Lies After Lies

THE Baron pushed the servants, forcing all of them to get the hell out of the suite immediately. DANG! And he slammed the door. Feeling petrified with fear, he locked it as he was afraid the other guests might precipitously come and saw the scene. In this panic situation, this proud man was still thinking of others' judgment of him. His mind started to race when he illusory what would happen once the nobles learned about his runaway daughter. But worst, the Baron was much more horrified of what would the Young Lord Damien said. Or 'do' to him and his family. While imagining it, he could feel his adrenaline surged through his body. And it was very unbearable. The Baron could feel the thin hairs on his arms and legs turn to goosebumps.

The Baron was in a predicament. He remembered the previous shameless scene, where the Baron imagined he would be well-respected by the other nobles if her daughter vowed 'I DO' on the wedding. But now, every single dream he had been envisioning months before had gone. Those dreams burnt into the air like ashes. Goodbye to the title; Father-in-law of the future Demon Lord. On this supposed-to-be memorable day, the Baron lost everything. His pawn, fame, great honor, and money.

DANG! DANG! DANG!

The servant outside pounded on the door multiple times. "Your lordship! Please open the door… the master's coming!" she bellowed. By master, she meant Lord Damien.

The sudden thought of escaping through the same window as his daughter used appeared on his mind. Baron Collins could not think wise. Or sane. Driven by immense fear, his foots slowly brought him to the window.

Outside of the bridal suite, the servants scrambled out of the way as Lord Damien and his mighty knights passed them. Damien, who was holding back his overflowing anger from bursting along the way since he left the wedding hall, belatedly relinquished his wrath to the innocent door!

BANG!!!

The door banged open behind the Baron and this old man stopped pacing forwards and turned his head, terrified. The Baron trembled as Lord Damien darted forwards to him.

In fury, Damien mumbled something inaudible. A strong hex. And an ominous cloud appeared, and Damien's shadow was bolting and moving. Immediately, the Baron was lifted, as his feet did not touch the floor, and he levitated in the room. Sir Ryan, who was standing alert at the door, saw Lord Damien's shadow was moving, although his master was standing still. Damien's shadow attacked the Baron's as its hand moved to the neck. Slowly, the Baron's head was forced to face the angry Damien, and his eyes seemed like they almost blurted. It was like there was a physical but invisible, powerful hand strangling Baron Collins, restraining the flow of blood in his neck, and compressing the airway.

The Baron could not breathe.

Damien threw the Baron a loathing look. And Baron Collins avoided his eyes.

"I know you and that ungrateful daughter of yours will stab my back eventually," Damien said as catching the Baron's eyes. "But I never knew it will be this fast." His rather charming face registered nothing but anger. His eyes turned to blood red, showing he was mad!

The Baron's face became red and slowly turned pale blue. When that lowly man looked like he would eventually die, only then Damien loosened his evil shadow's grip.

"UHUK… HAH! ARGHH! HAH!" Baron Collins was grasping at his chest because of a lack of air. It took a while until he salvaged his breath. But he was still floating. "I can explain, let me explain," he sobbed as he begged. "Please let me go, my Lord…" Tears streaming down his pale face as it lacked oxygen.

But Damien didn't stop. He was so mad that he almost lost control of his mana. He stared at the Baron as he tortured him with an evil look. He tightened the grip!

CRACK… SMASH!

Unconsciously, Damien also shattered every single object made of glass in the room. If no one stopped him now, Damien might kill Baron Collins eventually on the spot. Sir Ryan knew he needed to step in. Slowly, Ryan approached his master and touched his shoulder. "Milord. Stop." He said.

And Damien, at last, regained his stability. As he closed his eyes, the shadow gradually retreated, and the Baron fell on the floor. If Ryan did not stop him, this Baron might die without proper punishment.

Damien sighed heavily. He was already calmed, but his eyes were still red. "So! Your daughter ran away?" he questioned. Damien demanded an explanation.

