Ensnaring his Dark Moon-Chapter 235: Under the sun

’’Jer is engaged in his duties when he is here and even at that, he is now in the Norwell Manor. I feel lonely in this huge castle,’’ Esme sighed sadly, a desolate expression on her face.

Rezeph frowned, ’’You can come to me. I will tell you more stories from now on.’’

The corner of her lips twitched, ’’I used to listen to your stories because I was sick. But I am not a child...’’ she mumbled, ’’I need someone to talk to.’’

’’The maids...’’

’’They don’t look at me in the eyes because you asked them to keep their gaze on my feet.’’

Rezeph’s eyes narrowed at the realization, ’’Leo...’’

’’He likes spending more time with the maids, being fed by them, and watching them dance,’’ Esme shook her head.

’’Frivolous beast,’’ Rezeph mumbled, disdain apparent in his usually adoring voice that he used for Leo.

Poor Leo’s chastity. Esme pursed her lips to stifle her laughter as she said, ’’I am determined to go back to the sea so that I can make new friends and learn more about that place.’’

Rezeph shook his head, looking like he was deep in thought. After a few moments, he spoke up, ’’How about we get Luciana here? She is your only friend. You would like her to be here more rather than getting to know a bunch of strangers.’’

’’But I wanted to make more friends...’’ Esme said, looking reluctant.

’’Luciana is the best friend you can bargain for. And she knows you well so it helps, doesn’t it?" Rezeph asked, seemingly testing the waters.

Esme looked at him deep in thought before she nodded, still looking reluctant.

’’I will ask her to move here,’’ Rezeph said in a breath, looking like he was afraid that she would change her mind.

Esme contained her smile till she was out of the man’s room.

If she asked for the favor then the sly man would have pestered her to call him father or do something just as bizarre.

So, she opted for this method.

Making more friends? Esme felt goosebumps at the thought. The thought of trusting strangers or getting to know more people made her skin crawl. She preferred to live in this castle instead, away from the rush of the mermaids who talked about vein things like gold, crystals, men, and everything that did not make sense.

As she stepped inside her room, she found Leo sleeping on the bed.

The emptiness of the walls greeted her.

And her previous thoughts started crumpling gradually.

She certainly preferred living in the castle but sometimes, the silence of the castle walls was suffocating.

Especially now.

Her gaze shifted to the dinner table that the maids had set for her with one chair.

Esme walked towards it and ran her finger on the white chair, looking towards the starry sky.

She did not know how long she stood there and kept gazing at the sky but as her eyes started watering... from the constant staring she was doing, she looked down and blinked.

Esme walked towards the empty canvas near the window and sat on the stool placed in front of it.

She picked up the paintbrush, deciding to paint the night sky but as the direction of her strokes started shifting, and before she realized it, she was painting tresses of dark hair, a set of pale blue eyes, a straight nose, lips that... 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Esme closed her eyes, leaning onto the edge of the canvas as she whispered, ’’Stop intruding on my thoughts, will you?" her voice was low and desperate.

...

Luciana moved into the castle by the King’s order and as surprised as Luciana was, Esme warned the woman to keep her mouth shut about their plans.

If the King knew that she duped him into believing that she was going to the sea, then unlike Jeremiah who got away with little punishment because he was the heir apparent, she would be beheaded.

As the days passed by, Luciana’s extravagant tea parties showed no signs of ceasing. There were days when the woman kept two tea parties in one day and she dragged her to the sea to introduce her to everyone.

There were times when Esme would find her friend teasing the handsome soldiers in the castle. While Luciana had always been like that, Esme knew that her exaggerated attempts to keep her mind engaged might or might not be related to a certain Prince who kept asking her for wine or tea back in the heaven.

But they barely talked about their time in heaven because both of them knew that they did not want to bring that time up. Hence, Esme did not know what had happened between them for Luciana to be like this.

For good or for bad, it was over, and thinking about it was not going to change anything.

Esme buried herself in the history books that Luciana got her from the sea library and the more she read about Defire Kingdom, the more intrigued she felt.

Initially, she was so hung up on her memories that she did not want to see what was in front of her. But now that she was beginning to accept her new life, things did not seem that bad.

The past few days, she noticed that the ringing voices in her head had ceased and she did not feel constant headaches like before. Although Esme was still unable to sleep at night, but she did not suffer from nightmares.

Sometimes, one certain man invaded her thoughts but she pushed his thoughts aside as soon as they came. Twenty days ago when they came back from heaven, she ended up staying awake all night to paint him but she put that painting behind curtains as soon as she realized how inappropriate it was.

Jeremiah had yet to come out of Norwell manor.

On this particular day, Luciana and Esme were floating on the surface of the sea. Their tails cut through the water gently as they twirled in the water under the sun.