Chapter 98: Caught Red-Handed
When she felt his gaze on her, she tilted her head to stare back at him, "Hm? What is it?"
"Don’t ask me that when you come so close to me," he said in a sinuous voice as he lifted her chin with his fingers.
Eve’s eyes grew a little heavy as she dragged her gaze down to his sinful lips and replied, "I was only trying to see which Chapter you are reading."
"Is that so?" he asked in a low voice that sent a delicious shiver down her spine, and she nodded slowly.
Ivan’s lips pulled up, and he let go of her chin, only to grab her arm. Pulling her against him until her back was pressed against his chest, he placed the book in front of her, "Read it with me then."
Eve blushed at his action, but with a deep breath, she eventually relaxed in his arms. Her eyes then read, "The Great War of Dark Ruins? We studied this in our first class, didn’t we?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.
As she met his eyes, he bent down and pressed a light kiss over her lips, making her cheeks bloom with the darker shade of red.
"We did, but apparently it wasn’t everything we read. This history book is a part of the palace’s library, not the one that the academy provided us with, where I feel a lot of things have been omitted for some unknown reason."
"Oh...why would they do that?" she wondered, turning her gaze back to the book.
"I don’t have an answer to that yet. Let’s find out what all they have omitted." With that, both of them dived into reading.
.....
Back at Blood Moon Academy, it was after dinner when Cece was walking through the corridor back to her room. As she reached the end of the corridor to turn to the corner, she abruptly halted in her tracks at the sight of Edward, who almost collided with her.
Both were equally startled to find themselves face to face with each other.
Cece quickly schooled her stunned expression and greeted, "Good Evening, Edward."
Edward gave her a nod and asked, "How are you doing, Cece?"
"I’m well, how about you?" she responded politely.
"I’m good as well," he replied, and an awkward silence settled between them.
Not liking the silence, he asked, "I haven’t seen Evelyn around. Is she okay?"
Cece looked around to make sure no one was listening, then replied, "She’s alright, just a little busy with some personal matters."
"I see.." Edward replied, and the silence stretched between them once again.
When none of them made a move to speak further, Cece spoke, "Well then, I wish you a good night," and she started to walk away from there.
When she took two steps forward, Edward called out, "Cece!"
She paused on her track and whirled around to look at him, "Yes?"
"I...I think we need to talk about what happened back in the...physical examination," he rubbed the back of his neck as he felt extremely embarrassed to bring it up.
Cece’s eyes widened slightly as she understood exactly what he was referring to, "Oh..uhm..it’s fine, Edward, really. It was just an accident...so no harm done."
"No! It is clearly not fine. You’ve barely spoken to me properly since then...unless we were in class." He paused, struggling to find the right words, "I just...I would like it clear the air between us....please, Cece?" His pale blue eyes were sincere as they held a quiet plea.
Cece let out a sigh and looked at the courtyard where there was an empty bench. "Alright, let’s go sit there," she said softly.
He nodded and followed her. Once they were seated on the bench, Edward started, "I know what happened between us was clearly an accident....But I didn’t want it to create a rift in our friendship or make things awkward."
He got up from his seat and stood in front of her, bowing deeply, "Please accept my deepest apology for what happened, even if it was by accident...I didn’t expect my foot to slip, and what followed after."
He inhaled sharply and continued, "I am a man of principle and would never take advantage of a lady like that...so please forgive me, Cece."
Cece’s eyes widened a little at his sincerity, and then she blushed at the image that flashed in her mind of his lips. Shaking her head, she rose from her seat and said, "As I said, it was an accident, Edward. Please, you don’t have to apologise. I should be the one to do that...making things complicated when they didn’t have to be. So I’m sorry."
Edward’s eyes widened at her apology, "Please don’t embarrass me further by apologizing. I only wished for us to get back to normal."
"Uh, yes...I would like that too." A soft smile bloomed on her lips, and Edward returned it, momentarily mesmerizing her with his surreal good looks.
"So..we are good then?" He asked expectantly.
Cece snapped from her daze and cleared her throat, "Yes.... We are."
His smile widened, and he was about to say more when both of them caught sight of a person sneaking past around the bushes on the other side of the courtyard.
They both narrowed their eyes at the figure who looked incredibly suspicious. Cece’s eyes were sharper than Edward’s, so she was able to quickly discern that it was a woman, and if her eyes saw correctly, it was the same woman under suspicion of being involved in Evelyn’s abduction.
Cece and Edward exchanged a look and silently agreed to follow the woman. With stealthy footsteps and maintaining a safe distance, they saw the woman making her way to the restricted section of the academy, near the black tower.
The woman walked closer to the tower and paused beneath a large tree. When she suddenly whirled to look behind her, Cece and Edward immediately ducked behind one of the bushes out of the line of sight. The woman stared at the open space for some time, and when she didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, she drew the shovel from her cloak and began digging at the base of the tree.
Little by little, when the hole grew to the size of a plate, she rummaged through her cloak to take out what looked like any old scroll.
Cece, who was able to see clearly in the dark, whispered, "It looks like a scroll." She narrowed her eyes further. "I think we should catch her now."
Edward, who was not aware of everything that happened to Evelyn, frowned at her suggestion and whispered, "Why should we catch her? She’s only hiding something. Why not just inform the authority?"
"If we wait, she won’t be caught red-handed. I think it’s time for her to pay back for everything she’s done." Cece glared at the woman.
"What has she done?" Edward asked, perplexed as to why Cece was acting so hostile towards that woman.
Cece glanced sideways, "There are many things you are not aware of, Edward. I’ll tell after I am done dealing with that wretch."
Before Edward could stop her, Cece disappeared from the bushes in a blur and reappeared behind the woman. Before the woman could even turn, Cece’s hand shot out and seized both of her wrists in an iron grip of a pure-blooded vampiress that she was.
Cece smirked menacingly and murmured in a cold, venom-laced voice, "Seems like I finally caught the rat red-handed, didn’t I?"
Kayla tried to struggle against Cece’s iron grip and shrieked, "L-Let go of me, you witch!"
Edward stepped out of the bushes, glaring at the woman who had just insulted Cece. "How dare you call her a witch!" he spat angrily.
Kayla turned toward the man’s voice and glared back, "I will call her what she is! What you both are doing is currently against the academy rules!"
Edward just raised his eyebrow and replied coolly, "Oh? And just what were you doing here, tiptoeing like a thief at night in the restricted section of the academy?"
"You both are here as well!" Kayla snapped at them, grinding her teeth. Since she was unable to free her hands, she used her leg to kick Cece behind her. Cece dodges it by taking a step back, causing her grip to loosen on Kayla for a moment.
Kayla used that opportunity to yank her hands free to bolt. But before she could get far, Edward’s body flared with a cool blue light. He raised his hands, for two shimmering light blue ropes shot out to coil tightly around Kayla’s legs and upper body.
Making her crash to the ground with sudden restrictions on her movement. She thrashed violently against the restraints, but to her disappointment, nothing worked.
Cece was surprised to see Edward’s display of his powers for the first time and couldn’t help but be impressed once again, similar to how she was taken by his excellent sword skills.
She smiled at him and said, "Those are some impressive powers you got there."
Edward smirked smugly and said, "Why, thank you." He then turned his attention back to the woman struggling against his restraints and asked, "So..what do we do with her?"
