_CRIMOND HILL_

After an exhausted day settling the affairs with ministers, Ethan was tiresome all over but didn't get any chance of resting. As his full focus was on searching the den of LG, he had to leave his all trival matters immediately. When there was only two days left before the coronation ceremony, he wanted to ensure of Ayra's safety once again and flew for their current resident Crimond World.

When his flying figure reached at the midway above in the air, his usual excited eyes before meeting his baby niece instantly faded away. The entire space was surrounded by a magical barrier and he could feel the superior powers behind it. His brows tightened together in tension and quickly landed down.

Stepping an inch away from the barrier, his expression darkened further once he noticed that the magical barrier spell was performed by a powerful fairy. Except Esme,no one's thought came across his mind as his face darkened further.

What caused her to cast this spell? Is something happened when he didn't visit this days?

His worries grew stronger as he hesitated to pass the border what if he mistook. Taking a long breath of encouragement, he finally walked through the floating magical barrier and as expected it didn't bring any harm on his sliding body. Thus he was confirmed that Esme was the one who casted this protective barrier.

Taking large strides towards the doorway, he couldn't wait to hear out the entire incident during his absence and knocked on the door impatiently.

Inside the house, Anna was telling Ayra her bedtime story as the little devil didn't wish to fall asleep so fast. A few metres away from their sleeping bed, Ron was reading his medicine books over a brand new wooden table. After the fire caught up,he needed to reconstruct the villa and ordered some staffs to bring back here from their Warren's house.

When the door knocked interrupted their daily activities, Anna's body involuntarily jolted in fear as those memories still taunted her inner peace occasionally.

Anna glanced at Ron fearfully and Ron gave her an reassured glance. He had full confidence over Esme's powers thus he assumed that only Ethan could enter this hill without being blocked.

Putting down the book gently, he walked over the doorway very naturally and pulled open the door.

As expected.. Ethan was standing over there putting on a worried look as his first glare fell upon the baby over the tiny bed.

A long sigh of relief subconsciously escaped through his mouth as he glanced up at Ron questioningly!

Still standing over the doorstep, Ethan asked without pausing a bit,

" What happened exactly? Tell me everything!"

Ron sighed softly and gestured him to head inside first before everything!

Half an hour later....

Ron ended up narrating everything to Ethan about what happened on the day Ester came to kill Ayra. In this meantime of telling Ethan, Ethan's expression changed into several ones from being enlarged to a murderous one that he could barely retain himself from finishing Ester right at that moment.

Ron informed him everything sitting down on his reading table and gave him a thoughtful look. The sleepy girl was instantly alarmed as soon as his uncle stepped in and was immediately slidded into his lap to play.

Ethan heard him quitely and held the little devil in his arms who was busy to play with his sleeves buttons. Tugging here and there, she was enjoying her quality time with her beloved uncle and did everything to annoy him. But his uncle never showed any disdain on her mischievous acts.

Gritting his teeth harder, Ethan roared as soon as Ron finished his words,

" That bastard! He.. he came here to kill my niece? Does he think that Ayra has no one to protect? I swear, I will show him no mercy during our fight."

Anna sighed and responded while leaning against the wall,

" You better not, brother! He will never change because of his greed. I just hope that you ascend the throne the day after tomorrow so that we all can go back to normal lives. Being imprisoned for several years have caused a great damage to Ayra's mental upbringing. She can't even feel secured around anyone."

Ethan hummed coldly,his gaze melting like water as soon as Ayra's face came in his eye-contact,

" Soon Anna! Our better days are coming! We will get back to our happy days together."

Anna smiled faintly and felt sad at the same time. Her subconsciously eyes stole a glimpse of Ron's silhouette whose face was shining for Esme's come back. A bitter,sweet feelings came in her mind like a sudden wave and quickly faded away without leaving any trace.

When silence can't reach him, how will her words work?

As she mulled over her emotional thoughts, Ayra's excited voice brought back enjoyment in this stiff environment.

Grinding on Ethan's lap, she asked playing with his white shining buttons and observing it like a rare treasure,

" Does that mean you will seat on those large.. throne, isn't it second uncle?"

Ethan's expression turned soft in no moment and replied looking down at the playing girl,

" Yes I will hopefully, baby."

Her little eyes sparkled in excitement as she asked again excitedly,

" Then.. then.. Ayra can sit beside you on the throne? I dreamt of sitting over there."

