The King's Dark Obsession

Chapter 14

In the middle of the night.

Sasha tossed and turned on the bed with a frown on her face. She was sleeping just fine until she turned to her right side while half asleep and began to feel uncomfortable and very cold. She pulled the duvet up to her head and curled herself in a ball but that didn't help at all.

Why was she even feeling cold when all the windows were closed along with the door? Even though the candles were still lit, she didn't blow them off before sleeping because she was too scared to sleep in the dark ever since weird incidents started to happen to her. 

With a frown on her face, she slowly blinked her eyes open and got on her elbow. She looked around the room with squinted eyes and realized that the candles were no longer enlightening the room. The room was completely indulged in darkness and just a little moonlight was coming through the slit between the curtains. With a groan, she dropped back on the cushion only for her body to completely freeze.

From the corner of her eye, she could see someone sitting on the sofa.

Sasha felt her blood going cold and her body going stiff like a statue. Her wide eyes stared up at the ceiling, her heart began to beat at an abnormal pace and her palms that were in a fist began to sweat with a little tremor.

She couldn't believe it.

He even made his way here.

Tears blurred her sight as she slowly turned her head to the right where the sofa was. She flinched badly and immediately sat up straight, her body facing the sofa as she began to scoot back on the bed, on the verge of having a panic attack.

She couldn't see his face...but she could see his body. His posture was screaming a totally different language from the current situation. That body language of his was calm yet predatory. Sasha almost fell off the bed, she didn't realize when she turned around and got up only to fall down on the floor because her legs got entangled in the duvet. A painful hiss left her lips when she sprained her ankle.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk."

Sasha's breath stifled upon hearing that. The fear that was consuming her at the moment was much more than the pain in her ankle. Without another thought, she stood up and limped towards the door, and just like that she found herself running and limping through the maze of corridors in the middle of the night.

Barefoot.

Where was everyone?

She couldn't find a single maid or servant, not even a guard. She didn't know where Jasper or Granny's room was and for some reason, she kept coming across the same vase, the same tree that could be seen outside through the open corridor. There was no guard outside either. Besides the vase, there was a huge door that kept coming into her sight again and again.

It was really suspicious.

Finding not even a single soul and coming across the same tree, gate, and vase again and again. Sasha slowly halted beside the gate, huffing and puffing with her hands on her knees. She was trying to catch her breath.

Standing up straight, she wiped her tears and pinched herself because she thought this only happens in dreams but no, it was all really happening with her.

She was lost and kept running in the same corridor again and again without even realizing it because she was too scared. Fear took over her and her mind almost stopped working there.

She slowly turned around while panting and a zap of horror ran down her spine when she saw nothing but darkness in the corridor. With a small shaky breath, she immediately turned towards the gate. She was expecting the gate to be chained but fortunately, it wasn't.

She pushed open the gate with much effort and immediately closed it as well with the same effort without looking around her once. She was tense as ever as she slowly turned around and attached her back to the gate, trying to calm herself down. She opened her eyes and her pupils dilated when she realized that she was in the conference hall that was surrounded by candles everywhere, subsiding her fear a little.

Even the huge lamps on the ceiling were glowing, making the fancy surroundings more than clear to one's eye. With a deep breath, she began to walk further. Royals seats were placed on either side for the respected higher-ups. Her eyes went up towards the throne in the middle of the hall and her heart skipped a beat in fear.

What kind of a throne was this?

The stairs had a red carpet resting on it as it led to the throne on the top. The seat had red velvet clothing but the exterior of the throne was huge spiky brown coloured wood. One could easily die from that sharp tip of that spiky wood and one would be torn to shreds if he was pushed against it. The throne was surrounded by it, from bottom to top.

It looked really exotic and matched King Ragnar's personality.

There were two pillars on either side of the throne, something was written on them but Sasha clearly couldn't understand the language carved on them. Maybe, the language was ancient like the castle as well. She flinched and her heart almost came to her mouth when a sharp gust of wind caressed her back. She abruptly turned around and looked here and there to see from where the wind came. It touched her but didn't blow off the candles.

To her horror, there was no window in the hall.

Goosebumps raised on her skin and she looked towards the gate, reading to leave but what she heard next had her completely pausing on her steps as her whole being froze in sheer terror.

"My little Missy." 

Sasha wanted to breathe but she couldn't.

"It's been a long time." 

She wanted to run away but she couldn't.

Her body was stiff and her breath was stifled.

She immediately shook her head and consoled herself by taking this all as a dream. With so much dug-up courage, she slowly turned on her bare foot and looked up at the throne.

Her lips parted with a tremble, her eyes going wide in shock as she stared at the man sitting on the throne, horrified out of her wits upon seeing that all-too-familiar face. 

"L-Luan." She whispered under her breath and he smirked at her, flexing his dimples. "I like to hear that name from your lips but unfortunately my real name is not Luan."

"It's Ragnar, Sasha."

His name from her mouth sends shivers down her spine.

"R-R-Ragnar?" Sasha stuttered, her orbs throbbing in terror. Her mind refused to believe but her eyes saw otherwise. He was sitting on his throne, his legs carelessly spread open, his right elbow on the armrest of the throne with his right hand which was turned into a fist was propping up his cheek. He had long dark silver hair like King Ragnar, he was wearing the same black suit that King Ragnar was wearing today, but his eyes were no longer cold.

His eyes had that all too familiar evil and amused glint that the monster always had in his eyes. His nose was the same as that monster, his lips were the same as that monster and even the vertical scar on his jaw was there.

King Ragnar was Luan all this time.

Luan helped her with that book, he was staring at her through the window, he kissed her hand two times, he was in her room on her wedding night before leaving, and he was staring at her at the dinner table. It was him...the nightmare she feared all this time.