Eve suddenly felt a slight shift in the air, as if Ivan was a little more on edge than usual today. She wondered if it had something to do with her killing those creatures called Darkrots, beings she had never heard of before.
Evelyn looked at him for a few seconds then she said, "Okay, I'll try to answer everything I know. But will you answer some of my questions in return?"
The ghost of a smile formed on his face as he saw her trying to make a deal with him. 'How cute,' he thought.
"Hm, first question, did you know you had powers to do something like that before?" He asked in a calm voice, keeping his gaze fixed on her, his senses fully attuned to hers, ready to detect any hint of lies.
"No, not in this capacity...to melt those things out there. All I know is that, being a Lumen, I did have some powers, but they were too weak to be considered as anything," she said, giving a straightforward answer.
Ivan stared at her and then said, "Alright, next quest-"
"Wait, isn't it my turn to ask you one?" asked Eve.
"Hm, I don't think I agreed for this to be a give and take, Princess. It's going to be very simple, I ask and you answer. And if I am satisfied with all your answers, I might answer one or two of your questions. Is that clear?"
"That's not fair," she said softly, looking into his molten red eyes.
He gave her a devastating smile, yet his eyes turned colder as he said, "Nothing is ever fair, Princess. The sooner you realise that fact, the better decisions you'll make."
Eve could sense that something was off in the way he said it, but decided to keep her thoughts to herself. She cleared her throat slightly and said, "Your next question."
"Why were you there today? In that part of the town, all alone?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her as if suspecting something.
Evelyn caught the slight suspicion in his voice and expression, and was not pleased by it. But she decided to be honest, hoping to bring his interrogation to an end.
She sighed softly, looked directly in eyes with a calm expression and responded, "I was out with Cece to roam around the market area and shop. For the first half of the day, we were in Crimson Hollow and by the evening, we decided to take a quick look at Raven Street since I had never been to either of them."
Her eyes shifted from him to the glowing city below and she continued, her voice distant, as if her mind had drifted back to the incident, "I was there for about fifteen minutes when I wanted to try a street candy, so Cece and I went to buy it. As I picked up the candy..I felt my body reacting to something."
Ivan's eyes narrowed further, and he asked, "What kind of reaction?"
"I felt a… pull. A powerful and irresistible pull. It wasn't physical but it gripped something deep within me. I tried to resist it but it called to me so intensely that it became painful to continue resisting it anymore. So I told Cece that I needed to go, I was compelled to give into the pull as if I was meant to do something."
She paused and licked her lips, which had gone dry just thinking about everything that happened next. All the while, Ivan waited for her to finish patiently, his eyes never leaving her.
She continued, "After I left Cece, everything became a blur, as to how I reached that place, I can't even say. I just remember running, as if I were being guided by some unseen force. And then suddenly, I saw those two shadowy figures… and what they did to that poor boy." Her voice trembled slightly.
"I felt so many emotions, but the most overwhelming was rage, so fierce and potent, I don't think I've ever left anything like it before." She turned to look at Ivan.
"I wanted to burn them for committing such blasphemy, and so my powers answered. After that, you had already arrived at the scene."
Ivan was speechless, to say the least. To channel such devastating power out of sheer rage was unheard of, atleast in a Lumen's case. He was realising she wasn't ordinary, no Lumen in history had ever been recorded with the ability to melt a Darkrot or reduce a Dark Stone to ashes.
Eve quietly waited for Ivan to respond. She had told him everything not because of fear, but she herself wanted answers. She hoped he might know something, anything, that could help her understand what was happening.
As she contemplated what all this meant, Ivan stepped forward and brought his hand close to her neck. Suddenly, her eyes widened as the vivid, recurring dreams about him flashed through her mind. She thought he finally decided to drink her blood, so she instinctively stepped back, completely forgetting she was standing on an open platform with no railings at the edges and nearly placing her foot mid-air.
A sharp gasp tore from her throat as gravity pulled her. Her arms flailed helplessly, but before her world could tilt in darkness, Ivan's hands shot out and wrapped around her waist. One of her feet dangled in the air and the other barely touched the edge.
Had Ivan not caught her in time, she would have fallen backwards to an early death.
Ivan just watched her with an unreadable expression, making no attempts to pull her up. He just held her there, suspended in mid air, one foot dangling over the edge.
"Yo.. Your Highness, could you please pull me up?" Eve asked, her voice laced with panic.
Ivan tilted his head slightly and replied, "Why? I thought you were fond of leaping to an early death."
Eve gave him an incredulous look and said, "W-What? Why would I?"
"No? Then why did you step back? Did you think I wouldn't notice?" His eyes narrowed at her again.
"I.. I wasn't.. I thought…" Eve let out a frustrated sigh, "Your Highness, can you at least pull me enough to be upright? My back hurts like this and I can't answer your questions properly this way."
"Fine. But should you lie, you know what awaits you.." He shifted his gaze from her to glance meaningfully below, then back to her again.
Evelyn swallowed hard, contemplating whether this was a good time to embrace death instead. But as she turned her head slightly to glance at what awaited her below, her heart pounded wildly. She shut her eyes tightly and whispered, "I understand… Please.. can you pull me up?"
She could not believe she was being threatened by this devil just to get answers out of her. All she could do was curse her luck. She had thought today would be the best day of her life but it was quickly tumbling down the chart.
She finally felt his strong arms tightened around her, pulling her upright and pressed her against his firm body, but made no attempt to step back.
She quickly grabbed the front of his shirt, clinging to whatever safety she could find. Her breathing was harsh and her heart was still pounding. She took several deep breaths before she heard him ask,
"So, Princess… answer my question. Why have you been ignoring me for the past couple of days?"