Chapter 161: A Gift

Things worked out perfectly. The vampires believed that the ratfolks I turned into ghouls carried out the massacre, and Khalissi was able to make her escape after defeating the lich. For the next few days, I did nothing. I wanted the city to go back to the way it was before. I wanted them to go back to thinking they were safe.

I had already planted a seed, which was the ghouls I now controlled. I thought everything was going according to plan until I got a visit that destroyed my entire fabric of reality. Three of the ghouls I turned showed up at the inn I was staying in.

I brought them to my room where we could have a private talk together. The three ghouls shifted uncomfortably as they stood in front of me. One of them, a young ghoul in his early twenties, held a stylish pink box in his hand. The box was tied with a flashy red bow.

“My alpha, we have a gift for you,” he said, stretching out the box towards me.

“A gift?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “I gave you an express command not to leave Grey Waste unless it was something important, and yet you came here just to give me a gift?”

Sensing my disapproval, the three immediately bowed their heads, their breaths shaky. They looked as if they wanted to lower themselves through the ground.

“The gift isn’t ours!” one of them quickly sputtered out. “We found it in Grey Waste; it was addressed to you.”

The ghoul that spoke was a chubby young male with a pair of glasses. Looking at him, I got the impression that he was smart. Not because he wore glasses, of course, but by the way he spoke. Unlike the others, he thought about what he would say before saying it.

“What do you mean addressed?” I asked, this time more interested in what this box might’ve contained.

“There was a note on it. It just said ’For the wolf.’ We were afraid that it might be something important, so we rushed to bring it here.”

Hearing the words of the ghouls, I began focusing on the box a little more, and I immediately noticed something: I couldn’t sense what was inside. Whatever was in it had no scent or heat signature. Even when the ghouls moved the box around, there was no sound coming from it.

“The box seems to be protected by some sort of magic so you can’t figure out what’s inside until you open it,” Glasses-kun explained.

That explained why I can’t sense what’s inside.

“My alpha, if I may…” Glasses-kun said. He looked as if he wanted to say something but was a bit hesitant.

“Go ahead,” I said with a flicker of my hand, giving him permission to speak.

The glasses on his face refracted the light of the sun as he adjusted them and began to speak.

“There is a strong possibility that this may be a trap. Some sort of magic device that may go off the moment you open the box.”

“You’re right,” I agreed, which caused his lips to curve up into a satisfied smile.

“For that reason, may I suggest that you use me as a martyr so in case anything happens, you won’t suffer harm.”

“You would really volunteer yourself to be a martyr?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course! I would do anything for the king that liberated us and gave us power. We no longer have slave-quality blood thanks to you. We finally have beast-quality blood. Not to mention that you liberated us from the vampires. It wasn’t the djinn; it was you. Our king. We would all be honored to die for you,” he said, and all the others nodded along.

Each of them looked as if they wanted to be the one to open the box, but it was an unnecessary risk. I always had my shadow hounds positioned so I could teleport at any time. Plus, I could always ask the person lurking outside my door to inspect the box for me.

“Come in, witch. I know you’re there.”

The moment I spoke, the ghouls turned to the door; they didn’t even realize that she was hiding out there all along. Soon the door creaked open, and Ember stepped in. Even though she was just caught peeping, she still acted proudly and entered the room with her head held high as if she owned the place.

She promptly took the box from the ghouls’ hand without saying a word and began scanning with her magic. After a while, she finally confirmed it.

“The magic covering the box isn’t dangerous, neither is whatever is inside the box. I could break the spell concealing what’s inside, but it would be easier if you just opened it,” Ember said before tossing the box towards me.

The box landed perfectly in my lap without me needing to make an effort to catch it.

“Come on, open it,” Ember urged. She looked more eager than me to see what was inside even though she tried to hide it.

I did as they all were eager for me to do and began opening the box, but the moment my hand touched the ribbon, an ominous feeling ripped through my chest and my throat went dry in an instant. I tried to move my hand, but my body didn’t seem to be reacting.

“Is everything okay?” Ember asked, looking at me worriedly.

My senses were screaming at me not to open the box. Suddenly, the box seemed to get heavier. In my mind, I knew it was the same weight it always was, but at this moment, it felt crushing, as if this tiny box somehow held the whole world.

I clenched the bow tightly and took a deep breath before slowly untying the bow. The red bow easily slipped off, and the moment it did, my senses picked up.

’I recognized that scent… NO! It can’t be!’

My hands shook uncontrollably as I slowly opened the box, and the moment I did, it felt as if the whole world crumbled in that instant.

This…

It can’t be…

“Isabella?”

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