Ethan laughed genuinely at her little wishful brain. As the place beside a king is reserved for his queen,he couldn't give her this promise clumsily. In case her heart would break on his words, Ethan chose to answer her cautiously sounding sensible,

" Mmm..why baby needs to sit beside me? You can sit down on my lap. Won't it be more fun?"

Ayra pouted unhappily and asked back his uncle suspiciously,

" Why?? Why can't Ayra sit beside you?"

Ethan sighed helplessly and knew that her niece wouldn't let go of this matter until she receives a satisfactory answer. Her stubborn behavior reminded him Athena's behavior when he met her first time in human world.

Scooping her up in his arms lovingly, Ethan explained to the unhappy girl softly,

" Because only Queen can sit beside her king and Ayra isn't old enough to become a queen."

Ayra blinked curiously and asked back tilting her head up,

" Umm..then ..how can I become the queen?"

Ethan laughed and replied back pinching on her chin,

" When you marry a king! "

Ayra was astounded before inquiring reasonablely,

" Dah!! How will I become the queen then? I can't marry uncle Ethan. Then which king I will marry off? Is there any other king in your world?"

Ethan laughed loudly amused over her absurd thoughts and answered dotingly,

" Nope, baby. Our world will have only one king but no worries! I will fly over seven oceans to find a king for my Ayra. "

Ayra huffed clinging onto his arms and responded haughtily,

" Why will you bother? If the king doesn't come on his own to find me, I won't marry him ever. And yes,it should be a grand proposal just like Anna read from my story books."

Ethan laughed hard along with Anna and Ron who were mesmerised over Ayra's thoughts. Leaving a peck on her forehead, Ethan assured rubbing her little head,

" Of course, my baby will have the best king of worlds."

Looking up at Ron's smiling face, Ethan added with a deeper meaning,

" Also a best dad too."

The room suddenly fell in awkward silence!

_MOONSHINE CASTLE_

At the end of day, only frustrations consumed his soul whenever he tried to ignore her existence. After treating her so coldly earlier, Aaron's mind had never been in ease once she crossed pass the door without sparing him a single glance. As his blank gaze danced over the wooden door monotonously, his sharp mind only played those evident images of her disappointed expression.

Throwing the scattered papers at a corner, he hissed annoyingly,one of his hand reached to rub his neckline naturally.

After battling with his own demon thoughts, his chair scatered against the floor loudly as he stood up. Without giving it anymore thoughts, his paces went towards the master bedroom slowly putting on a cold face.

Entering into the room like sudden volcano, his expression dropped once he found no one inside. Frowning harder in conclusion, he quickly walked into the washroom hastily and felt relieved once the sound of water dripping travelled into his ears.

He halted in his track once he noticed that the door was partially opened,

" Esme..are you there? "

No one answered!

Thus he couldn't wait to have a look into it. Without sparing anymore moment, he pushed open the door completely before stepping onto the marble floor quickly.

The concern on his face was quickly replaced with an astounded one as soon as he spotted the doomed person at corner.

The washroom had no particular lamp to light up the space and had only faint shines from the half moon which was crawling into the room through the little window up. Under the neon light, the girl's face couldn't be seen as she stuffed herself like a shrimp at a corner. Curling up her knees, she stuffed her face into her knees and didn't move a bit as if she was a dark painting only hanging in this wall.

Aaron's heart sank at the sight of her poor state and stepped to rush on her side at once. Just when his broken eyes fell on the White marble floor casually, the red flow of blood immediately caught his attention.

Pausing abruptly, his entire soul nearly left him off as his periodical eyes only saw blood sprawled all over the floor. Just to being confirmed that she hadn't taken any bottle of his blood pack, his eyes searched every inch of the room but nothing found out.

His breathing hitched as he stepped towards the girl very cautiously in case his presence will frighten her more.

Feeling his throat getting dried after smelling such a large portion of blood, Aaron whispered asking in a low voice,

" Esme.. baby.. what.. what has happened with you?"

He asked but his eyes never missed the blood drops that was sliding all over the floor slowly..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello guys~❤️ Sorry for being late in updates. I have got an family function to attend. So the updates will be irregular during this 5 days. Please bear with me and try to understand that I have my personal life too. No worries, I will be back on regular updates as soon as it's done. Keep voting Please!! We need to get a ranking! Thanks for the gifts that I have received this days! Take love ❤️