Chapter 190 - Terrified

All of a sudden, both of the guards held Edwin by his arms and one of the guards said, "Prince Edwin, we will have to detain you for further questioning. You were the only one in this room when Her Majesty died, so you are the prime suspect for her murder."

Edwin tried to shake off the guards while shouting, "How dare you hold me like this? I am your Prince! And I already told you… she is not my mother. She is an imposter who poisoned me which is why I killed her in self-defense."

"Her Majesty was trying to feed you the healing potion, we saw her bringing the potion inside with our own eyes. And we sent it in only after having the taster to taste it." The guards dragged him while saying, "Tell everything in detail to His Majesty."

The guards dragged Edwin to the King's Court again. The King was sitting on the throne in his full Royal attire. The guards bowed to the King and said, "Your Majesty, Prince Edwin was found by the side of the dead body of First Queen. We have brought him here to be punished."

And as soon as the guards said that, the King shouted at Edwin, "How dare you kill your own mother? After she did everything to keep you alive, this is how you repay her?"

Edwin was trying to plead his innocence but without giving him any chance to speak, the King gave out the order to the Court Guards, "Guards! Lash him with the leather whip until he dies."

And almost instantly, Edwin heard a loud slash made by the whip in the air. He knelt down and began to kowtow to the King to ask for his forgiveness. But it still came out very wrong from his mouth, "Your Majesty, I did not kill my mother. I killed someone else. Please spare me."

The King raised his voice and shouted, "But you agree that you killed someone, right? Either way, you shall be punished for murder. And the punishment for murder is death. Lash him!"

The guards instantly began to give lash after lash to Edwin on his back. Edwin squirmed in pain as he felt his thin flesh being separated from his bones. He clenched his fists and began to cry in agony. And he begged the guards to stop hitting him but the guards didn't show any mercy.

And when Edwin felt as though he would die, he recollected that the death penalty was not the punishment that he should be getting.

One thing that Edwin knew by his heart was all the laws and rules of the Kingdom. They were imprinted in his mind because he would constantly bend the rules according to his need and memorizing them helped him evade punishments accordingly.

And even in this whirlwind ride of bizarre things happening to him, he remembered that there was no death penalty for any kind of crimes in Wyverndale. They would be tortured and would be imprisoned in the dungeons but they would never be killed.

While he bowed down, he saw his thin hands and legs. And slowly he recalled again that he had already healed. He recalled that his mother had already healed him in the afternoon.

He closed his eyes trying to make sense of things that were happening to him. And he whispered to himself, "What is happening to me? And why am I believing everything? This is all so bizarre! Is this another one of that evil dreams that my mother warned me about? Whatever it is, I know this is not real." He swiftly got up on his feet and shouted, "I have to get out of here."

And as if Edwin's order was accepted, the illusion around him began to crumble apart. Then the blinding light engulfed him and transported him to another location of the test.

Some of the Princes and Princesses were faring well in the test and were leveling up while some of them were having a very hard time in the first level itself.

In Claudia's personal nightmare, she was having a very hard time. Her nightmare took place in the same wooden cabin where she and the others had taken Adeline after knocking her unconscious. She was in a dark room of that cabin and had been crying for a long time now.

Abruptly, she stopped crying when she heard the floorboards creaking. She heard several footsteps approaching her so she instantly got up on her feet. And she picked up a broken shard of glass that was lying around and pointed it in the direction from where the footsteps were heard.

"Who's there?" she whispered in a trembling voice. "Don't come near me, or I will kill you."

But the footsteps came closer and closer to her. And she had least expected what she saw next. She was seeing red-eyed monsters everywhere and the one who was leading that horde of monsters was none other than Adeline.

Her eyes were glowing like a red ball of fire, her silver hair was dancing in the air as if they were alive, and she had sharp fangs that protruded out of her mouth.

Claudia shouted in fear, "I knew it. I knew you were a she-devil." She took a few steps back and screamed, "I am warning you… don't come near me. Or else-"

"Or else what?" Adeline raised one of her brows and asked in a challenging voice. And she kept on inching closer and closer to Claudia while Claudia was stepping back.

Claudia was startled when her back was pressed against the cold wall. And she began to whimper, "No, please… don't come near me. Don't do anything to me. Please."

But Adeline had a malicious grin on her face and she kept on moving forward until she was looming right in front of Claudia's face. She raised her hand which had sharp and pointy fingernails and brought it close to Claudia's cheek. And with a quick swipe of her nails, she bruised Claudia's pale skin.

Claudia flinched and kept on closing her eyes, too scared to see that horrifying look of Adeline.

However, she was compelled to open her eyes when she felt a hot breath over her neck. She gasped when she saw Adeline close to her neck and eyeing her neck as though it was some tasty food. And she exclaimed, "What are you trying to do? Get away fr-"

Adeline clutched Claudia by her hair and tilted her neck to the side with a sharp jerk. And in the next moment, Claudia widened her eyes in shock because she felt a shrilling pain in her neck. Adeline had already dug her fangs on Claudia's neck and was now sucking her blood.

Claudia tried to speak something but her words vanished before they could come out of her mouth. She went into extreme shock because of what just happened. And she was so terrified that she wet herself and passed out.

Instead of the wooden cabin falling apart and the white light swallowing Claudia and transporting her somewhere else, the whole illusion fell apart to reveal a huge and lavish room. Claudia dropped down on a very extravagant carpet.

"No!" Someone's voice echoed throughout the room. "My precious carpet!"