Esmeralda’s eyes widened. She opened her mouth wanting to say another word when Ava interrupted her.
"You knew that a single stab could kill him." Ava pursed her lips. To be honest, she was a little impressed at her ability to make an impromptu story. "You have the means to kill him. Though I am wondering... what was your motive?" she asked.
"I said I— "
"Please, both of us knew you did it. Lying in front of an empath is a very bad choice."
Realization flashed in the woman’s eyes. She waved at her maid and the woman retreated outside of the room. Now that there were only Ava, Josef, and her inside the room, Esmeralda’s face changed. The sadness in her eyes vanished. What was left was... guilt and anguish.
"I didn’t have a choice," Esmeralda looked at the Duke as if she was trying to tell him she was right. "My son... is becoming just like his father."
"So, you gave him that medicine?" Josef asked. Though, the lack of interest in his voice made it clear that he already knew all about this beforehand. The only thing that changed was the fact that he was no longer smiling. He was fucking grinning at Ava like a damn proud husband.
His eyes were twinkling like damn stars.
Just staring at those eyes made Ava want to puke.
This man was not Matthew.
She turned her head towards the concubine.
"He killed his own son..." the concubine said. "By raping the mother until... she bled to death. Do you think that is something a human would do?"
"Your son wasn’t human."
"I am well aware, Duke Asad. But I am human. And I... I believed I only did what I could to save my race from a menace."
"You hate your own son..." Ava stated.
"Wouldn’t you?"
"I— " Ava wanted to say something sarcastic like telling the woman she wouldn’t know. She has not met that man before. But Damon told her stories about the royal family and she was aware that the one who died was nothing but trash.
The Prince liked to spend his time with women.
He drinks and does some... orgxes. Then the rumor about him killing his pregnant concubine started spreading in the capital. Not only this, there were rumors that he had slept with the concubines of his father as well.
In fact, many people weren’t actually surprised that he died.
They expected it to happen.
The man was useless and couldn’t do anything right. In this world where the strong survive while the weak die, that man didn’t have any right to live.
"I gave him the medicine because... my dear friend told me it could help him with his condition. And yes, I was aware of the risks. The blood loss tendencies. But I took the risks because I wanted him to feel good. And he did. In fact, he started to feel too good, he thought that he was entitled to feel good."
Ava blinked. The woman’s expression totally changed.
Right now, she could no longer recognize the woman standing before her.
Was this the same mother who looked weak and fragile just minutes later?
"Do you know how it feels?" Esmeralda said. "The Monarch had more than twenty concubines. More than twenty children. Do you know how it feels to live in a jungle full of venomous snakes?"
"I do," Ava said. "But what does this have to with what you did? I— "
"No, you don’t," Esmeralda said. "You haven’t lived here for long. In the outside world, there is fairness, there is law. Humans love their children and... children respect their parents. You are from a different world so you have no idea what it means to live like this."
Again, what does this have to do with anything else?
Ava wanted to ask but chose to wait instead. Moreover, she could feel the Duke’s gaze towards her and this was enough to make her uncomfortable.
"In this world, there was nothing like fairness. The strong bully the weak and the weak struggle to survive. All my life I have protected my son... I showed him how to respect other races. Demons and humans and other worlders. I taught him everything. But look at what he did. Just like his father. He kills people if he is mad. He rxpes women that he likes as if they were some animals that he could just take and threw away if he wanted to." Esmeralda snorted. "So yes. If killing my own son was a sin then yes. I am a sinner. For I wanted to kill him. I wanted my own son dead."
"However..." Esmeralda continued. "I might have given him the medicine and I might have known that an assassination attempt would kill him because of the blood thinner in his veins. But I did not send someone to stab him."
"You have given them the gun," Ava said.
"But I did not press the trigger."
Ava pursed her lips. The woman was right. She didn’t press the trigger but she fucking loaded the bullets! She made sure that her son would die in the next assassination attempt!
"But you knew who," Ava said. "You knew who killed him."
Esmeralda only smirked in response.
"Was it his own father?" Ava continued asking. Though, she was almost sure that she would never get anything out of her.
"You should be careful other— worlder," Esmeralda said. "The Duke... would never vouch for you." She looked at Josef and sneered. "His loyalty lies towards his king. So, he would never divulge what he heard inside this room today. And without his testimony, everything is useless. You cannot prove a thing."
Ava scoffed. This woman was indeed clever. She made sure to send her maid away and told Ava everything because she knew that Duke Asad would never side against her. Duke Asad served the Royal Family. And well...Ava is not a part of the Royal Family.
"You are very clever..."Ava said. "I would give you that."
Then she added, "But I don’t need him to prove a thing."
....
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