What was going on? Why does it look like that guy knows the kid, is he mad? Derek thought. If this guy knew that kid, then that changed everything and he could easily get in trouble. But he didn't remember that kid, even when she revealed her face. Did he know her and forget somehow? No, that was not possible. How could he forget someone as important as that person? He stared at that unfamiliar or familiar face, but nothing came to mind.
After some time, she looked his way, and he looked again at the kneeling worker. He looked defeated, and that was when it hit him and his eyes widened.
"Don't tell me she was that same person, that's not her, right?"
She smiled at him. "What's the matter? Is something the matter?" She asked him.
"I- no, it's nothing, I was just thinking of something, that's why. Do you... need something?"
"Oh never mind, I think I know who to find next." She said and turned back to the kneeling one. "Where's he? Point him out."
He got up without a word, looking dead as he turned around, scanned the other workers, and pointed at one man. "Bring him here," she commanded some guards and he was brought before her.
"No, you can't do this to me! I did nothing wrong, I'm just a worker here. Let me go, I'm not a criminal, please!" He struggled in vain, and when he looked at his fellow worker, he was only met with disappointment as his friend shook his head at him.
"Don't waste your breath, no way you're getting out of this. She knows everything, we were set up so you could just stop this futile struggle," he said without any emotion and turned back to the girl and kneeled.
"Where're my six hundred gold coins?" She asked them both.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he defended once more.
"Pour it from your bracelet before you're forced to. I'll give you five seconds to act before you're forced to," she told him.
He hesitated and in exactly five seconds two guards restrained him and pointed out his arm. He struggled and in the process, had some punches drop into his body before he was forced to empty the contents of his bracelet. The first things to come out were gold coins which continued to pour out. A number of people remembered a similar scene occurring earlier that day and started to wonder if that scene had anything to do with what was happening.
The soldiers were counting, and the moment it reached six hundred coins, they stopped and restrained him once more with his hands held behind his back. He refused to raise his head.
"Now one more thing, where is the card?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied.
"That was a quick answer."
"No."
"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm referring to, you'll only look worse. Search him for anything that may seem to belong to me." They did so, and after a while of searching, they found a translucent card which they gave to Ara. This card worked like a bank card and could be used to store money. A translucent color meant the amount of money in it was at least five million gold coins. To have such a card, one could become insanely rich instantly. This could care for several families for several years. What was worse was that that specific card had the insignia of the royal family engraved in it, and this young man had stolen it.
"You know the punishment for theft, right? You will have your fingers chopped off, but what you did was worse. You deceived someone from the royal family and extorted money, then stole a personal money card belonging only to the royal family. That's equivalent to stealing from the royal treasury. The punishment for that, you know is... take him away."
He screamed and clawed at the soldiers but they just knocked him out and dragged him away.
"Now, you," she turned to Derek. "You knew very well that I was searching for you, but you lied to me and pretended to be helping me. That is the same as the deception your worker was punished for." She opened her palm and a sheet appeared, she then proceeded to read it.
"Derek, you have been constantly accused of crimes, but you are able to evade so easily. A man four months ago accused you of cheating him when he brought his item to your auction house, yet you denied it. Three days after that he was found dead. There was no proof against you, so you went free. In that same month, seventeen people who came to your auction house with products died after they left your place. The strange thing was that the money they earned at that time was nowhere to be found. We have a witness who claims you had that money taken for yourself."
One of the kneeling workers, a woman, was brought forward. Derek seethed but could do nothing but watch in shock as his deeds in the dark were listed out.
"You surprisingly ended up having a lot of Aleus in your auction house, the core of certain cultivators you killed, to be more precise. Apart from that..." She continued to list his crimes and the people all around were in shock as they heard many of the heinous deeds mentioned. Others knew of some of his atrocities, but this was all too much for them to even accept. What did he hope to achieve in doing all that? Wealth? This man was rich, so what kind of greed was that? That disgusted people.
She listed them out, and in the end, had him dragged away, but as he was taken away, someone threw his trash at him. He didn't have any time to recover before another joined in and soon enough the people were raining him with rubbish. She gave a few more instructions then went back into the carriage. Some soldiers went and collected the money left on the ground and divided it equally, giving some to every one of the workers that were made to kneel down then left. They made a formation around the carriage and left the place.
"That was boring, really boring," Lia said the moment Ara entered the carriage.
"Like I care for your opinion," Ara waved her off.
"And would you stop using those illusions on my clothes anyhow you like? I didn't wear anything close to the royal family on purpose, so why did you do that?"
"You're no fun. I just wanted you to look nice, you never thank me when I help you."
"You have a different understanding of the term help and that doesn't help at all. You just like to do things you feel like and call that help, very helpful."
"Are you teasing me?"
"I'm not, besides the sun's setting."
"So?"
