Garden Of Poison-Chapter 278: Door out

Hiding behind the wall, Emily wondered what Nathaniel was even doing in this realm. She wanted to take a peek, but the clearer his footsteps grew, the harder it became to move.

Did he come from Hell? Perhaps the Storm Castle constituted only a fraction of the in-between realm, and she believed that if she were to open the main door and step outside, she would encounter many other lurking ghosts.

"I finally found you," Logan remarked upon spotting her to the left, causing Emily to freeze even more. He murmured, "I told you there’s no way out for you."

Emily stepped away from the wall, only to find herself directly in front of Nathaniel, who appeared taken aback by her presence in this place.

"When did you die?" Nathaniel questioned, his eyebrows furrowing as he hadn’t heard anything regarding her death.

"I haven’t. Please take me back to the living realm," Emily pleaded, hoping to get back to Raylen before anything bad could happen.

Logan was confused about whether his brother had arrived in this realm, but the voice didn’t sound like him. When he turned the corner where Emily had hidden earlier, he caught sight of Nathaniel Lynx.

"Oh, look who’s here!" Logan said in a chirpy voice. "Are you here to reclaim your former soulmate, Archdemon Nathaniel?"

"Who are you?" Nathaniel questioned while gauging the man before him, who appeared to be an earthling who had been converted into a demon.

"I am your humble servant. I heard you needed a soul to reunite with your departed soulmate," Logan smiled eerily. "Princess Emily is a Barter Soul," he confessed, filling Emily’s entire mind with dread. freewebnoveℓ.com

Was he now planning on sharing her soul with Nathaniel to bring back her friend Layla? Was that even possible?!

"Barter Soul?" Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to look at Emily, locking gazes with her.

"He is lying," Emily stated in a convincing voice. "This person is Raylen’s brother. We thought he was dead until now, but he has been stalking me with the intention of marrying me. So he brought me here," she continued, adding to the lie.

Emily had cared about Layla dearly and had considered her one of her closest friends when the woman was still alive. But that didn’t mean she was prepared to sacrifice her own life to bring her friend back. She wasn’t selfless enough to sacrifice her newfound happiness.

Logan’s face twisted into a cunning smile as he observed how the Princess started spinning lies. "The Princess possesses a Barter Soul, a soul that can be used to resurrect your beloved soulmate. Your one true soulmate. If you don’t believe me, why don’t you test her?"

By opening her chest and killing her?! This demon was the product of his parents, thought Emily to herself. She retorted, "Your father had the gruesome habit of dissecting and murdering innocent people who were nothing like what you are asserting now, and you seem to have inherited his madness." Turning to Nathaniel, she attested, "Mr. Lynx, he is a crazy man!" And it was the truth!

But the mere mention of a Barter Soul instigated a flurry of thoughts in Nathaniel’s mind. His soulmate had died from illness—the one he had forced a bond on.

"You will come with me," Nathaniel declared, grabbing Emily’s wrist.

"I want to go back to Raylen!" Emily cried out, placing her other hand on his, which began to frost over and burn the Archdemon’s skin.

Logan meticulously scanned their surroundings, discreetly placing spells to trap the Archdemon so that he could secure possession of the Barter Soul for himself. With Emily having caught Nathaniel off guard with her ability, it was enough for the lowly demon to almost entrap Nathaniel. However, this also presented an opportunity for Emily to make a run towards the kitchen, and she seized it, bolting away.

Emily entered the familiar kitchen, and as her hand was about to reach for the doorknob, she was abruptly tackled to the ground by Logan before she could grasp it.

"You ruined my mother’s body before I could bring her back to life, so now you will pay for it with your own body. Imagine Mother living through you, in a young form!" the lowly demon whispered harshly while pressing her wrists firmly against the ground.

"I will never give my soul to you! Even if it means I have to take my own life," Emily threatened the demon defiantly, who was clearly displeased with her words.

"Then it is time to begin the process. I will put—"

Logan’s words were abruptly interrupted as Emily somehow overpowered him, her nails clawing into his face and digging into his skin, causing him to screech.

Emily scooted away from him with great difficulty, but he clung to her like a leech that wouldn’t let go. Her hand reached for a pestle lying on the ground, and with all her strength, she struck it against his head.

"ARGH!" Logan groaned in pain.

Fear from her past experiences gripped Emily as she recalled how she had been haunted, and she didn’t stop her assault, repeatedly striking the pestle against Logan’s head until blood began to drip down his face.

Despite her efforts, it wasn’t enough to deter Logan from his advances. In the meantime, Nathaniel worked to free himself from the temporary trap restraining him. Emily moved further away from Logan, while the lowly demon laughed and remarked,

"I always knew you had great potential, Princess Emily. Such a propensity for violence is always concealed beneath a calm exterior. It is only unfortunate that you turned out to possess a Barter Soul. Otherwise, you would have been my forever accomplice."

Emily tightened her grip on the pestle, one end dripping with Logan’s blood. Like an octopus, he grabbed her ankle, pulling her towards him and beginning to whisper spells that made her body grow increasingly heavy.

"Let me go!"

"Your soul is mine! I saw you first!" Logan stubbornly persisted. It had been his entire goal in life—to bring his dear mother back.

Seeing no other way to free herself, Emily continued to strike his head until blood spots splattered onto her face and the front of her body. She then kicked him harshly before scrambling to her feet and opening the back door of the kitchen to finally step outside and escape.

"Where... where do I go from here?" Emily asked herself, the sky dark and the land filled with barren, leafless trees with numerous crows perched atop them.

When she turned to look behind her, the door she had come through had vanished, leaving only empty space in its wake. She whispered to herself, "At least it’s better than being near Logan," and she sprinted away from there, trying to see if she could find Viktor or anyone familiar in Hell.

Back within the realm between the living and the dead, Logan groaned in pain. His head throbbed as if it were about to split open. A laugh escaped from his bloodied lips. He couldn’t believe how amazing the Princess had become since the last time they had spent time together.

"A pity. A true pity," Logan stated as he pushed his hand against the ground to stand up.

He looked at the door, which Emily had closed after exiting through it, and then turned to find Nathaniel missing. The lowly demon licked his lips, tasting his own blood. He had been confident that the spell would keep the Archdemon trapped, given that it was the same spell his mother had used to trap the Devil. Unless the Devil wanted to be trapped and had cunningly deceived her into believing she held the upper hand.

Just as Logan reached for the doorknob, he was suddenly sent flying through the air, crashing forcefully against the kitchen wall.

"Ugh...!" Logan winced in pain as his body collided with the wall. "I was wondering where you were hiding."

The sound of sharp, deliberate footsteps echoed as they approached him. "Cowardice is a trait that seems to run only in your veins, my dear brother."