Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

Chapter 33: A Peek Into Myrine’s Past

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Without training to keep her son busy yesterday, Lady Myrine was ready to invite Evian to spend the day with her. She quite enjoyed their talks. He was always so inquisitive about the world and not as nonchalant as he used to be before he... Died.

Imagine her surprise, and annoyance, when she was told Evian was no longer in the Estate. That he had left with Daria.

The Witch hadn't even had the courtesy to inform her that she was around and stealing her son away.

'The absolute galls!'

And then Myrine waited.

Waited for Daria to return with her son so she could give her a piece of her mind.

Night came and Daria's return was not reported.

Myrine started to worry. Only quelling her stress with the knowledge that Daria would never dare harm her son and also determined to hold the Witch accountable should he not return in one piece.

And then, when the moon was very high in the sky, she heard of Evian's return and even confirmed with the Guards at his door. She was ready to charge over and question Evian about his recent whereabouts but reason won out and she decided to wait till morning. Let him have his rest.

This morning, when she saw Evian fully dressed, she realized how close she had been to missing him again and it annoyed her again. That annoyance was showing despite how much she was trying to hide it.

Evian didn't protest to Tea time.

Sure, he had an agenda for the day but he could put it aside to ease the annoyance he could feel coming off his Mother.

Their destination was Myrine's favorite spot in the Estate; A Hut built in the middle of a lake and perfectly open to the cool breeze and sweet smell of nature.

A maid came over almost as soon as they arrived and placed a tea tray on the small table inside the Hut before Myrine and Evian took their seats opposite each other.

Evian took a sip of tea.

It was not his first time having tea with Myrine so he knew what he was expecting; A mild sweetness and a massive influx of a relaxing feeling.

Evian equated the feeling to what he sometimes got from getting high back on earth except in this world, his strong metabolism made sure his cognizance was not clouded.

"It's good," he said with a smile as he put the cup down, "As usual."

Myrine nodded in agreement and then eyed Evian's finger on the cup.

"Is that a Spatial Ring?" she asked. Noticing it for the first time.

"Huh? Oh yes," Evian said as he rubbed against the item he had robbed off Koln's corpse.

"Since when have you had it?" Myrine asked.

"Since Yesterday," Evian lied.

"From where?" Myrine asked.

"From my trip outside the Estate," Evian answered simply.

Myrine narrowed her brown eyes at him but she didn't ask any more questions and just took a sip of her tea.

"So- where were you headed?" she asked once she set her cup down.

"Hmm?" Evian said as he first tried a play at acting dumb.

Myrine noticed so she just repeated her question.

"Where were you headed? You know, before I got to your room earlier?"

"Sightseeing. Verdelen City is so beautiful and I wanted to take it in."

Myrine narrowed her eyes at him.

"You were going to see Daria again, weren't you?"

Evian shrugged.

"Not really-" he started to say but was quickly interrupted.

"What DID you two do yesterday?"

"Hmm?"

"What was so important she had to take you out of the Estate and you only got back at night?" Myrine pressed.

Evian's lips twitched at the intensity of her questioning.

"Something related to the Exorcism, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Yeah, I guess. I'm not well-versed in the Arcane arts after all." Evian said.

Myrine's brows furrowed even more than they already had.

"You don't have to be well versed in the Arcane Arts to know if something was Exorcised out of you or not."

"Oh, something definitely came out of me," Evian said with a suggestive smile.

Myrine's brows relaxed.

"Really?"

Evian nodded.

"Absolutely."

Myrine relaxed even more. She wasn't sure why she was detecting some sort of innuendo to her son's words but she considered the matter settled.

"Okay. Just be careful, dear."

"I will, Mother. I always am."

Myrine nodded with satisfaction.

"Good. And take some guards with you next time."

'I won't.' Evian decided secretly.

'If the handsome bastard who used to own this body had Guards following his every move, I doubt he'd have been able to do all the stupid things he did and he definitely wouldn't have been able to hide it from his family.

I'll at least hope to have the freedom to do MY own stupid things.'

Myrine noticed the faraway look in Evian's eyes.

"You want to leave, don't you?"

Lost in thought, Evian only caught the end of Myrine's words so he let out a confused sound.

"Huh?"

Myrine chuckled.

"It's always been like this."

"Always been like what?"

"You not wanting to spend time with me," Myrine said with a sad smile, "It's always been like this."

"Oh," Evian said.

'Not sure how to respond to that.'

Myrine put out her hands in placation with a few chuckles.

"I mean, it's fine. It's supposed to happen. It happened with Adrian. Even faster in fact because he was very eager to become a Knight.

But you- Because of your curse... We spent a lot of time together."

Evian said nothing. He had nothing to say and just took another sip of the narcotic tea.

"But eventually, you started pulling away. Taking trips out of the Estate always on your own," Myrine said with a faraway look in her eyes.

"You didn't like that," Evian said quietly.

Myrine shook her head.

"I was always worried. You were a frail thing and you never told me where you were going or who you were with."

'Well, I know who he was with. The bastard was pissing off a Local Lord.' Evian thought but did not say it out loud.

Myrine sighed.

"As far as I knew, you had no friends, no acquaintances, no cause. The Guards always spoke of you leaving them to walk off on your own and only returning many hours later.

At first, I feared you might be contemplating the worst."

Evian's eyes widened at Myrine's tone.

'Suicide? Well, he confessed to a crime on a recording so he truly could have been suicidal.' he thought.

"So what did you do?" Was what he actually said out loud.

Myrine shrugged.

"I tried stopping you. You protested and I gave in."

"Just like that?"

"You were in your final days. You had the right to decide how you wanted to spend it.

Besides,

Every time you came back from one of your trips, you just glowed with a sense of accomplishment. Whatever you were doing, it made you happy. I liked that"

'Ah, of course. The sense of accomplishment that comes with aiding a rebellion and robbing a Local Lord' Evian thought with a smile.

Myrine continued.

"You have no memory of any of that but you are already pulling away," she said with a smile and her eyes on Evian's face. A face whose features, perfect as they were, he took from her.

"You like me more than Adrian, don't you?" Evian asked her suddenly with a smirk.

Myrine shook her head with a smile.

"A good Mother doesn't show favoritism"

Evian chuckled.

"That's a Yes," he said.

Myrine opened her mouth to retort and then she shut it before shaking her head again.

"Adrian was strong. Excelling as a Knight and getting hailed as the rightful heir to the Estate.

You, however, needed my help. You needed more of my attention. I wish he understood that more"

"So you notice his jealousy too," Evian said with another sip of tea.

Myrine sighed.

"He'll get over it. Eventually."

'I doubt' Evian said in his mind as Myrine continued,

"But you're now strong too. Skipping over Orders, killing intruders. You might be getting Examined too." she said with a smile.

"Examined for what?" Evian asked.

"For the Martial Temple," Myrine said.

"Oh," Evian said remembering the topic. He heard it two nights before and talked about it with Daria the day before.

Myrine nodded.

"Your father is already considering having you join the temple too."

Evian raised a brow.

"And you're okay with that?"

Myrine smiled widely.

"I'm not THAT overprotective. I was a member of the Martial Temple myself."

"Really?"

"Of course. My Brother and I were taken off the streets of the Capital and raised by Knights of the Temple."

"You have a brother?" Evian asked with a very raised brow, "Why is this the first I'm hearing of him?"