Garden Of Poison-Chapter 219: Without their notice

Emily blinked in surprise at Raylen, trying to process what he had just revealed. She looked back and forth, confirming that the corridor remained deserted except for the two of them. She noticed a handful of curious guests discreetly attempting to walk past the corridor’s ends, as if eager to discover what they were talking about.

"The Devil is your father?" Emily confirmed, and she heard the archdemon hum in response. "How—how is that possible?" she asked, as Raylen, much like Dante, had once been an earthling and a prince of the Storm Kingdom.

Raylen let out a soft chuckle, a wry smile forming on his lips. "I just turned out to be fortunately unfortunate," he remarked. "Viktor wants me to assist him in the underworld, but I have no interest in it. I chose to stay here. I am sure you relate to how it feels when others make decisions on your behalf."

Emily’s hazel brown eyes met his cold blue ones, which stared back at her calmly. She inquired, "Don’t you think he would be mad if he were to find out that you killed those two demonesses he sent here?"

"I didn’t actually kill them. I merely allowed them to experience the rush of how it feels to explode." Raylen’s lips twisted in thought before he added, "I trapped them within the kingdom, temporarily sealing their abilities to prevent them from communicating or breaking the barrier, which would have allowed demons to apparate here without warning."

Feeling a little stressed, Emily inquired, "What if he comes here?"

Oh, dear God! Emily thought to herself, the realisation sinking in that she hadn’t just called the Devil while intending to contact her family but had inadvertently called Raylen’s father.

"Don’t worry, he’s lazy. Even if he does choose to make an appearance, the barrier will annoy the hell out of him. One needs to travel like an ordinary earthling to reach here, and he’s too prideful for that," Raylen responded to her as if it were no big deal. He then changed the subject and suggested, "Now that the rascals are out of sight and out of mind, how about we complete that deal you proposed earlier?"

Emily’s worried expression shifted into a question as she stated, "You never completed your end of the deal for me to give you my blood."

Raylen clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "Going back on your word doesn’t suit you, Princess. Thanks to me, your Prince Charming is out of everyone’s mind."

"We agreed to clear his name, to shift the blame—" Emily began to explain.

"The important thing is that he’s no longer the centre of attention. Don’t make me upset by taking my dessert away from me." Raylen smiled at her.

Dessert... Emily couldn’t help but think that this archdemon saw her as some kind of walking and talking edible treat. She raised her hand, palm open, and Raylen stared at it with a questioning gaze. When he playfully tapped her hand, she frowned in response.

"My apologies, are you asking me for a dance?" Raylen inquired with a mischievous glint in his blue eyes. "I would have never expected you to be in that mood right now."

"I am not asking you for a dance," Emily responded, her eyes narrowing. She continued, "Promise me that you will keep your end of the bargain and clear his name."

Raylen gazed back at her, observing the seriousness etched across her face. He nodded and placed his hand on hers, saying, "Alright." When Emily sighed in relief, he flipped her hand palm side down and pulled her away from there. He said, "Let us find a suitable spot so that I can enjoy it without being disturbed."

Julius, who had been looking for Emily, appeared at the opposite end of the corridor just in time to catch a glimpse of Raylen and Emily vanishing down the corridor’s far end. His eyebrows furrowed slightly in puzzlement.

Once Raylen and Emily arrived at one of the vacant rooms on the upper floor, located far from the guests, she heard the door click as it locked behind them and turned to look at the archdemon in question. He stated,

"So that no one walks in on us."

Emily extended her hand towards him and said, "Go ahead, take it." The sooner they were done, the sooner she could return to where everyone else was and assess people’s reactions. The thought of how things had unravelled in the last hour had left her somewhat anxious.

"Tch," Raylen remarked. "It appears you are unfamiliar with the fine art of dining, Princess. Why don’t we take a comfortable seat so that I can take my time drinking your blood?"

Emily watched Raylen as he walked over to the couch and seated himself at its corner. He looked at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to join him. If she didn’t know any better, she would have associated him with an excited dog, his tail fluffing the surface of the couch, ready to sink his teeth into her. However, this was no dog but a fox. A very cunning one, who she had learned was related to the Devil.

The curtains were drawn apart for sunlight to stream in and illuminate the room. The fireplace continued to burn, even in the absence of any occupants when they had entered, maintaining a warm temperature to counter the cold weather outside the mansion that day.

As Emily made her way to the couch, the hem of her dress gently brushed against the carpeted floor. She settled into the middle of the couch. Her body was slightly stiff and wary in the presence of the archdemon sitting beside her. Nevertheless, she had made a deal, and she would follow through with it. With resolve, she raised her hand for him to drink from.

"If you are going to uphold the deal, you should do it properly," Raylen stated. He caught her wrist and gently pulled it towards him, causing her to lean closer to him. "Your hand won’t do this time."

Emily’s expression soured, and she responded, "My wrists are the only place from which you can draw my blood. You should have specified it when the deal was made."

