TRAPPED BY THE SECOND MALE LEAD
CHAPTRE 12
“You suffered so much when you saw Marigold shed tears. You will soon gather doctors from all over to treat Marigold who is only affected by fever in early summer.”
“What do you want to say?”
“Have you ever felt the same way when you saw me suffer and suffer?” Ziel could not argue, he just silently listened to the complaints of the twin sister Marigold. “If it was me, surely you would have let me die rotting on the spot, you wouldn't have bothered about it either. You'll close your eyes and ears. You won't care a bit."
During this time Ziel did not consider Meridia's presence. He only hates the misfortune Meridia will give him, and comes into his own fear after finding out that Meridia carries a curse that could harm everything Ziel has.
For Meridia to definitely destroy the Emerald family like it was as easy as flicking a finger, that was the thought she had. Ziel only wanted to protect his family from that danger but he also did not want to abandon Meridia just like that.
“After you treated me like a stranger and only as a servant in this house, now you suddenly take a stance as a father and arbitrarily manage my life? who are you? what did you contribute to my life? no.” Meridia sarcas.
“...” Ziel again just fell silent to hear the words of Meridia.
“I deserve my own life. You might be able to give me a new identity, like the daughter of a close relative of yours or someone else. Have you ever thought about how your reputation is at stake by bringing me into the lives of the nobility?”
“Meri-“
“Do not joke. I've memorized this groove. You'll blame me for the rash steps you took yourself. You too quickly want to expel me to not think about the impact.”
“MERIDIA!” the raven girl's thin body was bewildered in shock at the furious jolt of her biological father.
But that does not mean Meridia will remain silent “SUFFIC! I'M TIRED OF YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS ME!” Meridia raised her voice no less high to the point that Ziel took a step back in shock.
“I hate this family so much!” frustrated scream. The patient girl went up in black, her face flushed red from crying and getting angry at once, then something that from the beginning she held everything broke out. “You can see later. Just wait for time until our circumstances are reversed. Whatever you and this family do, it's not going to work out. I swear to you - especially you, you will feel the same despair I have felt all along. Just enjoy your happiness which will only be until tomorrow.”
Silent struck. A cold wind pierced as if filling the room. Ziel remained silent. Instantly his body shivered to make his hair bristling.
What kind of scary feeling is this? Her thought. What just happened, Ziel seemed to really understand and feel everything that Meridia released. During this time, Meridia never cried or said harshly to others despite always being bullied. Now it seems to be inversely proportional.
“Wait! Meridia!” Ziel kept calling out the name of the twin sister Marigold as she ran out of her study. He wanted to ask Meridia to pull her words back.
At the same time, Marigold who had fallen asleep immediately opened his eyes and sat down in shock. Both of his eyes opened wide, his heartbeat becoming unusual.
“What happened? What kind of feeling is this?”
Anxiety enveloped him until his sleepiness disappeared perfectly and left a big question mark on his head. Marigold didn't hear any sound, nor was he having nightmares. Something woke him up from sleep. “This feeling...this is not a good sign,” murmured while staring at the door of the room.
•
•
•
CRUST!
While somewhere, precisely in a large quiet and dark mansion like an abandoned building heard a loud sound from the breakup of a large mirror in the room. Simultaneously a loud laughter followed, roaring loudly in one plain room that had a gripping cold.
“Hahahaha finally…! finally the time I have been waiting for has arrived,” said the person happily as he stared at the old-fashioned flawed mirror still by touching his own image reflected randomly there.
“Your Majesty, what will we do next?”
“What else is it? I'll be free to do anything to him. I'll be in action tomorrow. I do not like to waste time.” his cruel smile is clearly displayed on that cold and beautiful face. “Prepare my sword. I'll hunt tonight.”
“I'll do it soon, Your Highness.”
His sharp eyes that lit up in the dark of the room moved to look at the night sky which only showed the figure of a crescent moon alone without a single star accompanying “I better what are you? Ah, I can't wait until tomorrow,” muttered the mysterious figure still by showing the smile of a psycho.
