CHAPTER 355: EYE FOR AN EYE-I

When Atlas was still a prince, the first witch Circe ever introduced to him was Alice. It hadn’t been an introduction Circe was eager to make, she had even confessed that part of her would rather the two never met at all.

Her warning had been simple, but grim enough to linger in his mind.

"A woman whose happiness blooms only when others are miserable."

And now here she was. Alice, the witch. The very same witch who had once worked hand in hand with Morgana, Cassius’s stepmother, now vanished without a trace.

Atlas and Cassius had spoken at length about the incident, long enough for Atlas to understand just how deeply Alice’s hand had been woven into the failed treason.

Now why was she here?

When Atlas was about to alert the others suddenly his body froze. From underneath him he could feel his toes frozen, ice cold, and numb. He looked down to find that his feet had been covered with ice, rooted to the floor that not even his knees could be moved.

Just as Atlas opened his mouth to speak, Alice’s smile curved, sharp and menacing.

"I’ve already arranged it," she whispered smoothly. "Seven people will die the moment you raise your voice. One of them is someone Arabella cares for deeply. And seeing how much you seem to... fancy her, King Atlas, so I doubt you’d wish to see her drowning in sorrow. Am I right?"

Atlas’s jaw tightened. His eyes flashed with anger, the kind that came not from wounded pride, but from grief long buried. He had watched his own happiness crumble into ash, so how could he now stand by and watch Alice threaten the fragile light that Cassius and Arabella had managed to grasp?

But rage would not serve him.

He closed his eyes, forced his breath to steady. When they opened again, his gaze was the color of calm seas, cold and unwavering. "Then tell me, Alice," he murmured, voice even, "what do you plan to do today?"

Around them, the hall erupted in cheers. The ministers’ voices boomed as they read aloud the decree, their words praising Cassius’s victories and proclaiming their loyalty with proud, resounding oaths. The crowd stood, shouting, swearing their lives to the Crown Prince.

No one noticed the tension coiling in the shadows. Not even those standing at Atlas’s side realized that the marble beneath his boots had crystallized into a thin sheen of ice, or that the very witch they had been hunting, Alice herself, was here, speaking freely in their midst. Her voice slipped unnoticed beneath the roar of the crowd, her defiance hidden in plain sight.

She was confident, confident that no one in this place was going to notice her or attack her. That no one here would win against her.

It was a kind of confident that speaks how she has a terrible plan hidden in her hands already, ready to be unleashed when she wanted to and not wanting more deaths in such a day, Atlas knew better than to provoke her.

"Nothing, well, at least I didn’t plan anything," Alice proclaimed which made Atlas to question if that meant someone else had came here, someone with a plan to destroy the lives of everyone in this place.

It was dangerous, terribly so dangerous.

"Then why are you here?" Atlas inquired and Alice began to chuckle.

"You see last time I have visited this place, someone terribly annoying had hurt me so I thought of getting back at her," Alice still recall how Circe inside Noah’s body had hurt her terribly and today it was all about revenge. "I wanted to show her that she isn’t someone who could mess with me and gets away with nothing."

Atlas frowned.

"So what does this have to do with me?"

Alice chuckled at his innocent. She leaned toward him, placing her head on his shoulders as she hummed, "When I first saw you after Circe had introduced you to me, I thought of how pretty your blue eyes were. It was so pretty and I have always loved the color blue you see."

"I thought your color was green," Atlas answered her playfully but his eyes had narrowed sharper as his instinct felt something grim already wrapped around his neck.

"Yes, my color is green but I would like to have those blue eyes too," Alice leaned forward until there was only a hair distance for their lips to touch. Atlas had turned enraged but at this, her smile became even wider, "So how about this, King Atlas?"

Atlas felt a cold chill down his spine when Alice’s hands wrapped around the back of his neck.

"Give me one of your eyes and I will leave this place without harming a single soul."

Atlas who heard this was taken aback. He looked around the places, recognizing that there was not just humans in this place but also vampires. Back then vampires were dangerous, always considered to be an enemy to humanity but after knowing Cassius and after taking his time to learn about them from Karnala and Renard, Atlas understood that vampires are just like humans except for the fact that their nutrients comes from blood.

He wasn’t the king anymore.

The people here aren’t his people anymore.

It has been such a long time since he had to put his body upfront in exchange for others’ safety.

And... Circe wasn’t here anymore.

So now as a retired King, he could give up.

Atlas closed his eyes and opened it again with a wide smirk on his lips.

"Which eye?"

Alice who heard this smiled wider from one ear to another. She reached out her hand, pulling out a dagger to his hand that was decorated with a gold snake.

Atlas took it without a single hesitation and placed his hand over the dagger. Without thinking twice he readied himself to slice his eye open, at least this way there was not going to be any soul sacrificed.

Seeing this, Alice seemed excited but that was only until the dagger suddenly came to a stop.