Chapter 131: Chapter 131

DAHLIA:

I held my breath when I heard Tristan’s words…

“If the stone was naturally incorporated in a wolf’s body then the only way they could separate it is through death.”

Death… Does that means I had to die to separate with this red spirit stone inside of me now?...

‘That’s right, Dahlia… You and I are inseparable now,’ I heard the stone whisper.

“Dahlly, what’s wrong,” Tristan said, frowning down at me. “Is something wrong with your food?”

“Uh no,” I said. I think I would be having indigestion as I stuffed the rest of the bread in my mouth absentmindedly.

During the night time, they made me and Tristan separate. I slept alongside Samalah.

I closed my eyes, but slept never came to me. I lay there in the darkness thinking of how things turned out this way and how they could turn into my favor…

‘Eva… Do you know how we obtained this spirit stone,’ I asked my wolf.

‘Rather than Eva, don’t you want to ask me about it,’ the stone began to say.

I gulped down the rising fear in my chest. Do I really want to know if this stone was forced on me or not?

But I really didn’t have a choice. I should be prepared for what is to come…

‘Then how… How did we meet,’ I asked, still surprised to hear the stone speak inside of me.

‘You have no recollection yet, but it started when you were little…’

Suddenly, a memory stirred inside my head.

I was seeing it as if I was a fly in the wall, or rather a spirit in the wall, flying aimlessly around the ceiling of a house.

As I peered down from where I floated, I saw a tiny baby in the crib in a dimly lighted room.

Just outside the door of the room, I heard some whispers.

“The doctor said that the master’s baby wouldn’t make it… It would be a miracle if she lasts the night!”

“Don’t fret. Master should not see us like this… He is doing his best too…”

“By the way… Where did he go?... The affairs of our mistress’ funeral had not been sorted out yet.”

I floated towards the crib and saw the baby for the first time. She had a dark brown turf of hair on her head and blue eyes that matched my own eye color…

Wait, was she supposed to be me?

Just then, I heard some noises in the hallway.

“Duke Hurst, you’ve returned!”

“Yes, yes! Where’s Arialla?”

“She’s inside with your baby, my lord…”

I turn my attention on the silent bed near the baby’s crib. It was covered all throughout, and there were no movement whatsoever. Something tells me that what was beneath those covers were not just mere beddings and sleeping articles.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and a man with light brown hair came in.

He immediately kneeled beside the bed.

“Arialla, you’ve waited for a long time, right?... I’ve come back! You’re safe now.”

He removed the blanket from the bed, and almost immediately, a foul smell spread throughout the room.

“Master, please don’t… The mistress’ body has not been prepared for burial yet.”

“No! What burial are you talking about,” the man said, his face looking dazed. “Arialla will come back to life! She’ll open her eyes once more, you’ll see!”

The man reached for something wrapped in a handkerchief from inside his breast pockets. He quickly unwrapped it.

I gasped. It was the red stone, but it was larger than what I saw in my memory back in the auction house...

“Here… Touch it, Arialla… You’d be safe, right? I finally got the red ruby!”

The man put the corpse’s hands around the stone, but nothing happened.

He pressed the stone towards her hands more firmly. “Come on, Arialla… This will help you. Come on, open your eyes!”

Just then, something incredulous happened… The stone crumbled into tiny pieces.

“No! What is happening,” the man screamed trying to scoop parts of the stone that was turning quickly into ash.

“Master… The stone must be coming back into its original place in the Laudician plains…”

“No! I need it! Arialla needs it! A-And my darling too…”

Just then, the baby in the crib started to cry. The man scooped the baby up in his arms.

“Hush now… Dahlly, don’t cry… Don’t cry. You are breaking papa’s heart.”

“Master… The little miss needs her medicine... Perhaps it’s time we also arrange for the priest… just in case…”

“What do you mean,” the man shouted. “I don’t need a priest!”

“M-Master… The doctor said the little miss might not make it too.”

“No,” he said, his voice as cold as steel. He placed the baby back into the crib. Then right after that, he went towards the corpse, peeling back the hands that were covering the pieces of red rocks that had deteriorated to ashes by now.

“There’s still time… I still have time…”

Finally, he was able to dig a smooth piece of rock that was almost just the size of a marble.

“M-Master, what do you plan to do?...”

“Louie, this is a spirit stone, see?... Arialla… I was too late for her, but Dahlia can still have it, right? I can still prolong her life!”

“Master, where did you -?”

“It doesn’t matter, Louie… The one who had it is dead… My Dahlia isn’t dead though! She needs it!”

“Master, if anyone finds out what you’ve done, the little miss – everyone would come to harm her…”

“No! If she dies like this that will bring more harm to her!”

The man stood up and was about to go to the crib, but the butler held him with all his might. “No, master, don’t do it! If you force the stone like this in her body, she would die! She’s just a newborn child!”

“Let go, Louie! She would die either way! I just can’t watch Dahlia die without doing this!”

They struggled until the man was thrown into the floor, and the piece of red stone he was clutching flew into the air.

It shone a fierce bright light into the air before it landed straight into the baby’s crib.

“No, the young miss!”

The two men scampered to where the baby was, afraid of what they would find.

They saw her sleeping gently as if the world did not exist.

More importantly, the piece of red spirit stone, no matter how hard they looked around, was nowhere to be found…

I bolted into an upright position as soon as the vision that the stone showed me was over.

So it was my father… When I was young, my father brought the stone to me so that I could live...

There were no rituals, but the stone suddenly disappeared. Then, it was almost as if the stone had naturally entered my body, right?

‘Now you know it, Dahlia… We are meant for each other… I will protect you and everyone else you love as long as you protect me with your life. We are one,’ the stone whispered.

I can believe it! The stone chose me as its new owner.

Then that means the old owner – Tristan’s mother, as I saw in my returning memories – she was killed for me to obtain this stone, right?...

I shuddered. That memory only means that I had really murdered Tristan’s kin in exchange for the life that I have now!