“But if my guess is right, I don’t know what we’ll do…” My teeth chattered from my uncontrollable trembling. Five years ago, Noreen had managed to cause us a big trouble.
If she was really using my daughter as a bargaining chip now, I really didn’t know what I’d do.
Beryl was still so young. How could she stand the pain of being possessed?
Just then, I recalled Noreen’s grand plan to cultivate a combination of werewolf and black witch bloodlines…
I clenched my fists and made up my mind. Beryl could not be used as a guinea pig for Noreen’s sick plans.
Rufus sent the soldiers around a kilometer away to give us some privacy.
“Beryl’s strange behaviors can’t be a coincidence. I’m afraid we really need to consider the possibility that Noreen’s soul might be occupying Beryl’s body,” Rufus mused, his expression dark with worry.
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down and told him what Beryl had said to me after the bedtime story.
“Beryl’s an innocent free spirit. She’s outspoken and doesn’t know how to hide her true feelings. She never would’ve said something like that. She’s too young to know about philosophy and dark fairy tales. No matter how smart she is, she couldn’t have said something so profound on her own volition.”
The more I thought about it, the more desperate I felt. If Noreen really was in Beryl’s body, then would Beryl’s soul gradually weaken? And in the end, Beryl’s soul could completely vanish…
“Crystal, calm down and listen to me first.” Rufus hurriedly placed his hands on my shoulders and forced me to look him in the eye. “Fortunately, we were able to find out the problem. It’s not too late. Our top priority now should be to find a way to test Beryl and make the witch reveal herself. After all, we’re just guessing right now. We need to confirm it before we start to panic.”
“But how can we test her?” I looked at Rufus worriedly. My mind was an absolute mess, and I couldn’t think straight.
Rufus lowered his head and thought for a while. Then he looked at me and said, “For now, we can’t afford to alert the enemy. If we’re right and Noreen really is living in Beryl’s body, then I doubt Noreen would admit it. She’ll probably trick us into thinking otherwise. We need to find the perfect way to make Noreen give herself away. So we have to go back and pretend nothing happened in front of Beryl. We can’t arouse Noreen’s suspicion.”
I ran my fingers through my hair in distress. “Fine, but…”
Rufus reached out to smooth my knitted brows and comforted me gently, “Beryl’s my daughter, too. I swear I won’t let anything bad happen to her. And Crystal, I’m also hoping that no matter what happens next, you won’t leave me again. I’ll only be able to deal with the enemy if I know that you’re safe with me.”
I slowly nodded in a daze. Looking down, I reached out to hold his left index finger. “I know. I won’t act rashly. Don’t worry.”
Rufus finally smiled. “Come on. Let’s go back and check up on Beryl.”
“Okay.”
It was already one o’clock in the morning by the time we returned to Rufus’ palace.
As soon as we entered, Jennie, Beryl’s personal maid, rushed out, pale-faced.
I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. “What happened?”
“Beryl… She’s missing!” the maid answered in a trembling voice.
Rufus’s expression darkened. When he was about to lose his temper and scold Jennie, the head maid hurried forward and admitted, “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Jennie was sent to the kitchen earlier tonight, so she has no idea what happened. Beryl woke up an hour ago and wanted to see her brother, so your mother took her there.”
Crystal’s POV
Without a moment to lose, Rufus and I rushed to Laura’s palace.
Since Ethan’s death, Laura had been living alone in a smaller structure in a secluded corner of the garden.
Only a few lanterns were on, and there were no guards patrolling the palace. It looked oddly quiet from a distance.
I couldn’t shake off the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t imagine what kinds of horrible things Noreen would do to Arron.
If Laura wasn’t on her guard, Noreen could easily fool her.
I stopped in front of the door nervously and reached for the door handle, but Rufus quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind him protectively. “Let me do it.”
Then with a cold, dark expression, he decisively pushed the door open.
The faint sound of a child’s laughter came from the end of the corridor. It was undoubtedly Arron laughing.
There was a small garden at the end of the corridor. Arron liked to hide their whenever they played hide-and-seek.
Rufus and I exchanged glances and simultaneously sighed in relief.
Fortunately, Arron was okay.
But all of a sudden, we heard him scream. My heart skipped a beat. I rushed to the end of the corridor and yanked the curtains out of the way. A delicate garden came into view.
I looked around and found that Beryl was approaching Arron with a strange-looking bug in the palm of her hand.
“What are you doing?!”
I shrieked and rushed to my son. Without hesitation, I grabbed him and pulled him away from Beryl, checking to see if he was hurt.
Laura, who was drinking tea at a small round table nearby, stood up in surprise.
“Crystal, what’re you doing here?”
I had no time to explain. I turned to glare at Beryl vigilantly.
Beryl was still holding up the bug in her hand. She pursed her lips and stared at me with her big eyes, tears welling up in them. At the thought that there might be an evil soul living in this child’s body, any semblance of tenderness in me was destroyed, leaving only a mother’s instinct to protect her child.
“What kind of bug are you holding? What were you going to do to Arron?” I demanded.
Beryl trembled in fear. She held up the bug in her palm and burst into tears, crying, “It’s a cricket! I just wanted to play with my brother. That’s all! Mommy, why are you so mad at me?”
“Honey, you’re scaring her.” Giving me a warning look, Rufus stopped me from questioning Beryl further.
I held Arron tightly, while still eyeing Beryl warily.
Rufus scooped her up and patted her back to comfort her while she sobbed. My heart ached, but my mind kept telling me that this could all be an act created by Noreen. “Mommy, what’s wrong? Why’d you get so mad at Beryl?” Arron wrapped his arms around my neck and looked at me in confusion.
“Beryl was just playing. Besides, I’m not afraid of bugs. I wanted to make the crickets fight.”
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