Chapter Thirty-Eight — Back Then...

✖ THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SOME VIOLENT WORDS AND HURTFUL SCENES, READERS' DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

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At The Mysterious Château

There in the great hall of the château were Kaliope, Ashe, Desha and her cohorts. The five were gawking at the two beaten men in front of them. Their attires were torn and they reeked of injuries and scars.

"For the last time, tell me the whole truth! The entire truth! If I detect any speck of lie, I'll rip off your neck and feed it to the incarcerated scavengers." Kaliope shrieked and the two men shivered in fright.

The two men were Olaf and Ghazi. They duped Ashe and Kaliope in the past as they were in charge of dealing with Ximena's powers and body. The two men didn't suck much of the powers of Ximena and that was why Ximena re-embodied even after so many years.

Kaliope and Ashe were scared that Ximena would come back for revenge so they placed the two men in charge of her powers and body but the two men failed woefully even though they were from the mystic blood clan (The most powerful clan back then) and now Ximena has re-embodied with vengeance as her top mission.

"Fuck! I'm losing patience here…if you don't talk now…I'll roast you and your entire families…" Ashe clenched her teeth in fury. "You half-witted dipshits have no idea what you have done!" She screamed again and the hall shook violently.

One of the men, Olaf, laughed hysterically and Ashe was puzzled. Why on earth was Olaf laughing like a joker? Does the issue look so funny to him that he cannot control his laughter?

"Of course I have no idea what I have done and I don't care to know why. You all are traitors after all and I am too…. Your fates are in my hands so before I'll spill the answers, you have to follow some guiding principles…" He smirked. He was trying to threaten them again.

Desha rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"What's the use of these two dipsticks, just rip them apart and feed them to the scavengers since they don't want to talk." Desha was livid. Those two foolish men were blockades to her getting rid of Jemima. Once Ximena's case was clarified, Jemima won't be a problem at all.

"Just shut up, who do you think you are? You're nothing but a bitch who haven't lived up to two decades at all…" Olaf ranted and Desha lost it.

"Do you know how old I am? I'm more than a century old…in fact, I've lost count of my years on earth…" He continued ranting and that triggered Desha to grab the iron whip from the knight's hand and lash Olaf seriously. Olaf was bleeding profusely as blood flowed down from his ears and nose. His skin that were once smooth was now coarse and filled with dried blood from blisters, scars and injuries.

"Where did you keep her powers? Her powers are very vital to us, it's not a toy to be played with…" Ashe asked Ghazi as she snubbed Olaf totally.

Olaf turned to Ghazi and glared at him. "Say a word and I will castrate you before your family. You know you are a very big fool!"

Ghazi was dumbstruck and so scared that he shut his opened mouth. Ashe who was watching the two men ran out of patience and brought out her dagger. Without batting an eyelid, she slit the throat of Olaf and turned to Ghazi. Her face was splashed with the Olaf's blood and she looked more deadly in that way. Her bellicose eyes that used to have a wild combination of red and brown now darkened and it was as black as night.

"Are you willing to talk now or…do you want to be beheaded?" Ashe said heatedly between her gritting teeth.

Ghazi stared at Olaf's dead body and nodded willingly. He was willing to talk now. His life mattered as he was a wretched family man. He had a wife and three kids who looked up to him so he shouldn't die now.

"You guys settle that fool while I go over to say halloo to the Jemima bitch…" Desha said and strode off to the room Kaliope locked Jemima. Alyse and Bitsy followed Desha quickly and they were really marveled by the unending grandeur of the mysterious château.

"What's this place? Why does it look to me like a palace?" Bitsy asked curiously as her tungsten-grey eyes dilated in curiosity. She has never seen a palace before, she only saw those in movies and pictures.

"Yeah…and who are those nice-looking ladies we met back there? What's their connection with those men and what's their connection with you?" Alyse asked. There was distrust in her voice.

"C'mon…one question at a time…" Desha trailed off and stopped at a particular door.

