Chapter 189 - No Escape

Chapter 189 - No Escape
ADELINE
Caelum was the first to move. The moment my mask fell and my name spilled from his lips, a hush broke into murmurs. “Lady Adeline…” He rushed through the cluster of nobles, reaching my side and pulling me gently to my feet. His hand lingered against my arm as if to shield me from all the eyes pricking into me like knives.
“Are you hurt?” he asked urgently, his voice pitched soft, yet threaded with authority. His gaze swept over me like he wanted to claim me before everyone else in the room could.
But I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. My breath hitched when my eyes lifted and locked on Eloise.
My mother hadn’t moved an inch. She stood as if carved from stone, lips pressed thin, eyes blazing in barely contained fury. The fury of a woman who had just seen her carefully spun web tugged out of shape in front of half the court.
The silence was crushing. Ivan’s fists curled at his sides. He took half a step forward, desperate to reach his sister, but stopped himself before suspicion could fall on him too. His jaw tightened, he could do nothing.
By his side, Princess Kaira leaned closer, her voice low, curious. “I thought her name was Liora.”
Ivan’s throat tightened. He forced a shrug, casual, careless, though sweat prickled at the back of his neck. “Names can be… confusing.”
Kaira’s eyes lingered on him, sharp, unconvinced, but she said no more.
Meanwhile, my pulse raced. My humiliation burned deep, but worse, my gaze darted back to the end of the ballroom, to the place I’d seen him.
The hooded prince.
He was gone.
The shadowed corner where he had been was empty now, as though he had never been there at all. My chest tightened, my throat ached. It wasn’t the fall, it wasn’t the whispers of the nobles, but it was this emptiness that hurt. I had wanted to see even the smallest sign that the remedies mattered. That I mattered. But the marks were still there. He was still broken. And now, watching him vanish from my sight, I felt the harsh sting of reality: if I couldn’t heal him, if I couldn’t ease the torment etched into his skin, then why would he ever help me escape my own chains?
The chain of my marriage.
My marriage… with Caelum.
Caelum’s hand pressed gently against my arm again, his voice steady, protective, almost too confident. “Let me take you home,” he said softly. “You shouldn’t stay here like this.”
My heart slammed against my ribs. Home. What home? His home? Eloise’s cage? My prison.
I shook my head sharply and pushed his hand away, my movements small but firm enough to draw a few gasps from onlookers. “No,” I said, voice trembling but laced with steel. “I’m fine. I don’t need your help.”
The crowd buzzed, exchanging whispers, but soon, as though directed by an unseen conductor, the music rose again. Nobles returned to their dancing and chatter, the crash of glass and the reveal of a daughter’s defiance slowly sinking beneath the glitter of the light.
But Eloise never took her eyes off me.
My fingers shook as I gathered my skirts, my pride my only shield. Without another word, I turned and walked out of the ballroom.
Every step I took away from the chandeliers and laughter felt heavier, lonelier.
Behind me, Eloise’s fury simmered, Caelum’s claim burned, Ivan’s worry deepened, and the hooded prince whom I wanted to be safe, had disappeared like a shadow.
The carriages rolled to a stop at the mansion gates, lantern light spilling against the stone walls. Ivan stepped down first, offering his hand to his mother, though her face was unreadable, still masked with the composure she had worn throughout the ball.
I stood just inside the grand entryway, waiting. My palms were clammy, my heart hammering so loud I feared they might hear it. Every second stretched thin as I braced myself, ready for whatever storm my mother was about to unleash.
When Eloise’s sharp gaze finally fell on me, I swallowed hard, my legs threatening to buckle beneath me.
But to my greatest surprise, Eloise’s voice was smooth, almost soft. “Are you… all right?”
I blinked, thrown off balance. I hesitated before stammering, “Y-yes… I’m fine, Mother.”
“Good,” Eloise said with a chilling calmness, the kind that made Ivan glance sideways, sensing the storm hidden under the still waters.
Then, as if a switch had been flipped, Eloise’s voice hardened. She straightened her posture, every inch the powerful matriarch, and snapped her fingers. “You there,” she called sharply to one of the maids scurrying nearby. “Take her. Lock her in my sanctuary.”
My heart lurched. “W-what?”
“And,” Eloise continued, her tone unyielding, “see to it that everything is prepared for the ceremony tonight. Dress, carriage, vows… everything.”
The words slammed into my chest like a blow. “Tonight?” I gasped. “But… you can’t! We can’t do anything at night, the spirit beasts…”
“Enough!” Eloise’s voice cracked like a whip, echoing through the hall. The fury she had restrained at the ball now tore through her expression. “That is not for you to question! You will do as I say. Or…” she stepped closer, her eyes narrowing to slits, her words sharp as knives “...I will send you back to the darkness where you came from.”
Where I came from? She means back to my sleep.
I froze. The venom in my mother’s tone made my blood run cold.
The maid stepped forward reluctantly, bowing her head before taking my arm. “This way, my lady…”
I tried to pull back, desperation rising in my chest. “No, please—”
“Silence!” Eloise barked, her hand slicing through the air. “Take her. Lock her up. She’ll be dressed before midnight, and the carriage will be ready.”
Ivan stood stiff, his fists clenched at his sides. He wanted to intervene, to speak up, but his mother’s authority rooted him in place. He could only watch as I wide, frightened eyes met his silently pleading before I was dragged down the corridor toward Eloise’s sanctuary.
The sound of my protests echoed faintly through the marble halls, until the heavy door of the sanctuary slammed shut.
And the house fell back into silence.