Adrian stood over Asmodeus’s barely conscious body, the dagger sheathed now, its task complete. With Isabella’s healing magic flowing steadily, Asmodeus’s shallow breathing stabilized, keeping him tethered to life.
Adrian's expression remained focused as he activated his next move. He couldn't afford any loose ends.
“It's ti,” Adrian said under his breath, his eyes glowing with determination. He raised his hand, dark runes forming in the air as he channeled his mana. “Soul Slave Seal.”
The dark sigil coalesced into a single point before shooting directly into Asmodeus’s chest.
Asmodeus gasped, his body convulsing montarily, but there was no resisting the spell. His entire being bent to Adrian’s will, his soul bound.
The resistance and arrogance in Asmodeus’s eyes faded, replaced by the dull glow of absolute loyalty.
He was no longer a threat, but a loyal servant—another pawn in Adrian’s expanding network of control.
As the glow of the spell faded, Isabella finished her healing, and Asmodeus's breathing beca even and calm, though he remained unconscious for the ti being.
"Only one remains," Seraphina comnted from behind, her voice thoughtful. "Baron Mortir."
Adrian nodded, his thoughts already turning toward the final loose end. Baron Mortir had to be dealt with carefully, but Adrian knew exactly what he would do.
"Let's talk about it," Adrian said, motioning for Seraphina, Isabella, Eve and rest of his won.
As Adrian, Seraphina, and Isabella strategized, the conversation was interrupted by a low, gravelly voice.
Baron Mortir, sensing his impending fate, lifted his head weakly from his seat. His eyes, clouded with fear and desperation, glead with a sudden idea.
“If you plan to remove ,” Mortir began, his voice unsteady, “perhaps… there is another way.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed as he studied the defeated baron. Mortir's tone was pleading, but his expression held the flicker of hope—an attempt to save his own skin.
Mortir continued, "My third son, you can bla it all on him. He has been exiled by , so he can be perfect excuse for you. Please, don't just kill . This will be advantageous to you as well."
Seraphina arched a brow, her gaze filled with a mix of intrigue and disgust. Adrian remained silent, motioning for the baron to elaborate.
"The commotion you’ve caused here... it won’t go unnoticed but no one knows who is causing it. As long as you don't kill , we can totally control the information going out from here." Mortir said, his tone growing more urgent.
"You just need soone else to shift the responsibility and that's where my third son cos into play." Mortir began, his voice steady. "Say he was funded by my rival nobles. They promised him power—instigated him with to rebel against ."
He paused, gauging their reactions. "He hired rcenaries, attacked while we were in negotiation. That’s what caused all this chaos."
Mortir shifted slightly, continuing with more confidence. "I’ll act injured. Claim that the loyal guards from Count Vortigern’s side repelled the attack. We can even bla the thieving incident on him as well."
He leaned forward, his tone sharpening. "In the end, I’ll survive. Barely. But the rebellion will have been crushed as they could not defeat Count Vortigens' n."
Finally, he finished, his voice low. "The count will see it as nothing but a traitorous son rising up. A son who’s been put down. You will be away from this ss with no loss at all."
There was a pause. The room was thick with tension as everyone processed the idea.
Seraphina’s lip curled in disgust, and Isabella's eyes flared with a combination of contempt and loathing.
Adrian’s expression remained unreadable, though the twitch in his jaw betrayed his distaste.
Mortir, sensing their silent revulsion, grimaced. “I know what you’re thinking,” he muttered, his voice almost a whisper.
“But… this son of mine was no innocent. The reason I banished him was because of his… behavior.”
Eve, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up. “Behavior?” she asked, her voice shaking with anger. “What do you an?”
Mortir turned to Eve, his face pale, and sighed deeply.
“He was… uncontrollable. Worse than , far worse. He raped commoner girls in broad daylight, in front of their families. He’d laugh as he did it, while making the husbands and parents watch. Then he’d kill them, all of them—the whole family, while still violating the girl. I had to exile him. He caused too much trouble, even for . The outrage in my territory… I could barely control it.”
Seraphina nodded thoughtfully, her voice asured and calm. "It's a useful scapegoat, Adrian. By blaming him, we can divert attention away from the Everhart family entirely. It keeps us in the shadows, allowing us to consolidate our strength unnoticed."
She paused, her lips curling into a sly smile.
"And as for the Blackthorn family—this will undermine their attempt to manipulate us. Their scheming to force an alliance with us by completely tying us to them and making us against Count Vortigern? Useless. With no proof, they’ll be left grasping at straws. We can simply deny everything and let them know out family is not as easily manipulated by others."
Adrian crossed his arms, considering the plan. It was effective, though not without a moral cost. His eyes drifted to Eve, whose internal conflict was painfully visible on her face.
She had suffered because of Mortir, and now she was being asked to decide the fate of his life.
Adrian moved towards her and handed her the Soul-Slave Seal. He hugged her and after a long silence, Adrian spoke.
“Eve, the choice is yours. You can kill him if that’s what you want. If you don’t want to, we can enslave him permanently, make him a mindless servant. I will always support you no matter what Eve.”
Eve’s heart raced as the weight of the decision crushed her. The man who had ruined her life, who had left her mother to suffer, was now at her rcy.
Her instincts scread at her to kill him, to end his wretched existence, but a deeper part of her hesitated. The idea of taking his life, of wielding that much power, made her stomach turn.
Tears welled in her eyes, but she fought them back, breathing heavily as her mind battled her emotions. She had every reason to want him dead, but would it really change anything?
After what felt like an eternity, Eve took a deep breath and spoke, her voice trembling with anger. “You don’t deserve to live,” she said, her hands shaking as dark magic began to swirl around her fingers. “But I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of an easy death.”
She raised her hand, casting the Soul Slave Seal, the sa dark sigils that Adrian had used earlier. They shot out and wrapped around Mortir’s body like chains, binding him, enslaving his soul.
“I’m doing this for Adrian,” she spat, her voice thick with disgust. “You’re going to live, and you’re going to be a mindless slave. You’ll have no free will, no thoughts of your own. You’ll exist only to serve him.”
Mortir’s body convulsed as the spell took hold, his eyes going blank as his freewill and his hatred against Adrian was erased with nothing but loyalty filling replacing them.
He was nothing more than a puppet now, a hollow shell of the man who had once caused so much pain.
Eve stepped back, her chest heaving, tears streaming down her face as the weight of her decision crashed down on her.
The sight of Mortir, now addressing her as "Master," made her feel sick to her core. She had wanted this, but the reality of it left her feeling hollow and violated.
As Mortir knelt before her, completely enslaved, she felt no victory, no sense of justice. Instead, she felt repulsed by the creature that now obeyed her every word, his once-vile personality erased, but the mory of his deeds still fresh in her mind.
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