Garden Of Poison-Chapter 259: The princess’s ability

The young Raylen, who couldn’t have been more than eleven or twelve years old, continued to sit at the edge of the tall bell tower. The boy didn’t look sad, but neither did he look happy or at peace for someone his age. It was as though his soul was tainted by something beyond his understanding.

Emily, who has been observing him, felt compelled to keep him company, and she carefully inched towards the edge, feeling the wind ruffling her loosely braided hair. She sat next to Raylen, as if joining him in silence.

Both she and Raylen heard the clear footsteps resonating from the staircase before Viktor made his appearance. The Devil had his hands concealed within his black cloak, his gaze fixed on the large, time-worn bell suspended from the ceiling, and he walked around it.

’Don’t you have something else to do with people your own age instead of following me?’ Raylen asked, his head tilting to the right and looking out of the corners of his eyes.

’Typically, earthlings don’t interest me, considering how foolish most of them are. I want to see if you are one of them, or one from below,’ Viktor hummed. ’It seems something is troubling you. If you tell me, I would be happy to make your wish come true.’

’Why? Are you God?’ Raylen asked in a tone duller than Viktor’s, which threatened a smile to creep onto the latter’s face. ’Leave me alone,’ he dismissed the older man. He had no interest in talking with anyone.

’You don’t believe that I can grant any wish you may have?’ Viktor inquired, withholding the fact that it came with the price of the wisher’s soul. To own the soul he had created, the Devil found the prospect tempting.

Emily, who witnessed the scene unfold, knew exactly what Viktor was trying to do. To steal another soul, just like he had done with Raylen’s mother. She saw Raylen purse his lips in thought, as if there was something he wanted to wish for.

’I don’t need your help with something I can do myself,’ Raylen replied firmly, rejecting the Devil’s help.

’Are you sure?’ Viktor pressed on, his eyes fixed on the head full of dark red hair. His hand inched closer to the boy, his sharp nails ready to snatch the boy’s soul and take it to Hell.

But before Viktor’s hand could make contact with the boy, Raylen moved forward and jumped from the top of the bell tower, displaying little to no hesitation, as if this were a familiar act for him.

Raylen turned to cast a fleeting glance at Viktor before retracing his steps back to the castle, leaving the Devil to curl his fingers in frustration at the empty space before him. In a murmured tone, he said, ’It seems like I will need to get you to surrender your soul. To make you realise there’s no life for you here, only in the underworld.’

A cold breeze enveloped Emily, causing her to shiver as it gradually dissolved the scene around her. The next time her eyes pried open, she found herself back in the warm bed beneath the blanket, and she had unconsciously turned towards Raylen in her sleep.

With the sun beginning to rise, the room wasn’t as dark as the last time she had been awake, and she noticed Raylen gazing at her. She said, "You did not sleep... to dream."

Raylen had enjoyed watching Emily as she slept, listening to the steady rhythm of her heartbeat and her even breaths. "What I have now is no less than a dream. A beautiful one. Did you have a good sleep?" Gently, he raised his hand to pick up a strand of her hair and tenderly tucked it behind her ear.

"I dreamt of you," Emily whispered, with the sides of their heads resting on their respective pillows. "I think it was a memory from when you were young."

"Which memory was it?" Raylen inquired, his blue eyes looking at her with curiosity.

"You did something to some of the guests’ tea and then met Viktor for the first time," Emily recounted, watching him gaze into her eyes. "You were a mischievous boy."

Emily felt Raylen’s fingertips brush against her skin, making her heart shudder. She heard him ask, "I was?"

"You don’t agree?" Emily’s words came as a soft whisper, and she didn’t move away from his gentle touch.

"Maybe not completely." Raylen grinned before explaining, "I had nothing to do with the events of that afternoon. The salty tea wasn’t my doing but was done by one of my brothers. Logan or Caleb. Though, if you ask me, the guests deserved it for their underhanded words."

"Why did you not say so?" Emily asked him.

"I guess I was lazy," Raylen hummed, his smile widening as he observed her eyebrows furrowing even deeper, as if unhappy that he was wrongly accused. He continued, "When I was young, I didn’t feel like explaining myself. I believed that if someone truly knew me, they would know without me having to explain. If one doesn’t make an attempt, it simply means they aren’t interested, nor do they want to understand."

Emily’s lips pressed together in contemplation. She knew for a fact that Raylen had loved his mother dearly, but as the years had passed, the woman had distanced herself from him, keeping him at arm’s length, for he was the child of the Devil. Had he tried to make an attempt to bridge that gap before choosing to stay quiet?

"Who was the nicest of your three minion siblings?" Emily inquired in interest.

"Probably Caleb, my third brother. I quite enjoyed burning his things when he touched mine," Raylen replied thoughtfully.

"And all of them are in Hell? Except for the previous Storm King," Emily confirmed, and Raylen nodded. "Did you meet them down there?"

