vivian a step behind Alec.

Extending his hand to Lauren with a spooky smile that showed his crooked teeth, the vampire magistrate’s eyes glimmered with malicious admiration that didn’t go unnoticed by Alec.

"Hello, Miss...?" The magistrate who failed to recognize the princess trailed off, expecting Lauren to introduce herself.

"Lady Everston," it was Alec who answered. "She is my wife."

With how the lord claimed the woman as his wife, the magistrate’s smile vanished and pulled his hand quickly in fear of offending the lord. Low officials like him could have their titles easily stripped by those sitting on the top of the hierarchy, that was why in his years of service as a village magistrate, he was always careful in dealing with high-ranked officials.

"Where did the guards bring the black mage’s husband?" Lauren asked.

This time, the magistrate behaved himself and spoke to the lady as politely as he could. "He will be detained in the village’s detention establishment, milady. We need to put him under interrogation to know how his wife turned into a black mage and if he is not a black mage himself."

Alec nodded and said, "Report to the council once you find anything."

"Yes, milord."

When they got back in the carriage, Lauren spoke, "It is strange. The woman looked like she didn’t know what was happening to her and was trying to control it. If she had been doing forbidden sorcery, it was impossible that she didn’t know what price she had to pay. I know this is a groundless assumption, but what if the black mages found a way to corrupt mages’ hearts that will turn them into black mages without doing forbidden sorcery?"

"The council has been looking into it but we are yet to find concrete evidence," answered Alec putting off his coat that was stained with some blood after ripping the black mage’s head a while ago.

Now he was only wearing his white long-sleeved shirt and black vest. His military rank was evident on the pin that he wore on his collar.

Vivian, who was yet to recover from the brutal murder she just witnessed, stayed silent on her seat while looking through the glass of the carriage’s window, wondering if there was a time in history when the world was free from blood and violence. She guessed there was no such time.

Finally arriving at the secluded part of the village where the mage priestess resided, the three got off the carriage and Vivian led them inside the old house with rusty fences.

Contrary to the house’s dark exterior and the eerie air the place was giving off, the front yard of the house was filled with different colors of flowers.

Lauren knew the woman’s name who raised Vivian but she never met the skilled priestess even once. She only heard things about her from Vivian, and from what she knew, Vivian kept on visiting the woman once every four months despite her being busy with her life in the town.

When they got inside, Lauren noticed how different the exterior of the house was from its interior design. The walls were painted with pastel colors, and there were lots of vases filled with flowers which made Lauren assume that the priestess was fond of flowers. It was only then she realized that Vivian must have named her brothel ’La Fleur’ because she was raised by a florist.

"Vivian!" the slender young man ran down the stairs in excitement when she saw the lady.

The man was the priestess’ apprentice who was living with her and had known Vivian since childhood.

"I thought the schedule of your visit is next month?" The man asked when he stopped in front of Vivian, slightly panting after his sprint. His eyes then went to the tall man and beautiful lady both wearing aristocratic clothes behind Vivian, and he knew she must have come for something else this time.

"Lucas, this is Princess Lauren and Lord Everston," Vivian introduced. "I brought them here because they need Aunt Priscilla’s help."

Lucas’ lips formed a little ’oh’ at the mention of Lauren’s name. He heard a lot of things about the third princess and most of them came from Vivian.

"It’s nice to finally meet you, Your Highness," Lucas gave Lauren a small bow and a warm smile. However, when he looked at the brooding man next to the princess who was throwing him a look that couldn’t be mistaken as a friendly glare, he felt uneasy.

Lucas didn’t know a lot of high-ranked people but the lord’s name sounded similar to a well-known warlord. It was only then he realized that the man was indeed a warlord when he saw the pin on his collar.

"He is Lucas, my Aunt Priscilla’s apprentice."

"Nice to meet you, Lucas. I also heard about you from Vivian," Lauren offered the man a smile.

"I hope those are nice things."

"They are not that bad."

Lucas laughed at Lauren’s modest response.

Alec cleared his throat which interrupted the two.

"So where is your mistress? Pardon me but I’m afraid we don’t have much time to waste."

How rude, said Lauren inside her mind.

"Oh right! I’m sorry. Lady Priscilla is upstairs. She usually stays in her room for days to meditate as part of her seclusion ritual. I will inform her about your arrival. While waiting, you should take a seat first." Lucas gestured to the sofas at the side.

When Lucas had gone to the stairs and Vivian left to check some tea in the kitchen, Lauren turned to Alec.

"Do you even know how to be polite? We are here to ask for help, so you should restrain that arrogant soul of yours, dear husband."

"Just a moment ago you were flirting with another man in front of me and now you call me your husband?" Alec smirked without humor.