That night, on the outskirts of Goldenleaf, security was tightened. Many of the palace soldiers deployed to patrol ensure not to miss the continued development of the many victims of deadly diseases that until now have not been identified what the causes and symptoms are.
For the past month, the people of the city have been urged not to be outside the house beyond eight o'clock at night, in case the disease is not a natural spread but the actions of a person. Magic is no longer a foreign thing in this world so they are also wary of the masters of micro and macro magic.
Soon time showed midnight and Arden was preparing his equipment before heading off on patrol. Helena just happened to want to check her only son in the room and they met near the exit of “Arden, why did you go along? Already have someone on duty in each post ‘kan? Don't risk your life, son.”
Arden smiled gently while hugging briefly the warm body of the mother “Mother, you are too worried. I've been training under Grand Duke William's extreme training for many years, I've quite qualified to be a border guard.”
“What are you talking about, eh? I don't like you for a lot of reasons. Go to your room, just sleep. I won't be able to sleep if you're out.”
Arden led Helena to sit on the sofa “Dad was on guard last night. Now means my turn. I'll only be outside for a while, two hours only kok.”
“But still Arden..”
“Mother. I can't let a lot of people lose their family members. I must help the king immediately find the cause.”
Helena was forced to let her only son go after Arden kept pleading and explaining the strong reason she had. Helena admitted, Arden's dedication to her own hometown was truly as strong as William's. All of William's leadership traits were copied perfectly by his son.
“Huh...I didn't know it was the good or bad side.” her body stiffened in shock when she felt a big hand grab her shoulder from behind “William, I thought you were asleep. You awake?”
William did not answer and just stared straight ahead where Arden no longer seen swallowed dark place that is no longer illuminated “Don't be too anxious. He was just testing his own abilities. We just need to give support. I'm sure you and I have the same thoughts about our son.”
Helena was devastated upon hearing the loving voice of her husband's hoarse voice “You are right. I like to doubt his abilities that he has been honing all this time.”
William justifies Helena's sagging scarf down her smooth shoulder “Oh gosh, precious asset emblazoned,” that handsome handsome authoritative man's geek with a flat face to his wife.
Women fight kalem it chuckles shy “You are very good at restoring my mood.” The harmonious relationship between the two of them remains well maintained even though their marriage has occurred dozens of years ago.
“What can I do. I'm your husband. Let's get some rest. I'll ask Jeremiah to wait for Arden.”
“Good.”
Arden dismounted from the dark horse he was riding to hear a direct report from the four guards on duty “Did you guys see anything suspicious in this place?” arden asked as soon as the four palace soldiers gathered before him.
“There has been no sign of His Majesty. We also did not meet a single person while watching.”
“Good.”
Arden was accompanied by two soldiers there. Arden was too focused on his goal ‘investigating’ that he wasn't so dizzying if there was a chatter as the armor rattled as they spoke to be a marker that it was his soldiers.
“I want to go to the place yesterday,” from there Arden parted with the two soldiers who accompanied him. Arden wanted to investigate the last place where there was one more victim of a bartender who was affected by the disease.
Until finally something broke his concentration. His sense of hearing captured a voice of debate between two people. When Arden approached the source of the sound, then he could clearly eavesdrop on their discussion.
“Wait Nanda! We still have to stand guard over there! Why have you been running all the time?! Your job cannot be represented!”
“Let me go, damn it! I gotta get out of here. I'll meet my death tonight if I don't leave soon!”
“Huh? What do you mean talk like that?”
“Soaring!”
Arden was about to chase after the two of them, but from the corner of his eyes he could see a shadow not far from him entering an empty alley with a quick step. Arden clearly saw the shadow wearing a black robe.
The blond girly youth became indecisive, what should he take care of first? Should he chase two soldiers who are also in pursuit? or was he immediately trailing the shadow he had just seen?
Arden chose to follow to the alley where he saw the shadow enter there. The alley was neither a dead end nor a narrow road but it connected it to a large road that people often pass through.
The dimly lit street lights were not enough to help his eyesight. “Where did he go?” Arden lost track of him quickly. “How can he disappear so soon?”
Arden walked down the streets just by relying on instinct, guessing for himself where the shadow figure went. Both eyebrows are linked “Why around here no one is watching?”
