"Oh shit,"
Katherine gasped sharply when she saw that the paralysis potion did not affect William at all.
For a brief second, disbelief froze her in place, her eyes were locked on his unaffected posture and clear gaze.
Then panic took over her completely.
She spun around and bolted toward the door, grabbing the handle with trembling hands and yanking at it with all her strength.
The door did not budge.
Before she could react again, a hand settled on her shoulder.
The sudden sensation stole the air from her lungs, and her heart beat wildly in fear and panic.
"Remind ," William murmured close to her ear in a muffled voice, "to never trust your words again."
Before she could scream, his hand struck the back of her neck with precise force.
Her body went slack instantly, and he consciousness slipped away as darkness swallowed her vision.
Ti passed....
How much ti, she could not tell.
Blub... blub... blub...
A slow and heavy bubbling sound seeped into her awareness, accompanied by a dull heat pressing against her back.
Katherine groaned faintly, her brows knitted together as she struggled to wake.
Her eyelids fluttered open, and the first thing she saw was William’s face hovering above her.
An orange glow danced across his features.
Her vision sharpened just enough for understanding to strike.
She realized she was being carried in his arms in a princess carry position. Panic surged through her chest, and she tried to thrash instinctively.
"Trust ," William said calmly, adjusting his grip, "you don’t want to do that."
His tone stopped her movent, if only for a second.
Her eyes shifted to the source of the orange light reflecting on his face. She turned her head carefully, and what she saw made her heart drop violently.
She realised that William was hovering in the air.
Below them stretched a deep lava pit.
Molten rock churned slowly, glowing and bubbling, sending waves of heat upward.
Splashes of lava sizzeled up. Katherine’s breath hitched as fear slamd into her full force.
She panicked, and in that struggle, an intricate bracelet on her hand slipped and fell into the lavapit, swallowing it completely, confirming to her that this was not a dream.
She panicked completely.
Her arms flailed for a mont before instinct took over, and she clutched William’s neck tightly.
Her fingers dug into his collar as if her life depended on it.
"William!" she cried out.
"William, where have you brought ?" Her voice trembled as she looked down again, terror etched across her face.
William had brought her into the Domain of Infinity, positioning them near a lava pit he had added recently.
The system had allowed modifications to the domain in exchange for shop points, and the cost of creating a lava pit had been insignificant to him at the ti. He had chosen it without much thought.
Now, it served a purpose.
"Let’s... let’s go back and talk, right?" Katherine said quickly, her tone took a 360-degree turn.
Her voice had now grown softer, sweeter as desperation slipped through every word.
Her nails kept digging into his neck as she clung to him, her body had beco tense as she braced herself, clearly afraid that he might simply let go and drop her into the hellish pit below.
"I was deceived once," William said, a faint cold smile touched his lips, "but not again, Katherine."
"Oh, Willy," she blurted out, "what do you want? Just say it, but don’t throw in there. I’m still too young."
Her words tumbled over each other as she shifted restlessly in his arms, fear making his grip tighten and loosen again and again.
"Fine," he said at last. "Take an oath under the heavens. Swear that for the next hour, whatever I ask you, you will answer honestly. If you lie, heavenly punishnt will follow."
Katherine barely hesitated. Compared to the threat of being dropped into molten lava, the oath felt insignificant.
"I swear under the na of the heavens," she rattled off quickly, "that I won’t lie to William Kaiser for the next hour."
The mont the oath concluded, William moved in the air.
He carried her away from the edge of the pit and set her down carefully on solid ground.
Her legs buckled slightly as he released her, and she stumbled forward, dropping to her knees.
She sucked in deep breaths, relief washing over her in uneven waves, and sweat dripped from her head.
William retrieved two chairs from his inventory and placed them nearby, motioning for her to sit.
Katherine obeyed imdiately, still shaken from earlier, her hands rested on her knees as she tried to steady herself.
Once they were seated, William leaned back slightly and spoke again.
"How did you know?"
Katherine let out a tired sigh and pressed her palm to her forehead. "You left your blue hair behind," she said simply. "When you fed your blood in the wagon that day."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vessel, holding it up. Inside, several strands of unmistakable blue hair were preserved carefully.
William raised an eyebrow. "A lot of people have blue hair. How did you know it was mine?"
Katherine looked at him as if the answer were obvious. "The scent of your blood. The day you saved , I morized it. Later, during the trials, when you spilled blood while fighting Vorin, I recognized it imdiately. That’s when I knew it was you."
William clicked his tongue quietly, annoyance flickering across his face.
[See, this is exactly why I was against the idea of mixing your blood into the academy’s drinking water.]
William ignored the system for the mont.
"And how did you know White Raven and I were connected?" he asked.
"You wear similar masks," Katherine replied. "And he brought Seraphine back unhard. It was a hunch, but your reaction earlier confird it."
William exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair.
"How many people know about ?" Another question followed, swallowing as his mind raced through possible consequences.
"Only ," Katherine answered imdiately. "I haven’t even told Sera."
Relief washed through him, loosening the tension in his shoulders.
"What do you need to stay quiet?" William asked next, his tone was serious, he needed to stop her here.
"I want your blood," Katherine replied without hesitation.
"Why?" he asked.
"It tastes good," she said plainly. "And it helps grow stronger."
William stared at her for a long mont before sighing heavily.
"Then make another oath under the heavens," he said.
Her eyes lit up. "You’ll let drink your blood?"
"Do you think I have a choice?" William muttered through clenched teeth.
"I’ll give you one bottle of my blood every week," he said, rising from his chair, ready to leave the realm with her.
"No," Katherine said quickly, licking her lips unconsciously. "I want it directly from you."
William stopped as he was about to put the chair back.
"What?" His eyes narrowed dangerously.
"I want to feed on fresh blood directly from you. Stored blood only mutes the hunger, but only after I’ve dug my teeth into the flesh do I feel satisfied," she said as her eyes glimred with sothing that made his head ache instantly.
Silence hung between them as William realized this conversation was far from over.
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