"The deal was I would keep up with all your garbage till the sun sets. The moment the sun set, the deal was over and I could do what I wanted. What was Mozrael doing before you left?"
Lia thought for some time.
"She…I don't know, didn't check on her before coming, why ask?"
"Because I thought I told you not to leave her by herself. She'll get lonely and I hate that."
Lia looked sad.
"I don't get it. You like to care for her, but when it comes to me, you don't treat me nicely, why? I just want us to have some fun but you want to push me away and only care for Mozrael, I don't like that. Why can't you treat us the same?"
"You two are not the same, so how can I treat you the same?"
"No fair."
"Sunsets are beautiful but I don't like the fact that the whole place becomes dark right after that. It's not fair that we enjoy something like that only for such a short while. If I could, I would capture the sunset forever," young Aramith said to his two sisters as they sat by the window, watching the sunset.
"How are you going to catch the sunset, it's impossible," Lia pointed out "What you say doesn't change anything, I will still do it you wait and see. Mozrael, do you think I can do it?" Mozrael looked at his smile and found herself smiling as well.
"Mm, I think you can do it." "He can't do it," Lia argued again, but Aramith laughed "this one is democracy. If Mozrael said I can do it, and I believe in myself then I don't need to listen to you. Just wait and see, I'll capture the most beautiful sunset you've ever seen."
"It won't wo-"
"Miss Mozrael?" A voice interrupted her imagination and brought her back to her senses. She stood in her room by the window, watching as the sun set in the distance.
"You…need to have your checkup, so if you could lie down?" The maid said and placed an empty bowl on the table beside the bed and stood aside. Mozrael watched till the sun was completely out of sight before she went to lay on the bed. Several orbs in the room lit up, purging the darkness and she stared at one above her on the ceiling. The door opened and Aiden entered. He went beside Mozrael's bed and looked right into her eyes.
"You're already prepared for it today, I see." He said but waited for no reply as he took out some herbs and potions, placing them on the table one after the other she still stared at the ceiling. When he was done, he reached out and held her hair, pushing it aside, so that he could see the side of her head and neck more easily.
She shivered and gripped the bed so as not to move as he touched her neck with his fingers to check her pulse. After checking that, he lifted her arm but frowned. "I told you not to let her wear anything long-sleeved, so what is the meaning of this?" he scolded the maid. She frowned back at him
"She wanted to wear it, so I allowed it. You know how much she hates for others to see her skin, especially when"
"Just forget it"
He raised her arm and pulled the sleeve up to her shoulder. The nurse gasped and Aiden frowned, "Why were you hiding it, this is worse than last time?"
Her arm, from her elbow going up, had scales all over it growing from it. They were small, but you could see from her expression just how painful it was. "When did it start?" Aiden asked, but Mozrael turned her face to the side and refused to speak. "It would help if you spoke. I can't help you well enough if I don't know that." She was still quiet for some time before finally speaking. "At-at dawn…it started at dawn," she said
"Why did you hide it? You were supposed to tell me when it happened like that. The more it happened, the worse it will get, do you not remember that?"
"I-couldn't tell you. He would know and be afraid to get close to me" she said softly but Aiden heard it all.
"You didn't want Aramith to know? Do you think he would hate you for that? I don't think so, he's better than that. If I were him, I would be offended if I finally learned that someone close to me was suffering all this time but never told me."
Aiden took a tiny needle and drew a drop of blood into a bowl. He wrapped her finger and then proceeded to focus on the drop of blood. He added some substances and the blood turned light blue with a faint sparkle of green in it. He then kept that bowl aside and started to mix the herbs he'd brought in various proportions. Once in a while, he'll take a look at the changed blood, then continue mixing the herbs. When he'd finished, what he had was the same color as the changed blood.
"Drink this," he said and got up to give it to Mozrael, but the maid tapped him on the shoulder and shook her head at him. Aiden looked at Mozrael's side profile carefully and noticed the tears that were silently coming out of her eyes. He gave the medicine to the maid and left the room.
"He's gone now, there's nothing to be afraid of," the maid said, but Mozrael didn't move. She still lay on her back with her head facing the side and her hands gripping the bed tightly. The maid rose up and put the medicine down, then held Mozrael's head and helped her sit up. She then went on to try taking off her clothes.
"Lock the door first," she said and stubbornly held her dress. The maid went to lock the door and then came back to take off her clothes.
"This is worse than I thought, but not as bad," she said but the way her eyes shook with fear said otherwise. There were scales from her elbow up to her shoulder and a few on her collar blades which spread further to pass on her chest where her sternum should be located, right between her now growing breasts.
The maid looked behind her and found that things were worse. Her entire back was covered in scales, but they reduced into a single streak as they reached her lower back, stopping just before they reached the curve of her buttocks. She then raised Mozrael's hair and noticed some had grown up her neck.
"Lay down," the maid instructed then helped Mozrael drink the medicine.