The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 237: Demanding Proof

Chapter 237: Demanding Proof

Annalise and Esme had a staring contest as they both refused to be the first ones to look away.

The pressure she felt while staring into his deep eyes was enough to shake her from the inside out. Still, she was determined to not let the man intimidate her any further than he had already done so far.

All this time, she had been learning to stand up for herself and not let anyone make her feel weaker. It was now finally the time for her to officially test what she had learned so far.

To both of their surprise, it was none other than Esme who looked away first. The man seemed almost flustered if Annalise had to judge from his body language but she could be entirely wrong about it.

"You are indeed my other half but that doesn’t really mean anything more than that." His voice sounded slightly different but Annalise couldn’t tell exactly how. Besides, he seemed to be avoiding looking at her face as he looked anywhere but at her.

She didn’t reply immediately as she was busy calming herself down as the pressure seemed to be finally leaving her alone. That slightest moment of his attention shifting away from her was enough to take away the pressure that was about to syndicate her to death.

Taking in a couple of deep breaths, she finally turned her full attention back to Esme as she spoke, "I don’t have much time on my hands and I need your help badly." She stopped there as she wasn’t sure what to say next.

She could not ask him to help in exchange for a condition or something as she knew confidently that it won’t end up good for anyone, except for him of course. She also couldn’t order him to help her as it would do no good to her. So exactly how should she make him help her?

The question was running through her mind as she stood there in silence, staring at the masked man while trying her best to come up with a solution. She was still thinking about it after a long silence when he suddenly spoke, breaking the silence - "Tell me, why do you think I have the answer you are looking for."

Annalise remained silent for a couple of moments as she contemplated how to answer his question. It wasn’t a hard question, to begin with, but she wasn’t sure if he would believe her words or not. After thinking for a while, she decided to go with the truth. " Because my instincts told me so."

She was expecting the man to make fun of her, or at least laugh at her words, but to her surprise, he didn’t do either of these and just looked at her while tilting his head to the side.

"You have made me so confused, woman." He suddenly spoke in a tone that was filled with disappointment and confusion, making him sound a little lost which didn’t sit right with his personality at all, making Annalise believe that it was her ears playing tricks on her.

"What do you mean?" She asked, not knowing whether he would be kind enough to give her an answer. Once again, he surprised her as he actually responded to her question and not with one of his own questions.

"All these years, I have been looking for someone which made me did everything that I have done in the past ten thousand years... but now... you are standing right in front of me. What am I supposed to do now?"

Annalise wasn’t sure which part of his words she should focus on. The one where he just confessed that he was over ten thousand years old, or the one where he talked about searching for her throughout these ten thousand years? No matter whichever it was out of these two, they both were beyond insane and believable.

In the current period, there were only a couple of people in all four realms who were over ten thousand years old and right now, a totally mysterious man was stating that he was one of them.

"Why were you looking for me?" She ended up asking the question that was bugging her the most but was probably the easiest to guess among both of them if she had actually paid much thought to it.

Esme once again tilted his head to the side before responding to her question with a question of his own - "Didn’t i already made it pretty clear that you are my other half?"

Annalise had to shake her head repeatedly to keep herself from getting lost in the jumble of thoughts that had taken home inside her brain. "So you are saying that you have been looking for me, your other half, for nearly ten thousand years?" She just asked it to confirm that they both were on the same page of understanding.

As the man nodded his head long and clear, there was nothing that she could do but to accept the answer for the time being despite her mind not being eager to accept such an absurd thing at all.

"Can you prove it?"

"Prove what?" Esme asked as he looked at her with interest filled eyes, or at least, they seemed to be filled with interest for a change.

Annalise took in another deep breath before she answered his confusion - "Can you prove that you are ten thousand years old and... that we are indeed each other’s completion?"

She was fully aware that she was taking a huge risk by putting such a demand/request in front of such a dangerous man but she also knew that it was a risk worth taking. The only issue was - what if he actually proved his words?

Esme surprised her as he suddenly stepped toward her, this time causing her to step back in surprise. If not for his mask, the smirk on his lips would have been visible as he stared at her and stated, "If you think you can handle it, I’m more than eager to comply."