Her whole body suddenly fell into a bucket of cold water as she became frozen.Her long eyelashes trembled at the sudden anxiety arousing from her mind as she looked through his deep emerald eyes blankly.After some unknown moments, she parted her lips to say something but something had cut off her words.

She wanted to deny instantly that she wasn't in love with a monster like him but his words still made sense. The moment she saw his numb, lifeless body, her soul almost left her body as if even breathing was torturous for her. She still felt horrified on the fact that what would have happened if he left her suddenly.

Does he really mean to her so much?

Aaron was patience towards her thus he kept waiting for her answer wrapping his arms around her body like an octopus. As she finally thought of reply, a sudden interruption caused them to jolt instantly.

A maid had knocked the door waiting for her entrance,

" Lord, Queen Mother has summoned you in her room."

Esme quickly separated herself from his cage and sat apart. Aaron hummed coldly throwing a death glare towards the door.

It seems like I don't have any personal space in the castle at all !

Esme urged with her flashed face looking down,

" You should go now. I'm calling Jasper to summon the healer now."

Aaron's face turned anxious as he replied disapprovingly,

" No. I'm okay. No need to call the healer anymore. You have already healed half of my sickness, trust me."

Esme glared at his mischievous smirk before replying with authority,

" The healer will come and check through your whole body. I don't want to hear any argument over it. "

Aaron became dumbfounded at her command. His wife was becoming more and more domineering day by day which was giving him quite tension and happiness both.

But judging at her determined face, he couldn't find a way to refuse and reluctantly agreed after giving some thoughts.

Immediately the girl gave him a sweet smile before leaving the room and went downstairs to search for Jasper.

On the contrary, Athena was in dilemma as she lost her words and stood still hanging down her head in daze. Jasper felt quite pressured at her tensed up figure thus asked approaching near her a little,

" Pri.. Princess are you all right? Are you feeling unwell for not drinking blood?"

Athena shook her head denying and hardly managed to speak,

" I.. I'm fine, Jasper. I should go back to my room."

After saying her words, she almost ran away from there like a frightened bird as Jasper stared at her retreating back confused.

RIVERGREEN VALLEY,

After they returned inside the cave, Anna made excuses and suggested Ayra to play outside until they finished their conversation.

She watched the tiny girl running away with her dull face holding her toys and shifted her attention to Ethan in front of her.

His cold face had an aura of anger and anxiety as he kept staring away from her gaze.She furrowed her eyebrows tightly together as confusion aroused through her mind.

She asked cautiously,

" Brother Ethan, Is.. is something happened?"

Ethan briskly returned to his sense as he replied turning his face,

" Can you take care of Ayra for the time being without the presence of Esme?"

Anna was left with surprised as she replied nervously,

" I can. I obviously can but you know Ayra. She is a sensitive child since her birth. Without seeing her mother, I'm afraid that I won't be able to handle her well. In this past few days, she daily asked about Princess Esme and cried a lot. I.. I'm afraid that she won't listen to me for so long. "

She sighed before continuing with concernd,

" Brother Ethan, you look dull. Where's princess? Did something happen? Please don't hide it from me. "

Ethan's face tightened as he spit out angrily,

" Yes. Some vampires has kidnapped Esme and taken her to their world forcefully. You have to take care of Ayra until I take her back. "

Anna's face fell as she replied anxiously,

" What are you saying? Why would they capture the princess? Did they find out her real identity? "

Ethan replied uncertainly,

" I.. I don't know, Anna. "

Anna became impatient as she waggled,

" This is bad, brother Ethan. Princess might be in great danger. Don't forget that our body's parts are the biggest weapon for them to achieve more powers. I'm afraid that they have some other intentions for kidnapping her."

Anna was a highly educated fairy who used to read all their ancient books and had knowledge about their variety of powers.She was later appointed to take care of Esme and became her loyal servant. But Esme never treated her like a maid and taken her as a sister. Thus she had close friendship with the royal siblings except Ester.

Ethan seemed stiff as he replied holding back his fear,

" But.. her.. her powers are seized.. how will they use her or know her identity? "

Anna explained walking away near a broken table,

" That doesn't less the fear, brother. Her powers are seized inside her own body not anywhere else. It can be awaken anytime because there are plenty of ways to awake her immense powers as she has the blood of your father who once defeated the high goddess.You all are exceptional than us, brother."

Ethan hold his breath into his stomach before plopping down blank into the bed and murmured,

" You.. you know more than me, Anna. You are speaking the truth, perhaps. "

His gaze dimmed as he replied with determination,

" I won't let any harm come upon her, Anna. I will bring her back at any cost or else the vampires have to fight against me."

Anna turned around and denied walked near him,

" Don't make reckless decisions, brother. You can never win against the vampires alone. Moreover you have denied to ascend the throne. How do you expect to save her alone? Do you expect that they will let you step into their world randomly?"

Ethan stood up abruptly before groaning,

" I don't care what I have to do. All I know is that I want my sister safe and sound in front of me, Anna. "

Anna understood his emotions and kept quite. This two siblings shared the most beautiful bond that she had ever seen in her entire life after being staying by their side for so long. Practically Ethan doted his sister the most even more than their mother. When she was young, he never let any man come nearer her and always shielded her from any danger. On the contrary, Esme also loved his second brother the most among all the siblings.

Anna sighed inwardly before shifting her gaze from the stone wall,

" Take the throne, brother."

Ethan was astounded,

" What??"

Anna nodded before looking at his face blankly,

" Take the throne and be the king of the DALASTIA WORLD. Then you can claim to return princess Esme to the vampire king. Only then they will be afraid to step back. "

Ethan's mind went blank as his expression alternated between pain and anger.

VAMPIRE WORLD,

After coming downstairs,Esme found Jasper on the hallway and instructed him to call the healer here. As soon as, Jasper heard about Aaron's sickness acting up, his expression turned sour and terrified.

Though Esme was suspicious on his anxiety filled face, she didn't bother to ask him anything.Once the healer would come, she would definitely ask him about his sudden sickness.

Thus she came back to her bedroom while seeing Jasper going out of the castle hastily.

On the other side, Athena was pacing back and forth anxiously inside her own bedroom. This was the common sign of her anxieties that she had obtained from her birth.

She still couldn't believe her own ears that Esme was the sister of Ethan who seemed to be called Serena too.

But why didn't Ethan mention the name Esme to her?

As the millions thoughts were coursing through her mind, she finally came upon with a plan. She should be sure before informing Ethan.

Thus she made her way towards Esme's room intending of asking her first.

After reaching near her room, she took a long sigh to stable her mind and touched the door lock to be opened.

Just then, a pair of cold hands hold her wrists as she startled turning her head.

She said annoyingly,

" Mother.. you.."

Queen Mother didn't give her any chance to talk and directly pulled her out from there dragging towards her own room.

Athena struggled hard trying to be escaped,

" Mother.. Mother.. what are you doing? You are hurting me.. Leave my hands. "

Despite being her continuous protest, she still dragged her inside the room before throwing it on the floor.

Athena gasped loudly falling down on the ground and rubbed her knees frowning hard.

As the door closed with a thud, Athena turned around and found her mother looking at her face furiously.

Just before she wanted to curse out loudly, next moment she left with stunned when she heard her say groaning,

" How dare you disobey my order, Athena?"