Chapter 34 - The Attempt

CELESTINA VILLARAMA'S POV

Even though I wanted to surrender myself to darkness and let both Ace and Ice take care of me as they see fit, I just can't let my consciousness drift away. I still don't know what kind of trial Ace wanted me to go through, but if this would actually help me out with revoking the curse, then I should just see it through to the end.

"I think she's not in the right condition to do whatever you're planning, Ace. If you won't let her go tonight, then I might have no other choice but to kick you out of here myself," Ice coldly muttered.

My arms were lifted by Ace. He removed Ice's grip on me and let himself take control. "Your role here is done, Ice. I have no other business with you; you can leave the two of us alone now," Ace replied, wrapping both of my arms around his neck after placing me behind him.

I could feel my feet being dragged away as Ace began to step forth, which was immediately stopped by Ice. "At least let me come with you if you have no intention of backing down tonight." He sighed, admitting defeat.

Minutes passed by, and I had entirely no clue as to where the two brought me, but I was certain that they still hadn't left the premises of the bar. Although the noise here is greatly reduced compared to earlier.

"Can you hear me, Celestina?" Ace called for me the second that he dropped me on what seemed to be a soft bed. "At least nod your head if you can see or hear me," he added when I didn't give him any response.

"I..." The words couldn't escape from my mouth, as if my throat had been cut off. So instead of replying with words, I chose to raise my thumb.

I saw Ace placing his thumb below his chin as he held it, contemplating who knows what. "Would you mind telling me who your mate is? Which pack is he from? Have you ever crossed paths with him yet?" He consecutively bombarded me with questions at the same moment that he sat right beside me, while Ice was still standing near the door.

"S-Siege..." I softly mentioned my mate's name, which they couldn't hear, so I repeated, "A-Alpha S-Siege from the Crimson Moon Pack... is my mate."

Ace shook his head twice. "Are you sure of that? I doubt that you already know, but one of the things that Alpha Siege hates the most are lies... He would despise anyone who would dare to tell a lie to him," he said.

I could barely nod my head as an assurance to Ace that I was telling the truth and that I had no plans to lie. My lips slightly parted in an attempt to speak up again, but Ice walked towards our spot and sat at the edge of the bed, a few inches away from the both of us.

"Celestina isn't the type of person to lie, Ace. I can't comprehend why you're still asking her about that... If she says that she's Alpha Siege's mate, then she is Alpha Siege's mate," Ice intervened.

I am more surprised to realize that Ice seemed to know me better than I do, which only gives me more reason to think that we really met somewhere else other than this realm. If only it were possible to determine who used to live in the real world where I came from, then I wouldn't have bothered to keep on troubling myself with these thoughts.

"If that's what you say..." Ace suddenly held my cheeks with one of his hands, forcing me to face him. "If Alpha Siege is your mate... then I believe that your scent would bring him here, right?"

I instantly shut my eyes when I saw that Ace's face was getting closer and closer to mine. I thought that he would try to press his lips on mine, but that didn't occur.

"What were you waiting for?" I saw Ace's playful smirk as soon as I opened my eyes.

Ice quickly pulled Ace away from me, which kind of hurt me since Ace had to suddenly let go of my cheeks without my prior notice. "What the heck are you doing, Ace?! Do you have a death wish?" Ice furiously asked his brother.

Ace shrugged both of his shoulders. "I was just doing my job. This is only the first part of the trial. If she couldn't even pass that one, then I don't think that the curse would ever have the chance of getting revoked."

Even though I was drunk and my mind couldn't function correctly, I knew that the tension between them wasn't that good. The stench of blood crept through my nose, and that's the only time when I noticed that I had bitten my bottom lip deeply.

I saw Ace pulling Ice away from him before he returned his whole attention to me. "This man just doesn't know his place," he murmured to himself. "If you were given a chance to have a night with either one of us... who would you choose?" He pointed his fingers at himself and Ice.

I furrowed my eyebrows before I shook my head, refusing to have a night with anyone among them. "I don't want my first to be taken by someone who isn't my mate," I firmly answered with a stern gaze on Ace, which he probably didn't expect to hear from me, judging from his widening eyes.

A small curl on Ace's lips showed, as if he was finally satisfied with my response. He placed his palm on my head, softly patting it.

However, what I expected to be a simple pat ended up making my memories dazed. A sudden burst of electric shockwaves ran through the insides of my brain. It was like I was being forced to remember a memory fragment that I had lost once.

One was a familiar scene wherein a boy was endlessly running through the midst of the woods, screaming a name that I couldn't properly conceive.

And the other one was a silhouette of a man who was on the verge of his death while trying to protect the people that surrounded him. He was probably offering himself as a sacrifice, if it meant that he would be able to save the lives of many people.

"Can you remember what happened now?" Ace asked, making me go back to my senses.

"No..." I stared blankly as I answered him. "Those... aren't my memories," I uttered in disbelief of what just occurred. Besides, there's no coherent explanation of how Ace was able to rummage through my mind.

