"Who are you?" The King's voice reminded the rest that there was still an outsider among them.
Their vigilance returned and they leered at him, trying to determine if he had ill intentions towards them.
The young boy in a black robe had his hands restrained behind his back by General Viktor Espren and could not move an inch.
Only able to lift his head, he looked at the King and there was a trace of nervousness in his eyes which most of them had caught.
However, much to their surprise, this did not appear to be apprehension that one would find in a culprit who had been caught red-handed.
Instead, he gave off the impression of a child who had been caught by an elder, sneaking into someplace that he shouldn't be in.
This thought made Zander's lips twitch at the absurdity of it.
They were in the middle of nowhere, in a bad state and trying to survive while this young man seemed fine just as he was.
They were traveling in a group of ten highly trained men, on the other hand, the other person was alone and looked unarmed and weak at a single glance.
Yet it was surprising to see that he was unharmed even when his men seemed rattled after the long journey they had made until now.
With numerous thoughts in his head, he waited to hear the identity of this young stranger and also know more about his purpose to be this deep in the uninhabited forest.
With his golden irises fixed on the restrained man, he leered when all he heard was silence.
He had commanded his men to not call him 'King' during their journey so as to not invite trouble but also because he was not in his Kingdom and in this foreign land, he was just another traveler.
He did not have a right to order the people of this land around and thus, he did not display his anger at the man who most likely was a citizen of the Kingdom they were in right now.
On the other hand, seeing the displeased look on his face, the young man finally parted his lips.
"K- ah… Rein…"
After letting out a sudden cough, a cracked voice was heard coming from the young man which attracted their attention.
A flustered look appeared on his face when all eyes were on him which made him lower his head in the next second.
His voice, though hoarse, was young and weak which made them assume that he was just a child who had wandered too far off into the forest or gotten separated from his group while traveling.
He did not look like an assassin nor were there any special powers residing in his body that might make them wary of him.
King Zander nodded at the name he heard but soon had more questions that needed to be answered.
Since he and his men had noticed that the boy named Rein had no malice in his aura, they lowered their guard just a little and General Espren continued to restrain him.
"So Rein… What are you doing here? In the middle of this vast forest with no one to watch over you?" The King interrogated as he maintained a safe distance from him, keeping in mind that he could not get too close to the stranger until he was absolutely sure about his identity and motives.
Since Rein looked too young, he wondered where his parents were and why he was wandering about without any adult supervision.
Rein choked in the next second and there was that shy demeanor that resurfaced once again.
"I…" He drawled while squirming in place making it hard for General Viktor Espren to hold onto him.
"Stop it!" He chided while gripping the child's wrists with more force, causing him to whimper in pain and stand obediently in the next second.
King Zander shook his head, signaling Viktor to relax his hold as Rein appeared to be in pain.
Shooting a grateful glance, Rein revealed what he had been unable to say until now.
"I'm not a child and I ran away." A curt answer was heard this time which made the King chuckle at how blunt Rein was.
Not wishing to pry deeper into the stranger's personal life, he nodded in acceptance of that answer.
"Care to explain how you know about these berries?" He posed his next question, shooting a disgusted look at those appetizing berries which were nothing but trouble once consumed.
This time, Rein did not pause lest he was hurt by the bulky general standing behind him.
"My aunt is a witch. She likes to use elkerberries when people get on her nerves." The young man answered and King Zander frowned.
From the moment he had seen this boy, he knew that they shared the same blood of the vampires.
However, now Rein had just disclosed that his aunt was a witch but this could never be possible.
The bloodlines of vampires and witches were distinct and while they could marry into each other's clans, it was quite uncommon outside Valanthur.
In his Kingdom, people of different races coexisted in peace but similar scenarios were rare in other Kingdoms.
They liked to keep their bloodlines pure and to marry someone from a different race would only pollute the next generations of their race which they wished to avoid at all costs.
Therefore, it was highly unprecedented that Rein's aunt was truly a witch.
For this matter, Zander had already come up with an alternative assumption to explain Rein's statement.
In his mind, the aunt Rein was talking about was not related to him by blood but someone whom he treated as his aunt out of his choice.
However, he did not have the time to inquire more about this conjecture as in the next second, a chortle escaped from someone's lips.
Turning around, King Zander's eyes fell on his aide who was having a tough time controlling his laughter.
"You should stay away from your aunt then. Who knows if she'd feed you some of these berries too." Treegan spoke in a ridiculing tone after managing to stop his laughter.
While King Zander was shaking his head at his aide who could not control his loose tongue at times, they heard a firm voice coming from the young boy in the front.
"She loves me too much to harm me like that!" Rein's agitated voice was different from what they had heard until now.
There was a tremor in that voice but it no longer sounded weak and timid as before.
King Zander had been under the impression that he was just another weak child who was struggling after making the reckless decision of running away from home, but the gust of wind that blew his way after that bold statement proved otherwise.
Others might not have noticed it but for a brief second, he had seen a flash of red pass through those icy blue eyes of the young boy.
Vampires rarely had the color red for their irises, however, their eye color did transform into a deep crimson red in certain situations.
If they were experiencing an uncontrollable thirst for blood and losing their hold over their sanity in its absence.
When strong emotions were overwhelming their hearts and minds or they were agitated due to their surroundings.
Or when they were in the presence of their 'mate' for life.
These were a few circumstances under which a vampire's eyes could turn red.
Since Rein did not appear to be holding in his uncontrollable thirst nor could he have found his 'mate' here among these men, there was only one option left.
His emotions had flared upon hearing Treegan mocking his aunt right in his presence.
At the mention of his aunt, Rein had behaved in a manner that was different from what they had observed until now.
However, that flash of crimson did not last for long which might have allowed him to figure more out about the other vampire.
Thus, the King was left stranded with curiosity brimming in his mind to know just who this person was.
"If your aunt loves you so much then why did you run away?" Treegan's scowl woke him up from his dazed thoughts.
Fixing his eyes on Rein, he waited to see if he could catch another glimpse of crimson but unfortunately, found none.
Gone was the anger and agitation from Rein's face, taking over was a cloud of gloom that hung over his head.
"I… I have my reasons." He muttered while averting his eyes from them.