The Kind of Evil

Chapter 599: Moment of vulnerability.

Anastasha sighed as she closed her eyes, feeling the hot water take over her nervous system. She tried to feel the warmth of the hot spring, but no matter how hot the water was, the coldness of her father’s gaze and words had pierced through her bones. When her eyes fluttered open, the steam had filled the great bath, and the red sky painted the horizon.

"More..." Anastasha muttered.

A maid approached Anastasha and she immediately bowed down to the point her forehead hit the ground.

"My Lady, the water is already boiling..." The maid muttered. "If we put more hot stones into the water, your skin will be damaged and it’s going to be harmful for your well-being."

"Don’t make me repeat myself..." Anastasha glanced at the maid, but then her vision went blurry for a split second until she felt hotness coming down to her lips. "Just leave..." She ordered as her hand reached her lips to find blood coming out of her nose.

The maid nodded and slowly got up, but then she felt a hot hand grip her ankle. The maid felt the blood in her body turn cold, and she slowly lowered her head and faced Anastasha.

"Yes? My Lady?" The maid asked, her voice trembling in fear.

"Summon Rasmus Blackheart..." Anastasha muttered as she gripped on the maid’s ankle tightened for a moment before she let go.

The maid nodded repeatedly and hurriedly left the great bath.

Anastasha stared down at her reflection, to find the blood dripping into the water, blurring the image of her expression. She wondered what she looked like, but the drops of blood prevented her from seeing her feelings. She sighed and leaned back as she closed her eyes, trying to calm her mind and body. However, every time she tried to keep her mind blank, the memories of the private gathering came back to haunt her.

"So you can bleed," Rasmus’ voice could be heard from behind Anastasha.

Anastasha scoffed and the new batch of blood ran down to her chin and dropped to the water. When she opened her eyes, she saw a handkerchief from the corner of her eyes. She reached out to the handkerchief and slowly wiped the blood from her nose.

"I’m not as special as you think..." Anastasha answered, her voice muffled by the handkerchief.

Anastasha could finally see her reflection on the water, and what she saw was worse than she had imagined. She looked lifeless, weary, and the worst part, she looked weak. She glanced at Rasmus’ reflection, and she saw him staring at her reflection and their eyes met through it.

"Rullein can see through people’s memories and past, and you have ordered her to see through all the guests’ memories back there..." Anastasha paused as her free hand moved under the water to blur the reflection. "Did you look into my memories?" She asked without looking back at Rasmus. freёwebnovel.com

"No, I didn’t," Rasmus answered without hesitation.

"Why?" Anastasha asked, her head still lowered, making sure the reflection stayed a blur.

"Same reason why I didn’t look into Javi’s past, Daryus’ past, Erlina’s past, Carrion’s past, and the Blackhands’ pasts, or those who I have encountered like the Great Sage, Archduke Thalior, and the others. Because I already knew what they wanted, just like you," Rasmus explained as he stared at the blurry reflection on the water.

"So, you’re not curious as to how I survived the assassination attempts even though my father sent his best assassins to hunt me down?" Anastasha asked.

"No," Rasmus answered immediately.

Anastasha’s hand stopped disrupting the water until the water became still and the reflection became clear. She slowly turned her head to stare into Rasmus’ eyes before she mapped his face.

"Join me," Anastasha faced forward once again and made herself comfortable in the hot spring. "I’m asking..." She muttered.

Rasmus undressed himself, only leaving trousers to cover his lower half. He walked into the hot spring and sat down next to Anastasha, leaving a huge gap between them. He noticed the blood that lingered in the water. Blood that was too thick to be dissolved by water.

"My blood is poisonous, it can even dissolve steel..." Anastasha spoke to break the silence. "A sword can cut through my flesh just like any normal human, but the moment the blade got exposed to the blood, it dissolved before it could do more harm to my body," she pointed out.

The silence once again filled the great bath, but this time Anastasha felt the cold slowly disappearing from her body. She then let out a deep and shuddering exhale as she closed her eyes once again, without desiring to open them at least for that moment.

