Ensnaring his Dark Moon-Chapter 240: Scare

She pushed herself to her feet, ’’Why me?" she asked, her eyes roaming to him, desiring all his honesty.

Aleister stood up, towering over her as he leaned closer, ’’Because it is you, Esme.’’

And as he leaned closer to her, she started closing her eyes.

But her gaze faltered towards the boulder they were standing on. The same boulder where Jeremiah told her that he loved her that day...

And just as his lips began to close the gap between them, Esme swung her hand to his chest and pushed him away from her as she turned around to leave, ’’This is wrong,’’ she mumbled, ’’This is so—’’

’Splash’

Esme’s eyes widened when she heard the sound and her gaze swiveled towards the raging waves of the sea.

"Aleister!"

She called out his name once. Twice.

But no response came and her heart leaped up to her throat.

Without giving it a second thought, Esme jumped into the sea.

Her body started transforming gradually and she twirled in the water looking for any signs of the man.

A strange vision appeared in her head where she saw herself sinking in the water while someone extended their hand towards her.

The vision disappeared the moment she shook her head.

’’Aleister,’’ she screamed his name. A piercing pain shot to her head. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Clutching her throbbing head, Esme moved deeper into the sea and there she saw him.

Falling backward with his eyes closed and his hands flailing lifelessly.

Why? He was powerful.

He was supposed to be powerful then why was he like this just by falling into the water?

Then she remembered he once told her about being injured. Was it because of that?

The thought of it made her heart clench.

It was all her fault.

Tears rolled down her eyes, transforming into pearls as they floated in the waves, some settling on fishes and some plunging to the bottom of the sea.

She looked pathetic. Just as pathetic as she felt at that moment but Esme did not stop to care.

She did not stop until she was holding his hand, not until she dragged him out of the sea.

Esme did not stop until they reached the shore.

But once they were out, her head felt like it was being split in half.

She fell backward and just as her consciousness started fading, she saw him, awake and alive, very much calling out her name.

And then she knew. She knew that she had been tricked by that sly man.

But she did not have it in her to strangle him.

Her head throbbed so painfully that she curled her body. Her eyes fluttered close.

Pain.

That was the last thing she remembered before everything turned dark.

...

Growing up as a neglected child in a huge castle, Aleister never once felt envious of children who strutted around in the gardens holding their father’s finger.

He did not feel angry when he was forsaken into the enchantment forest to survive in that age when he could barely survive with his sickly constitution.

He did not feel grievous when he offered a chance to his long-lost brother that night to redeem himself but Cardan did not accept that bet.

He did not feel indignant about his life flipping upside down overnight just because the old people were unable to handle their mess platter in the past.

Yet, the moment when Esme closed her eyes to kiss him but got distracted a moment later and pushed him away, he knew what she was distracted by.

She was ruffled by the thought of another man, the man she claimed to love after her memory loss. He could read her like his favorite book and it was not hard for him to know the thoughts that ran through her head.

And at that moment, it was as if ’Zelos’ possessed his body.

The curious cat in Esme would have ignored all his words and asked him who ’Zelos’ was if he told his thoughts to her.

The arrogant spirit of eager rivalry, envy, and jealousy. He would have told her.

Sigh... Esme... That poor thing did not even remember him or their past but that did not deter him from wanting to punish her for thinking of another man.

A mermaid’s first home was water. It won’t put her in danger. Aleister had believed.

And he wanted to see her in her real form too.

Everything was set in stone in his head.

He just wanted to scare her a bit.

But here she was, lying on the bed lifelessly with a pale face, giving him the scare of his life.

’’Let her sleep more. She will wake up,’’ The royal physician spoke up.

’’When?" Aleister squeezed her palm and shifted his gaze from Esme’s face to the royal physician.

And it took a moment before the familiarity of that old face sunk in him.

The royal physician of the Defire Kingdom was none other than the old man who had set up a stall in Visteria, the very first mer he and Esme came across, and later, the old man had jumped into a well in his real form in front of their eyes.

The old man did not even look shocked or ruffled. It was he had expected to see them here.

He just shrugged, ’’I doubt she has been sleeping decently.’’

Luciana nodded as she glanced at the King, then at him before she tilted her head to look at the old man, ’’She gets nightmares. Dreams, she calls them. But they don’t let her sleep,’’ she paused for a moment as if contemplating whether to reveal further or not, but then she added, ’’Even without those, she barely gets to sleep. Losing her memories has been a constant bother to her...’’

The royal physician made eye contact with Rezeph who was sitting on the bed, holding Esme’s other hand, ’’We will talk about it if she wants to when she wakes up,’’ the old man said, ’’Let her sleep more.’’