The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 398: Elaine X Esmeray (Part Two)

Chapter 398: Elaine X Esmeray (Part Two)

"What-"

Esmeray didn’t even get the chance to finish speaking as Elaine just walked past him and entered his quarters. Not only that, she even went as far as closing the door and locking it.

"Perfect." She said while appreciating her magical work but the smile on her lips disappeared as soon as her gaze returned to look at the King of Darkness who was staring at her with an ice-cold expression on his face.

"Your Highness..."

"Elaine."

Esmeray stared at her silence at her act of cutting him off just to remind him to address her by her name and not her royal title. "You should leave." That was all he ended up saying in the end, knowing fully well that his words would only disappoint her further.

A small smile appeared on Elaine’s lips but it held sadness instead of any joy. She stared right into his eyes as she spoke - "Mother told me that if I want our relationship to get better, I will need to make the first move and melt the wall that you have created between us..."

A chuckle filled with disappointment worked its way past her like before she continued with her ocean-blue eyes brimming with sorrow - "... how am I supposed to do that when you keep acting like this?"

Esmeray felt his throat drying as not only his eyes took in her grief but even his heart felt the disappointment through the bond. Yet, he couldn’t find enough courage to take one step forward and console her. "You are quite drunk, Your Highness. How about I call your personal maid to..."

"Do you know how happy and excited I have been for the past couple of days?" Elaine once again didn’t let him finish talking. She was tired of listening to his nonsense as he never spoke what her heart desired to hear from him.

Once again, he just remained silent in response to her question, but she didn’t wait for him to ask and continued because if she didn’t let out the words hidden deep in her heart now, she wouldn’t find enough courage to do it later. Maybe it was actually a good thing that she was slightly drunk at the moment.

"As soon as the trials were over, all I could think about was returning and finally spending my days here without worrying about going back to Academy anymore. I kept counting the days as I tried to patiently wait for the day when I would finally see you after so long. But you know what happened?" She asked while making her way toward the giant shelf placed against the south wall of the living room, packed with wine bottles.

She picked one that had a high concentration of alcohol and poured herself a glass, only for Esmeray to stop her before she could have a taste.

"Don’t drink it." He tried to take away the glass and wine bottle from her hands but she quickly walked away from him.

"What are you afraid of? It’s just one bottle out of dozens. Am I not even allowed to have at least one bottle of wine from your personal collection as my welcome present?" She did her best to keep her emotions from showing through her eyes, unfortunately, she wasn’t as good as him. That’s why, she needed the alcohol. If she could hide her true emotions from him, then she would hide them from herself through alcohol.

"It’s not about the wine, Your Highness." Esmeray almost sounded frustrated as he kept his eyes fixed on her while she made her way to the other side of the living room.

Elaine chuckled as she finished the content of the glass. "Really good one." She told him while ignoring his words. She cleared her throat right before speaking - "Back to what I was saying - right! I asked you if you knew what happened when I returned. Of course, you know. When I returned, I didn’t find you anywhere. Yet, I patiently waited to see you at the banquet because no matter how busy you must have been throughout the day, I felt that you would definitely come to the banquet to welcome me. After all, that’s the least bit I deserved from my mate, right?"

As she was answered with a deadly silence, she poured herself another glass of wine and finished the entire content in another single gulp. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed Esmeray taking a step toward her but he stopped when she started walking farther from him.

"Unfortunately, I’m stupid. I don’t learn my lessons quickly. When I found out from Mother that you were here, I was once again filled with excitement to finally see you. What a pity... instead of a warm welcome, I only got the usual cold shoulder from you."

She stopped next to a statue made of white marble and turned to face the King of Darkness. "Tell me, Your Grace, in your eyes... am I not even worth one minute of your time?"

She didn’t expect any answer. She knew that she would either be greeted with the usual silence or another suggestion for her to return to her quarters and this realization only increased her pain. That’s why, she didn’t bother with the glass this time and went straight for the bottle.

The wine was just as sour as her reality and as sweet as her illusions, as if custom-made just for her.

"Stop drinking."

The bottle was snatched away from her hands as Esmeray suddenly appeared right in front of her. But Elaine was past the point of listening, especially when it came to him.

"I don’t want to." A simple spell had another bottle of wine in her hand while she was standing on the other side of the room. "If you want me to stop drinking, how about you start answering my questions?"

Esmeray seemed like he was struggling badly, trying to find a way to handle the situation that was getting out of his control with every passing moment. The version of Elaine he was seeing at the moment, was one he had never seen before, and that knowledge scared him.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.