The System Gave Me A Yandere Husband

Chapter 34: How Will You Pay?

The vulnerability in Eveyr’s voice hung in the air for exactly one second. Then, his magic pulsed. He felt the hum of the Black Ledger’s ancient magic clinging to her skin. Eveyr dropped her hands as if he had been burned.

Immediately, the temperature in the library dropped. His silver hair fell into his eyes, and his irises widened until they turned into black voids.

"You touched the vault," Eveyr said. "Who told you it was there? Who gave you the location, Esme? Was it Julian?"

Esme’s mind raced. She couldn’t play dumb in front of him. So she decided to manipulate him.

Esme snapped the poetry book shut and slammed it onto the table. She stood up from the chair and stepped closer to him.

"I picked the lock on an ugly portrait, Eveyr," Esme said, her voice filled with anger. "I found a hidden aclove and a dusty black book. But the moment I touched it, your ridiculous trap almost burned my arm off. Is that how you implement home security in House Aldric?"

"Do not try to fool me. You bypassed a blood-ward, Esme."

"I was exploring my own library!" she said loudly, stepping even closer until her dress brushed his boots. "If you wanted to keep your little secrets out of my reach, Your Grace, then you should have chained me to the bed this morning before you left! What kind of man rigs a book to explode in his own home?"

"The kind of man who knows exactly how devious his wife is!" Eveyr roared back. "Tell me what you saw!"

"I didn’t read anything!" Esme shot back, poking a finger on his chest. "I touched the cover, got a shock and stumbled back. And what did you do? You abandoned the Emperor, tore our house gates off their hinges, and broke the library door to splinters?"

The unapologetic audacity of her response hit him hard. He had stormed into this room expecting to find her scared and crying. But her fiery defiance acted like a drug on his mind.

[SYSTEM ALERT: BOLD DEFIANCE]

[Target’s rage successfully redirected. Obsession +500 Points]

Eveyr glared at her. The dark magic whipping around the room suddenly stopped. But he hadn’t given up.

"Do not tempt me to use chains, Esme," Eveyr growled. "I have plenty in the cellar. You are severely testing my patience."

"Then go fetch them, or stop ruining the furniture," Esme replied back coldly.

She turned her back to him and walked towards the door.

"I am going back to my room. Come there only if you remember how to speak to me."

Before she could say anything else, Eveyr lunged towards her. He leaned down, wrapped his arms around her thighs, and hauled her right over his shoulder like a sack of grain.

Esme gasped as her stomach hit his shoulder.

"Eveyr! Put me down right now!" she shouted, hitting his back. "Are you insane?!"

"Yes," Eveyr rumbled. "And no. I am not putting you down. If you want to act like a thief in your own house...then I will treat you like one."

He carried her directly down the grand staircase in front of the whole terrified household staff. Maids gasped and dropped their dusters. Guards quickly averted their eyes, looking at the floor.

At the bottom of the stairs, Commander George and half a dozen guards stood ready to go to war. George looked up and his eyes widened in shock as he saw his master carrying his screaming wife.

"Eveyr, you are humiliating me!" Esme shouted, kicking her legs, though it was completely useless against his solid grip. "Everyone is watching!"

"Let them watch," he replied.

He went down the second floor corridor and stopped in front of the doors of his private study. He kicked the doors open with his boot, stepped inside, and flicked his wrist. His magic slammed the doors shut. The force was so strong that the doorknob shattered into pieces on the floor.

He walked to the center of the room and put her on his desk. Esme cursed. Her gown tangled around her knees as she scrambled backward.

"Are you completely out of your mind?" Esme shouted. "How many times do I have to remind you that I am your wife, Eveyr. You can’t treat me like this!"

"Then stop acting like a spy!" Eveyr shot back. "You went in the library looking for a weapon to use against me, knowing exactly what Julian would do with it!"

"I went there to look for the truth! Not because I wanted to help Julian," Esme yelled, flinching as she bumped into a stack of maps.

Military maps and inkwells were swept off the edge of the desk by her sudden movement, crashing onto the floor.

"Look at this! You’re ruining everything," Esme shouted, breathing heavily as she glared at the ink staining the rugs.

"I would burn every book in this kingdom to ash if it meant keeping you safe from what is in that ledger," Eveyr snarled, putting his hands on the desk.

"I don’t want to be safe! I want to know what you’re hiding!"

Before Esme could slide off the desk, Eveyr stepped directly between her parted knees. He caged her against the edge of the table, his hands gripping the wood on either side of her hips so tightly that the desk literally groaned under the pressure.

Then he lifted his hand and slowly began to unbutton the collar of his military coat. His eyes were fixed on her, burning with hunger that made her heart finally pound, overriding even the [Aura Mask].

"You want to pry into my secrets, my wife?" Eveyr whispered, removing his coat off his shoulders and letting it fall on the floor. "You want to know what I did to those empty vessels? How many souls I burned to find you?"

He leaned in, his hands tracing the silver lace of the neckline of her dress.

"Fine," he murmured as his lips brushed her neck. "I will tell you everything. But my answers are not free, Esme. You need to pay for them."