CHAPTER 479: SECOND TEST IN QUESTION

Arabella sighed softly, resting her cheek against her palm as though the weight of everyone’s foolishness pressed down upon her shoulders. Her tone was calm, unnervingly so, as she finally spoke. "These days, Northam has paid far too much unnecessary attention to my maid. It makes me quite unhappy, so I decided to give him a warning." Her gaze flicked toward the unconscious man sprawled across the floor before returning to Esme, whose face had gone pale. "That was the first and only letter I have ever sent to him. So I don’t quite know what you are implying."

Her polite voice was firm, Esme who was sure everything was a trap couldn’t utter a single word in defense as the more she has to explain, the more she has to uncover the fact that she had been the one who had set up a trap for Northam to lay his hand over Arabella.

If Morpheus knew of that, he would be unhappy- not only unhappy, but it’s possible that he would even kill her.

That can’t happen!

Arabella then shifted slightly, eyes sweeping the room before she continued, "In addition to that, I have noticed something strange happening in this castle. A sickness of the mind, perhaps. Something... odd."

"Something odd, you say?" Morpheus’s tone was deceptively mild, but the way his green eyes narrowed on her betrayed the cold intelligence behind them. Though he has a human body, it felt as though she was speaking to a snake.

Arabella didn’t flinch. Instead, her lips curved into a knowing smile. "Yes. There have been hallucinations among the servants. While you were away, a maid screamed two nights ago in hysteria. She claimed she had seen a ghost. She said that it was a monster with the body of a wolf, standing six feet tall, its eyes glowing like embers in the dark. Naturally, that worried me. So I went to investigate the source of these apparitions before the news would reach your ears. If you ask around, I’m sure all the other servants can confirm it."

Morpheus turned toward one servant standing behind them and he quietly bent his head, confirming that this had indeed took place.

Seeing Morpheus bought by her words, she turned then, giving Cassius a small nod. At once, he stepped forward, his gloved hand tilting slightly as he dropped a bundle to the floor. The half charred pieces of wood scattered and tumbled, forming a dark little mound. Thin wisps of smoke still rose from them, carrying with it a faint, acrid scent that clung to the air like poison.

Arabella glanced down at it before lifting her gaze back to Morpheus. Her tone grew soft but carry a chuckle that sounded as if she was mocking the situation. "It seems someone has been using this to toy with everyone’s perception within the castle. Such a curious thing, isn’t it?" She tilted her head, watching his reaction. "I wonder who might be responsible..."

Without waiting for a reply, she stepped lightly past him and into the room. Esme instinctively covered herself, clutching the thin fabric of her gown, her wide eyes darting between Arabella and Morpheus. But Arabella barely spared her a glance. Her attention was fixed on something else. Her steps followed gallantly to the small glint in the corner of the room.

She bent down, taking her time while she does so, and retrieved a small golden pot that sat discreetly near the foot of a cabinet. Its rim was darkened with soot with a very faint curl of fragrant smoke still rising from within.

Lifting it with delicate fingers, she turned and walked toward the door, her heels clicking softly against the marble floor before she tossed it out into the corridor. The metallic clang echoed loud enough to fill the silence with chaos.

"It’s the same one," she announced, her voice clear, ringing through the stunned silence. "I doubt Northam could ever craft something like this. So tell me, who was it that made this incense?"

Her question lingered and though no answer had came from her, someone had shifted uncomfortably, the same woman who had wanted to trap her into being assaulted by Northam. Just that was enough for her to confirm that the situation had flipped toward her direction and her eyes flicked toward Morpheus, seeing his green eyes that had turned small while his teeth gritted tight until she could almost hear a crack. She didn’t need to say more.

The moment his gaze fell upon the pot, realization struck him like lightning. He knew that scent that ashy, woody, and sweet scent that always seemed to hang around Esme like invisible perfume.

Esme’s lips parted, her breath catching. The color drained from her face as Morpheus turned to her, his expression darkening into something merciless.

She wasn’t able to defend herself when came the sound — a violent slap that split the air.