Ice held Ace's collar, pushing him to the wall until he was completely pinned to it. "What did you show her?" he asked, which was somehow mixed with a tone of curiosity and anger. "Did you give her memories back?"

"Ice..." I called out to him, which made him glance my way.

I didn't say anything other than his name; I just wanted him to look at me and not anyone else. They literally have the same posture, so I'm a hundred percent sure that it was Ice who was on the second part of the memory fragments that I got from Ace.

"That look in your eyes would mean the end of Alpha Siege's world, Celestina..." Ace pointed out how I somehow stared at Ice with romantic intentions. "As far as we all know, there's nothing holding you back... Alpha Siege rejected you, and he's not even here for you to feel any sort of guilt." He started to crawl on top of me, forcing me to lie on my back, which made me remove my gaze from Ice.

"Are you betraying Alpha Siege?" I asked out of curiosity. "Out of all the people back in the Crimson Moon Pack, you're the only one that I knew who would never dare to make a move behind their backs... Why are you trying so hard to make me seem like I'm not his mate?" I followed up.

If both of them knew about my curse, then there's no other reason for them to be doubtful of me... They should be blaming the Moon Goddess Sarina herself and not making me look like such a bad person.

No matter how much Ice tried to get Ace off of me, he wouldn't budge. "If you want to take me away from Celestina, then you better replace my spot, Ice... That's the only condition for me to set her free," he said to the delta, who later on agreed and got on top of me like I wouldn't even care.

"Apologies for this, Celestina... I figured that it would be better if I were the one in this place than my damn brother, who doesn't know when to stop," Ice murmured with such a soft voice.

Ace snapped one of his fingers, causing both of us to turn our heads to look at him. I thought that he would be telling us something, but no... He disappeared from our sight for a few seconds, then returned with another shot of alcohol in his hand. He gave it to me, and even though I could barely stay sane, I had no choice but to gulp it down in one go.

"That one was fused with silver," Ace informed us.

I pushed Ice out of the way with all my might, making him stumble on the ground as I attempted to spit out the alcohol that was already on the way to my stomach. "W-what are you really after, Ace?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

Ice stood up, tapping my back as he assisted me in sitting properly on the bed once again. "Don't worry, he wasn't serious about that..." He rolled his eyes as he glanced at Ace. "Are your memories... back for good?" he asked, trying to change the topic.

I shook my head furiously. "T-those weren't my memories... I'm sure of it. I never had anything in my mind when I was brought to the Realm of Xenon, so there's no way that Ace was the key for me to recover my memories..." I replied with a bit of doubt.

Ice sighed. He leaned his head on the wall as he pulled both of his legs closer to his body. He placed both of his arms above his knee, glancing up at the ceiling. "What if I told you that those really are your memories? Will you believe me?" His tone sounded serious.

"H-huh?" If those really are mine... Then, does that mean that I already met him before? "I'm sure that... you were there. But, there was also another kid in that memory fragment, which kind of brought back such a miserable sensation to the depths of my heart..." I bowed my head down, thinking about whoever that kid was.

If ever I have the chance to gain all of my memories back, would that be the end of this curse that the moon goddess bestowed upon me?

Ace breathed heavily before he sat on the chair that was on the opposite side of the bed where the two of us were. He rested his chin above his arms, which were both placed on the backrest of his chair. "That child is your mate, Celestina," he briefly said.

I slightly parted my lips, refusing to believe what I just heard. "Mate... That boy who was lost in the woods is Alpha Siege?"

The two of them simultaneously nodded their heads as a response. "Alpha Siege has been searching for you for such a long time already, and when I heard that there was a random woman who appeared inside our realm, I immediately knew that it was you, Celestina..." Ace said. "I got ahead of myself, thinking that Alpha Siege would be the first one to encounter you, but it turned out to be his brother, Master Kristoffer. So I was kind of stuck in between telling the alpha the truth about your identity or keeping my mouth shut for the sake of the beta," he continued.

"Master Kristoffer's sake? Why?"

Ace pressed his lips together, glancing towards Ice, who just avoided having eye contact with him, as if they were trying to hide something important from me, which accidentally slipped through Ace's mouth.

"Let's get you out of this bar, Celestina... Your face is too red now; I doubt that you'd even remember what we've discussed here." Ice spoke to break the sudden silence.

I looked at him with genuine interest to know what they were hiding, and I even attempted to embrace him just to force him to spill the truth, but he pushed me away with his index finger, which had a huge impact on my forehead.

"I'll call Lucas over... Go back to your pack too, Ace," Ice told him. "You know that Lucas wouldn't like to see that you got Celestina drunk this much... This wasn't a part of your plan with him," he added.

Without any second thoughts, Ace got out of the room. I could no longer sense his presence inside the bar. He was replaced by Lucas who barged in the room with such an anxious expression on his face. His forehead was covered with sweat that slowly dropped to his cheeks, going to his neck.

"What the heck happened to her, Ice?”