Chapter 57: Mourning Star Seal
With trembling hands, Esme picked up the diary again from the floor to continue reading.
Julian said it is called The Mourning Star Seal. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to get entangled in crown’s politics but I have no other option. My father has already sold me to the crown.
The next words blurred in her vision as a wave of panic washed over her. Julian was much smarter than she had thought. Esme wasn’t just his spy, she was his biological weapon. Julian had prepared Esme for all possible scenarios.
If Eveyr discovered she was a spy and killed her, Julian got rid of a loose end, and would try again. But if Eveyr miraculously fell for her innocence and dropped his walls, and consummated their marriage, he would sign his own death warrant.
Esme’s legs gave out and she collapsed at the side of the bed. She dug her nails into her arms as if she could remove the poison out of her body. She felt contaminated. Tears spilled down her cheeks in anger and frustration.
Just an hour ago, Eveyr had looked at her with so much devotion. He had removed the blood ward and had surrendered himself to her completely...and what was she giving him in return? Death.
I will kill him. If I let myself get close to him, I will kill him.
She covered her eyes with her hands and sobbed as the realization hit her. She had to blur boundaries again. She had to keep breaking his heart to keep it beating.
A soft knock at the door snapped Esme out of her thoughts. She stood up and wiped her face. She grabbed the diary and put it back under the wooden panel.
"Come in," she called.
A maid stepped into the room, carrying a royal envelope in her hands.
"An invitation from the Crown Prince, Your Grace," the maid murmured, keeping her eyes on the floor. "For the Imperial Opera tonight. The messenger is waiting for you reply."
Esme took the envelope, her trembling fingers tracing the red wax seal on it. Julian wasn’t done with them. He was playing both sides of the chessboard perfectly.
I won’t let you win this game, Julian. No matter what. I won’t give up so easily. I won’t let Eveyr die.
"Tell the messenger we will attend," Esme said, keeping her voice calm despite the storm raging in her chest.
The maid bowed and left. Esme turned and put her hands to her chest to calm her racing heart. Suddenly, someone wrapped their arms around her waist from behind. The second his hands touched her body, Esme shivered. A cold wave of dread swept through her.
"Are you okay? You are shivering," he whispered into her hair.
But this time it wasn’t due to pleasure, it was because of fear.
I have to stop any deeper magical bond between us. I have to build boundaries, starting right now.
But she also knew she couldn’t just pull away. If she rejected his touch outright, his paranoid, yandere instincts would spiral out of control.
She took a deep breath and turned in his arms, pressing her hands against his chest to create some distance between their bodies.
"I am annoyed," Esme replied with a flash of irritation on her face.
"Annoyed?"
"Vespera’s insolence in the war room was too much," Esme replied, looking into his eyes. "And now, this."
She tapped the invitation envelope against his chest.
"We are invited to the Imperial Opera tonight. Julian won’t leave us alone. We still need to outmaneuver him. I need to prepare but the way Vespera treats me...I’m having a headache already."
She lied, brushing her temples.
"I will have George prepare the carriage," Eveyr said as he reluctantly removed his hands from her waist. "And don’t worry about Vespera, I’ve already warned her. But still...if she disrespects you again, I will strip her of her rank."
Then he kissed her knuckles softly.
"Rest. I’ll see you in the evening," he said and left the room to speak with his guards.
The moment he shut the door, Esme’s slumped against a chair, pressing her trembling hand over her chest.
Stopping him from touching me won’t be easy. I need to know about this seal in detail. I need to know how it works and its exceptions. And most importantly, if it could be extracted. I’m sure there must be a way to remove it from my body.
"But who should I ask? No one is going to help me here," she muttered under her breath.
System?? Can it help?
She closed her eyes and opened the system interface. She immediately went to the system store and scrolled through the list of skills desperately trying to find something that could be useful to her in this situation. Then she found:
[Item: Deep Tissue Arcana Scan]
Description: A comprehensive, molecular-level scan that identifies all foreign magical anomalies, curses, and latent biological seals within the host’s body.
[Cost: 10,000 Points]
She looked at the top corner of her screen.
[Current Balance: 12,185 Points]
Tears brimmed in her eyes as she stared at her points. She had spent weeks enduring panic attacks, manipulating a monster, and walking on thin ice just to hoard those points. Her goal was to save up 20,000 points to buy that one item that would allow her to fake her own death, escape Eveyr, and finally be free.
But now it she bought this item to figure out how to save Eveyr’s life... she would be bankrupting herself. All her hardwork would be in vain. And she would have to begin from the start, not knowing if she could get opportunities to earn so much points again or not.
And if not...she might get trapped with Eveyr forever and will never be able to return to her world.
She stared at the two options for a long time.
One led to her home and the other kept Eveyr alive.
Esme squeezed her eyes shut, a single tear escaped her lashes and slid down to her cheek as she raised her hand and bought [Deep Tissue Arcana Scan]