"…I wish I live here…do you know I'll be a princess if there were maids serving me here and guards working here too and I myself garbed in royal outfits…" Bitsy yearned and Alyse laughed.

"You're such a dreamer…" Alyse chuckled again and Bitsy pouted her lips in anger.

Desha was done unlocking the door to the room. It was a dreary task to do…unlocking such antique doors.

"Come in you girls and stop bickering like old hags…" Desha fumed and the two girls silently followed her immediately.

When Desha stepped into the room, there was an air of luxury in the room. There was a comfy queen-size bed with soft mattress, bedspread and everything needed to make one's sleep very comfortable.

"Aargh…she dare sleep on a cozy bed! I feel like beating her to pulp…" She clenched her jaw and said those words with gritting teeth. Her fists balled up and her eyes flashed with the resolve of destruction.

"C'mon boss…" Alyss coaxed. "She won't sleep on the bed forever…we just have to be very fast about this whole plan."

"Yes…and I've been wondering where those cutie triplets and those flirty girls are…I haven't heard from them, especially Troy…" She swallowed the remaining words as Desha glared at her.

"Of course, I'm done doing business with them. I paid them off and they went their separate ways." Desha lied and her cohorts nodded in fear. Anytime Desha glared at them, it was like the Armageddon War was about to start.

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(Jemima's POV)

I could remember that I was locked up in Desha's basement and I felt something flaring up within me and I went unconscious but now, I was in an entirely different place, like a palace. What was happening?

And now that I woke up, I saw a woman right in front of me. She was so willowy and looked like a teenager but beautiful. My head went spinning when I saw her because she gave off that mien of deadliness. She started chanting some incomprehensible things and I dozed off again.

When I slept off, I saw myself in the dreamland. It was me running off the staircase barefooted and without my lacey gloves and scarf…and I was in a royal outfit. Considering my childishness and size, I looked like an adorable four or five-year-old kid.

"Oh…princess…slow down…you're a lady and ladies comport themselves courteously…" A maid ran after me with a pair of boots meant for me because of the winter season.

"It's already winter and you're running around the palace barefooted…. It's not good for your health at all! You behave in such unladylike manners and it is not good…" Another maid yelled at me as she tossed the scarf on the glossy marble floor in anger. She looked quite older than the first maid like she was close to her thirties. But I didn't care, I just keep running around until I ran into a graceful figure and I stood still.

"Urgh…mamma…" I grumbled and I looked up to the woman. The woman in front of me was holding knitted gloves and it looked pleasing to my eyes. The maids behind me bowed down quickly when they saw her.

"Greetings…Her Royal Majesty!" They both chorused. My mother nodded and they stood up immediately.

"Are these for me?" I asked in such childish tone and the woman who was my mother smiled.

The smile on her lips grew bolder and she stooped low so she was par with me in height.

"Uh huh…mamma knitted some gloves for you so what do you say?"

"Thank you mamma…"

"I heard that you're not taking your classes seriously so I decided to ask you why?"

"Who said that I don't take classes seriously…of course I do…just that those tutors are so strict."

"Then I'll teach you personally, what do you think?" My mother enquired and I trembled. If mamma get to know that I didn't take lessons seriously at all, I'll be dead meat.

"Don't worry mamma…I'm a serious-minded girl and you know that."

"So what do you think about the forthcoming annual exams…I know that you'll pass the exams 'cause considering your extraordinarily high IQ, I know you'll make it, don't you think so…?"

Wow! I totally forgot about the forthcoming exams…and I also forgot about going to the Imperial Academy to collect some manuscripts and scrolls, how forgetful of me!

"Ximena…" Mamma probed and I turned to look at her. She looked a bit worried and my heart burned seeing her like that. I knew that she was very worried about me and that was why she gave me the best of everything, made me look more outstanding than my peers and loved me like never before.

Pulling up my cutie piteous face, I cried to her.

"Mamma, I need to go to the Imperial Academy to collect some manuscripts and scrolls…I'll be back in a jiffy…" With that, I dashed out quickly with resolution in my heart.