"No. I never felt the need to visit them because we had already parted ways, and Viktor was solely interested in my mother’s soul, given that she is my mother," Raylen chuckled, knowing his mother despised him, especially with the knowledge that his very existence had bound her soul to Hell and her attempts to kill him had been unsuccessful.

Once they rose from the bed, Raylen said, "I will have Lauren sent to assist you in getting ready."

But before Raylen could leave the room, Emily stopped him with a simple, "Ray."

Raylen turned to look in Emily’s direction, and soon, she closed the distance between them by walking towards him and hugging him. The unexpected gesture took him by surprise as he felt her delicate arms wrapping around him. Before she would release him and step back, he put his own arms around her, keeping her close. With a playful tone, he joked,

"If I had known that talking about my past would get me hugs, I would have shared it in detail from the beginning."

Emily wished to comfort Raylen the way he had comforted her through all that had happened until now. She noticed how her head stopped at his shoulders, hiding her well enough. It was also when she noticed a peculiar scent emanating from him, and she took a deep breath to take it in.

"You smell like... the scent of a freshly struck matchstick," Emily murmured.

"Are you disappointed?" Raylen asked. It was a scent carrying a mixture of sulphur and air, which was harmful to the earthlings, as inhaling too much of it could prove fatal.

Emily shook her head, confessing, "It was something I’ve always liked to smell..." She wondered if it made her odd. The smell had a calming effect on her senses, bringing her a sense of comfort and ease.

"Looks like it was meant to be and not just circumstantial," Raylen smiled before leaning forward and pressing his lips against her forehead. "You smell like the most delicious cake." His words brought a smile to her lips.

When Raylen left the room, Emily realised that her emotions weren’t as scattered as they had been the previous night, and her nerves had calmed down. After a peaceful breakfast, with just the two of them in the dining room without the Devil’s presence, Emily and Raylen decided to take a stroll inside the castle. It was when they arrived at the corridor where they had previously found Julia’s lifeless body that she staggered.

"Are you alright, Princess?" Raylen asked, watching her as her footsteps came to a halt.

"It is so strange that she isn’t here anymore," Emily murmured. If Julia were still alive, she would have been happy to know she had finally bonded with someone. That her soul was safe. But her maid was dead.

Overwhelmed by her memories, a wave of dizziness washed over her, causing her knees to weaken, and she almost stumbled against the wall, but Raylen was quick to catch her. She whispered, "I have never been able to get used to seeing dead bodies." Much less remembering them.

"You don’t have to be used to it," Raylen offered her comforting words. He was aware that they were opposites in many ways, and it was possibly because of their differences that they were attracted to each other, forming a balance. "People take their own time to grieve and process losses differently."

When Emily turned to look at him, her unspoken question evident in her eyes, he answered, "It wasn’t their deaths that made me grieve, but the memories I had to kill, even though they weren’t real." Taking a look at her, he added, "You should probably sit down before you continue walking around further."

Emily shook her head. "I am fine. I don’t know what came over me. It was just a sudden rush, and I felt dizzy."

As she placed her hand on the wall, she felt a sensation like a static-like current or spark and quickly pulled her hand away. What was that? Her fingertips seemed to sizzle, and she examined them closely. "Did you hear that?" she asked, and a concerned expression crossed Raylen’s face.

"The static?" he inquired, but Emily shook her head.

"So many people talking..." Emily whispered as her fingertips touched the surface of the wall.

It took a while before Raylen’s eyebrows slowly rose in the realisation that it was possible Emily was in the process of gaining her ability right at that moment. Noticing steam-like fumes beginning to evaporate from her shoulders, he didn’t interrupt but only watched and listened as she spoke.

"Mrs. Halls killed her sister so that she could marry Mr. Halls. She is unhappy that her husband isn’t paying her attention. Lady Isla is planning to run away with her lover but is stuck with the snow and frozen sea, afraid of meeting an iceberg." Emily didn’t speak loudly but whispered, as if she could hear a multitude of voices and was struggling to maintain focus on a single conversation.

"Servants... worried about demonic activity. She hurt herself; she knew what was happening."

Raylen’s expression darkened as he asked, "Who?"

As Emily walked forward, her fingertips brushing against the wall, she fell silent, her face growing pale. She quickly pulled her hand away from the wall.

"Can we visit the cemetery...?" Emily asked, turning to Raylen.

Soon, they rode in the carriage through the ongoing snowfall, heading towards the cemetery. Upon arrival, they found the grave already dug out, with the snow cleared away to reveal the cold ground below. Once the shovel made contact with the coffin, the lid was carefully lifted open.

Emily stepped closer to the open grave to look at Julia’s body, only to find that the woman’s remains were missing. Startled, one of the servants sent in advance to dig up the grave exclaimed, "Did someone steal the body?!"

Seeing Emily’s pale expression, Raylen quipped, "Or the body walked out of here on its own." Emily’s thoughts raced as she considered the possibility: Julia wasn’t dead... she was alive.