The Tyrant's Pet

Aries's sniffs had been echoing along with the crackle of the fire, wiping her tears with the bottom of her palms. She was sitting right next to the bed where Abel was lying unconscious. When they carried Abel to the emperor's chambers, Aries solely tended and cleaned his body.

She had never seen him hovering between life and death, and in such a terrible state. Or so what his body appeared to be. It was no different from a person in a critical stage, despite knowing he would wake up as if nothing happened.

"I hate you," came out a quiet voice, biting her quivering lips, eyes on his face. However, her heart could only feel pain instead of anger. No matter how much she wanted to feel angry, she couldn't.

How could she?

Could she blame Abel for creating a gathering solely to kill him? He had always sought death and all those decisions he made in the past… were still haunting him to this day. This was the price he was paying for his past mistakes.

Aries crawled her trembling hand to hold his hand, brushing his knuckles with her thumb.

"Did I complicate things for you?" she queried in a quiet voice, squeezing his hand mildly. "Was the coven better in the past, darling?"

Another tear rolled down her cheek, holding his hand with both her hands. She guided it to her forehead, closing her eyes, sniffing sharply.

Tonight was a rollercoaster of emotions for her. She felt all sorts of emotions she had always felt. The only difference was that they were heightened emotions to the point she felt out of breath. Things were ten times more dreadful, appalling, and ominous.

"God…" came out a shaking voice, hiccuping. Aries reopened her eyes and her gaze instantly fell on his side profile, still holding his hand between her palms. "... we promised to live normally, peacefully, and correctly. Please help us."

Aries stretched her hand over to caress his leaned cheeks. Her eyes softened as tears pooled her eyes, forcing her to swallow the building tension in her throat.

"You… always makes me cry, darling," she whispered, brushing his cheek with her thumb. "Why do you always make me sad?"

Right then, Aries recalled Dexter's warning to her the previous weeks. According to Dexter, despite the peace now, they couldn't be complacent. Aries thought she applied that warning, but she thought wrong.

Due to the peacefulness in her life, she didn't put much regard into those warnings. Now she understood why her brother had told her those words. Abel's past… would always haunt him unless he put a stop to it.

Tonight was the coven, and Aries didn't know what else Abel did in the past to kill himself. And that sheer thought terrified her to a height she never knew existed.

"When you wake up…" she leaned her cheek with the back of his hand, eyes fixed on his side profile. "... I will scold you so bad."

Aries hiccupped. "Don't keep secrets from me anymore, Abel. I can take it, but what I can't is if you just died."

Her sniffs and hiccups soon dominated the silence in the emperor's chambers. She stayed on the chair right beside the bed, holding his hand without talking anymore lest she started coughing blood again.

*****

Meanwhile, outside the emperor's chancery…

Dexter was staring at the shut door of the emperor's chambers with worry filling his eyes. Conan was leaning against the wall right beside the window, arms crossed under his chest.

"You said she would be busy today." Conan's quiet voice broke the silence in the hallway, shifting his eyes to Dexter's back. "How come she's in this place?"

Dexter remained silent, lowering his eyes. He didn't have the right to argue with Conan right now. Whatever he would say would only sound like an excuse. It was his fault, trusting Aries would return to the residence after her stroll in the Capital, forgetting Sunny could do something.

Conan pressed his lips into a thin line, not pressing on the matter anymore. Dexter's silence was enough for Conan to understand; Dexter agreed he got complacent. Now, all they could do was listen to Aries's silent cries while watching Abel in his sleep.

"Did the coven end?" asked Dexter after three minutes of silence, keeping his eyes on the shut door before him.

"It did…" Conan trailed off, recalling the turn of events during the coven. "His Majesty's sister arrived, apparently. I'm not sure if her arrival is a good thing since she dispelled the coven when His Majesty couldn't even do that."

"His sister…?"

"Mhm. Marsella." Conan let out a shallow breath, glancing at the window beside him. "She also stopped Lady Aries from ruining her throat by forcing out spells without her knowledge."

Conan paused, recalling the feeling he felt when Aries was shouting, "let him go!"

"Did you say she's the holder of Maleficent?" he asked. "If so, then we had no choice but to get her involved in everything."

"Is that the only way?" this time, Dexter turned his head and set his eyes on Conan, only to see the latter staring at the window.

"She already touched the curse living within her," Conan explained. "I'm speaking as someone who had lived a life of knowing things back on the mainland. She might've not noticed it yet, but she had already awakened. Without proper guidance, Lady Aries will only be in danger, just like what happened tonight."

"Witches… were complicated beings, wielding powers that might require their own lives if needed. She might die without her knowledge," he continued in a quiet tone. "She might live a more complicated life with everyone after her, but I'd rather choose that than standing doing nothing despite knowing she's a ticking time bomb, unaware she might explode any moment."

Dexter's jaw tightened, peeling his eyes away from Conan to the shut door. Bitterness was plastered across his face, balling his hand into a tight fist. But before he could blame himself, Conan spoke.

"This was bound to happen. Don't blame yourself." Dexter lowered his eyes upon Conan's remarks. The latter was still staring outside the window. "His Majesty only wished to keep her from all this, but this was already to be expected. After all, she married a Grimsbanne, a clan who was said to be the direct descendant of the devil."

"And not just any Grimsbanne, but the heir of the child of evil," Conan added, his voice lowering. "What an ominous pair. Maleficent and then the child of evil. I don't think anyone who had heard about the prophecy would stand idly by if they heard about this."

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