dognovel Chapter 208: A Shadow from the Grave
Chapter 208: A Shadow from the Grave
"It would be wise of you to lower that blade, Alisha," Olivia said, her voice sharp and piercing. "You will gain absolutely nothing from killing him."
"This is none of your business, you miserable wretch!" Alisha shrieked. Her laughter warped, revealing either a mind completely unhinged by what she had endured, or that she was finally showing her true, authentic self. Taking another step forward, she sneered, "Don’t worry, I will handle him first... then I’ll come back for you."
Mustering what little strength remained in her trembling limbs, Olivia forced herself to move. She deliberately stepped into Alisha’s direct line of sight, cutting off her path to the bed. She swallowed hard, a cold knot of dread twisting tightly in her throat.
I have to distract her, Olivia thought in a panic, her mind spinning in frantic circles as she stared into the bloodshot eyes of the madwoman. I just need to buy enough time until Kyle returns. How did this lunatic move so fast? How is she already here? It’s obvious... everything was orchestrated from the very beginning. She was never working alone.
"Olivia..."
A muffled, painfully weak voice echoed from amidst the shadows of the heavy pillows. Olivia’s breath hitched; Lucius was regaining consciousness. His heavy eyelids parted slowly, his gaze unfocused, dull, and clouded by the encroaching shadow of death. Yet, his fingers twitched as if trying to reach out to her. "Olivia... step back... she will hurt you..."
Alisha’s face contorted into a grotesque parody of a smile, her eyes gleaming with malicious glee at the sight of the weakened Emperor trying to play the protector.
"Oh... the bastard and his precious daughter. How touching. A beautiful, tragic family reunion," Alisha hissed, her voice warped with pure madness as she raised the jagged steel blade high. Her eyes brimmed with unadulterated, unmixed malice. "Enough talk. Let’s end this!"
With a sudden, violent burst of speed, Alisha lunged forward. The blade sliced through the dim candlelight, seeking nothing but absolute destruction.
Olivia stood her ground, her body freezing as she realized there was no time to dodge. Bracing herself for the impact, her eyes locked onto the descending metal. But in that final fraction of a second, just before the sharp steel could tear into her flesh, she felt a sudden, desperate force wrap around her waist.
Driven by a final, supernatural surge of paternal instinct, Lucius defied the poison ravaging his veins. With a heavy, agonized gasp, the dying Emperor pulled her down, throwing his frail, trembling frame over hers. He shielded her entirely, using his own back to take the violent brunt of the descending blade.
"Emper—" Olivia’s voice cut off entirely in her throat, her eyes widening in sheer shock beneath the crushing weight of his body.
Under the impending shadow of death, Lucius looked down at her. His fading eyes were filled with a profound, aching sorrow that shattered the cold defense mechanisms Olivia had spent her life clinging to. The stern, unyielding ruler she had spent her life evaluating was entirely gone; in his place remained only a father desperately holding onto his child.
"I will protect you, my little girl," he whispered, his ragged, warm breath brushing her cheek at the exact moment the heavy shadow of the blade fell upon them.
Olivia had never felt such absolute helplessness in her entire life. The suffocating realization that she was about to lose someone else—that the dark void of loss was yawning open, stretching its arms to swallow her whole again—cut through her chest like a physical blade. She squeezed her eyes shut beneath Lucius’s trembling body, praying to endure the cold bite of the descending metal, waiting for the blade to pierce them both and end it all.
CLANG!
A deafening, violent shriek of steel striking steel erupted within the imperial suite, vibrating so fiercely that it shook the floorboards beneath them.
The expected plunge of cold metal never came. Instead, a heavy, suffocating silence blanketed the room, broken only by the low, dangerous hum of vibrating weapons.
"It seems our last encounter failed to teach you a fundamental lesson, you madwoman," a chillingly calm, deep voice resonated from the dim darkness. Each word fell like heavy ice into the room. "Don’t you dare lay a single finger on my wife."
Olivia’s eyes snapped open. Her breath froze completely in her throat, the air in her lungs turning to pure lead as her mind reeled, unable to process the overwhelming, majestic weight of that voice.
"You... you are dead..." she whispered, her voice cracking into a raw whimper of absolute disbelief. "How... how are you here?"
"Is it a surprise?" the man murmured. Above them, a massive, broad-shouldered shadow shifted slightly, his heavy black blade blocking Alisha’s weapon with absolute, unyielding force. The flickering candlelight danced across his sharp features as he cast a dark, fleeting glance down at her. "Did you wish for my death too, Olivia?"
The voice was terrifyingly, achingly familiar—a melody that haunted her, echoing in her darkest nightmares and the quietest moments of her deep-seated grief. It was a face that belonged to the graves, yet there he stood, an iron wall keeping the nightmare at bay.
From beneath her, a weak, muffled chuckle broke through the freezing air. Lucius exhaled a ragged, wheezing breath, his lips curving into a faint, knowing smile despite the lethal poison eating away at his veins.
