Disciple of Madness

[A/N: The book has finally been contracted. Special thanks to Raven_011 and ChubbyLiv for your unwavering support.]

At thEra

A girl trotted down a wide hallway flanked by guards wearing navy blue armor. Her slippers tapped the ground gently as she huddled her figure into the cozy jacket she was wearing.

Hands in her pockets, she glanced to her left as she overlooked the estate grounds. Her bluish irises took in the forms, the movements of the people she had negotiated with moments ago.

"Dino." She called out.

One of the guards behind her stepped forward and walked beside her, his posture respectful while radiating authority at the same time.

She commanded him in a calm voice. "Find out a mole in their group. Turn them to our cause and make them rat out the internal affairs of their state.

This family... needs to be dealt with a heavy hand."

Dino bowed slightly as he said, "As you wish, Princess."

She glanced at him as she asked, "Any more suitors left those oldies want me to meet?"

Dino shook his head in reply. She sighed in apparent relief as she muttered under her breath, "Why don't they understand I am already engaged?"

She looked down at the shimmering surface of the diamond ring embedded on her ring finger. Then smiling lightly, she strode forward.

She took few turns and soon the company halted in front of a door. The guards immediately spread outside the door, intenting on guarding it as their lady went inside the room.

Closing the door behind her with a small thud, she looked at the desk. A man in his fifties sat there, scribbling something in a frenzy.

As she entered, the man's head snapped up. Seeing who it was, he immediately stood up from his seat in a hurry almost dropping the desktop computer on the floor.

He glanced around his own office-- a mess of papers and documents, both read and unread tucked hapazardly in the shelves.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead as he greeted the lady. "It's rare to see you here, Miss Bianchi. To what do I owe this visit?"

Evelyn raised her hand as she calmed down the man.

"There is no need for such formalities here, Uncle Prochio. As for why I have come, I suppose you should know that."

Uncle Prochio blew air out his mouth as he slumped back in the chair. He looked at Evelyn with tired, bloodshot eyes.

"My niece, this project you make us do... it's not going to bear us any fruit. Trust me this once and leave your pursuit of visiting Zenim."

She didn't reply at first. She sat elegantly on the sofa present in the room and looked at her uncle. Her eyes turned sharper at that moment.

Her hands folded in front of her, she said, "Is this the worth of the Bianchi family? Centuries ago, our forefathers could easily go forth and back to Zenim. Their technology...was it more advanced than ours? No, it wasn't. But their creativity? Their understanding of their powers? They were supreme."

Prochio sighed and clenched his forehead. He thought Evelyn was being stupid. Why go to such extreme measures? This was a waste of good money.

"Princess Evelyn, Zenim is just the Exp famlamd for our people. We don't even plan to contact them. The moment we transfer all their mana to our world, we will cut off the Node connecting us to their planet."

Evelyn fought against the urge to roll her eyes. She asked, "Is that it? Stealing away their mana to our planet? You fail to see how low we have come to be."

Prochio raised his voice. "You shouldn't be questioning the ways of the Union. Even the Seer has given her permission to do so. Can you ever hope to compete her decision?"

Evelyn cast down her eyes. She was unable to bring herself to come to terms with the inhumane cruelty disguised as the lesser evil.

thEra, one of the only four planets where life was known to exist had a desperate shortage of mana. Whatever mana existed were all monopolised by the the Great Families, enclosing them in the barrier surrounding their estates.

Just as the estate Evelyn was currently residing in.

Then there was Zenim, a planet with an abundant capacity of mana in it. The senior officials of the Union of the Great Families of thEra had spent over a decade in building a Node that could connect their planet to Zenim.

Though in reality Evelyn knew that most of the work was done by the Seer alone.

Where Evelyn wanted to be able to enter Zenim, the Seer didn't think along the same line. She selfishly used the Node to send Projections of the real people to Zenim, make them level up by making them think it was all a game and in doing so, transferred their mana to thEra.

Evelyn asked, "How many days after which our people would fuse with their Projections?"

Prochio's forehead wrinkled and he was about to ask her why she wanted to know that. However seeing the cold glint in her eyes, he changed his mind and replied.

"A year at most." He then followed with a quick question, "So was I able to convince you to stop the project you are making us do overtime.... without any additional payment at that?"

Evelyn stood up from the sofa and smoothed over her dress.

Then in a light voice devoid of any malice or I'll intent she said, "Three months. If I don't get the results within that time, you can say goodbye to your life as well as your family."

Saying that, she walked away leaving behind a dumbfounded Prochio...whose legs were slightly shaking at the sudden threat.

'I am a princess, not in name but in blood. As much as I would like my subordinates to be at ease in my presence, I won't tolerate stupidity and someone questioning my authority. Never.'

On her way back, she checked on her best friend and her right hand, Nyx.

She entered the emergency room and found the sleeping figure of Nyx, completely vulnerable and pale at that moment.

The doctor approached her and spoke, "Princess, your friend is stable for now. Don't worry too much. Her vitals are recovering back. However I fear...her mental realm is gone for good."

Evelyn's eyes dimmed as she looked at Nyx. She still can't believe that Nyx would take such a risky step....all so that she didn't disappoint her.

She didn't know whether to feel happy or sad at that.

Nodding to the doctor, she returned back to her throne room.

Shooing away her guards and servants from the room, she sat on the throne. Then she rested her chin on the armrest and in seconds seemed to get lost in thought.

However if one were to look closely into her eyes, they could see her irises had suddenly spilt into two layers.

The outer layer-- her normal blue irises which was looking straight at the wall of her room. However behind them lay another layer, a whitish layer that looked as if she suddenly developed a cataract in her eyes.

Unknown to any, the cataract-like iris was currently looking at things from the vision of another person.

"My Adrian~"