The door opened, and Evie walked in. She stood on Valencia’s right side, frozen with shock.

  “Are you okay, Miss Elyane?” Evie asked worriedly.

  Valencia gasped as she darted her gaze to Evie.

  “Am… I done?” she questioned.

  Evie slowly nodded.

  “Yes… the result came out. I tried calling your name, but you didn’t answer. So I stepped out to see if you’re alright,” Evie explained.

  Valencia hurried out of position and bowed to Evie.

  “I’m sorry, Madam Evie. I’m not feeling too well, so don’t mind me,” Valencia lied.

  Evie sighed in frustration.

  “I see… no wonder your result came out as F… you don’t have much energy to help an Esper…” Evie expressed disappointment.

  Valencia’s head perked. She looked at Evie.

  “I’m Rank-F?”

  “Yes… I’m sorry, Miss Elyane—”

  “Great! Do I need to come in tomorrow?” Valencia wondered.

  Evie paused, staring at her with confusion.

  “Hm, yes… just in case?”

  Valencia smiled and bowed once again.

  “Thank you!”

  Then she grabbed her bag and left the office immediately.

  Evie stood there, bewildered, holding her clipboard. An assistant walked in and watched Valencia.

  “She’s the one who graduated as an F-rank because she couldn’t control her aura or something. Wasn’t it, Madam Evie?” the assistant asked.

  “Yes… and she seems to enjoy being one,” Evie answered.

  Silence between them stretched as the assistant groaned, looking around. Then—

  “Madam…”

  Evie glanced at the assistant, who looked horrified.

  “Yes?”

  “The gem is broken… we might need to get a new one before Her Highness comes tomorrow.”

  Evie darted her gaze at the gemstone. She gulped.

  “How could that be? It was fine all day…” she paused. She remembered that Valencia reacted awkwardly. “Could she…? Impossible.”

  “Could it be?” the assistant whispered. She leaned closer to Evie’s ear. “One of the previous Guides was really an S-rank Guide?!”

  Evie shook her head, suspecting Valencia over all the others. However, she couldn’t understand why.

  While Evie pondered, Valencia hurried back to her place in the slums. She covered her head as she walked through the alley, hiding her face. Just as she stepped to a corner—

  “Hey, young lady… where are you coming from?” a man asked, stopping Valencia.

  She gasped sharply, covering her eyes. Her purple eyes that shaded under the moon.

  “I… please move out of my way—”

  “Why? Too pretty for me?” he smirked, grabbing her wrist.

  She yanked her hand back as he cackled. He reached for her hoodie, and she stepped back, glaring at him.

  “Leave me alone!” Valencia, with a distorted voice, demanded. She raised her hand—

  A purple void orb formed before him. His eyes widened in fear.

  The void swallowed the hand that dared to touch her. Blood splattered across her cloak.

  Cold. Darkness.

  “Ah!”

  Valencia snapped out of the delirious state and stopped the void.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  The man fell down, crying in agony.

  “You’re a monster!”

  Valencia hyperventilated as she ran away. She slammed the door behind her, breathing heavily. When the air was quiet behind the door, she rummaged through her bag, removing her gloves. Repeating the same process… releasing the void aura that lingered at the palm of her hands.

  As the cold steel pressed against her scar—

  A purple hand grabbed her wrist with the dagger.

  Valencia froze, staring at the hand. She hesitantly moved her gaze up to see the face of the hand—yet not a single face was revealed.

  Just purple shadow.

  “Who… are you?” Valencia stuttered.

  The shadow flicked her wrist, throwing the dagger away.

  “I can’t have my vessel lose blood every time you get anxious…” the voice said.

  Valencia whimpered, falling to the ground.

  “Leave me alone… please—”

  “Your agony… your despair…” it whispered. Then it cackled. “What a lovely taste.”

  Valencia covered her ears as the shadow continued to laugh.

  “No!” she yelled, crying. “Stop… please!”

  “At least, you are not as stupid as the previous vessel…” it muttered bitterly before it disappeared.

  Once Valencia could see the air of her breath cloud in front of her, she closed her eyes and covered her face. I hate this. I hate this so much. She sobbed until the feeling dulled, until numbness crept in. Then she stripped off her blood-stained clothes.

