Chapter 76: Chapter 76
DAHLIA:
How can I be so naïve? All the signs were there… That sudden encounter in Hildt, the way that he seduced me and pursued me… They were all there, so why did I not see it?
“Dahlia, don’t cry… Don’t cry… Tell me properly, hmm,” my father said, drying my tears with his hand despite the amount that was streaming down my face. “What do you mean by that? Where did you see that Shadow wolf?”
Before I could even speak, there was an urgent rap by the door.
“Countess… The prince and his men are here,” Lina said, a look of fear written all over her face.
I quickly dried my tears and smoothened my dress and hair.
“Did they say why,” I asked Lina.
She shook her head. “They said it’s urgent.”
“Papa, let’s see them first,” I said to my father who had already composed himself as if nothing had happened. He simply nodded towards me.
Before I could take one step outside of my study, I heard a loud voice coming from the front door.
“By imperial orders, you’ve got to let me in! We’ll be searching the premise!”
My heart palpitated. It was Kaist’s voice.
“Prince Kaist, what on earth is happening?!”
“Countess Abell, I need to search your house immediately! A rogue wolf was sighted entering the premise.”
“A rogue wolf?”
“Yes.” As he said this, Kaist’s knights had already began searching by the garden. “Countess, where’s your husband?”
“He had some business to attend to… Why?”
My heart felt like it was going out of its rib cage. What on earth had happened?
“What time did he leave?”
“Just a few minutes ago,” I lied.
“What on earth has happened,” it was father who repeated the words from my mouth to ask the question I sought to ask before.
“We set up an ambush at Payn, but a wolf had escaped. I was able to track him down though, and I think he went here…”
Payn was a few miles away from Seymour Villa. It would have been grueling to cross borders from there to here.
“Your husband, where is he? I need to speak to him.”
“I don’t know when he will be back, but I shall inform you as soon as he arrives home.”
“No. I need to see him now, Dahlia,” Kaist said, seizing me like a mad man by the arm.
For the first time, I could see that there was blood all over the prince’s body, and to my horror, the blood smelled familiar.
“Prince Kaist, let me go,” I demanded.
Father held Kaist’s arm that was holding me. “Please do as my daughter requests… your highness.”
“Your husband’s wolf – what does it look like? Was it black all over, Dahlia,” Kaist said with the same mad look in his face.
“No,” I replied back. “He has a white wolf. It’s a pure white wolf…”
“Do you have any evidence of this? I need to see his wolf form myself…”
“If you must, then you can take samples of his fur from me…”
“Samples?”
“Yes,” I said, gritting my teeth. “We had been intimate today… There must be samples left after we -”
“No need, countess,” Kaist interrupted my words. There was a pained and disgusted look in his face. Even the knights that remained around him were giving me a foul look, but I don’t care.
I had to act quickly… I couldn’t possibly let him know that I had no clue where Tristan went and at what time he had gone… I couldn’t possibly let Kaist become more suspicious of him...
“Your highness, we can’t find anything,” Pelle, Kaist’s assistant, said after coming back from the garden.
“Dahlia, I need to search the rooms.”
“No… You cannot do it at this time,” I said quietly.
“It’s a must, by imperial or -”
“The rooms, including ours, are a mess… Do you want to further embarrass me by exposing what my room looks like after a night with my husband?”
“Very well. We’ll search all the rooms except for yours. Make it quick,” Kaist ordered his knights. I kept quiet, feeling relieved that he would not search inside our bedroom.
For just now, I felt it… I felt the presence of my husband coming into the bedroom we slept in a few moments ago…
After a few minutes of fruitless searching, the knights came back and bowed towards his majesty.
“The rooms are empty, sire.”
Kaist’s face was red in anger. “Very well, let’s go.”
“Countess, Duke Hurst, I am sorry for the intrusion… I’ll make it up to you and will visit you soon. Please rest well.”
We curtsied towards him. The prince and his men left as soon as they had arrived.
“Dahlia, I’ll go back to the mansion too… You must take a rest now,” my father said.
I nodded towards father, not intending to follow up on my earlier offer for him to rest in the villa...
As soon as he had boarded his horse, I walked slowly and quietly towards my bedroom – a contrast to the raging storm that was gathering in my chest.
When I opened the room, the heavy smell of citrus and woods mixed with the stench of blood filled my nostrils…
I was right, Tristan has returned.
I removed the sheets covering the bed, but he was not there nor was he in the sofa or in the bathroom. I looked all around, but he was present anywhere…
I could feel the slowing down of his heart beat and his breathing. I could feel several aching wounds, including one somewhere around his throat…
Worse of all, I heard him whimper and call for my name…
Where could he possibly be?
The air was still full of his smell. I’m sure he was here. He was somewhere nearby, just within my grasp…
“Moon Goddess,” I whispered in the air. “Moon Goddess, let me see him…”
I closed my eyes and let myself immerse in his scent. I drowned everything beside me and let only his smell fill my entire senses…
When I opened my eyes, I saw tendrils of black smoke arise from the corners of the room near the enormous window that was surprisingly open.
I walked slowly towards the window, intending to close it, but before I could even reach it, I felt a soft fur brush against my foot.
I bent down to look at it…
Under the moonlight, I could see a coiled dark fur that looks like a tail. I gently stroke it and very soon, the rest of a pitch-dark body materialized before my eyes.
Tears began to pool at the corners of my eyes. Before me, my husband’s all black wolf came into view, a dark violet crystal glistening clearly in the middle of his forehead.