Ensnaring his Dark Moon-Chapter 316: The revelation

With a few mistakes, it could easily lead to one’s ’accidental’ death and that would have made things easier for Jeremiah. Esme could have died during her transformation without him laying a hand on her.

But Esme did not show signs of transforming, giving rest to Jeremiah’s doubts.

Yet, he let his men keeping an eye on her. And the incident when Esme shielded Aleister and saved him with the help of Ruby was reported to him. Ruby’s identity was a mystery but it distressed Jeremiah and made him wary of Esme again.

Soon, his people discovered pearls in the abandoned forest where Esme had passed from. One clue led to another until Jeremiah was certain that Esme’s mer blood had not awakened yet.

It was not until years later when her mer blood showed signs of awakening did he dispatch the Norwell Family to Visteria to capture her and bring her back.

While Luciana and Lucian were vaguely in dark about the truth behind looking for Esme, Marcus knew some or more of Jeremiah’s secrets.

If he could have captured Esme in time, then having already gained the powers of his position, he could pin a crime on her head and have her exceuted without violating the laws of the sea.

But who knew some strange incidents would occur?

In the end, Esme went through transformation and lost her memory, giving birth to new ideas in Jeremiah’s head.

Instead of killing her and waiting for the King to pass the throne to him after years or decades, he could manipulate her and marry her and by using her, he could let the King do his bidding.

Rezeph adored the woman in the painting and he must be clueluess about his daughter so to strike first, Jeremiah needed to have control over his daughter first. After that, there was nothing for Jeremiah to dread about.

The throne awaited him.

He had weaved this intricate web for over a decade and it was about to come to fruition.

But Aleister’s presence and Esme’s memories were an oddity. And Jeremiah did not like anything unpredictable standing between his ambitions so he still remained wary.

After Esme heard everything from his mouth, she was momentarily stunned.

To think that she was the cause of all those disasters in the peace of the Reis Family.

She inhaled a deep breath. Maybe she was the cause, but she knew that she was not the medium of it. That disaster was born from her uncle’s and Jeremiah’s endless greed. They had it all. The King owned the throne of Nevesray and Jeremiah was Rezeph’s heir who would have eventually become the new King of Defire.

But they chased the unknown. Her uncle tortured Adrian to that extent just for the sake of an unknown which never existed in the first place. Her mother had entrusted her safety to her elder brother and referred to her as the treasure and not knowing the whole truth, her uncle sought the mysterious treasure.

As for Jeremiah... If not for him, she would have never stepped her foot in Defire, let alone become a threat to him. Yet, he put a rift in her peaceful life just for his fear and inadequencies.

As Esme looked at Jeremiah’s dazed face, she found another thing rather ironic.

Jeremiah thought that his elder brother was subservient to him. Yet, despite that, due to his cautiousness, he never revealed to Marcus about all his motives in wanting to marry her.

And he would never have thought that, just like him, Marcus Norwell was also wary of him, hence he kept a few cards hidden. Marcus never told Jeremiah completely about what trasnpired in that underground chamber of Daven Castle. His description of that incident with Marilyn was so vague that Jeremiah never gave it much thought.

Only...

Esme looked at her hands quietly. Father..? Her real father.

With the eye contact broken, Jeremiah started to regain his consciousness. Feeling a little fuzzy in his head, he glared at her venomously.

He believed the strangeness in him was due to fire in the forest.

His gaze never once wavered from Esme or if he had looked around, he would have noticed that the fire in the forest had long extinguished and that indicated that a few minutes had passed, which could probably reveal to him that there was a gap in his memory.

Jeremiah glanced at Esme, waiting for her to beg him to know the truth behind what transpired years ago. Usually, he would not reveal his motives or cause of his actions to anyone.

But he got some satisfaction when she looked at him with those expectant eyes that desired to know the truth.

But to his dismay, the look he remembered on her face a moment ago seemed to have been wiped off from Esme’s face.

"If you are done, I will take my leave now.’’

’’Don’t take another step,’’ Jeremiah snarled when Esme walked past him.

But her footsteps did not slow down.

’’That Duke of Visteria is my captive. You played family with them for quite some time. I know you care for him,’’ his lips tugged up when her footsteps halted.

A glint flashed across Esme’s eyes.

’’If you want me to let him live, then you need to obey my orders.’’

Esme shook her head before she continued walking.

Jeremiah frowned. From what he had gathered, she was rather attached to the Daven Family.

But looking at her, she did not seem to care about them.

"What about your family?" Jeremiah spoke up, ’’Do you not care about them?"

Esme turned around to face him, her eyes widening, ’’What did you do to them?"

’’Nothing much,’’ Jeremiah shrugged, satisfied when he saw the terrified expression on her face, ’’I had faith that you won’t regain your memories. But no matter what, I was not willing to take a risk so I planted my people in Nevesray. They observe everything quietly but when things go wrong, they will make their move.’’

"And it’s just not the royal family, every ordinary subject of Nevesray and Visteria would be slain when I give my orders. Countless of innocent lives will paint you red with their blood.’’

Esme’s lips parted.

After a moment, she looked up at him, her face slightly pale, ’’What do you want me to do?"

Jeremiah smiled, ’’You need to be good and marry me, without stirring up troubles. I want the throne but the laws of the sea forbid me from snatching it away from the King. He needs to pass the throne to me willingly and for that, I need you, his only daughter as my puppet so that I can control him.’’

’’We are getting married.’’

Jeremiah nodded, his chest inflating at the disguised hopelessness in her tone, ’’I know I have you under my grasp but for that lover of yours...’’ he pulled a stalk of dried herbs and walked towards Esme. Lifting her hand, he placed them on her palm as he spoke, ’’Feed him this and he will sleep for long. These are the magical herbs of the sea and even immortals will be affected by it, no matter how less the effect is.’’

If humans consumed this herb, they would sleep for years. Mers would be affected for days and immortals would be held back for a day or two, depending on their power.

Jeremiah knew that no one posed a threat to him in Defire, including the old members of the sea court and the King. But Aleister was an odd existence, the depth of his powers were a mystery to him and Jeremiah did not want any obstacle in his way.