“Is it my fault that I want to live with the person I love?”

Unexpectedly, drops of tears ran down on Nicholas’s cheeks where the blood had already marked.

In fact, the blood on his own cheeks was not even his. It was from the dozens of soldiers whose lives were taken by Nicholas with his own hands and his fingers now stained with their blood. Those poor bodies scattered around the edges of the ragged rocks, hearts torn, arms broken. Armours once shone now soaked with blood. Still, Nicholas hadn’t even moved an inch from where he stood. 

That’s how ferocious and dangerous he is. Nicholas Vespertine, the current Duke of Westhill, the devil I am facing with. Still, he dared grief about his life, probably thinking that we were foolish enough to be blinded by his crocodile tears.

“Don’t you dare” I glared at him ,my teeth baring. He frowned, his golden eyes looking directly at mine, with malice, frustration and anger. That was what I thought until I noticed his desperate eyes slowly shifted from mine to the person behind me. Sophia. Quickly, I turned back to see her in order to make sure that she was not harmed. Yet. 

She returned a silent gaze through her weak purple eyes blackened by dark eye bags under them. They were not as bright as they used to be. They were not. But this won’t last for too long. I reassured myself. Without any words spoken, she smiled at me. Perhaps she realized what I was thinking, or she wanted me not to worry about her. Either way, I released a soft sigh and nodded.

Behind me was the love of my life whom I had sworn to protect at all costs and cherish but my front lied a scowl on a face with purple veins which looked like they were about to explode in a minute. In a second, I prepared my battle stance: gripping the metal hand of the glittering blade thirsting for blood. He too was observing my every inch of my movement and strode towards me. Ominous atmosphere filled my lungs as his bloody boots took another step, drawing the distance between him and me closer. No weapon was on his hands until he drew out a sword on the dead soldier’s heart. 

All of sudden. Blood spat around his face like a pump and painted to make him look more intimidating but isn’t he the devil already? Confirming, he paid no effort to wipe the blood on his face down, instead, his tongue cleaned the area around his lips, savouring blood of the flesh. Even though I spent my days and nights for seven years straight in blood-filled battlegrounds; Nicholas was the closet spitting image of the devil. I gulped and squeezed myself in the metal armour, clenching the sword even harder and my heart beating faster. Now he was about several metres from me; that’s when I could see his face clear enough.

“.. lia” “lia..” His lips repeated the same words as if he were reading the prayers. I scoffed.

“Please.” he hesitated. “Please, hand Sophia over and all of this will be over.” He held out his blood stained hand. “I won’t hurt her.”

“You won’t hurt her?! For God’ sake, the hell I believe you!” I raised my eyebrow. “You almost killed her twice and always seek out for the ways to kill her.”

He sighed. “Don’t blame me.”

The anger boiled inside my body and built up a shout. “Listen! You-!” Sophia put her hand on my trembling shoulder and stepped forward.

“Nicholas,” she captured his attention. “I know that you have been suffering a lot since my sister’s loss of life. I know that you are still longing for her. So is everyone else.” Sophia cleared her throat.

“But I am not her substitute.” She raised her voice, higher than I’ve ever heard. “I am not her and sister wouldn’t be happy to see you like this.” I slightly smiled as I was proud of the delicate lady beside me facing the devil and defending herself.

He frowned his eyebrow to her words. Harsh and bitter.

And suddenly he laughed.

“I too know very well of the fact that you are not HER.” Nicholas gritted his teeth. “And you will never be her.” in a low voice, mockingly he hissed. 

“But I am trying to make you “her”."

His devilish smirk sent shivers down to my spine and also to Sophia who was shaking terribly. I tried to reach for Sophia, but her eyes went dark as she turned to face me. In a spilt second. Terror was written all over her face as her mouth wide-open, uttering some words I couldn’t hear. I could not hear. 

A loud thud deafened my ears as the world went black. All black.

“AH! ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER!” I almost threw my phone in excitement and anger as I have finished reading the latest chapter of my favourite online novel one second ago. But of course, how could I throw my precious phone away? I rubbed my cheeks again the screen as if I were apologising to my dear phone. Then, the sudden “Buzz” vibrated and slapped my cheeks. 

“What is this?”

The notification said, “Important Notice.” And I clicked.

Hello, everyone. This is the author of “The Blissed Hero. I am sorry to announce that I am taking two weeks hiatus due to personal issues and the final chapter, chapter 90 will be published on….

What? A hiatus? I dropped my phone. Deep down in my heart, I felt void. The complete void. 

“Why?” I complained to no other person in the room than me. Feeling burned out, I threw myself to the mattress. Soft enough. I stretched my arms and legs as if I were floating in the sea. Sea of dispiritedness. I stared blankly at the ceiling where the dust formed up. Even though there is nothing aside the dust, my eyes were fixated. There was a moment of silence; hearing my own breath was the loudest noise ever.

“BUZZ” Again, it freaked me out. I crawled towards the side table where the origin of “buzz” was.

The notification said, “The Final Chapter of the Blissed Hero. Click to read”

Didn’t author just make an announcement about the hiatus? Then why.. My eyes stared at the screen while my brain was flooded with thousands of incessant thoughts : Is this a scam?

Did Author really change their mind and publish this?

But this notification is coming straight from the website so there’s no doubt about it.

Is this really the final chapter?

If so, am I ready to read it? I grasped my phone.

Am I really ready to witness the ending of my favourite novel?

That thought struck me right into my heart. I gulped. I stared at the notification banner until my eyes got nearly burnt by its brightness. Contemplating whether to read the final chapter or not but you already knew the answer, right? Again, I swallowed down my saliva and slowly reached for the “click to open” button as my heart jumped faster and faster, out of my body.

“Ah!” My heart skipped a beat when the notification banner faded. Letting a sigh out, I typed in my password and dashed to the website. Even though I knew that the notification was not a scam, still my heart felt heavy. Suspicious actually.

What if there is no chapter 90 or no notification?

What if that notification was from some random story they advertised.

What if…

I was drowning into the sea of what ifs. What could have happened and what if.

I shook my head, dropping all my what ifs and continued scrolling to the last chapter. The last chapter. And I found it. My widened mouth reflected on the screen as I clicked the final chapter.

“The truth you believe is the lie indeed.” As Nicholas’s resentful smirk took over my eyes before I blacked out.”

And suddenly the world was black. All black.