Page 59 of Plaything of the Dark Elf

“What do you mean? Of course not, you idiot! I was asleep the whole time!” I hold back my hand. Out of annoyance, I nearly use my magic to fling him against the wall. “Are you playing around with me, Irzul? Are you trying to defy my orders?”

“No, sir! That’s not the case at all! Y-You… You–”

“What happened?”

Irzul looks horrified and it’s starting to make me feel concerned. He can’t spit the words out. It takes some effort on my part, but I round the bed and make my way to him. I take him by the shoulders and force him to look at me.

“P-Please, don’t hurt me, sir. I’m doing the best I can, so please–”

“Alright, then. Tell me what happened last night. Quite frankly, I don’t have a fucking clue what you’re talking about, so enlighten me.”

“Sir, do you not remember? Are you sure?”

“Remember what?”

“Y-You were so animated! You opened your eyes! Dalia was the first person who saw you awake, but then you…” Irzul gulps. “You grabbed her by the neck and started choking her, sir.”

“What?” I breathe out. No, no, no. This is wrong. This is all wrong. “I… I don’t remember this happening…”

“But it did! I saw it, as well as three other soldiers! We came into the room when we heard the screams. I don’t know what was going on with you, sir, but you didn’t seem like yourself. You were hurting her and we didn’t know what to do!”

“...And what happened next? Did you help her? What happened, Irzul?” I shake his shoulders. “Tell me!”

“Sir, you… You let go of her throat and yelled at us. You told us to get her out of here and the soldiers abided by your command!”

“I was the one who tossed her out?”

“Yes! You didn’t stop repeating it until she was gone. The soldiers escorted her out of the mansion and we needed three men to hold you down while the healer–”

“Where is she right now? Do you know?”

“No, sir. The soldiers escorted her out last night and we have not seen her since. She must have left. She might have–”

Inadvertently, I shove Irzul out of my way and into the nearest wall.

Fuck. What the fuck.

Dalia. The love of my life, my true mate. I choked her and threw her out of the mansion? I don’t remember anything! This must be a side effect of the potions I took. The delirium. I would never do that to her!

What if it’s too late? What if she thinks I’m a monster and never wants to see me again?

No, this can’t be happening. She and I are supposed to get married! She’s supposed to be by my side and I can’t fucking find her!

“Irzul, get my soldiers! Now!”

I race through the hallways, attracting the attention of every soldier and servant that I pass by. I instruct the soldiers to follow me, amassing a small army of them as I approach the front entrance of my mansion.

I can’t believe this. My one shot at true happiness and I fucked it up without even realizing it. How am I going to get her to forgive me now? Does she think I hate her? That’s the farthest thing from the truth. I love her with everything inside me. She’s the only one I want. The only one who can save me from this fucked up existence I have.

“General Etheron, General Etheron!” Irzul snakes his way through the crowd, pushing his way through my soldiers to reach my side. “This is a bad idea, sir! You need to recover from your injuries!”

“Fuck that.” I wince. “I need to find Dalia. I don’t care about my injuries.”

“Sir, that’s an incredibly reckless attitude to have! I already told the healer about this and he agrees that you shouldn’t put yourself in harm’s way. If something happens to your wound, it can get infected again and you might not recover!”

“I need to find her! Don’t you understand? It’s my fault that she was thrown out of the mansion! I’m the reason why she’s wandering out there, alone and confused!” She must hate me. I can’t take this. I don’t want to lose her, I love her too much. “We need to find her. If not me, then one of my damn soldiers!”

“Send a small group of them to find her, but you shouldn’t go yourself. It’s too dangerous, sir. Trust me!”

Irzul is making a lot of sense right now, but I don’t want to listen to him. This is all my fault. I’m the one who was injured, I’m the one who went crazy because of the potions and threw her out. I’m the reason why she’s alone.

If someone hurt her…

No. I can’t focus on that right now. I need to find her as soon as possible, or else I’m going to start going crazy. I can’t afford to tear through another batch of servants and soldiers. My superiors will start asking questions.

“Search everywhere for her, then!” I yell, which causes my soldiers to leap into action. “Find her and bring her to me!”

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