Chapter 71 – Oath

Anesthesia had been at her house in Storm City for almost a week now. She had enjoyed her time here, far from the suffocating Royal Palace where every member of that dreadful family looked at her as though she were nothing but a tool to be used.

She had been exhausted — not physically, but mentally and emotionally — from the constant effort of remaining alert at all times and playing endless mind games.

And so she had desperately yearned to come home, to spend her days with her own family and her lover.

The past days had been refreshing, soothing to her psyche, and even deeply entertaining with Emrys always beside her.

Even if the incident with her sister and that insufferable bastard Cassius Desdemona had soured her mood briefly, she had quickly moved past it, knowing that the next time they met, those two would regret every second of it.

With that in mind, she had managed, if not to entirely forget the incident, at least to stop rehearsing it endlessly.

And so Anesthesia Amaris enjoyed her time with Emrys.

’Ah! I love him so much!’

The thought moved through her mind every minute she was with him. Emrys was just that handsome, loving, kind, and above all considerate toward her. Paired with the fact that his talent was at a level no one could even begin to grasp, Anesthesia was happy to be his first love.

And it was in that very love she carried for him — a selfless, caring love — that she helped Emrys indulge in the only vice she knew him to have: gathering more women. But only on the condition that she thought them useful and worthy.

Emrys didn’t mind.

That was their relationship. And it was one they both cherished, and wished to preserve at all cost.

Finally, after days in Storm City, it was time for Anesthesia to take the road back to the Capital.

No problem had occurred, and everything was ready with her own carriage waiting outside the Mansion.

Ah. At least, that was what she thought before receiving a furious, wrathful visit right in front of her own Pavilion.

"It’s your fault!" The tall, orange-haired and orange-eyed man said with a flushed, furious expression, a trembling finger pointed at Anesthesia. His butler stood behind him with a twisted face. "It’s your fault that my brother is dead!"

Anesthesia’s brow furrowed instantly. Beside her, Emrys, already reluctant to see his girlfriend leave, watched the man shouting at her with a cold, annoyed expression.

"What do you mean?" Anesthesia asked, inwardly wondering who had allowed this man inside. "Who died?"

"My brother!" Joe Jurish snarled. "My brother Nick has been murdered. Don’t you know? He was killed in the cold of the night, while he was outside, buying alchemical materials for you!"

Anesthesia and Emrys’s eyes widened, surprise and disbelief plain on their faces.

"How is that possible?" She blurted out, her voice more curious and confused than grieved at the news. "How could he have been killed? And by whom?"

"How and by whom?" Joe laughed harshly, turning his eyes to Emrys. "Why don’t you ask your boyfriend?"

"What?" Emrys said, frowning. "And why would she ask me?"

"Because everyone knows of your distaste for my brother, isn’t that right?" He said in a theatrical, angry tone, looking around at the gathering servants and guards. "You hated that he brought your girlfriend alchemical materials for you thought he was overstepping. And never once did you miss a chance to show him. How many times did my brother Nick come to me and describe how you looked at him as if you wanted to kill him? And let’s not forget the time you injured him simply because he got too close to Anesthesia during Alchemy practice!"

"This is complete nonsense." Emrys said calmly. "I don’t harm those weaker than me."

"Yes." Anesthesia chimed in, her eyes going cold. "And I won’t tolerate any slander against Emrys, my boyfriend. I’m sorry about Nick’s death, but—!"

"Are you really?" Joe cut in, his eyes red with tears, smiling despite the pain cracking open his chest. "Look into my eyes, Anesthesia."

He hissed it and stepped threateningly toward her. Emrys began to move, but Anesthesia stopped him with an outstretched arm and a look.

Joe stopped a couple of metres from her, his pale, trembling lips parting again.

"Look into my eyes. Look deep into my fucking eyes. Now tell me, Anesthesia, what do you see?"

He didn’t wait for an answer, as if he already knew she would never see the obvious pain he was carrying.

"Pain. Grief. Sorrow." He hissed each word with venom. "And every single Vorn-damned thing that’s missing from your eyes right now. You feel nothing, do you? Oh! ah! I see it now!"

He barked a loud laugh — cold, humourless, harsh — rocking his head backwards.

