Although Liu Ying was very happy, she was tired after one day of fighting. So, she went to sleep not much later.
Thus, Bloed and Regina were the only ones that remained beside the bonfire.
Regina closed her eyes and put her head on Bloed's shoulder. Bloed did not stop her, and instead, combed her hair with a smile.
The pair remained like that for a while. In front of the bonfire, they seemed like a pair of lovers enjoying each other warm.
However, their intimate moment did not last long.
Bloed heaved a sigh and looked in direction of the forest.
"The person observing us, how long are you going to keep it?"
Nobody replied for a few seconds, but after Bloed fixed his eyes in a part of the forest, a shadow sighed and walked towards them.
"… Your highness Glenn, I was not expecting to meet you here." A middle-aged man looked at Bloed with a melancholic expression.
Bloed's expression turned cold. "You have the wrong person."
The middle-aged man was startled. He then heaved a deep sigh and shook his head.
"Your highness, although your hair and eyes are different and you have matured a lot since the last time I saw you, I can still recognize you. I'm the butler of the royal family and he worked for them during years. I can recognize a Skysword with just a glance."
"I told you, you have the wrong person." Bloed expression turned colder. Regina, who was leaning on Bloed's shoulder, opened her eyes and looked at the demigod in front of her with a chilling gaze.
Sebastian, however, ignored her. His attention was fully on Bloed.
"Are you truly going to do this, your highness? I can see you managed to use mana, was it during the time you were in the exiled lands? Your talent is very outstanding too. I heard you were the one that killed the strongest monsters that attacked the city. Worthy of someone of the Skysword bloodline. The name of Glenn Skysword is not wasted in you."
Bloed's eyes turned frosty and a slight killing intent surrounded his body. "I will say it one last time, my name is not Glenn Skysword. I'm Bloed Norman. I'm not related to whatever Skysword you are speaking about and I don't want to be related to them. In fact, I would love if I don't have to see any of them in my life. Now leave, before I stop being polite."
"Is it so?" Sebastian sighed and looked at Bloed in pity.
He still remembered the child that he left in the exiled lands. The pitiful child sobbing desperately while he begged him to not abandon him. Back then, the prince was weak and pathetic, a little boy that anyone could kill.
But today, five years later, that boy had grown up. He was tall and handsome, and his hair and eyes were different. But the greatest change was his aura. Sebastian could feel the mysterious power circulating around him, eager to be unleashed.
And the killing intent. Sebastian did not know how many lives the boy took to acquire such a dense killing intent.
In truth, when he took a glimpse of the boy while fighting the black-dressed demigod, he doubted his eyes.
Back then he was too lost in his hatred to care about Bloed, so he did not confirm his identity. But now that he saw the boy again, he confirmed it. The boy in front of him was, in fact, Glenn Skysword, the second child of the current ruler of Alterna.
Sebastian could not imagine what the boy went through to become the person he is today.
"… Prince, I know that it's normal that you hate the king. However, have you not thought about returning?"
"…"
"Now that you can use mana, I'm sure that nobody in the kingdom will object to your title of prince. Don't you want to slap the faces of the people that humiliated you when you were a child? With the talent you showed today, that is not an impossibility."
Bloed continued looking at him coldly. He seemed not to care about Sebastian's words.
Seeing that he was not doing any progress, Sebastian sighed.
"… Your mother has missed you all this while."
"She is not my mother!" Bloed snarled. "I had only a mother, and her name is Camilla Norman!"
Sebastian frowned. He did not recognize that name.
But that did not matter.
"… You know she is not your true mother."
As soon as these words sounded, a frightening killing intent erupted from Bloed's body.
The killing intent was so powerful that it seemed to chill the air. Sebastian felt a sickening smell of blood and raw flesh assaulting him!
It was a killing intent so horrifying that Sebastian could not believe it came from a sixteen-year-old boy. Even his own killing intent was not so dense.
"If you repeat that again, I'll kill you."
Bloed chilling words reverberated in Sebastian's ears clearly.
At this moment, Regina's body was already completely tensed up. Although she was not emitting even a hint of killing intent, she was ready to stand in front of Bloed and attack the man in front of them at the slightest sign he was going to hurt Bloed.
Fortunately, nothing happened.
Sebastian frowned. He already expected to have trouble convincing Bloed, but even he was surprised by this.
Briefly, he considered the idea of using force to take Bloed away. But when he looked at the golden eyes of the girl beside the prince, he stopped himself from acting.
For some reason, he felt a faint sense of threat coming from her.
And although her cultivation seemed to be just at the C-Rank, Sebastian was a man that trusted his instincts.
In the end, he just sighed and took a step back.
"… It looks like your highness is not happy with me. I'll leave then, but your highness should consider my words."
Bloed grunted in displeasure. Sebastian understood the signal and disappeared in the forest.
Only when Bloed was sure Sebastian was gone, he heaved a tired sigh and closed his eyes.
"… Master, why did you stop me from attacking?" Regina asked in confusion.
"What do you think your chances of killing him are?"
"… Seventy percent. There is a thirty percent chance of him escaping."
"That is the reason. If you attack and Sebastian escapes, then the royal family will know about your true strength. I don't want it."
"… But, he will surely tell the king about you."
"And?" Bloed gazed at the sky with an indifferent expression. "What about that? I was already expecting to be recognized eventually, it just happened sooner than expected. Besides, did you forget? The current me 'can use' mana. So the king doesn't have a valid reason to exile me again.
"Of course, there is the possibility of the king thinking that I want to take revenge. That is the reason I told Sebastian clearly that I didn't want anything to do with the royal family. To make my stance clear."
Regina sighed. "… Master, I fear they will not let things rest here."
Bloed shrugged. "Well, I have you with me. What is there to fear?"
Regina was startled before smiling beautifully. "You are right, master, I'm with you. Thus, even if you die, I'll die with you." Then, she leaned forward and pecked his lips briefly.
Regina blushed, but she did not move her gaze away. She used her golden eyes to look straight into Bloed's blue ones and express her determination.
"… I'll be with you forever, my master."
Bloed felt his heart beating madly.
...
P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels