Ensnaring his Dark Moon-Chapter 314: Poisonous words

All along, Esme’s mother, Anastasia was just an ordinary person, neither royalty nor god hence she did not possess an ounce of magic. But what she lacked in this aspect was made up by her with her intelligence and courage.

The late King of Nevesray saw that and took in the young and orphan Anastasia and made her indebted to him by doing that. He trained her in politics and combat.

Anastasia was a loyal person and she did not turn her back on the person who picked her up from the streets and provided with a better life.

Without an ounce of magic in her body and just with the illusion of possessing the magic, she became the most powerful queen who unified Nevesray which was initially divided in different territories. Not only she terrified the other monarchs, but even the ordinary people of the Kingdom sang tales of her glory.

As for Esme, she used to do that too. She also used to think of her mother as a shining star in the sky. When she was young, whenever Esme heard someone praising her mother, she would discreetly puff her chest and feel proud for being her daughter.

But now when she looked back at it, all she felt was bitterness. That glory that everyone talked about... nobody knew that her mother had exchanged her freedom, blood, sweat and tears in for it.

’’That foolish uncle of yours thought that your brother was hiding some treasure that your mother left behind and I fanned his delusions. I incited him to torture Adrian to extort that treasure that never existed at all.’’

Jeremiah confidently spoke, his heart not holding an ounce of doubt that that treasure had after all existed. Anastasia had all along referred to her daughter as a treasure with deeper meanings, as not only did she hold Esme closer to her heart, but she always knew that her daughter was a special existence.

When Jeremiah noticed Esme recovering her composure, his eyes flashed with displeasure.

He felt offended whenever she acted like nothing could faze her.

He refused to believe that she would not be affected to know that she was the cause of her brother’s miseries, ’’Do you want to know the reason why I had your brother tortured till he was half dead?" As she looked at him, he smiled at her kindly just as he had always done, ’’After all, I had nothing against him and he had never offended me before yet I had him reduced to that. Don’t you want to know why?"

Esme looked at him coldly.

And that told him that she wanted to know the answer. Pleased with her reaction, Jeremiah said, ’’Let me tell you from the very beginning out of my kindness towards you.’’

"People of Defire think that I am a reluctant heir apparent, who has no greed for the throne but was forced to this position by his family. What they do not know is that my ambitions had reached the throne of Defire ever since I was at the age where I could comprehend things. When I was a child and I had to bow to the King, I would always wonder why can I not become the person that people bowed to? Why can’t I become the ruler that every mer looked up to?

Rezeph? What right did that worthless person have? As a King, he lived a prodigal life, disguising as this and that and roaming across the lands of those disgusting humans. Sometimes he would pick up some rabbit from the streets and sometimes some other thing that he found amusing. When did he stop to care about this kingdom or the subjects?

Tell me, Es, does the throne of Defire need such a King...?"

He looked at Esme.

Esme smiled.

Her smile was so striking that it bedazzled him for a few minutes. He might look down on her but that face and that body... he did not mind accepting that after their marriage.

His daze shattered the moment she opened her mouth to speak.

’’You tell me, Jeremiah Norwell. You are speaking so much gibberish, slandering your monarch, all just to justify your actions in front of a woman you look down on. Is it worth it?"

Jeremiah froze.

Before he could say anything, Esme continued, ’’In your eyes, you are all that powerful, unparalleled and deserving to become the ruler of these lands. In mine? You are like the speck of dusk defiling this kingdom just by your existence. You are acting like you will be doing Defire a favor by replacing the current king but all the while, you just cannot get yourself to admit that you could not resist the temptation of power.’’

Rezeph was worthless?

That man was powerful to the extent that she could not even gauge the extent of his powers, unlike how she could at least feel Aleister’s powers to some extent. But when it came to Rezeph, she would not even see him moving a finger yet he seemed to have even the nature under his control. He was a prodigal King? If he was, they Defire would not be drowning in prosperity and power.

She might have been in Defire for a year or so but before that, she was in Visteria and she had seen how people revered the mystery that Defire was. From what Aleister told her, the land of humans were wary of Defire and it could be seen in the way no monarch ever sent their people to spy on the borders of Defire unlike how it happened in the other Kingdoms.

The court officials were so leisurely due to abundance of peace in the kingdom that they only ate and slept till they resembled bloated fishes. And the kingdom was so prosperous that mermaids probably had rare gemstones to pick their tooth.

When Jeremiah heard poisonous words, his face turned green.

Esme lost her patience with him and she stepped closer to look into his eyes.