Chapter 335: The Healer’s True Face
Suddenly, she heard Zora speak again. Her voice was low and threatening, a tone Eve could never have imagined the sweet doctor from the academy would ever use.
"Why don’t you try being foolish and find out exactly what I am capable of?" Zora hissed. "Do not forget that this newfound body you possess is a result of my research. Just as I know how to build a person like you, I also know how to destroy one."
Silence reigned outside for a moment.
Then, Eve heard the sound of a fist slamming against something hard before Drake spoke again.
"I will get back to you for this, Clair! Once the Master gives me permission to enter and claim what rightfully belongs to me!"
With those parting words, one set of footsteps retreated.
The woman’s voice cut through the quiet once more.
"Did you check if she is awake yet?"
"We checked in the afternoon. She seemed to be passed out then," the Darkrot stationed outside replied in its raspy voice.
"Hm... open the door," Zora commanded.
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[Music recommendation: John Lunn - Helig]
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The heavy door yawned open at her command. The woman entered the dark chamber, her eyes immediately darting toward Evelyn, only to find them still shut as if she had never woken.
Her heels struck sharply against the rough stone floor, the sound echoing in the confined space before stopping a few steps away from Evelyn.
A cruel smirk curved her lips as she took in Evelyn’s helpless, unmoving state.
Evelyn did not dare move. She kept her breathing even, determined to see what the woman was up to. She could sense her standing there, watching and observing, before the sound of footsteps began to recede.
Just as Eve thought the woman was leaving, the sound halted on the far side of the chamber. There was a faint rustling, followed by the soft crackle of flame. She realised the woman was lighting the lamps within the room.
Once the task was finished, the footsteps approached again, stopping directly in front of her. Eve fought every instinct to react, keeping her breath steady and calm while knowing the woman was now standing right over her.
Then the woman’s soft voice filled the chamber.
"Princess Evelyn... or should I say Daughter of Light, Solaira."
The moment the name left her lips, she broke into sharp, grating laughter that scraped painfully against Eve’s ears.
"Ah... just look at you. I must say, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would see this day. Never did I imagine that the woman who radiated such tremendous power, the formidable being I once knew, would be reduced to this state. You were a woman everyone feared simply because you existed, standing proudly beside the one man any woman would sell her soul to be with."
Her voice dropped to a hiss. "I was one of them. I was the one who dared to seduce the great Malakai, and I failed because of you!"
With those words, it was confirmed.
This woman was the same Clair who had betrayed humankind and fled with Zafira in a greedy pursuit of power.
Zora tilted her head slightly, then reached forward and seized Evelyn’s jaw, forcing her face from side to side as though inspecting an object. After a moment, she released her abruptly, letting Evelyn’s head fall limply to one side.
"The same face... that same power, yet you have been reduced to nothing more than a worthless human. How pathetic!" she spat venomously.
Suddenly, she grabbed a fistful of Evelyn’s hair and pulled hard. Sharp pain burned across Eve’s scalp, yet she forced herself to endure it, keeping her body limp and her breathing steady as she continued to pretend to be unconscious.
"To be honest, I cannot entirely blame you for your misery," Zora continued coldly. "After all, this was a meticulously crafted plan. One we set in motion years ago... no, centuries ago. Thousands of years, in truth, before it could finally come to fruition."
She leaned closer and whispered, "It is rather unfortunate that you are not awake. Otherwise, you would have had the pleasure of seeing your dear nanny once more. The one you loved so very much, Princess."
A shrill burst of laughter echoed through the chamber. She laughed so hard that tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, which she casually wiped away before regaining her composure.
"Do you not remember Clair... your nanny? Ah, those delightful days. I cannot begin to describe how much I relished watching you suffer. How satisfying it was to see that pathetic father of yours despise you, convinced that your very existence had claimed your mother’s life. That you had taken my mistress from this world."
She began pacing by the window, her silhouette sharp against the moonlight. "I wished to leave that castle the moment my mistress staged her death. But I was duty-bound to remain. I had to continue messing with your memories whenever she was not around to do it herself."
She sighed, a sound of mock sympathy. "You poor soul. You thought that, at least, your nanny and your mother loved you. You had no idea that after beating you, we would make you forget every single second of the pain so we could continue playing the good guys. How fun it was! It truly made up for the fact that we could not kill you back then."
She spoke as if she were reminiscing about a pleasant summer day.
To Evelyn, however, it felt as if her entire world were crashing down. Shock and pain shook her entire being, and it took a herculean amount of effort not to break down in front of this vile being.
"We really tried to keep you away from Malakai, who is Prince Ivan in this life, but fate works in a funny way. He ended up coming all the way to Luminear anyway. When he did... the boy, who was only five at the time, decided he wanted to marry you. Telling his parents something about you made a promise to marry him."
She scoffed as if she found the memory ridiculous.
But as Eve listened, her heart began to beat faster before squeezing painfully within her chest. A recent memory of Ivan and her together back in the cottage resurfaced, and his voice echoed in her mind.
"Do you really want to know?" he had teased. "The promise you made to me back then?"
"I promised you something? Can you not make me so curious and then act all mysterious about it?" she had said impatiently.
"Just that we were kids," Ivan replied, giving away only half the dream. "I was five, and you must have been three, in the garden of the Palace of Light in Luminear."
"So you really saw us," she said, curiosity spilling from her deep blue eyes. "Is that all?"
"Hm... and you accepted a flower I gave you in return for a promise," Ivan added.
"Oh?" Eve’s eyes lit up. "And what was this promise?" she asked, utterly fascinated.
"That," Ivan drawled, taking in her adorable reaction, "I do not remember."
’Liar,’ Eve whispered in her mind.
She recalled that sweet memory from when everything was still unknown and hidden. Back then, she was in true bliss with the one man she loved with all her heart and her very existence.
’So this was the promise I made to you back then...’ Eve thought, her heart swelling with a bittersweet ache. Her throat tightened, and she fought to control her overwhelming emotions and the intense yearning she felt for Ivan while being trapped in this dark, forsaken place.
But the wretched woman, Zora, or rather Clair, continued without mercy.
"We really had no choice but to make you both forget that you had ever met. At a certain point, I had to shed my identity as Clair. So I took this Lumen’s body to join the Blood Moon Academy as their sweet healer, all to commence the next phase of the plan. Yet, fate intervened once more. You two met again only because of your foolish father, who sent you away from the very kingdom that was supposed to keep you caged until the time for your slaughter arrived."
Zora’s eyes gleamed as she fixed her gaze upon Evelyn and lowered her voice to a sinister whisper.
"And that day is tonight. Tonight is the night that will reshape this entire world and restore it to its former glory. Tonight is when my mistress will finally claim what is hers...her man... our handsome Prince Ivan."
"So take what little rest you can in this realm, Princess."
With that, her heels struck sharply against the stone floor as she turned and made her way to the door, which creaked open before she stepped outside.
The moment the door shut behind her, Eve’s eyes flew open.
Her vision blurred as tears spilled freely down her cheeks, emotions she could no longer restrain breaking through at last.
She felt her whole world crashing down, as if a single card had been pulled from the foundation, leaving the entire structure to collapse at once.