  She fused a void portal and tossed the clothes in, shredding them into nothingness.

  That should have gotten rid of any suspicion… yet the man who lost his arm that night wailed.

  He hurried to the knights’ office, leaving a trail of his blood.

  “Help! A monster appeared!” the man cried.

  The knights stood and ran to help him to a chair.

  “A monster? What does it look like?!”

  “A lady… she…” the man stammered. “Her eyes were purple. It glimmered like darkness. A dark ball came out of nowhere and stole my arm away!”

  The knights looked horrified, taking a step back. They turned their glance at each other.

  “A dark ball?”

  “Yes! Like magic! It came out of nowhere! Only a monster who traded with the devil could do something like that!”

  “Darkness?” a deep, manly voice from behind asked.

  The knights darted their heads behind them, bowing.

  “Commander!”

  “Say… a dark ball. What did it look like? Describe the colors… the feeling you got when your arm got sucked away,” he asked.

  The man whimpered as the commander’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

  “It-it… was cold… pure darkness,” the man gasped.

  The commander smiled and patted the man’s shoulder.

  “Where is this ‘lady’ that did this to you?”

  “I… in the slums! I met her in the slums, but she ran away! Check there, and you’ll find her! She has purple eyes!” the man yelled.

  The commander stood and nodded.

  “Thank you… Sir Frey and Sir Ochuna.”

  “Yes, Commander!” the knights, Frey and Ochuna, replied together.

  “Send words to the Royal Palace as soon as possible,” the commander ordered.

  The man gasped.

  “What? You won’t go find—”

  The commander slit the man’s throat. His body fell lifelessly. The knights flinched and looked at the commander. He turned and looked at them coldly.

  “Tell His Highness, the Crown Prince… that there is a Void Esper who never registered herself.”

  The knights hesitated before they nodded firmly. They carried the dead man’s body out and headed to the Royal Palace. Frey walked into the Eastern Palace, his jaw tightening in fear.

  Moans echoed in the hallway and got louder with each step at a time.

  Frey got closer to the door for the owner of the Eastern Palace.

  “It feels so good, Your Highness!” a lady’s voice cried.

  A man’s voice grunted as loud thrusts vibrated with the sound of the bed moving.

  SLAP.

  “Tell me… that I’m a better choice than Kael!” the man, the Crown Prince, demanded with a smile on his face.

  The lady rested her head down and gazed at him from behind. She reached out her hand with an alluring smile.

  “Deeper…” she begged.

  The Crown Prince leaned forward, grabbing her hair instead. Then he roughly thrust repeatedly until her walls tightened. He smirked as she gasped excitedly. She clutched the blanket tightly, releasing a splash of her orgasm between her thighs, yet the Crown Prince released it on her back.

  The lady’s eyes widened as she turned around and looked at him.

  “You didn’t release it inside?”

  The Crown Prince grinned as he grabbed her cheeks and pulled her forward.

  “I don’t need a slut who opens her legs to any man as my mistress…” the Crown Prince said coldly. Then he shoved her away, grabbing his robe as he walked to his chair.

  KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

  “Your Highness… Sir Frey from the Order Nineteenth is here to report something…” a knight that guarded the door said.

  The Crown Prince chipped a cigar and lit it. He inhaled some before exhaling.

  “Let him in.”

  The door opened. Frey walked in as he glanced at the lady by the bed, sobbing. He hesitantly headed to the Crown Prince.

  “Greetings to the Little Sun of the Empire—”

  “The Little Sun of the Empire isn’t me… I don’t control lights as that Young Duke Kael does,” he interrupted, startling Frey.

  Frey nodded as the lady left the room with the help of the Crown Prince’s knights.

  “My apologies, Your Highness… I’ve come with the order of my Commander.”

  “Very well… What did Commander Leon find?”

  Frey firmly stared at the Crown Prince.

  “A Void Esper has appeared.”

  The Crown Prince paused. He locked eyes with Frey, checking for confirmation. Then his lips curved into a big smile. He cackled.

  “Finally… the long lost darkness…” he commented.

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