"Likewise, Princess," Raylen replied without letting go of her hand. "Which means I am free to choose the location. Unless, of course, you want to void our deal and leave Julius to suffer by facing the judgement of society. Just imagine, you could have saved him."

"Don’t you mean you are the one allowing him to suffer at your whim?" Emily retorted, sensing him subtly adjusting his position so that his body faced her.

Raylen smiled like the saint he was far from. He quipped, "What can I say? People’s misery nourishes my hollow soul."

Emily couldn’t help but question if Raylen’s putting Marshall’s body up on display was just another one of his elaborate ruses. Given his age and cunning, she wouldn’t be surprised if he had meticulously planned it all from the start. She gingerly asked him, "The neck?"

She knew demons who liked to consume blood always preferred to drink from a person’s neck, and until now, she had been hoping to avoid it happening to her. She would have argued that she wanted to keep herself untouched, but there was also a part of her that understood that him feeding on her would help slow down her corruption.

"It’s as if we are on the same wavelength of thoughts," Raylen replied with a smile. He inquired, "Would you prefer to sit on my lap? If not, how about you lean over?"

Emily opted for the latter option, shifting in her seat such that she sat facing him. She leaned forward quickly and presented her neck to him. She focused her gaze on his dark blue shirt, her hands clenched in anticipation, waiting for it to be done with.

"Wait!" Emily stopped him just as his face drew closer to hers.

Raylen raised an eyebrow when he noticed the princess’s hand moving beneath her skirt and remarked, "If my mind starts to wander, you’ll be to blame for it." When she pulled out her dagger, he contemplated whether he should let her know it was useless.

"So that you don’t try anything funny," Emily said firmly, as she didn’t want him to attempt anything untoward.

"Now, why would I do anything funny while I am drinking?" Raylen asked her with an innocent tone. He gently took her hand and directed the dagger to the left side of his chest. "There, that’s better." freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

Raylen’s eyes fell on her smooth, slender neck, attentively listening to her breath. He could hear the pulse of her vein, and he lightly ran his tongue over the tip of one of his fangs, causing a small cut from which he tasted his own blood.

When he leaned closer, his nose detected the scent of lilies on her, and he recalled that the flowers were a gift from the earthling who had brought them for her.

"Can you hurry up?" Emily requested, growing unnerved when his breath brushed against the side of her neck.

"Have somewhere to be?" Raylen asked her, fully aware that she wanted to bolt from the room at the first opportunity and maybe even return to the earthling’s side. However, rather than hurrying, he deliberately took his time, like a predator assessing its prey before making a move.

"Yes, Heaven," Emily replied with a hint of defiance, sensing him testing her. When he chuckled, his cool breath caressed her skin, causing goosebumps to form and her heart to clench.

"I won’t let you die that easily. It would be hard if you were to end up in Heaven," Raylen murmured before saying, "Time to dig in," as his fangs emerged.

As Emily braced herself for the expected piercing pain, she felt Raylen curl one of his hands around her neck to hold her head still. This was enough to distract her for a split second before his fangs broke through the surface of her skin and sank deep. The pain, even though the bite wasn’t rough or rushed, was still far from being even remotely gentle. Unable to help herself, her hand found its way to his forearm, and her fingernails dug into him with the same intensity as she felt the ache in her neck.

"Raylen...!" Emily whispered through gritted teeth, her voice strained by the shooting pain in her neck.

She hadn’t realised that the dagger had pierced Raylen’s chest, moving deeper as she felt him feeding on her blood. As seconds began to pass, the pain gradually subsided to the point where it seemed nonexistent, and soon all she could feel was the sensation of his mouth sensually sucking on her skin, drawing her blood.

Emily’s face began to flush, and she realised that she should have never offered him her blood at all. To hide her embarrassment at him sucking on her neck, she muttered,

"If this is what it’s going to be like when the blood bond is formed with my future husband, I hope he won’t like the taste of my blood." She hoped her future partner wouldn’t be interested in drinking—"Ow!" she winced, feeling Raylen’s fangs grip her neck.

"No talking while I am drinking," Raylen said after pulling his mouth away from Emily’s delectable blood, his blue eyes not fully open. Without warning, he proceeded to take another mouthful of her blood.

Emily shivered as Raylen’s coarse tongue languidly swept across her skin, cleansing it from the remnants of her blood. Her face burst into flames from embarrassment, and she hastily pulled away from him before questioning,

"What did we discuss about no licking?!"

Raylen withdrew his face from her neck and gazed at her, licking his lips. "Habit," he explained. He felt high on her blood, its delicious taste still dancing on the tip of his tongue. Undoubtedly, her blood was indeed the finest he had ever tasted.

"Now, when do you intend to compensate me for stabbing me?"

Emily looked down at Raylen’s chest, and her eyes widened upon seeing the blade embedded inside him, with her hand still gripping the handle. In alarm, she asked, "Are you going to die?!"

