The Duke's Passion

"Get ou -- "

Samael momentarily paused and winced when he tried to move. He gazed at the multiple stab wounds on my body where Lilou injured him, specifically on important vital points.

"Goodness! I want to get out of here quietly! Why does he have to raise his voice?" she complained in irritation as her eyes fell on Yulis, sitting down on the wall he crashed into outside their room. "How annoying!"

Yulis raised his head, shocked at what happened. The impact hurt him slightly, but the shock of who did it was what paralyzed him. Just like Samael, the pain was bearable, but his mind went blank when she stabbed him without hesitation.

Lilou ran her fingers through her tousled hazel hair and let out a sharp exhale. She cast Samael a look and then Yulis, clicking her tongue, not knowing what to do with them.

"Nevermind," she muttered and stomped her way out without looking back at her husband. Lilou glanced at Yulis emotionlessly and just passed by him. 

Although there was a strong urge inside her to silence them, she didn't. The dominant part of her to let them go reigned, so she did.

"I don't even know them," she murmured while waltzing through the hallway of the third prince's quarters. "A family, huh? What a joke!"

As she walked away without a particular destination in mind, Samael's face and the sincerity in his eyes flashed across her mind. Her steps grew slower as her heart clenched for reasons she couldn't understand. He looked like he had loved her sincerely, but she couldn't remember him.

Lilou just went in with the flow so he wouldn't find out that she didn't know a thing. But there was this faint connection with Samael that made her rethink the strong urges within her. 

"What is his name again?" she wondered before finding herself in the open space of the third prince's palace. She looked around and took a deep breath while closing her eyes.

'Never mind,' she thought and slowly opened her eyes.

A glint flickered across her drooping eyes as the side of her lips curled up into a smirk. She couldn't recognize the place or the people in it, but something in her just wanted it to burn down under her feet. 

"All I need to do is bring this place to ruin, correct?" she inquired, and the loud and vicious voices in her head were all she could hear once again. 

********

Samael only snapped out of his trance when Rufus arrived and shook his shoulder. He blinked, setting his shaking eyes to Rufus, who was looking back at him, wide-eyed.

"Your Grace, what happened here?" asked Rufus in panic, gazing down at the blood covering Samael's clothes. "How... who did this?"

Rufus' initial assumption was an enemy appeared and caught them off guard. Seeing that Lilou was missing and Yulis outside was in greater shock as Samael, his heart raced nervously. For Samael to be in such a state, he could only expect how powerful the enemy could be.

"Lilou... we have to find her," Samael whispered in distraught. "Rufus, send everyone to look for her."

"My lord..." Rufus called in worry, as he had never seen the duke in such a pitiful state. 

Meanwhile, Ramin squatted down beside Yulis with his palm on the ninth prince's shoulder. He scrutinized him for a brief time, furrowing his brows as it seemed Yulis was truly shaken.

"Ninth prince," he called, shaking Yulis's shoulder until the latter returned to the current lapse. When Yulis turned his head to Ramin, he inquired.

"Who did this to you?" Ramin's eyes gazed down at him and then back to his eyes. "And who took the duchess?"

Yulis's lower lips trembled as they parted, but no words came out. This slightly frustrated Ramin but also alarmed him. Yulis wasn't weak, especially Samael. For them to be this shaken, he could only assume another destructive opponent had appeared during the most crucial time for them.

Ramin ground his teeth as he squeezed Yulis's shoulder, eyes glinting menacingly. "Who took the duchess?"

"No... no one," came out a whisper, making Ramin's brows furrow. "Lilou... is different."

If Yulis had barged into the room sooner and had a conversation with Lilou, he would have immediately detected what was wrong. He knew his kin very well, after all. Just like how Lilou found out about the impostor who pretended to be Yulis a month ago. Yulis wouldn't pretend like there was nothing wrong like Samael, but everything had already taken place.

"Lilou?" Ramin repeated in a questioning tone. "Her Grace is the one who did this?"

Yulis pressed his lips together before raising his head when Rufus came out of the room. Samael followed, but he didn't stop as he continued to storm away without casting them a look. 

"It must be true," Ramin whispered as soon as he caught the expression on Rufus's and Samael. "This doesn't look good."

******

Rufus gave out an order to search for Lilou, not just in the palace, but also in the capital. The kingdom was still unstable, with people protesting and living in fear without a ruler protecting them. So the knights led by Klaus and Silvia, who were tasked with searching the capital, had to be discreet.

Only after Rufus searched in the palace did he realize Lilou didn't go out of the place. Why? Because of the piles of bodies lying in the hallway.

He checked one knight to verify if he was dead. Fortunately, he was alive, albeit injured. He checked the others; some were knocked unconscious, while others were about to bleed to death. It was as though Lilou planned to kill them, but changed her mind midway.

"This is really troublesome," he whispered, gazing at the knights while deciding whether to help them first or stop Lilou's madness.

In the end, Rufus couldn't turn back to these people as they had been losing too many of them. At this rate, this empire would have no knights if everyone just died during their guarding duties.

******

Yulis, along with the third squadron, was tasked to search Lilou in the palace. Alas, the only traces she left were the bodies in the hallway. Just like Rufus, they faced the same crisis and made the same decision, just like their captain. Only Yulis didn't help and entrusted this to Ramin and Kristina.

He couldn't care less about other people when he knew Lilou was being "controlled." He wasn't sure about this, but that was what he thought as he remembered how Lilou chased him away because she knew she would hurt him against her will. 

"Lilou..." Yulis whispered before finding himself standing in front of the throne room. He didn't know why his feet led him to this place, but his gut feeling told him she would be inside. 

Planting his palm on the door, he took a deep breath and opened it. As soon as his eyes caught sight of the throne hall, he saw three figures inside.

Lilou, Samael, and Heliot. 

"What the hell is going on here?" he murmured, trying to grasp the situation the three of them were in.. But before he could process everything, he heard a loud command, and he dropped to his knees against his will.