Arabella winced, the sound echoing in her chest. When she opened her eyes again, Esme was trembling, blood trickling from her nose and the corner of her mouth. The red stood out starkly against her pale skin.

She began to hold her face, eyes widening in horror as she saw the stream of blood that had filled her palm.

Morpheus crouched down before her, but it wasn’t to coax or apologize to Esme for his wild behavior, instead his face seemed more severe, like a grim reaper sentencing death. His voice fell into a whisper— too low for Arabella to catch, and it didn’t help that he shielded his mouth with his hand, ensuring she could neither read his lips nor hear the magic muted whisper that followed. Whatever he said made Esme’s entire body shake, her eyes glazing with terror.

When he finally rose, the fury in his expression had been replaced by something colder, that detached, godlike composure that made even the air seem afraid to stir around him. Esme’s face had gone blue tinged, her breath shallow, as though her soul itself had been struck. She began to nod fervently toward Morpheus, as though forced to agree into something she would rather not to do but fearing the idea of going against Morpheus even more than that fear.

Morpheus turned sharply then, his robe brushing the floor like a slither of a snake’s body. He didn’t glance back at Esme. Instead, his piercing gaze found Arabella’s.

"It won’t happen again, Arabella," he said with a smile that was all form and no warmth, a smile with edges. "I assure you. Esme have learnt her lesson and I have warned her to never walk out of turn again. She promises to become more obedient to you and even offer to stay beside you."

"That’s not necessary," Arabella answered, not wanting another stifling time with someone keeping a tab on her.

But Morpheus shook his head, "I insist. She needs to make a repayment to you. Although I would like to punish her a little bit more, she is quite clever and surely she would help you when time is needed."

Help?? She didn’t have to glance backward to feel how Esme was still glaring at her as if she had just robbed her newborn baby.

Then, with a faint bow of his head, Morpheus added, "I would like to discuss the second test... but perhaps we should continue that conversation later."

And with that, he swept from the room, leaving behind the heavy silence of fear, the metallic scent of blood, and Arabella, standing amidst it all, didn’t feel victorious at all, instead, she felt quietly disturbed by just how far Morpheus’s cruelty could reach.

She didn’t linger for long or enjoy being glared by Esme, instead she turned away toward her room only to hear that crawling voice echoing from the room Esme was in.

"What have you done?"

Arabella didn’t answer but she did stop her heels. She couldn’t see Esme as she had walked away from the room and the door but she could hear that cracking noise, as if someone’s body was beginning to contort into something that sounded to have more than just four limbs.

"I knew something was odd. Have you regained your memories? You... saw the room. It wasn’t hallucination. I am sure of it!"

Esme... that face.

Arabella didn’t bite to the taunt Esme sent, instead she whispered, "Is that truly your face, Esme?"

Silence echoed from inside the room but Arabella took that silence as a confirmation. It was the only thing she needed for now.

Once she was back in her room, Arabella let out the heavy exhale she never knew she had held so tightly against her ribcage. She then removed her outer robe, quickly trying to pull the knot over her corset only to struggle.

Then over her hand, a finger had gently patted her fingers aside. The hand moved to untie her laces, gently loosening them enough for her chest to feel more comfortable again.

When she turned back, she couldn’t see Cassius’s face as a maid anymore.

It was a man with a tall body, tall enough to surround her with his shadow but his face was dark, covered in such pitch black color that she couldn’t see anything from his features, let alone figure out how he look like to jog any memory she has of him.

"You don’t really look like this, don’t you?"

Cassius’s lashes bat. How odd. He had removed all his magic that had covered his face and features for good but she still couldn’t see him for him?

"How do I look like?" Cassius questioned, his hand finding itself around her waist, tightening around it. "Do I not look the way you imagined?"

"I don’t know, have you stripped down your magic? All I can see is your skin covered in pitch black spots. I can’t figure out where your eyes... or even your lips are."

"You can’t?" Cassius gently picked her finger, placing it over his lips. "Even now?"