Chapter 178: Queen Mother’s Murderer
{Music recommendation; Runaway by Peter Baert}
"What are you..?..!! Haa..!!!" Nichole tried to speak in-between his choking, disbelief and shock painting his visage at the sudden ominous change in her once panicked demeanor. He hastily struggled to free his throat from the harshness of the vines embrace, but they felt indestructible. When she took a step forward, he moved back, but the vines got tighter, and he could feel the pressure from the vines turning his face red as he was unable to free himself or call out for help.
His voice was critically strained as he tried to snap her out from whatever spirit may have possessed her into doing this, into trying to kill him, but the more he tried, the tighter the vines became until he could no longer breathe. His eyes mystically turned scaly gold like that of a reptile, the course of his life at risk was already triggering his dragon to come out, but at the nick of time, a booming voice approaching their direction had stopped everything.
"Little Lamb!"
Ivan’s reprimanding tone broke through the dark spell, his rich familiar voice making its way into her ear, her mind and soul recognizing him, whilst she blinked her eyes, returning to her normal confused self. A gasp of horror escaped Samantha’s lips at the sight of Nichole getting seriously strangled by the vines she had manifested without knowing. In an instant, she set him free from the vine’s hold, magically unwrapping them from his throat, and with her green eyes awestruck, she watched as he coughed profusely while gasping harshly for some air.
"Your... your Majesty?"
Her body automatically flinched as Nichole stumbled the other way to support his weight by placing his hand against the wall, his throat sore and red from the vines mark. Samantha’s bewildered gaze moved to see the baffled Ivan making his way towards them, and he was unable to hide the shock from his eyes considering what he just witnessed. Alain hid behind him, his doe brown eyes staring cluelessly at what just happened, but he felt a little terrified without understanding why.
"Are you alright?" Ivan asked Samantha after making it to her side, his gaze holding his concern as he studied her perplexed expression. Her heartbeat pounded unsteadily, overtaken by a sudden adrenaline rush, and there was a mixture of fear and confusion in her gaze. She shook her head upon noticing Nichole who was still struggling to gain his regular breathing back, and her hands clutched to the edge of the table behind her.
"I promise you I... I didn’t..." she looked at the perplexed Ivan, unsure of how to explain what just happened here in a way that would make sense to him. "I’d never hurt anyone I... I don’t know what happened here but I didn’t do it. I came here to get some water and he wouldn’t let me go and I just... it just happened but I promise I didn’t do this, I didn’t do it intentionally... I wouldn’t try to kill anyone."