The Baroness Misbehaves
Chapter 217: Sacrifices To Make

Chapter 217: Sacrifices To Make

During Night time, Madeline was back in the palatial building as promised, and Napoleon was forced to listen to the discovery she had found in the secret library passage. Unfortunately, Osvaldo had important meetings to handle for him, else, he would have handed her to his brother who was of great advantage when it came to this kind of thing.

"The patterns on the wall rhymed with the patterns on my husband’s back. I couldn’t believe it for a minute or two, but after proper inspection, they looked similar." She said, sounding amused and wondering how Late Williams got to know about it.

"Are you done?"

"No." Madeline quickly answered since she had more to say, but when she noticed his furry brows narrow in disdain, she quickly cleared her throat and changed her sentence.

"I mean... yes."

Napoleon finally sat up straight. "How something similar ended up in Cassian’s back has nothing to do with me. It’s something only your Mother can answer if she was here, or better still, ask whoever gave him such a mark. But what I can tell you is this, what you saw are important magical patterns your Mother carved to the walls so she wouldn’t forget them."

Napoleon could still remember how she spent most of her time in that secret passage, carving things to the wall. "If you looked close enough, she carved something else, and it’s a hand pattern that you need to practice in order to unleash the barrier spell. Your Mother carved it in case she forgot, but who knew her old methods would benefit you in the future."

Madeline’s eyes instinctively widened, "you mean, the barrier spell is in that passage?"

"You heard me the first time." He deadpanned at her, "but doing the barrier spell, you need to be aware of something." The way his expression contorted into full seriousness, made Madeline’s heart beat for a second.

"What?" She dared to ask.

"The barrier spell is known to be a cleansing spell, it wipes off the creature including every other thing related to it, Fiends, and even Vampires. They all relate with the creature, Ekiminus."

"Ekiminus?"

"Half ghost, half Vampire. That’s what we call it here" He broke it down for her, "the barrier won’t only get rid of it, but also every other thing attached with it. What I mean to say is, no more ghosts, Fiends, and Vampires."

"Wait... why are you telling me... this?" Madeline thought about his reasons, and then after what felt like many minutes of uncomfortable silence, she frowned at Napoleon who guessed she may have got the meaning,

"Cassian is exempted, right?"

"I don’t know." Napoleon answered in all honesty, "his situation is rather tricky and--"

"Are you saying my husband has a chance of dying if I carry out the barrier spell?" Her frown switched into someone who had been left shock-stricken by it.

"I’m saying there’s a chance he might not, it’s a thin line between life and death, and I cannot guess the outcome, I’m no fortunate teller."

"If we don’t know the outcome then I will not carry out that spell until we confirm my husband will not be affected by it in any negative way." Madeline doggedly made her voice and opinion heard on this subject, one that didn’t fit well with Napoleon who’s frown deepened.

"Wasting time is not the greatest idea. It will strike."

"Then you better hurry and clear my doubts." She got to her feet and stepped out of the room, closing the door shut behind her.

Napoleon sighed deeply the minute she was gone, already aware that this was going to happen. Maybe he shouldn’t have told her about it just yet, but now that he was incapable of turning back the hands of time, he could only rely on Osvaldo to fix this mess.

That night, Madeline returned to the house that had been given to her and Cassian. She stepped inside, and found the young lad waiting in the living room, and from his expression, she could guess he had been waiting for her.

She met his relieved gaze, and when he rose to his feet, she tried to force a smile so he wouldn’t suspect her worries.

"Hey, so how did it go with that Leon guy?" He asked, and Madeline pressed her lips into a thin line before nodding her head slowly.

"He said the steps to learn the barrier spells are in there." Madeline’s tone of voice came out weak, a complete contrast to what Cassian had been expecting.

"Shouldn’t that be good news?" His eyes watched her closely, "you don’t look or sound too happy about it. I remember the other day you were jubilating at the top of your voice, this was what we wanted, and--"

"I think you should leave this place." She quickly said, firmly, making Cassian pause in his statement, and the silence they never knew once occupied the living room became noticed when Cassian kept quiet.

After a few minutes, he asked, "What?"

"You should leave this place, go somewhere far away, somewhere that isn’t here. Somewhere that isn’t Carmarthen, you deserve better than this, maybe you should--"

"Why are you.... saying this all of a sudden?" Cassian’s expression changed instantly after hearing her say he should leave. The urgency in her voice wasn’t something he would carelessly ignore.

"We came here together, if I leave, we leave together."

"But I don’t want this for you."

"You don’t get to decide that." He reminded her, "did he say something mean to you??" Cassian was ready to break all of his teeths if he figured Napoleon had said something hurtful to his wife, but Madeline shook her head, leaving Cassian more puzzled and lost.

"No, it’s just, I don’t want you to die." She looked at him with inescapable tears filling her eyes.

She had been trying to hold it in, she never wanted to show her tears, but hearing death again, she doesn’t want to lose anybody else to death anymore.

"If I create the spell then everything goes with it, and there’s... there’s a chance that I might lose you too if I create it." She shook her head at the foreboding thought, "you’ve done so much for me till this level, you should think about yourself and leave everything behind, go far away from here, somewhere where the spell won’t reach you, somewhere far away."

"Maddie.."

"Please do this for me."

"Maddie.."

"No, I want you to listen to the things I’m saying, I want you to forget me... I..."

"Stop!" His raised tone made Madeline keep quiet in a hush, and she noticed his gaze had darkened so much that she didn’t dare to utter anything else.

"That’s enough." He brushed his hand through his hair, feeling pained that she ever assumed he was going to leave her if she said so.

"What sort of a man do you think I am to abandon you? Maddie? I get it, so there’s a sacrifice to make in order to protect hundreds, thousands and a lot more, but I am not someone who cares for the people anymore. I’m doing this because I care for you and I don’t want that thing to come after you."

He made his pure intentions clear, he didn’t want to let it out like this but maybe it was time he forced her into accepting it.

"You wanted to find the murderer of your parents, that’s why I still took up that case. You wanted to understand the strange lights coming out of you, it made you blame yourself for Catherine’s condition, that’s why I wanted us to come here from the beginning. If creating that barrier can save you from ending up like your family then fucking do it Maddie! If my death is the end of it then so be it, as long as it guarantees your happiness I’m willing to give it up, but telling me to leave or forget you is not for you to decide. Don’t ever say something like that to me again."