"Good..." the Emperor rasped, his eyes turning toward the towering shadow with a bitter sense of relief. "You arrived just in time."
With a heavy, pained groan, Lucius used the last remnants of his fading strength to shift his weight, rolling off Olivia’s body to give her room to move.
The moment the suffocating pressure left her chest, Olivia sat up, her hands trembling as she pressed them against the velvet carpet. Her eyes were wide, quivering with a mixture of shock and lingering terror. And there, bathed in the weak, dancing candlelight, she could finally see him clearly—the massive, solid shadow standing as an immovable barrier between her and Alisha’s madness, alive and breathing.
With a single, fluid flick of his wrist, Matthias batted Alisha’s weapon away, sending the jagged blade clattering uselessly across the distant stone floor.
He did not waste a single breath. Stepping forward, a suffocating, terrifying wave of dark magic erupted from him, coiling around Alisha’s neck like an invisible iron collar, crushing the breath out of her.
The Empress choked, her maniacal laughter instantly cutting off into a wet, desperate gasp as Matthias tightened his magical grip, lifting her completely off the ground. She was reduced to a pathetic creature, her legs thrashing violently in the empty air as she clawed at her neck in sheer panic.
In the distant past, the Emperor would have threatened Matthias with execution for daring to lay a hand on his wife. But this time, Lucius merely stared. His cold, fading eyes locked onto her choking form, any remnants of love he had once held for her evaporating into nothingness, replaced by a profound, absolute hatred.
A dark, mocking smile played on Matthias’s lips as he maintained the spell, keeping the Empress suspended on the brink of death.
"I won’t interfere with your fate this time," Matthias murmured, his deep voice cutting through Alisha’s strangled wheezing. "I believe the person who should decide your end this time... is the Emperor himself."
He turned his head slightly, his gaze dropping to the bed. "So, what is your verdict, Your Majesty?"
Matthias turned fully to face the ruler, but mid-motion, his dark eyes caught Olivia’s form. He froze.
Olivia was staring into space, her gaze utterly hollow, as if her mind had departed to another distant, unreachable realm. She wasn’t looking at him, nor at her dying father; she was trapped in the wreckage of her own trauma.
A sharp prickle of urgency struck Matthias’s chest. Every instinct in his body screamed at him to abandon everything, to stride through the debris, and gather her into his arms. But he forced his gaze away, planting his feet firmly. He had to deal with Alisha first. The trash had to be disposed of before he could tend to his wife.
Lucius did not order her execution. He didn’t even blink as Alisha’s face turned a dangerous shade of purple, her fingers still feebly clawing at the invisible magic wrapped around her throat.
A terrifyingly cold, calm aura enveloped the Emperor. He knew exactly how to make her pay—and a swift, bloodless death in the quiet of his chambers was far too merciful for a woman who had dragged his empire into the dirt. He wanted her to watch her own destruction, piece by piece.
"Keep her alive, Matthias," Lucius commanded, his voice a low, gravelly rasp that carried the absolute weight of an imperial decree.
Matthias did not argue. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he released the spell.
Alisha collapsed instantly onto the stone floor like a discarded doll, gasping violently for air as she clutched her bruised, trembling neck. Her torn silk gown pooled around her, her precious majesty entirely reduced to a pathetic display of survival.
Taking in the chaotic scene, Matthias wasted no time. He looked at the Emperor’s loyal aide. "The Empress is contained. Take her to the high-security tower. And take the Emperor to the royal physicians immediately—the poison is spreading, and his exertion today cost him the rest of his strength. Buy him some time until we find the antidote."
Lucius, bleeding slightly from the strain and coughing weakly, did not object. He allowed the knights to lift him onto a stretcher, his eyes casting one final, heavy look at his daughter before the guards brutally dragged the weeping, broken Alisha behind him.
The heavy doors slammed shut.
Slowly, Matthias turned. His heavy boots made no sound on the velvet carpet as he began to walk toward the bed, his dark, piercing eyes locked entirely on Olivia.
Olivia remained frozen, staring into the void. Her mind was trapped in a terrifying, hollow abyss, completely detached from reality. The enemy was gone, and the room was quiet, but her soul was still ensnared in the shock of seeing a ghost standing in the candlelight.
Matthias stopped right in front of her. His imposing shadow fell over her trembling frame. With a gentleness that contradicted his lethal aura, he knelt before her, extending his large, scarred hand to softly cup her pale cheek.
But the moment his fingers brushed her skin, the spell of her silence shattered into a million pieces.
Olivia flinched violently, throwing her body backward until she struck the wooden frame of the bedpost. Her breath came in rapid, panicked gasps, and a raw, frantic scream tore from her throat.
"Don’t touch me!" she shrieked, her eyes wide, wild, and trembling with a volatile mix of deep grief and sudden terror as she stared at his living, breathing form. "Don’t you dare touch me!"