
“How is she?” Rafe asks Midnight while he watches his youngest daughter sleep.251Please respect copyright.PENANAfy0QqivU9C
“Her fever’s been coming and going since she slept from exhaustion after all that crying. But thankfully, it’s just a very mild fever. Nothing to be worried about,” 251Please respect copyright.PENANAC6zGYCXTvY
Midnight answers, tucking in the blankets of the sleeping child more securely. “The problem is your son.”251Please respect copyright.PENANAaMsehtMKbf
Rafe frowns a little and glances in Midnight’s way. “My son? What about him?”251Please respect copyright.PENANAsVMSOIZzVH
“Well, the moment my niece passed out, her twin brother started going wild. Even Raine was having a hard time trying to calm him down. Thankfully, babies being babies, he also conked off after tiring himself out. It was for the best since my sister needed some rest after...the incident.”251Please respect copyright.PENANAJTJEKOZkhI
“I...” Rafe swallows, and his vision starts to blur as he stares at his sleeping daughter. 251Please respect copyright.PENANArq4NF1tFUo
“I wouldn’t have imagined something like this to happen. To think that Raine is...and...my daughter had to see that side of me...”251Please respect copyright.PENANAGp0E8FyFJC
Rafe falters, and his breath catches, looking away from the sleeping child. Midnight, understanding what Rafe meant.251Please respect copyright.PENANAObNMUjvnnc
He knew that the man was distraught and was so depressed after knowing that the woman who meant the world to him had died from childbirth. He was volatile, and he wasn’t thinking straight. He will definitely lash out at everyone and anyone...even his own children. And seeing the twins probably set him off.251Please respect copyright.PENANAvjHukrO3HM
But after the revival of his wife, thanks to the children that he had expressed his anger on, Midnight bet that Rafe regrets acting that way. He knows that it’s understandable for someone to feel that way. And as long as Rafe makes up for what he had said and done in front of the twins, Midnight will support and root for him.251Please respect copyright.PENANAOU38drJX1V
“That’s enough sniveling and feeling sorry, Rafe,” Midnight tells him, reaching out to softly touch the cheek of the baby girl. “Thankfully, the kids are too young to probably remember this happened. Even though these children are more...special than the others, in the end, they’re still kids. They probably won’t have any memory of what happened here. Maybe you can make up for it?”251Please respect copyright.PENANAb0gSIJOzXU
“Make up for it? How?”251Please respect copyright.PENANAWonoZI2Eh0
Midnight smiles and nods at the sleeping child. “I doubt Raine will recover fast enough to give a name, and we can’t keep calling her ‘niece,’ ‘daughter,’ or ‘child.’”251Please respect copyright.PENANA2CmvWjlRuR
Rafe swallows as he stares at his sleeping daughter. The memories of what he had done flashed before his eyes, the darkness he felt that seemed to be swallowing him whole, and the uncontrollable anger to destroy because he saw Raine breathe her last breath…251Please respect copyright.PENANA8xF3XxvmiN
He doesn’t want that to happen again. And because of that, he wants to create a vow, right here and now. Sucking in a deep and determined breath, Rafe clenches his fists.251Please respect copyright.PENANA3QmqRzJZLR
I vow that I will become a better man and will do better for my wife…and especially my children, who have given me a miracle. And with this vow, I’ll make, may the gods of this world witness me…251Please respect copyright.PENANALzwUVnmgmm
“Ysabelle…Her name is Ysabelle. Ysabelle Darlington.”251Please respect copyright.PENANAs889OYM3xC
Midnight smiles and nods in approval. A name that means god’s oath, huh? From the looks of him, I already thought that he was going to do something to make it up to the twins. But I never thought that he’d be like this. Rafe…I hope that your children will appreciate your determination to set things right, just as how you won me over and let you marry my sister.251Please respect copyright.PENANA4DI75Ac7y1
He reaches over and pats Rafe’s back, silently giving the distraught father his support and hoping that everything will turn out alright with him and his family. He was supposed to leave as soon as he knew what the situation was about Raine giving birth. But he decided to stick around and smoothen some rough edges if and when 251Please respect copyright.PENANAG5cM8mpqD6
Rafe gets stuck with trying to patch his family back together.251Please respect copyright.PENANAtoQa32502F
They are Midnight’s family also, so he might as well try and lend a hand, right?251Please respect copyright.PENANAIg6OAEzhZI
***251Please respect copyright.PENANAfDPaGgPStb
Everything is in turmoil. The staff at Darlington Estate has never experienced something so dark and gloomy before. The lady of the house is dead. The nanny who was in charge of the newborn twins also lost her life trying to protect them from the ire of the Master of the house. Only as the maid died did the Master regain his senses. However, he didn’t feel anything at the sight of an innocent’s death before him.251Please respect copyright.PENANAdHOIIUuHlV
Right there and then, he left the naming of the twins to his servants, except for the daughter, who looks so much like his beloved wife, who just passed away. With no one to stop his anger and hatred, he had made a vow that day.251Please respect copyright.PENANABOlUXr3jSq
A vow that he’ll never forget those who had taken the one person he loved the most in his life. And every time he sees, hears, or utters Ysabelle’s name, he will remember. 251Please respect copyright.PENANAr8uNLVNUED
And he will never forget that he lost someone so dear because of this.251Please respect copyright.PENANAv15FQWuPwm
Little did he know, that his small oath was embedded in his soul. Because of his anger and resentment, darkness consumed what love and affection he was supposed to have for his youngest children. The Master of the Darlington name has become corrupted, with no one to stop him or even try to change his mind.251Please respect copyright.PENANAKCBdaBqmrA
And from the dark corners of the room, a tall man with green hair and lavender eyes sighs at the despair. He lifts a hand over his mouth to stop breathing in the heavy and dark energy that fills the room and house. To him, there was little to no hope glimmering in the scene that was happening before him.251Please respect copyright.PENANAtOQQPSQ5wp
He already knew that, even if he tried, nothing could change his brother-in-law’s mind, and nothing could break the oath that he had made. If he doesn’t want to be suffocated by the dark energy that suddenly engulfed the house, he has to leave and be strong.251Please respect copyright.PENANA3YuLQuoukX
However, in order to do that, he has to go back home. Home, where he and Raine lived before they moved here in the Empire. To the mysterious, never-seen-before Elven Kingdom. And once he’s back there, he has to conserve his energy and let the world nourish his soul and power.251Please respect copyright.PENANAOXJQciu6Zs
He has to metamorphosize.251Please respect copyright.PENANAFGidekPzPE
But…if he does that, there’s no telling when he’ll ever wake up.251Please respect copyright.PENANAxZFRVLVoFV
He clenches his hands into a fist and grits his teeth. If he wants to protect the twins and save the home that was once the heart and home of his only beloved sister, he shouldn’t waste any time. He has to go now and undergo metamorphosis so he can wake up sooner and help his niece and nephew.251Please respect copyright.PENANAR2aWkVjyT3
As he left the Darlington estate in a rush, he only hoped that when he woke up, it wouldn’t be too late.251Please respect copyright.PENANAyBviV3OZ88
Little did he know…that in the future, he’d wake up only to witness the death of the Darlington family. Arriving at the Empire five seconds too late, just in time to see the guillotine cut off Ysabelle’s head.251Please respect copyright.PENANAfNI46cdo0k