Chapter 69: Racketeer’s meeting
The forest pressed in with a suffocating silence, each breath Bianca drew catching on the weight of her own words.
Her eyes burned with defiance as she lifted her chin toward the hunched old woman before her.
"Let’s let the cat out of the bag," Bianca said, her voice trembling between arrogance and desperation. "I know who you are Làpatasodará Valkà... the witch from Princess Elowen’s childhood tales. You can drop the disguise now."
The old woman’s stillness was haunting, her shadow long and crooked beneath the twisted trees.
Bianca forced a mocking smile, even as her heart rattled inside her chest.
"Can you help me leave this cursed forest?" she pressed on. "Or perhaps..." her words wavered, "if you’ve found the Black Book. Because it was I who misplaced it."
The air thickened. Bianca braced herself for the sting of a hoarse laugh or the lash of a cruel, otherworldly voice. She even prepared for pain.
But the forest answered only with silence.
The crickets had stilled. The wind held its breath.
Bianca’s smirk faltered. She blinked, looked up....
The old woman was gone.
She has vanished into the thin air.
Her throat closed as she spun in circles, eyes darting between the bark and shadows. "Where is she? Where... where did she go?" Her breath sharpened into panic.
"Was she angry at how I spoke to her? Did she abandon me here to rot?". "The Morano family are indeed powerful, I shouldn’t have come this far "... She kept on searching and the forest answered but the silence stretched on, merciless and infinite.
Bianca’s knees weakened, the weight of isolation crashing against her arrogance.
She staggered forward, clinging to the gnarled tree trunk, the truth searing into her, she was utterly alone.
*****
In Virenkai’s golden-lit hall, a reunion fractured the stillness.
"Donato... "
The name broke from Princess Elowen’s lips as she stepped forward, flinging her arms around him with the force of memory and yearning.
Her parents... the King and Queen of Virenkai, stood frozen at the sight, their royal masks slipping in raw shock.
But Luca Morano didn’t flinch, didn’t soften.
He stood rigid, his chest rising shallowly as though the weight of her embrace were a dagger against his ribs.
His cough cracked the moment, low and restrained.
"I’m sorry," Elowen whispered quickly, stepping back, her wide eyes searching his.
"Forgive me. I thought you were... Donato Morano." She glanced toward her parents, shame pressing down on her shoulders. "I mistook you for him.
The resemblance is striking. You must be his younger brother, Luca Morano."
Her gaze darted away, carrying sorrow. "Father, Mother... forgive me. I had to leave home. But I swear it was never rebellion.. it was obligation. Donato needed me. The outer world is cruel, jagged... not the fairytale we imagined. I failed my mission, and I know how powerful our land is. That is why I returned. Not for food, Not for shelter. But for two things only.. your blessing, and your permission, if should you wish me to go again."
The King, who had turned his back on her for her desertion, stiffened.
The pause that followed was a battle of pride and blood.
Then, slowly, painfully, he turned to face her.
His stern mask cracked. He crossed the golden floor, closing the distance, and pulled her into his arms. "Elowen..."
The Queen covered her lips to stifle a sob.
But Luca’s voice cut through the fragile reunion, Sharp, and Controlled.
"Why are they here?" His eyes burned into the King. "You accused us of kidnapping. And now your daughter walks freely into your arms?.
Tell me... what truth remains to your accusations? The Moranos don’t stain their hands with abductions.
We came here in good faith. And we will leave the same way. Clean."
The King’s lips curved with the ghost of a smile.
His voice carried wisdom, aged yet unyielding.
"Then let us make peace," he said. "The past cannot be undone. Enzo is gone. His body lies here in Virenkai soil, and here it shall remain, buried with the honor this land gives to every fallen soul. Virenkai despises evil, it’s people, its air, its waters reject it.
Those who indulge in it invite our curses. They rot, they fall and the goodness of Virenkai flees from them."
Alessia stood stunned, her chest rising and falling with new weight. So this was why the land felt alive.
Why it pulled truths from her bones.