"My brother was nothing but an errand boy to you, wasn’t he?" His voice cracked. "Someone you used to get what you needed and what you wanted, and then discarded. Someone you never even truly considered. Someone you saw as an object made to please you, O Queen!"

"You know that’s false." Anesthesia replied, fighting to keep her calm. "You know I cared—!"

"You fucking didn’t." Joe snarled. "I told you...I can see it now." He smiled through his tears. "I truly wonder how blind I was. How blind my brother was. How blind all of us are! This is who you really are, Anesthesia. A cold, manipulative bi—!"

"Don’t you dare finish that word." Emrys interrupted, his voice descending into something lower, his blue eyes sizzling with golden lightning. "We have done nothing to your brother. You know that. All of this is you venting on the nearest target. But you’re making a serious mistake, Son of Jurish. Instead of trying to frame us, it would be wiser to find the real culprit."

Emrys’s presence, at that moment, was overwhelming. His blue eyes settling on Joe made the man feel as though the weight of an entire ocean had been pressed across his back, threatening to buckle his knees and drown him mercilessly into depthless depths.

Yet despite the pain and the crushing pressure, Joe laughed again. And again. And again. As if he were trying to trick his own brain into believing something — anything — other than the heavy, gnawing, searing anguish clawing at his heart.

His brother Nick may have been a bastard, born to a commoner mother. But he had been sweet, gentle and caring to all of them. He had never complained, and always did his best to make his mother proud and earn his place in the family.

His talent for Alchemy had been great, even greater than Joe’s own, despite his lesser blood. His future had been bright. Oh! Bright indeed!

Yet that same little brother had come to him one day, his face flushed red, eyes far away, describing how he had fallen in love at first sight with a woman who deserved the world.

With Anesthesia Amaris.

Joe should have seen it. Should have seen the path of ruin his brother had begun walking. Everyone knew Anesthesia and her unique presence, the kind that drew people in like moths to flame.

He should have stopped him at the beginning, before it was too late.

Now it was too late. And like moths to flame, his brother had burned completely, for nothing more than following his heart.

And there, somewhere inside him, the words of The Fool from The Tales of The Fool echoed sharply:

’Regret is immortal.’

Ah. Regret was immortal indeed. And Joe knew, in that moment, that he would live the rest of his life with this gnawing regret, one that might yet break him entirely.

However...

"I, Joe Jurish of the Jurish Family, swear an Oath..."

"YOUNG MASTER!" His butler shouted behind him, his voice rising in pure horror.

The same shock flashed across the faces of Anesthesia, Emrys, and everyone watching.

But it was already too late. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

The System recognised the intent and a strange power descended upon Joe.

An Oath was being made.

"I swear an Oath binding my soul, if I do not make you pay for my brother’s death..." Joe smiled widely, brokenly, "...I shall relinquish my life, my self, and my very existence entirely."

"Oh, Vorn take my soul!" His butler collapsed to his knees, face aghast and colourless.

Anesthesia and Emrys’s pupils contracted, jaws clenched.

"Are you challenging us?" Anesthesia growled, furious not only at being falsely accused, but irritated and disgusted that someone this weak person was daring to stand against her.

Joe looked at her for a long moment, as though he himself couldn’t believe he had failed to see this side of her before, then spat with disgust, "Just wait and watch. You’ll see if I’m challenging you. Bitch."

Anesthesia’s face twisted in fury. But before she could say anything...

"Threatening her means threatening me." Emrys cut in, his voice still calm. "Me. Emrys Stormblessed. Heir of the Tier One Stormblessed Family."

He smiled without humour, his right hand tightening around the black-clothed hilt of his sword. "Do you understand what you have just done? What position you have just placed your own family in?"

Joe Jurish’s smile didn’t waver. It was clear to everyone present that he had nothing left to lose.

He turned on his heel. "I’ll be waiting for you at the Academy." He said at last, tears still running down his face as he walked away.

Anesthesia and Emrys watched his back, their outward expressions different, but inwardly, their thoughts were the same.

Neither of them would allow someone who had sworn an Oath against them to live long enough to fulfil it.

The only option was clear. And chilling.

Yet in the middle of the anger and frustration, the heavenly chosen couple couldn’t help but ask one particular question:

’Who killed Nick Jurish?’

—End of Chapter 71—