Chapter 34 System User, Logged Out
They arrived Satyr by nightfall— and contrary to popular belief, the place was magnificent.
Thomas did not cross that barrier into that land, an act that Amir said was because he was fully aware that there was something else protecting that land, another powerful being similar to him, and according to all the research they had done, would rather not fight another mana beast.
But let’s go back to how Satyr looks.
First of, the sky looked like a thousand different colored fireflies burning in the dark blue sky with the northern lights. It didn’t seem to have the sun as well. Just two moons— one looked the same as the normal one, and the second looked sick, and strange. The trees were larger than any trees she had seen, like willow trees, with lights strung all over them and houses on it.
The grass looked so beautiful, like that carpet grass she tried to have once for Black Friday and realized she didn’t even have enough money to go to the damned store.
And right in the middle was a glistening beautiful lake!
The second they arrived, the elves seemed to stop what they were doing and hurry to them, each one blabbering in a language Maeve was slowly beginning to realize that she didn’t understand. Or she didn’t until she called out for NACE as quietly as she possibly could and saw the system say, \[ANNOUNCE THAT HE IS YOUR HUSBAND AND I WILL UPDATE THAT SKILL FOR YOU RIGHT NOW\]
Adrian, who was right next to her, couldn’t see NACE but could tell the woman right next to him was staring daggers at something else and wondered if it was because of the elves who were all circling Amir— women and children included.
Then he wondered if she was feeling jealous until he heard her say, “Whatever happens next, you must promise to maintain decorum no matter what, okay?”
He was close to refusing her, very close— but he also knew that saying no to her was pointless. She always ended up doing what she wanted anyway. His opinions on things on the other hand…
He gave a brisk nod.
What happened next, he could have never seen coming.
Them glaring at her, some gasping, her instantly looking confused, then aware that she had made a mistake before whispering a soft ‘sorry’ to Adrian, then both of them being cuffed and locked here.
“You can stop glaring at me, Adrian. I can feel it drilling into my skull, it is making me lose my appetite,”
Maeve did not even look as if she was EVER going to lose her goddamned appetite.
She was currently seated behind a table with a napkin tucked into her shirt, her legs spread and a hot steaming meal— she could not remember when last she ate just for the fun of it, but God, this was good.
She raised her fork, about to place the food in her mouth before she noticed Adrian was now standing right in front of her. Glaring. Always glaring with that imperial cruelty all royals had. She let out a groan before she placed the utensil down and folded her hands, “Yes? What can I do for you?”
“You got us arrested,”
“And between you and I, this is ten thousand times better than being in a cell, okay?” Maeve replied, waving her hand around. The place in question looked like a treehouse, the largest one either of them had been in, and they were alone… and high up in the air with guards at the door.
Amir, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. The traitor.
But that didn’t matter to a certain someone. Because they were kind enough to present her with food. “Look, I’ve seen the nonsense you people do to your prisoners. Terrible, by the way. This— this is the best way to treat someone you’re suspicious of. I mean, come on, do you think if I’m asked about state secrets, I won’t say anything?”
“State… secrets?”
Maeve picked a piece of bread and bit into it. A moan of pleasure slipped out of her lips as she threw her head back, her eyes rolling to the back of her skull as she said, “Oh. Oh. This is so gooodddd. You should try it!”
The Duke had not been around her for this long before so naturally, he was beyond himself seeing how she was eating. She had already taken a bite of everything in front of her but not in a cute way. It looked like some animal had taken a huge chunk of each thing there. “Do you have self preservation skills? You could be poisoned,”
“Elves cannot kill humans,”
“Maim. Torture—”
“They wouldn’t do any of that though,” Maeve let out a sigh as her hands went to her temples as she slowly began to massage it. “You’re ruining the fun, Mr Duke. Listen, take this as… as vacation! Yes. That. Don’t you ever do that?”
Adrian stopped his pacing, his head slanting so he could look better at her as he asked, “What is that?”
Finally! A topic on Maeve’s speciality!
She rose from the chair, her hands clapping so loud it would have caused anyone else to jolt from the suddenness of it but of course, Adrian stared at her like he now recently did. With a look of ‘how can I be surprised when I know she is mentally ill?’
“Vacation, yes,” She rolled up the sleeves of her gown upwards, a crazed look over her face. “Now, think of it in your terms. You don’t have to walk around with a sword all the time, or guard anyone. In fact, you could take up a hobby! Or— or nothing at all. All you do is rest, eat, and sleep. And you know what the best part is? You don’t get to frown at people all the time!”
“This is how I look all the time.”
Maeve rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. “That’s because you have never had a vacation.”
Adrian did not have any plans on listening to the mad woman. “That sounds utterly irresponsible.”
“YES!” She sounded exasperated, but not in a bad way. No. She looked even more excited as she started to rub her hands together, an evil expression coming to her face as she said, “Just thinking of it… it does something to me.”
“You do not have any plans of us ever leaving this place?”
“WHAT? NO. HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?” Maeve was fully aware of how loud she was yelling. She was also fully aware about the fact that anyone who was eavesdropping would come in if she amped up her volume which she did. “HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN MY HUSBAND BUT I ONLY WEDDED HIM TO GIVE YOUR ROMANCE WITH HIM A CHANCE TO BLOOM,”
Adrian was slowly catching on. And he didn’t like it. Still, if she wanted to draw their attention, they were better ways to do it without lumping him into whatever feelings they were already having towards her. “Think of a better plan. Please—”
Maeve pushed a plate down to the floor. It shattered quite loudly, and she let out a tiny scream. “NO. NO. DON’T TOUCH ME. I—”
Take note that she had felt pain in her life. Any type of pain you could think of? Good. She’d suffered all forms of it. But what happened next was a million times more painful than anything she had endured.
