His Majesty & Daughters Of The Seven Sins

Chapter 12 • The Lord's Punishment -3

At about nine in the morning; after their usual morning duties at home and in the palace, Athalia and Owen raced downstairs, reaching the large iron gate leading to the prison tunnel.

Given that Athalia was the only female embedder in the kingdom, almost all of the palace staff knew her, including the Knights that guarded tunnles.

With her friendly words, and innocent eyes and looks, it didn't take much effort for her to convince the guards to let Owen and her in to see the lord; with the excuse of the king himself giving her permission to come.

And Athalia being the closest friend to the late princess, they believed her without hesitation and let her in. They only gave her one instruction; not to touch the bar's of his cell nor go to close — And she agreed.

Athalia and Owen walked in through the empty hall way of cells, marching up the largest and farthest cell of all.

The moment they got close to his cell, Athalia then realized why the guards let them come so close. The entire cell was circled with holy water, and the bar were painted with anointing oil, preventing the Lord from even attempting to break free, as he would burn his hands as a vampire touching anointing oil.

Athalia and Owen looked up into the cell, sighting the Lord seated at the centre, having legs crossed, whilst staring at the wall numbly in darkness. His ankles, wrists and neck were locked in chain; chains that had ancient spells curved on them, preventing him from being able to break loose.

Athalia and Owen gulped , glancing at each other. Owen nudged her to go forward to speak first. Athalia took a deep breath, stepping forward.

"Lord Elliot?"

He didn't respond, staring lost in the dark, as if distant from the world. Athalia stepped forward, pinching her fingers together as she stood at the point of the circle.

"Lord Elliot?" He remained quiet.

"L– Lord Elliot?"

"Lord Elliot? It's me... Um..."

"I know who you are, child", he said nonchalantly without turning, taking her by surprise.

She gulped, "Lord Elliot, I am here to help you".

"Are you lost, child?" He didn't still look away from the wall.

"Uh– Uh no my–"

"Go back to where you came from before I hurt you as well, child", he sighed.

Athalia hestitated, not knowing what else to say. That was her closest interaction with the lord; and she was doing nothing but poorly at it.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw Owen waving at her to speak out, encouraging her. She nodded, turning back to the lord. She shut her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Lord Elliot... Yo– You did not kill the princess".

He narrowed his eyes at the wall, "What nonsense are you blabbering now?"

"We know the truth, my lord. You did not kill her highness willing, you were under a spell".

Elliot chuckled in disbelief, "And what makes you think such?"

"Because... Because we were there when Princess Lamia have you a drink..."

Elliot instantly froze, craning his head in their direction. "What?"

She nodded, "Yes, my Lord. Princess Lamia came and offered you a drink. After that, she whispered something to you, making you go to the Princess's room and k– kill her... She also told you in your tranced state to stay put so the guards would arrest you. We saw everything".

Lord Elliot continued to stare at her in silence, with his dark red eyes pricing through her as if trying to read her mind. He gingerly stood up, striding firmly towards them.

Athalia instinctively stepped back.

As the lord stepped towards the bar, like thread tied to a horse foot, the chains broke off from the wall effortlessly.

He stood in front of them, looking down at the two of them. He frowned, "Do you know what you are saying, child?"

"Y– Yes, my lord. I know it's hard to believe but it is true. We saw her. My brother and I!"

Owen nodded in support. "We saw her out a spell on you, she even um... K– ki– kissed you after your drank the wine". Athalia slapped her head internally, wondering why she added that unnecessary part.

She cleared her throat, looking down. Elliot suddenly held unto the anointed bars, causing a sissing sound to escape his palms—the oil was burning his flesh. He narrowed his eyes at Athalia.

"What are your names?"

"Athalia and Owen".

"Okay. Athalia, are you sure of what you are saying?"

"Very very sure, my lord. I swear on my life!" She clutched her fist.

Lord Elliot looked at her for a few seconds then looked away. "You say I was under a spell huh?"

They nodded.

"But did I–" He paused, gulping down softly. "Did I, with my own two hands, hit princess Amber?"

They looked at eachother and back. They nodded heavily.

"Did I with my own two hands make her bleed?"

They nodded again.

"Did I with my own bare hands take her precious life away?"

They nodded, having sadness spread on their faces.

Elliot tightened his hands on the bars, burning his palms even deeper. Blood began to ooz out, evaporating off almost immediately.

He sighed deeply, looking down as he shook his head. Athalia glanced at him, sighting a drop of tear stain the floor.

He then looked up with a stoic expression. "Athalia?"

"Y– Ye– Yes, my lord?"

"I killed her myself. Me. I did it. Spell or no spell, she is gone because of me. And I deserve every punishment I will be subjected to here".

"No you are not, my lord!" A voice echoed from the other side of the tunnel.

The trio instantly snapped their heads to the right, sighting a small group of posh elites men walk forward.

Athalia and Owen stepped back, letting the men have access to stand in front of the lord's cell. The group of four men reached the holy circle, halting.

Out of the four men, three of them had bright red eyes—they were vampires. The other was a human.

Suddenly, the human amongst them; a priest, stepped out and walked to the line. He bent down, spreading corn flour over holy water circle. He then stepped forward, pulling a bunch of keys and unlocking the cell door.

The lord stepped out with the same cold expression. Unbotheredly, the lord began to snap off the chains on him like they were dry leaves.

One of the red eyed men smiled brightly at him. "Worry not, my lord. Everything has been sorted out and there will be no persecuting anyone or anything for the mistake you made".

"Mistake?" The Lord crooked a brow.

"Yes, my lord", another spoke. "You are the Lord of the Slitherwit empire, you can not possibly be judged like a mere human and persecuted. You are of flesh, so mistakes can happen. Goodnews is that, it's all been paid for".

Paid? Athalia and Owen crooked their heads in confusion.

The man the continued, "The King of Sunndrom kingdom accepted the blood money for his late dear daughter, after all, she was your fiance too".

The lord stared down at the man before him with a stagnant look, breathing slowly—he then nodded calmly, padding toward the main tunnel gate.

Athalia and Owen stared in confusion, watching the Lord and his fellow vampires walk out of the tunnel like nothing happened.

Athalia and Owen were too surprised and shocked at the vampires and their behaviour—unfortunately for them, they failed to notice the crow bird that petched on the edge of the tunnle window, watching the whole scenario from beginning to end.

It's unusually colored blue and white eyes sparkled, watching their every movement; focusing mainly on Athalia and Owen.

Crooking it's head, it hopped to the side and suddenly flew away into the sky.