Arden looked quickly into a small alley that was in fact dead-end, usually used as a landfill.
A groan sounded soft and disappeared just like that. Arden's hand was ready to pull his sword out while walking towards the alley that was only bathed in moonlight at that time.His two eyes narrowed focusing on the shadow that caught his eye.
“What the fuck is this?”
The black-robed figure that he had only a few minutes ago seen was now lying on the ground motionless in the slightest. Arden thinks positively. He thought it was a man who was drunk and ended up falling down after not being able to walk any further.
Arden crouches nearby “Excuse me?”
There's no answer. The snoring is not heard.
Arden's breath choked “No way, is...?!” Arden immediately flipped over the figure facing the ground in order for him to see his face. Both of his eyes were perfectly rounded.
Yeah, correct. It was the soldier who was about to run away after saying something that was difficult to understand. Now in front of his eyes the soldier was already stretched out stiffly with skin that was wrinkling and drying gradually over a fast period of time.
In just a few minutes the process of pengoposannya already equivalent to a corpse buried for almost a year. The red line on his neck still looked new, strangely not a single speck of blood dripped.
Arden then injects a dark blue liquid into the lifeless body in the hope that something can stop.
Previously Arden continued to study the herb with a drug expert whose father hired to help find out what triggers the strange disease that was making restless. Now he tries to experiment.
Nothing has changed. The drying process still occurs, the flesh seems to evaporate, only the remaining skin wrinkles and bones that begin to show porousness.
“This is very terrible.” The medicine he put in didn't have any effect on slowing down. “I guess he went the other way, why is he suddenly here?”
Bizarrely. Arden was sure of the incident when the soldier tried to escape by the time he saw the cloaked person was only a split second away. There is no way that humans can move around that fast.
Arden returned to the post to ask representatives to call the party in charge of bringing the bodies to the palace. “You're here?” Arden sees Nanda's friend already in the post, confused and exhausted.
“Yang Mulia. I'm sorry, I'm not guarding my part of the territory properly. I instead left him and rested here,” he thought Arden would reprimand him for staying in the post.
“I heard your discussion with your friend. How, did he manage to escape?” Arden just wants to know from Nanda's friend's point of view. If the hypothesis is true, the disease is the work of a group or a person.
“Yes, Your Grace. As I chased after him, he ran very fast into the bushes and after that completely disappeared. Before that I really heard the sound of him still stepping on dry leaves, followed by a moaning and when I got into the bush, he was no.”
Arden calculated the time between these two interconnected events. During the pursuit process, Arden had already found Nanda's body lying on the ground near the garbage disposal. His suspicions have increased dramatically.
“Don't be surprised. Actually I found your friend.”
“Really?”
“She's gone. Can you call the palace? His body must be delivered there now.”
“Good, Your Highness.”
The king never forbade magic or magic-wearers to live in his country. It was just that he himself did not employ a magician in the palace, had never discussed the development of magic in some areas, and so on. In short, he did not care about anything that smelled magic.
“What is this doing of a witch who was done to rebel against the King?” the brave young man lost his sense of tiredness. Once he gets a clue, he won't waste it.
In the early hours of the morning, they all went home to rest. One by one the soldiers began to arrive at the post to record the reports, then some of them returned to the palace and some returned to Palmieri's palace.
“Huft, safe.”
“You were too reckless earlier. Fortunately, His Majesty is not as banged up as you are.”
“Hei. I've worked hard to erase the trail. At least you appreciate my efforts.”
“Usahu to give directions to them?”
“Tck. You can't really talk to me.”
Two men stood behind the building while staking out the activities of the soldiers who flocked home. It seems that they also need reports hence they are lurking.
“Come home.”
“Y-Your Majesty?”
“Take it easy. We'll still be safe.”
“Your Majesty, you are indeed very cool.”
“Close your mouth or I cut off your vocal cords.”
“B-b-well, Your Highness.”
His two men were a little surprised. Usually he does not get angry ‘as soft as this’. But tonight, after the incident where his magic mirror cracked and split, it seems that the man's mood is not as bad as it used to be.
