The System Gave Me A Yandere Husband

Chapter 43: The Art Of Victim

The Aldric townhouse usually hummed with the whispers and movements of servants and guards, but today, it was eerily silent.

Esme led her father and sister into the drawing room, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor.

Her father, Lord Sterling, did not even greet her, let alone embracing her or asking about her well being. He stopped in the center of the drawing room, looking around at the priceless antique pieces with a sarcastic smile.

"Look at you, Esme," Lord Sterling scoffed. "Trembling like a leaf in the wind. You look like a starved street urchin. The Crown Prince was absolutely right. The monster has ruined you."

He stepped closer, and finally looked into her eyes.

"Whatever dark spell this monster has put on you, it has damaged your brain completely. You are a disgrace to the Sterling name."

Maria, her sister, stepped forward wearing a cruel and triumphant smile.

"Don’t cry for her, Father. She made her bed when she let that savage drag her North," Maria sneered, circling Esme like a predator. "Pack a single bag, sister. And don’t you dare bring any of the filthy rags he bought you; we will have them burned. The holy paladins are waiting at the cathedral doors as we speak. We are taking you home to be cleansed of this monster’s filth."

"And if your husband tries to stop us," Lord Sterling added arrogantly, puffing out his chest as he took a seat on the sofa, "the Church will declare him a heretic before sunset. Once that happens, the Emperor will seize everything he owns."

"Y-yes, Father," Esme stammered. "Whatever you say."

Then she slowly walked towards the tea table, to pour them a cup before she went upstairs to pack her belongings. Her hands trembled as she lifted the teapot. But under the tea tray lay a stack of legal documents she had prepared with Eveyr’s legal team before their arrival.

They were legal traps for them that would dissolve the Sterling estate and transfer their assets to Esme if they signed or stamped in them.

As she poured them tea, her eyes moved to her father’s waist. Their family seal was hanging on her father’s belt.

"Will... will the paladins hurt him, Father...even if I go with you?" Esme asked, lowering her head as she handed him his cup. "He is very strong. I am afraid of what will happen when he finds out I am leaving."

Lord Sterling laughed at her question.

"Let him try to fight the grace of the gods. They will burn him at the stake if he resists, and we will finally be rid of him."

In the adjacent room, separated only by a wall and the connected air vents, Eveyr was listening to every single word. The magic was tearing his body apart from the inside out.

To hear those pathetic people speak to his wife like she was garbage, to hear her act submissive and terrified of them was a violation of his very existence.

The shadows in the room were thrashing wildly, whipping against the door and windows, begging to be unleashed. But he stayed calm because Esme wanted it. But he wasn’t sure for how long he could do that. After all, he wasn’t a very patient person even though he kept saying that.

Meanwhile, in the drawing room, the system interface suddenly flickered in Esme’s vision.

[SYSTEM ALERT: RESTRAINT AGONY MULTIPLIER ACTIVE]

[+300Points]

[+300 Points]

[Target is in critical psychological agony. Proceed with extreme caution]

Esme felt as she read the notifications. Eveyr had reached his breaking point.

I’m out of time!

Esme finally took out the documents from under the tray with her trembling hands.

"Father, before we leave..." Esme murmured. "The High Cleric’s messenger came this morning. He said... he said that because I lived in the North, the Church might suspect me of sympathizing with Duke."

Lord Sterling’s arrogant smile instantly vanished.

"What are you talking about?"

"I had the Duke’s lawyers draft this affidavit of coercion," Esme lied, sliding the documents on the table. "It is a legal declaration stating I was held against my will, and that the Sterling family formally rejects my marriage. The paladins need it stamped by the head of the house to absolve us of treason before we enter the cathedral."

Lord Sterling looked worried suddenly. The last thing he wanted was accused of treason.

"Give me that," he said, picking up the papers.

He barely glanced at the first page. He noticed the Church heading and the Aldric legal seals at the bottom and assumed everything was okay. Moreover to them, Esme was weak and dumb. The thought of Esme deceiving them didn’t cross their minds at all.

He opened the seal and stamped the bottom of the document.

"There. The Sterling name is protected from your mess," he grunted, throwing the papers at her face.

"Thank you, Father," Esme said as she picked up the papers and put them on a side table.

Maria, completely emboldened by Esme’s weakness and the silence from the rest of the house, stepped closer to her. She looked at Esme’s simple gray dress in disgust, but her eyes stopped when she caught the glimmer of the Aldric sapphire ring resting on Esme’s finger.

"You disgraced our family by wearing his colours," Maria shouted, her face suddenly burning with jealousy. "You paraded around the capital acting like a queen. But look at you now. You are nothing but a terrified little rat."

Maria pointed her finger towards Esme’s hand.

"Take it off. Take off that flashy ring. You aren’t a Duchess anymore."

"I... I can’t," Esme stammered, clutching her hand to her chest. "He will be angry. Please, Maria."

"He is nothing now!" Maria shrieked.

Before Esme could reply, Maria raised her hand and slapped Esme on the cheek.

The sound of the slap echoed like a gunshot through the quiet drawing room. Lord Sterling didn’t even flinch; he just sipped his tea calmly.

But in the other room, something cracked.

Esme’s head snapped to the side from the force of the slap. A red mark immediately appeared on her face. But Esme didn’t cry or cower. She kept her eyes fixed on the floor. And slowly, a cold and terrifying smile appeared on her lips. It was the smile of an apex predator who had just successfully lured her prey into a cage and locked the door from the outside.

Before Maria could pull her hand back to gloat, the entire townhouse began to shake. The doors of the drawing room exploded inward, the wood splintering into a thousand pieces.

Lord Sterling dropped his cup, screaming in horror as he dove behind the sofa. Maria shrieked and threw her arms over her head as dust and splinters fell on them.

Esme finally looked up and smiled as she saw Eveyr standing at the door. His restraint was broken.

Esme touched her stinging red cheek and turned to look at her terrified sister.

Checkmate!