Blinding pain shot through her heart like a bullet all of a sudden. Maeve’s hand instantly reached out for the table, gripping hard onto the sides as another wave of pain flashed through her body, knocking out whatever air she had managed to store inside her body as her hand slipped.
“Isabella!”
\[N̴̦̦̮̎̋̽̇̔̿̈́Ą̸͇͍̇̈́̈́̎̅̈́͑͆͑͠͝C̴̦͇̮͙̤̮̟̝̃̅͊͝Ξ̴̛̗̞͇̰͍̌́̅̑͋̒.̸̛̝̮̇̈́̑̀͌̑̀͋̄ ͏̹͕G̴̛̤͗͋͌̎͗̎͝͠ͅL̸̪̞̼͔̞̲͗̏̿͌̿̓̿̚͘͝I̴̢͔̻͈͆̇̿̀͂̐̈́̚͝͝T̴͍̝̄̍̎͊̒͛̓͊̄̐͘C̸̺̟̪̃̾̽̏́͆̐̈́̚͘H̵̞͖̤̪̦̓̈́̿̒̀͘̕͘͝͝.̵̦͎͕̏͌̈́̇̈́̓̽̏͝ ̛̙͚C̶̪͚͂͂͋̿͌̇̀̚Ú̷̢͙͓̿̓͊̔̿̑͂̽̿R̴̡̰̹͗̈́̔̏̿̔̽͑̐͒S̷̛͎͖̯̗̎͌́̍̏̈́͘͝͝Ȅ̴̛̮̳͓͎͑̑̀̔̈́̚̕.̴̨̬͕̓̔̽̋̈́̾̑̀̎̕ ̴̤̎̎͗́̈́̄̋̚̕͝O̴͉͖̫̓̾̓̿̇̑̈́̄͆͂ͅV̷͔͎͈͚́̇̽̿̾͋̔͘͝Ṟ̴̬̫̀̇̎̄͊̍͛̐̿̔I̴̦̯͗͑̔̏͗̒͗̚D̶̛̛͚̽́̒̈́̄̋̒͑É̶̩̗̳̮̰̘̾̈́̈́͋̇͂̋̏.̴͈̬̐̈́̄̑̇̋̐̾̽ ̴͕́̑͂̈́̅͊͗̏̕͘O̷̝͗̍̈́͗̈́̇̄̋͝P̸̛̝̎͂̍͐̄̕̚͝T̵̨̛̼͎̹͔͊̄͂͂̽͊͘̕ͅI̷͈͚͊̏̿̇̈́̐̀͊̇M̷̛̦̬̰͓͊͗̐̀̄͑̚Ḁ̵̡̨̛̽͂̈́͛̈́̓L̴͓͍̰̈́͌͐̾͆̈́̍́͂͝ ̴̛̛͍̖͙̓̐͛́̔͠͝͝C̷̺̤̀̏̈́́̽͐͊͝A̶̛̹̲̫̪̓͗͂̽̽̈́̀P̵͖̐͐̄͛͂͊̇͋Ȁ̷̹̓̇͐͐͑͆͘͘C̷̛͈͑͌̀̓̐́̚̕I̵̛̛͙̮͈̖͐́̔̽̍͌͝T̴̘͗͑̀̓̄̈́̔͆̈́͝Ỳ̵͙͔͋̔̽̈́̇̑͊̄̈́… ̴̤͊̈́͋͌̿̿͑̓̚Ć̵̱͋͂̾͊̍̓̈́͠Ȓ̵̛̰͖͊͌̈́̈́͆͐͝A̶̖̱̾͛̒̍͗̕͝͝S̶͕̳͔̈́̎̍͂͂͑͌̚͝H̷̨̩̿̽͋̀͌͑̚͝Ī̷̛͓̖̋̈́͑̾͊́͗Ń̶͚̐̀͛̽̈́͌͐͠G̵̤̟͓͎̏̾͂̈́̽͘͝͝ ̷́͋̈́͋͑͛́͛͘͜5̵̗̤̖͉̔͊̍̽͗͌͋͘\]
Fuck. Fuck. Looked like the system got it too.
Ah. Fuck. She could curse now. That doesn’t look good.
The pain felt like her body was burning right from her insides, torching every organ to cinder. She could feel Adrian holding her to his chest, yelling something— saying no one should go close to her. Maeve wanted to tell him to calm down, to breathe but she couldn’t speak.
\[4̵͍͇̪̙̺̈́̑͋̈́͊́͂̕͠\]
He would blame herself if she didn’t say anything, wouldn’t he?
\[3̸̛͉̫̠̠͎͌̈́̾̄́͊͑͐̚\]
This hurt more than the poisoning.
“A… Adr… Ian,”
When his eyes met hers, she saw it. Saw the fear and love burning in his eyes, and for a brief second, she knew he would raze the entire village down to the ground if anything happened to her.
\[2̷͍̩̝̮̞͋̎̏́͌̇́̚̕͝\]
Even if he wasn’t sure this was his Isabella. Even if he didn’t trust her.
A tear slipped down her eye, a small smile coming at her lips as she mouthed, “G-Good… j…job,”
\[1̷͖̪̤̹̮̻̈́̽͌͋̇͌̈́̓͠\]
Then ever so clearly, the system stopped glitching to send this last message, \[MAEVE STRUM HAS LOGGED OUT OF THIS CHAPTER\]
And ladies and gentlemen, Maeve’s heart stopped.