She Faked Her Death, So I Made It Real

I am the vicious Duchess everyone whispers about. Arthur brought back a blood slave from the border named Lilith. She's been lavished with his affection.

Yet tonight, she suddenly collapsed. Arthur cradled her corpse as his claws pressed against my throat. "You poisoned Lilith!

I'll make your entire bloodline pay!" Suddenly, I heard her demon whispering to Lilith. [Demon: Perfect. The fool thinks you're dead.] [Demon: The Draught wears off in two hours.

Teleport out from the crypts. Return with a new face and replace that bitch as his true Duchess.] Oh? Fake death? Planning to return and humiliate me?

I wiped the blood from my neck and threw myself onto her "corpse" with a sob. "Poor girl! She died from a blood curse! Her soul will mutate! Seal her in the Obsidian Coffin!

Pour mercury down her throat! Perform the rites and release her soul!" The whispers panicked: [Demon: What?! This bitch is actually purifying you?!] ......

The guards approached with a bucket of steaming mercury. Arthur's wings exploded from his back. His blade flashed. The guard screamed, his arm severed.

Mercury splashed across the floor, burning it black. "No one touches Lilith!" He stood before her corpse, sword dripping blood.

I stepped forward to meet his gaze. "My lord Duke, this is ancestral law!

Blood curse victims carry the heaviest corruption." "Without mercury sealing and the Obsidian Coffin, she'll rise as a ghoul on the seventh night and slaughter this entire castle!" I pointed at the ancestral portraits lining the walls. "Would you disgrace a thousand years of House Crimson for a blood slave?" Arthur's knuckles whitened on his sword. "Chloe Nightshade, spare me your superstitions!

You just want to desecrate her!" I smiled coldly. Desecrate? No. Obliterate. More whispers: [Demon: Stay calm. Your consciousness is waking early.] [Demon: Half an hourglass more.

I'll activate the teleportation circle.] [Demon: She won't really pour mercury. The Duke will stop her.] Half an hourglass? Dream on.

I drew the Blood Covenant Token and raised it high. "The Elder Council's Supreme Decree! The blood slave Lilith entered this House through binding ritual.

Her life and death are subject to our laws!" "Crypt Keepers! The coffin! Drive the stakes in!" Eighteen hooded priests stepped forward with ashwood stakes covered in runes.

Arthur froze at "Elder Council's Supreme Decree." In that heartbeat, the priests lifted her into the black obsidian coffin. "Close the lid!" CRASH! "Drive the stakes!" "CLANG!

CLANG! CLANG!" Ashwood stakes pierced through the coffin. Wood splintered. Flesh tore. The whispers screamed: [Demon: The stakes pierced your shoulders!] [Demon: Don't move yet!

The potion is still active!] [Demon: Where is that fool Duke?!] I smiled. Pierced? Perfect.

Arthur lunged forward. "STOP!" I blocked his way. "If you open this coffin, you defy the Elder Council!

You'd sacrifice House Crimson's thousandyear legacy for this whore!" "Kill me first. Step over my corpse!" His claws pressed my throat.

Blood trickled down. "Chloe Nightshade, if her body is harmed, your entire bloodline dies!" I didn't flinch. "Continue! Pour the molten lead!

Seal it!" Guards poured liquefied lead along the seams. Sizzzzz... Sealed completely. Then, from inside, a faint groan. "Mmph..." Arthur's face changed.

He spun around. "What was that?! Lilith isn't dead?!"

The sound echoed through the hall. Arthur's sword clattered down. He threw himself at the coffin, pounding the lid. "Lilith! Is that you?!" Whispers flooded in: [Demon: Stay calm!

You're still a fledgling. Your body hasn't fully transformed yet. You still need air!] [Demon: Cratch the lid!

Make him hear you before you suffocate!] [Demon: The lead is blocking my magic!] I glanced at the musicians. "Play!

Send her to eternal rest!" "BLAAARE!" Trumpets drowned out everything. Arthur roared at me. "STOP! I heard her voice! She's alive!" He clawed at the lead seams.

