Viscount Stellaris recovered. 

And the proud odious bitch is no longer the same greasy pig she saw a few months ago. She was back to… to… to that hateful hideous fairy-like countenance she was known for.  

Can a person change a lot in such a short time without side effects? 

Lucia shut the door to her chamber as soon as she returned to the inn from visiting Morrigan estate. No matter how much her temporary maid knocked, the door did not open a crack. She threw herself on the bed and muffled her face with a pillow before releasing the ugly feeling that had been boiling inside her chest. Fortunately, there was no one around to witness the vicious look in her eyes. If someone saw her, they would certainly agree that this was not the warm and gentle Diviner the people should praise. 

Ruined… her initial plan is ruined. 

With this, she couldn't help but feel trepidation. How can things derail? What caused it? Surely it was predicted by the prophetic book! 

No, no, it cannot be. She denied. 

Lucia pulled her dishevelled self up, took the fruit knife from the nightstand with trembling hands. 

"I, I have to make sure… yes," she spoke hesitatingly as though convincing herself. 

From under her pillow, she took the old tattered book she held all the time. Unlike any other one, this book has a strange leather cover encrusted with dull-looking stones. There was nothing remarkable in it, in fact, there were only a few pages with words written. The rest are blank pages eaten by insects and yellowed by time.

Even so, Lucia treated it as her treasure. 

The cold slender knife reflected her agitated state, the image shook ever so slightly manifesting the holder’s nervousness. Slowly, the icy blade touched her warm skin above the jumping beat of the pulse in her veins.

"The left hand is connected to the heart." she murmured, "Please accept my sincerity."   

Without a second thought, the thin metal run through the white tender skin easily creating a vivid red gash. A wound opened her flesh, blood rushed hotly dripping into the old tattered pages. As Lucia’s pupils shrank in pain, the unremarkable stones in the cover began to gleam.  

Her eyes blurred as the mysterious force erupted and seemed to suck the strength out of her. 

The blood that should have dripped towards the sheets are now circling on the book covers and disappearing bit by bit. A violent wind came from the window blowing on the pages and then, an eerie phenomenon happened. Letters slowly emerged from blank pages, one… two until a whole word then phrase was born. Rapidly it evolved into a passage as though someone had dipped a quill to an inkpot and began scribing.  

However, these words were not written in ink but in her own blood. 

Lucia bit her lips enough to make it hurt to distract her from a more torturous pain. After a short while, the chaos ended, so was her suffering. Lucia finally restored her original calm. As if the lapse did not happen just now. Outside the window, the beautiful city of Arpeggio appeared like a perfect painting, unaware of the taboo act that occurred within its walls. 

Lucia sat motionless for a moment. The room looked the same as before, not a thing was moved or wrinkled but the stench of blood was thick. The room owner stayed still, appearing not to be bothered by it, instead, she carefully held the tattered book and flipped the page reverently. 

She should have been elated now after getting her answer. But she was not. She madly flipped the pages dissatisfied with what she got. 

No, no, how can this be? None of the things written here followed the designed path ever since they left Lattice. Her heart twisted. Unwilling. Resentful. From the moment she stepped into Asturia, she keenly felt that everything written in the book had become useless. Why did Kanon ignore her when he is supposed to help her get close to Clayton Rozenberg? She could even feel his disgust; it was insulting. 

Everything she did according to the book. She even went as far as to poison the lady and none of those fools found out. It had been going well except that she was still far from getting close to the lord. Then suddenly, things changed. Did they find out? 

She shuddered thinking of the possibility. They would not let her off if they knew! But how is she still alive? Lucia clutched her chest. The only answer is that they have yet to learn of her plan. But surely, there must be someone disrupting the pattern. 

Who?!

Lucia gritted her teeth in frustration. She wanted to investigate more of these changes. She finally has resources but unfortunately, she can only postpone it for the time being. Baron Malory and his wife are waiting for her in another city.  

 

On the other hand, Clayton who took a break to guard his wife in her sleep is currently occupied by the tykes. 

"I miss mommy," Carmine sniffed while wiping his tears. Even Milk was not in the mood to be lively. 

They have not seen her for days now and he feels bad. His hugs and kisses are gone!  

Raven tugged on his shirt and asked softly, "Father, when will mother wake up?"

The poor man scratched his head, unable to answer. Before these boys would chirp 'daddy' 'father' nonstop and he would think they miss him very much. He overestimated his worth apparently. With Ayan's absence, they are already tearing the roof asking for her, they continued crying like it was the end of the world and he didn't know what to do but to coax and clumsily imitate her style. 

He wiped them first thing in the morning after waking up. Pick up their routine exercises like in the forest. Bathe and make breakfast for them. But that is not all, who would have expected that after bathing, he needed to powder and wipe lotion? Feeding needed to be supervised else they choke or burn. Next, take out the boys' lesson in colouring booklets with weird drawings and words. Then read them stories to make them sleepy for afternoon naps.  

