CHAPTER 447: COLOR OF LIES-II

That same night, Arabella stared at the bottle filled with liquid, and within it, a small, curled creature. She had fetched the bottle from Morpheus’s office. Not as a gift from him, no, but simply because she had asked what it was.

Morpheus had been kind to her, painfully kind. His voice was always soft, his smile warm, his words drenched in gentleness as if she were the most fragile treasure in his possession.

And yet none of it could move her heart. There was a hollowness in her chest, a sense of watching a play she did not belong to, forced to mimic emotions she could not truly feel.

Still, guilt lingered. She wasn’t someone who couldn’t feel guilt after all.

Guilt toward Morpheus, who had shown her nothing but affection, and yet whose touch and gaze filled her with an unease she could not explain.

When she had asked him about the strange creatures he kept sealed in precious blue and red bottles, he had told her they were rare, born not from this kingdom, but from a place beyond the world.

Out of curiosity, she had asked if she might hold one.

He hesitated at first, the pause stretching long enough for her to feel the weight of it, before finally placing the bottle in her hands. His smile was tender when he said, almost too tender, "Then it shall be yours, from now on."

Now the bottle rested upon her palm, faintly warm despite the cold liquid within. The creature floated, its small limbs folded as if in sleep. For a moment, she could have sworn it moved, its tiny chest rising and falling ever so slightly, the faintest ripple disturbing the liquid’s surface.

A fluffy white creature, as round as a ball, no larger than her clenched fist. Its fur shimmered faintly under the candlelight, as though breathing in rhythm with her own pulse. It looked harmless, innocent even, yet something about its stillness unsettled her, the quiet felt too deliberate, too aware.

Arabella’s fingers traced the bottle. "A living thing," she whispered to herself. What was it? Out of this world, Morpheus had said. Not out of the kingdom, but out of the world entirely.

But what was there other than this world?

The only places she knew beyond were heaven or hell. The thought sent a cold shiver crawling down her back. Had this small thing come from one of those realms?

Her thumb brushed over the cork seal. For a fleeting moment, she imagined opening it, letting the creature breathe, or perhaps letting whatever it truly was escape.

The air in the room changed. A strange stillness fell over everything; even the flame of the candle beside her dimmed, shrinking lower and lower until it was no more than a trembling wick.

Then came the scent.

A strong scent with the undertone of metal and iron.

A strong scent of blood.

Arabella’s breath hitched, her body turning rigid as her senses caught up with the realization. The air was thick with it, the scent that made her stomach nauseous, as if something in her was too familiar with it.

Her head snapped toward the door, every instinct in her body screaming. The silence on the other side felt heavy, unnatural, as if ghosts of demise was calling for her.

"Isaac?" she called softly, her throat bobbing. He was always close, he had to be close. But there was no sound. No movement. Not even the usual hum of life that usually lingered in the castle’s veins. Though her hallway had always been quiet, if she had called for one name, someone would have already knocked back for an answer.

But this time, it didn’t.

Her heartbeat pounded so loud she thought the creature in the bottle might hear it. She rose to her feet, her bare toes pressing against the cold marble floor as she walked toward the door, her heart thumping loud in fear.

When she reached the door, her fingers hovered inches from the doorknob, nervousness stalled her from opening the door.

"Isaac," she called again, this time more quietly. The tremor in her voice betrayed the fear tightening her chest.

She hesitated for a moment longer, then pushed the door open.

Darkness swallowed her.

The hallway beyond was pitch black, every candle snuffed, every glimmer of light devoured. Even the moonlight that should have filtered through the high arched windows was gone, as though the castle itself had turned its face away from the night.

Her pulse throbbed in her ears. "Isaac? Morpheus?" she tried again. Her voice echoed, small and trembling, before fading into nothing.

Still nothing.

A dreadful quiet stretched on and on, deep enough to make her feel she was the only soul left breathing in the world.

Drawing in a shaky breath, Arabella whispered a spell under her breath. A spark of fire bloomed near her shoulder, a trembling orb that floated beside her head, casting a faint amber glow.

She stepped into the corridor.

Her light touched the walls, revealing long smears of red along the stone, thin, faint trails that glistened wetly. Her stomach dropped.

The castle was not silent because it slept.

It was silent because something else was awake.

"Isaac!" Arabella panicked when she saw the blood, running beside the glistening liquid that had painted a new color of the floor until she saw Isaac’s body leaned toward the wall.

His head was leaned to the side, with blood on the corners of his lips, leaving red trace. He was still holding to his chest where a knife had been driven towards it and seeing the knife, Arabella’s eyes flickered.

That dagger... where have she seen it before?

"M-" gasped Isaac, "Milady please run... the person who stabbed me is still.."

"Isaac? Isaac!" She panicked when Isaac had stopped responding. No matter how hard she had tried to shake him to answer, no matter how her voice had rose to call his name, Isaac remained motionless.

Without thinking twice, she let Isaac down on the floor. Ripping his shirt, she pulled the vial of medicine she had always brought with her like a habit. Then she flickered toward the end of the hallway, yelling with magic so her voice would be amplified, "SOMEONE! GET SOMEONE HERE NOW!"

All the nearby sorcerers were startled by her voice rushed immediately to her side and when they saw Isacc, they were so stunned that none of them could move.

But she snapped them out of their daze, "What are you doing? Fetch me water and fire now!"