His fingers began to smoke. I wrapped my arms around his waist. "You've gone mad! That's a ghoul turning! If you open it, it'll drain your blood!" "GET OFF!" He shoved me back hard.

I held on, screaming to the nobles. "Bear witness! The Duke is bewitched!

He wants to unleash a ghoul!" "If it harms you, I accept death!" The guests went pale at the pounding inside. "Madness! The dead can't return! It's transforming!" "Arthur!

Cremate it now!" "Suppress it before it breaks free!" Opinion turned against him. Arthur's eyes blazed.

He channeled power into his palm and struck the lid. "CRASH!" A crack appeared in the lead seal. The scratching became violent pounding.

Time for my killing move. "The corpse is turning! It will claim our souls! Dead Man's Blood! Suppress the ghoul now!" Buckets of rotting blood were brought forward. "Pour!" SPLASH!

The foul blood flooded the coffin, seeping through the crack. Whispers shrieked: [Demon: It burns! ] [Demon: Damn this bitch! I'm invoking emergency power!

Burning part of your lifespan to fuel a strength curse! You need to break out NOW before you suffocate!] The pounding became frantic.

Arthur stared at the blooddrenched coffin, lips trembling. He spun and kicked my stomach. "WHAM!" I flew back, hit the pillar, spat blood.

He grabbed my collar, lifting me. "Chloe Nightshade, you're dead!" I swallowed blood and smiled. "My lord... I'm saving you...

This abomination will destroy House Crimson..." "Noble. Righteous." His grip tightened on my throat. My vision darkened. "Since you love purging evil, meet the Devil first!"

Choking, vision fading, I clawed his wrist. "Burn... it..." I forced the words out to the guards. "Light the pyre! Cremate it!" Torches hit the oilsoaked kindling. WHOOSH!

Flames consumed the coffin. Whispers screamed: [Demon: The obsidian's heating up!

Your skin is blistering!] [Demon:I'm channeling my power into you!Let the power EXPLODE and shatter this coffin from the inside!] My heart seized. "BOOOOM!" The lid blasted skyward, smashed through the altar.

Through black smoke, a bloodsoaked figure sat upright in the shattered coffin. Dead Man's Blood covered her face. Fingernails ripped off.

Two bloody holes in her shoulders from the stakes. "AHHH! THE CORPSE MOVED!" "GHOUL!" Nobles screamed and fled. Arthur stumbled back from the shockwave.

Lilith sat in the ruins, glaring at me with hatred. Then instantly shifted to tears, reaching for Arthur. "My lord Duke... save me...

Lady Chloe tried to burn me alive... it hurts..." Hoarse voice. Arthur froze, then charged into the flames. "Lilith! I'm here!" He shielded her, his back burning.

Carried the bloodsoaked woman out. Whispers turned gleeful: [Demon: Perfect.

Now play the helpless victim.] [Demon: Make him so enraged that he'll slaughter that bitch and her entire bloodline for you.She's finished.] Arthur set her down gently.

Lilith trembled in his arms, pointing at me weakly. "My lord...

Lady Chloe called me an abomination... poured Dead Man's Blood on me... drove stakes through my shoulders..." "I only fainted from shock.

Why torture me..." Arthur looked at her, then at me. His eyes held murder. "SEIZE HER!" His servants surrounded me where I lay wounded.

Arthur handed Lilith to the healers, picked up his sword, walked toward me. "Chloe Nightshade, you witch!

Lilith was in a deathlike state from the blood curse, yet you tortured her and tried to burn her alive!" "Today, I'll tear you apart!" I clutched my bleeding stomach, pulled myself upright against the pillar. "The healers examined her!

No blood flow!" "You're so bewitched you can't recognize True Death?!" Lilith reclined weakly as healers tended her.

A cold smirk played on her mouth, voice still fragile. "Lady Chloe...

I know you resent me for taking the Duke's affection..." "But my late father left me maps of the Empire's magical defenses..." "Is House Nightshade killing me for those maps?" One sentence.

Domestic dispute became political treason. Arthur stopped. Murder intensified in his eyes. "So that's it... Clever House Nightshade. Cunning Chloe Nightshade!"