Baron Collins was struggling to breathe. After a moment, he finally was able to speak. "No, my Lord!" He denied. "I believe someone kidnapped her and made her left the wedding." He was so desperate that he told a big lie. "My daughter… Vanessa would never run from this wedding. You know how much Vanessa loves you, milord!" he added as he begged on the floor. He was begging for his dear life.

"So! You are telling me… your daughter has been abducted? That's it?" Damien scoffed. How could this idiot think of that as an explanation? Did the Baron spout his lies after getting inspired by the story of Grace's abduction? "And you think I will believe that nonsense? How can you explain this situation? You are telling me that the abductor persuaded your daughter to strip?! And leave her dress here. Can you explain why the guards did not see a soul passing the stairs? Do you believe that someone kidnapped your crazy daughter, and the felon used the window?" Damien was in a rage. He asked those silly questions, one after another. He did not pause or stop questioning. "What do you take me for? A moron like you?!" The lie only added to the hatred. Damien could not believe this fool man almost became his father-in-law.

"No, milord! I swear I'm not lying. Look…" Baron Collins pointed at the mirror. The smashed mirror. He suddenly had an idea for his another lie. "Look at that! That simply the proof someone threatens my daughter!" and he showed the crumpled note in his hand. "And this note! I believe they even forced my daughter to write this fake letter." He added.

Damien angrily snatched the note and read it, understanding every single word written. "And you think I will trust you?"

The Baron replied, as he already dared to fib. "My Lord. Just look at those ugly handwritten. They must have forced my dear Vanessa to write that. Or they wrote it themselves."

Damien shook his head. That ugly handwritten was indeed Vanessa's. Damien used to receive lots of love letters with that same horrible writing. But he wanted to see how long the Baron would try to defend himself with those fat lies. "So what do you suggest, Baron?" He allegedly gave a second chance for the foolish old man to redeem himself.

Baron Collins smiled. "We must search for her. Immediately. She couldn't be far." He swiped off the cold sweat trickling down his wide forehead with the back of his hand as he taught the Lord believed him.

Damien fumed irritably. Even before the Baron suggested his hopeless idea, Sir Ryan already commanded the knights and servants, under the order of his master, to search for Lady Vanessa all over the estate. They assessed the situation restlessly. But none of them returned, as they could not find Lady Vanessa.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Another knight appeared, with Doctor Evelyn standing behind him. "Miss Evelyn is here to speak to you, my Lord."

It surprised Damien and Ryan to see Evelyn unexpectedly came to the bridal suite.

"Now is not a good time, Evelyn. We have a serious problem here." Damien glared at Baron Collins.

Evelyn was hesitant at first. But she still dared to step inside the suite, even though she could feel how bad the situation was in that room. "I know. The bride runs away." She said, slowly. Evelyn came over and completed his doubt.

"NO!" Baron Collins shook his head and charged at the female doctor. "You are wrong! You lied!" He seemed like he wanted to attack Evelyn.

Fortunately, Ryan was fast to rescue Evelyn. Ryan stood in front of the doctor and pushed the Baron. And he fell to the floor. Once again. How dared this oldie tried to attack Evelyn! Ryan glared at the Baron as he had the cheek to deny the truth.

"No!" Evelyn defended her remark. "I will never lie to Damien. Vanessa almost knocked me over! She ran away from this wedding!"

The Baron yelled. "Yet you didn't stop her?!" His face was swelled with anger and disbelief.

Evelyn derided. "Bloody hell! You think I'm the one that's wrong here?" She only came to the suite to pass the bad news, not to be offended!

That was it! Evelyn nullified all the lies spouted by the irresponsible Baron Collins.

Damien burnt the note in his hand in an instant. With his jaws clenched, he finally said, "Let's see what lie you will tell after this." and he called out for the knights. "Take the Baron away! And throw all members of the Collins Family to the dungeon! I will take care of the rest later." He commanded.