"Can you tell me something about yourself, Rasmus? It can be anything trivial, just anything..." Anastasha muttered.

"I used to have a wife," Rasmus answered after he thought long enough for an answer.

"Used to? You mean during your survival time after your family is ruined?" Anastasha asked as her eyes fluttered open. "To think someone like you has a soft spot in your heart for someone else to rest in. That’s shocking," she smiled softly. "What kind of a person she was?" She asked in a soft mutter.

"She was so ordinary that I had almost forgotten about her face," Rasmus answered, and he didn’t need to elaborate on her first question. The wife he mentioned was the wife he had when he was Kyros in his previous life on Earth.

"What? Even for me that sounds a bit too harsh," Anastasha chuckled softly as she tilted her head and stared at Rasmus’ face, finding nothing but the truth.

"We mostly memorized the moments, not the people. No matter how memorable those people are, it’s still the moments that we remembered. Although she was ordinary, I couldn’t forget about her presence," Rasmus answered and stared back at Anastasha.

Anastasha stared blankly at nothing, and she tried to recall her memories. But it was as Rasmus said, she had forgotten the faces she had encountered in the past, she might have forgotten with whom she was with in those moments, but the moments lingered.

"And what happened to her?" Anastasha asked before she looked at Rasmus again.

"She died. She put herself in my world, and I let her into my world. I expected that to happen," Rasmus answered as he stared at the sky.

Anastasha wanted to be playful, to tease Rasmus that it was his fault, but then she realized it was nobody’s fault. She sat there silently and a smile appeared on her face, thinking if she would end up just like him, to have someone you chose to die and you expected that to happen.

"Would you let someone else in again?" Anastasha asked.

"I don’t know, I’m not sure," Rasmus answered as he shook his head.

"Did you love her?" Anastasha asked again, but this time her voice grew quieter as she hugged her knees.

"At one point, I did," Rasmus nodded.

Anastasha smiled once again, but this time she didn’t need to hide it or suppress it. She raised her head and stared at the red sky, signaling that the battle was far from over, that the night was when the party started and this was a perfect break from the upcoming battle.

"Thank you, for being here..." Anastasha said and for the first time she felt a lump in her throat.

"’I’m a guest here, of course I would come if you summoned me," Rasmus answered as he looked at her.

"That’s not what I meant..." Anastasha scoffed, but she knew why Rasmus answered that way. "You’re surprisingly considerate, aren’t you? Hiding it behind facts and truths," she chuckled softly.

Rasmus didn’t say a word and let out a bit of a smile.

"But you’re also quite rude to not appreciate the woman with nothing on her..." Anastasha smirked as she looked down, having nothing that covered her body.

"I think there’s contradiction in there, and I’m not going to play along in that matter," Rasmus said as he slowly stood up. "May I take my leave?" He looked down at Anastasha.

"Yes, you may..." Anastasha nodded, her voice barely above a whisper and then she watched Rasmus put on his shirt and leave the great bath.

Rasmus was on his way back to his room when he glanced at the window toward the back of the castle. He saw Aris standing still in an open space toward the garden, staring at the sky with Aristoria’s sword in her hand. He stared at her for a moment before he decided to approach her.

"Seeing you holding that sword, it feels like bad things are about to happen," Rasmus said as he walked toward Aris.

Aris looked to her left and saw Rasmus standing beside her, staring at the sky just like she did.

"I felt something not too long ago. The direction, it came from South Neva," Aris pointed out and stared at the sky. "From that direction..." She pointed at the distance in front of her.

"South Neva..." Rasmus hummed as he narrowed his eyes. "The angels are making a move?" He asked and turned to look at Aris, noticing that she was using her draconic eyes.

"I believe so. The sky is glowing white right now..." Aris pointed out as she saw billions of glowing white strings going up high into the sky and beyond the horizon. "I have never seen anything like this..."