Virenkai did not only exist, it judged, it choses and it revealed.
She felt her own reflection in that moment, a truth she could not deny.
she was not the fragile shadow she once thought she was.
Here, she had discovered her truest self, Her identity and her nature.
But Luca’s voice broke into her thoughts, raw steel.
"Enzo betrayed me. He betrayed the Moranos. He deserved the fate he met." His tone hardened as his eyes sliced across the hall. "Our ties here are finished. We leave for Morano now."
The Moranos rose. Chairs scraped against marble.
Alessia followed, though her heart tugged at questions unsaid.
As they turned for the exit... They had a voice..
"Please wait." Princess Elowen said, "I had a strong connections with Donato, with the little time we spent together. I felt Enzo betrayal on him, I went back to check on Donato I saw traces... He was harmed, but I couldn’t find his body. That’s why I seek for you, to fulfill all righteousness "
Luca sighs, "I know where Donato is located,
But we can’t see him now else he will be trapped in the spirit worlds forever".
"I don’t want such for Donato", princess Elowen quickly added, with tears almost dropping down her eyes. her words were soft, yet sharp enough to halt their steps.
Every head turned. Princess Elowen stood firm, her eyes glimmering with a secret she had yet to bare.
****
Midnight draped its veil over Seraphina’s estate, drowning the corridors in silence.
Daisy moved like a shadow, each step measured, her heart pounding against her ribs as though it might betray her.
She crept into the chamber, closed the door, and flicked off the last glimmer of light.
The room sank into darkness.
Her trembling fingers reached for the drawer, heart leaping as she found it unlocked.
She pulled it open, her breath catching as the glimmer of silver met her eyes.
"what if she didn’t find it, she thought within herself, was this risk really worth it? What if she gets caught and never finds the bracelet she’s looking for? "Alot of questions on her mind. But no, she must lift her courage high and her believe... She said to herself. "I will find Romeo’s bracelet".... "But where do I search again?"
She paused to gasps for air, as she her eyes suddenly caught it, right where she never expected.
"Romeo’s bracelet.... It was on the chair where Seraphina sat earlier "...
She clutched it, pressing it against her chest, a relic of truth and memory she refused to lose.
But as she turned to leave, darkness swallowed her sense of direction.
The CCTV cameras had been destroyed by her and the lights put off by her also.
Every wall looked the same, and every step echoed like betrayal.
She was lost because of the darkness in the chambers.
And she knew she was alone in this.
****
Alessia’s phone buzzed against her palm.
She frowned, her pulse quickening. The screen glowed with a message from an unknown number.
"You now hold great power. You alone can decide who loses and who wins. We are ready to honor you and treat you with money, gifts, luxuries beyond imagination, if you will help us bring Luca down."
Her fingers froze.
Her breath hitched.
Who knew?
Her mind raced. Who knows i have awakened to this power? Who dares tempt me to turn it against Luca?
She read on.
"Agree, and we shall find you soon. Refuse, and we shall still return. The choice, Alessia, is yours."
Her chest tightened as she stared at the words again and again.
The message pulsed like a curse, a contract written in invisible blood.
In the hall, Princess Elowen was being showered with tears and blessings, her family’s warmth wrapping around her.
Their reunion blurred in Alessia’s vision as the message burned inside her.
Her phone nearly slipped from her trembling hand.
The air shifted. A familiar scent curled into her lungs, heavy, intoxicating, dangerous.
She suddenly noticed someone stood before her.
Slowly, Alessia lifted her eyes, her breath caught between fear and longing.
Luca Morano towered in front of her, shadows clinging to his sculpted face.
His gaze pierced her, sharp enough to cut through the screen she’d just been staring at.
His lips curved, dark, questioning.
"What are you staring at so seriously, my lady?" His voice was low, velvet laced with command.
Alessia froze, the phone still warm in her palm.
Luca leaned closer, his smirk dangerous, his eyes glinting like a predator’s.
"I want to see it too," he murmured. "And smile".