"What did you think would happen? Looks like I am dying," Raylen sighed, and then grasped her hand on the dagger’s handle and pulled the dagger out from his chest with a cough.

It wasn’t that Emily had deliberately pushed the dagger; rather, Raylen had drawn closer, lost in the pleasure of her blood, and hadn’t paid attention to the blade entering his chest. However, the archdemon chose not to explain it to her, leveraging the situation to his advantage, while he felt his chest ache. After all, he had been the one stabbed.

Emily noticed his shirt becoming wet with blood where her dagger blade had been removed from, and she remarked, "If you hadn’t told me to sharpen my blade, this wouldn’t have happened."

Raylen’s cool blue eyes narrowed and chilled as he fixed them on her. "Why is it that you always turn it back on me?" he responded. "I am going to be in pain now and need to lay my head down."

Emily got up from where she had been sitting to make room for him, and though she knew that an archdemon couldn’t die that easily, she did feel troubled. Not to mention, the alcohol she had earlier gulped down was still in her body, influencing her thoughts of worry. She inquired,

"Should I fetch a physician for you? Or perhaps more blood volunteers?"

"Sit."

Emily sat on one of the chairs and watched Raylen with a hint of concern. She bit her lip and stayed quiet, listening to him taking deep breaths, and after a couple minutes passed, she saw him sitting up and leaning his back against the couch. It reminded her of when Dante had been stabbed in a fight once, by a man using a sword made from silver. It had left him weakened for a week because the silver had a different effect on demons.

She spoke softly, "I thought demons suffered greatly when silver pierced their hearts."

"Mm. They do, to a certain extent," Raylen replied. He threw his head back with his eyes closed as the wound on his chest began to close and heal.

"Is it because you are the Devil’s son?" Emily asked him curiously, and Raylen smiled with his face turned towards the ceiling.

"Silver is the best choice if you want to kill low-level demons. It would take extra effort if it’s an archdemon’s heart you are aiming for. There are certain tricks," Raylen explained to her. He then lowered his head to look at her concerned expression and replied to her question,

"I do not have a heart for silver to affect me the way it does others, though I’m not entirely immune to its effects." A crooked smile appeared on his lips, and he continued, "My chest is as hollow as it can be. There is no heart to beat."

During one of their previous conversations, when Raylen mentioned not having a heart, she assumed he meant figuratively. She hadn’t expected it to be literal as well, especially since she had compared the archdemon to her oldest brother.

"I’m sorry to hear that..." Emily said, not knowing how else to respond.

Raylen tilted his head and inquired, "What for? It’s the best thing, and I prefer it this way."

Emily would have probed further to learn about Raylen’s father-son connection to the Devil, but she had noticed how he steered away from the subject, which had happened earlier as well. She then saw him stand up as if he were perfectly fine, his expression revealing nothing but what he chose to show.

"You should return to the gathering while I fix my shirt," Raylen suggested with a smile, noticing how Emily hadn’t moved and was instead staring at the bloody spot on his shirt.

He had allowed himself to indulge a little too much in her blood to notice the sensation of the dagger piercing his chest, which was definitely not something that sat well with him. Her blood was addictive, like a drug that made one lose themselves. Cake was indeed the best, he thought, and the smile on his lips widened. Now that he considered it, the earthling had no taste for blood, Raylen concluded.

"Go."

Emily had wanted to stab Raylen many times before, but this instance hadn’t played out how she had expected. She wanted to stay, but she detected a glint of hostility in those once-warm blue eyes that had begun to turn cold as he smiled. She said,

"I will see you downstairs then," and stepped out of the room.

As Emily walked through the corridor and made a turn at the end, from the other side, a woman watched her leaving.

Walking down the stairs and returning to the floor where the guests continued to mingle, Emily took a moment to adjust her appearance before rejoining the crowd. When people saw her, she could sense that their gazes were different.

Most of them were still in shock, and they made an effort not to look at her directly, instead glancing at her from the corners of their eyes. Some were confused about whether to approach her or not, considering she was a princess who came with significant benefits.

Emily maintained a straight face as her gaze swept across the room, and she then spotted Janelle approaching her.

"Are you okay, Lily?" Janelle asked in a whisper.

"I think so," Emily replied. "How have things been here?"

"People are confused about why you hid your identity, and some believe it was to find a worthy husband. There are even those who think that King Raylen was simply having fun with the whole uncle and niece act," Janelle replied before adding, "If you ask me, I think they are afraid to make any assumptions. Scared that they will explode too."

Emily’s eyes continued to scan the room before she asked, "Have you seen Mr. Ardolf, Jane?" When her eyes met her friend’s, she noticed Janelle looked a little troubled. "What happened?" she inquired.

"One of the men ’slipped’ and spilled the red sauce on Mr. Ardolf’s shirt as he walked by. It was quite terrible, with people looking at him with accusing eyes," Janelle explained with a frown. "I think it was too much for him to handle, and he left a few minutes ago."