Chapter 15: Don’t Go, Please
Eveyr crossed the tent in a blur of shadow and caught her before she could hit the ground completely. His sword fell on the ground as he wrapped his arms around her limp body.
"Esme?"
She didn’t reply. Her head lolled back against his arm, her body as cold as ice. Blood again slipped from her lips, staining his clothes. Eveyr’s heart stopped.
"Esme! Open your eyes!" he roared, his voice trembling with a fear he had never known.
But Esme lay there without any movement. He lifted her into his arms, pressing her bloodied face against his neck, and carried her out into the hunting camp.
Outside the nobles were laughing and drinking. When they saw Eveyr running like a lunatic with his wife in his arms they fell into dead silence.
"My Lord, what happened?" Lady Vespera asked, rushing towards him. Her hand reached for her sword when she saw the blood on them. "Did someone attack her?"
"Clear the road to the estate," Eveyr snarled. "If anyone comes in my way, kill them."
Vespera immediately turned around and started ordering the soldiers. Eveyr reached his horse and jumped into the saddle without using the stirrups, holding Esme against his chest with one arm. He removed his cloak from his shoulders and wrapped it tightly around her.
"Breathe, Esme," he murmured, riding faster. "Do you hear me? Keep breathing."
Everyr had never felt this helpless before. Holding dying Esme in his arms, he realized that all his power was useless. He pressed his hand over her heart, her heartbeat was fading.
"You don’t have to die to prove a point," he screamed. "You can’t leave me, Esme. Open your eyes, Esme. Open your eyes!"
When they reached the estate, Eveyr didn’t even wait for the horse to stop. He slid off the saddle with Esme in his arms and kicked the huge gates open. The staff in the foyer froze as they looked at him.
"Get the doctors!" Eveyr roared. "Bring every healer in the city to my room. Now!"
He carried Esme up the grand staircase and laid her down on the bed of their room. Then he gently removed the cloak off her and brushed the hair away from her face with his bloodstained hand.
"Stay with me," he muttered under his breath.
Minutes later, three imperial healers rushed into the room carrying medicine bags. Eveyr stood at the foot of the bed like a shadow, watching the healers’ every move.
The head physician checked her pulse, listened to her breathing, and looked at the blood on her lips carefully. After a few minutes, he turned to Eveyr looking nervous.
"Your Grace... we cannot find any wound or poison. Her body is weakening, but we do not know why."
"Check again," he shouted.
The physician swallowed and nodded. The healers examined her again, whispering among themselves, but none of them looked confident enough to know what was wrong with her.
"Your Grace, we are trying our best. But we can’t find the reason behind her ."
"Are you telling me you cannot help her?" he asked, his voice sounding dangerous.
The room fell silent. The healers looked at each other, too afraid to speak.
"If she dies because of your incompetence, I will kill every single one of you."
Their hands started shaking. The head healer quickly bowed his head.
"We will do everything we can, Your Grace. Please... give us time."
Eveyr turned back to Esme and took her hand in his, sitting down on the edge of the bed, refusing to move or look away from her.
Hours passed, but Esme was still unconscious. The healers had absolutely no idea what was wrong with her.
"How much more time to you need?" Eveyr shouted again, his patience running out.
"We cannot cure what we can’t diagnose, Your Grace!" a young healer cried. "It must be a curse..."
"If you can’t save my wife, then you have no right to live," Eveyr said and turned towards his lieutenant standing at the door.
"Take them to the courtyard," Eveyr ordered.
The guards immediately rushed inside and dragged the screaming, begging doctors out by their collars.
"Execute them. And bring me the black market alchemists from the lower rings. If she doesn’t wake up, I will hang every healer in the capital from the city walls."
Vespera, standing quietly in the corner, closed her eyes in frustration.
"My Lord... executing the Emperor’s personal physicians is treason."
"I don’t care," Eveyr rasped. "If anything happens to Esme...no one in this capital will sleep peacefully again."
Vespera nodded in defeat and left, leaving the two of them alone in the room. Eveyr kept sitting there, holding her hand for god knows how many hours, waiting for the alchemists.
Hours later, Esme finally gasped. She opened her, her eyes, her chest heaving as if she had just emerged from a freezing ocean. The first thing she noticed was a red interface floating in front of her.
[SYSTEM CRITICAL: 1% Vitality Remaining.]
Organ Failure Suspended. Awaiting Point Influx.
Esme slowly turned her head and saw Eveyr pacing at the foot of the bed like a caged animal.
"Eveyr," Esme called him, but it came out as a whisper.
Eveyr froze and instantly turned his head towards the bed. He walked over and dropped to his knees beside her.
"Esme," he murmured. "You are awake. Are you okay?"
"I..." Esme struggled to breathe.
"You are poisoned. But these incompetent healers are unable to detect it," Eveyr said. "I knew they wouldn’t let us leave in peace. Julian is behind this. He must have drugged your tea in the gardens."
Then he gently cupped her cheeks.
"Tell me, Esme, do you want Julian’s head right now or do you want to wait till you get better?"
Before Esme could even process his words, another notification appeared in her vision.
[MASSIVE OBSESSION SPIKE DETECTED]
[Target’s Homicidal Devotion Registered. +2000 Points.]
[Health Restoring... Vitality at 80%.]
Esme suddenly felt very warm. The tightness in her chest vanished as she took her first deep breath in hours.
She stared at Eveyr and finally understood the actual rules of this game. Eveyr wasn’t naive to fall into her trap everytime. She needed something big and dangerous.
Esme slowly pushed herself up against the pillows and wrapped her fingers around his.
"Come here," Esme whispered.
She pulled him up from his knees to sit on the edge of the bed.
"No one poisoned me, Eveyr," Esme murmured, her voice devoid of her usual arrogance.
She took his hand and pressed it against her chest.
"But if you leave for south... if you follow the Emperor’s orders and leave me alone in this empty estate... my heart will stop beating before you even reach the border."
She swallowed as she tightened her grip on his hand.
"Don’t go. Please."