Everything was done according to her style but all to no effect. They would still look for Ayan. 

Heartless little things, it was him who was on their side for five years but it only took three months for Ayan to subdue them. Clayton silently swallowed his upset because like them he misses his wife as well! 

 

Ayan who was absent in Asturia is very well and awake in a VIP ward of a hospital in Country H. 

“Ayan~” Monica patted her good arm to get her attention. 

“Yeah?”

“You need to rest if you feel sleepy. You don’t have to mind me chattering here, your brother will arrive soon and I will have someone to pester. Look at you wrapped up like a mummy, you need plenty of rest.”

“Sorry, the painkiller is making me feel weird.” 

Monica grimaced trying not to cry. She knew that the injuries hurt more than she showed. The doctors said that if she did not wake up within a week, they would have to feed her through tubes in the future. Thankfully, she woke up in just two days but now seeing her enduring her pain, Monica wished she could have slept longer and woke up later when she recovered.   

Ayan shot her a funny look. 

Geez, this giant marshmallow could really cry at a drop of hat. 

“That bitch Mia will pay for it.” She heard Monica mutter under her breath. 

“I think you have done good enough.” 

She heard that as soon as Monica arrived in the country she rushed to the hospital then jumped straight to the city prison and plucked out a handful of Mia’s hair. Nathan did not escape the demon queen’s wrath as well, she went inside his designated cell and kicked him in the crotch. Scrambling his eggs severely. 

After doing her good deed, she went back to the hospital and in front of the emergency room, she began bawling like a widow. Unfortunately, all her tears were wasted as she was crying on the wrong patient. Ayan that time had been wheeled into the ICU after the operation. In the end, her big brother found Monica wiping her snot and tears in front of the patient’s wife who was looking daggers at her. She must have thought that Monica might be a secret mistress her husband raised somewhere. 

If not for her big brother rescuing her, who knew what mess she could have gotten herself into.  

She wanted to laugh but it hurts to do that, “Uh... Mon, I’ll close my eyes first…” 

“Oh, o-okay. Sleep well.” 

The moment her eyes closed. She sank into the comforts of the void.

Kingdom of Lattice

Five Years Ago…

 

Ayan held her aching head as she walked down the bed. The familiar ivory and lavender furnishing made her realize that this is her home when she was a young girl. From her room on the right-wing, she walked to a wide gallery filled with carved statues, framed paintings and precious art pieces to finally a sitting room near the grand staircase.

She saw her father talking to Marquess Rozenberg and the teenage Clayton inside. The dull look on his face faded when he caught sight of her peeping through the door. 

"A person from the palace came to inform us that Prince Adelheid, in consideration to Ayan's feelings, came to plead with the king to re-establish the former engagement."  

Ayan was so shocked she could not stop herself from bursting into the room in anger, completely forgetting that she was supposed to eavesdrop.

"Consideration of my feelings? Are they mad?!"

"Ayan…"

Both the marquess and her father were taken aback when the girl in her sleeping gown roared like a tigress. Clayton turned sideways to hide his smirk. 

Her small chest rising and falling due to her emotions. "After what they have done to me they still have the cheek to send a person here…"

She then coughed violently but that did not stop her from letting out another spurt of displeasure. 

"Father, I'm telling you Adelheid's acting is a sham!" she said again pointing an angry finger towards the palace. "Pleading the king for what? I never insisted on the engagement while they always made it appear like I was the one harassing them for it."

Earl Elford looked at his enraged daughter funnily, "You… didn't you like him before?"

"Like— what? Father, I hate him!" Ayan stomped her foot indignantly.

She hates him. She couldn't wait to pull his hair from the roots. There was a chuckle all of a sudden.

"What are you laughing at?" She glared at the culprit. 

Clayton put his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry I was rude, my lady."

"Indeed you are." She sniffed, crossing her arms to her chest. "Anyway, about this engagement thing I am sure that the prince pleading with the king is not a good thing."

"I agree with what little Ayan says." Marquess Rozenberg nodded. "There are rumours outside about what occurred the other night at the debutante's ball. It is best to ignore it lest it angers the lady further."

"Uncle!" She protested.

The marquess raised both hands to mollify her.  

The images of her falling into the cold fountain in the middle of the dance hall flashed by Ayan. That was a nasty one. Whoever would have expected that she would trip on the hem of her gown and give herself a cold bath in front of so many people? And that was right after the garbage couple confronted her.

Camilla was crying and Adelheid was furious. The usual scene. Now it escalated into a story that in order to force the prince to marry her, she purposefully got herself sick. 

"Heh…" Ayan laughed sarcastically. "I don't know what their game is but I sure will play along with it lest they waste the effort."