Taira's red eyes stared at Aveena with an expression of unfathomable coldness.
As he stepped down from the stairs with his wife hand in hand, his eight swaying tails captivated her attention and left her speechless.
He did not even bother to answer her question, as he was still sore over her threat against Enyo.
He sat on the opposite end of Lucia's sectional sofa, and Enyo found her rightful place in his lap as her gaze flickered between the two of them.
Everyone already knew that this was the young woman whom he had gotten into an altercation with at the auction house.
She was curious to know if this woman would continue to behave shamelessly around her husband now that she was right in front of her.
'My love, have you started counting?' Taira asked telepathically.
'I did as soon as we sat down.'
'Good girl.'
Their timeline established, the two nuzzled up against each other as they waited for an opportunity to make a graceful exit.
In the meantime, Keran lightly touched Aveena's hand and looked at her tenderly.
"We found you in the woods around a mile from here and we've been looking after you for over a week. Are you alright? Can you tell me what happened to you?"
Aveena was only momentarily stunned by Keran's softness before she remembered the last moments that had occurred before she entered a coma.
"That bastard auctioneer.. I-I'll kill him…!" Unconsciously, tears began to flow from her red eyes as she clenched her fists.
Hearing a name he didn't expect, Taira put a pause on fondling his wife for a few moments and sat up in his seat.
"The pig? What did he do?"
In a shocking turn of events, Aveena revealed that the auctioneer had informed her of a special service for VIP members who purchase high value items.
Essentially, one would receive an escort free of charge until they reached their destination and were safe from those who would seek to rob them.
Since Aveena was a lone visitor in these lands, she accepted the offer without thinking much about it, and allowed the escort of men to escort her to the foot of Amusi mountain.
They had only been on their journey for around an hour before Aveena suddenly felt four swords pierce her back.
She immediately fell to the ground; at which point she learned an alarming fact about the men who she had been traveling with.
They were human.
Right before her very eyes, they started to pull off fake horns, ears, tails or whatever else they had been using as a disguise.
But her nightmare was only just beginning, as the men started to torture her for information.
They wanted to know where she had gotten such an exhorbitant amount of money, as well as why she had them traveling to an uninhabited mountain.
The men destroyed her core; stripping her of her cultivation and any chance to fight back.
When she wouldn't talk, they took her storage ring that she had been adamantly protecting, and she fell into a hopeless pit of despair.
With nothing left, two of the men cut her kimono open and prepared to violate her, only to be disgusted when they saw her physique underneath.
Her body was too hard and muscular for their liking and was reminiscent of a man's, so they cut her stomach up terribly to alleviate their frustration.
In the end, they left her in the forest to die.
Taking with them her new technique, her personal effects, and her secrets.
"T-This… can't be.." Keran muttered from shock.
"YOU THINK ME A LIAR?!" Aveena yelled with tears in her eyes and clenched fists.
The sudden jerking motion inadvertently caused some of her wounds to open up, and dark red blood started to appear underneath her bandages.
Keran remained unafraid of the irate oni and looked at her tenderly with her own tears beginning to fall.
"Of course I don't, I'm just sorry that you had to go through that… may I hug you?"
Aveena looked like her brain had suffered a hard reset as she stared at Keran like she'd just grown a second head.
Taking that as a sign of acceptance, Keran closed the distance between herself and the wounded woman and wrapped her arms around her.
She spoke to her gently, like a mother who was trying to lie her babe to rest.
"Those men who did this to you will be punished, you have my word. But for right now, just be as angry and cry as loud as you want to. This is a safe place, and no one here will allow any harm to come to you again."
Aveena couldn't remember the last time she cried.
For most in Tayar, living with the privilege of feeling all your emotions is something that they will never get to experience.
And Aveena was one of those people.
For as long as she could remember, she had always been one of the most dominant people in the room, and she would never let anyone see her as otherwise.
And yet… as this seemingly young girl whom she didn't even know told her to cry, she found herself unable to remain steadfast as she had done thousands of times before.
It started with a few small sniffles, but it turned into full blown bawling that was nothing short of heartbreaking to listen to.
Keran held her silently through it all, once again showcasing the remarkable amount of compassion that she held for her people.
Eventually, Aveena cried so hard that she exhausted herself once again and fainted within the arms of her would be savior.
Keran gently lie their guest back down onto the couch before turning to face her friends and betrothed with vengeful tears in her eyes.
"No matter what it takes… we are going to kill everyone involved in this..! Doing something so heinous to one's own people… it is unforgivable, and he cannot be allowed to breathe any longer..!"
Lucia looked just as upset as Keran, and looked like she was ready for inevitable bloodshed.
Vermeil looked slightly green after everything she had just heard, however she quickly swallowed her bundled nerves in a similar show of solidarity.
On the other hand, Enyo did not look like she was having strong feelings one way the other, and instead her focus was on her husband whose lap she was sitting on.
Taira couldn't explain it, but for some reason Aveena's story had made him mad.
Very very mad.
He really wanted to see the humans dead along with the rest of the races of light.
And of course, the pig who had orchestrated it.
But this anger threatened to plague his mind, and sap away his rationality.
That wasn't like him.
This was completely new.
Clutching his head, he realized that he was standing too close to the elephant at this time.
He needed to take a step back… he had to really see the full picture.
He lifted Enyo off his lap and gave her a small kiss on the cheek before heading towards the door.
"I need to step out for a moment… take care of each other in the meantime." He said softly.
"H-Huh?"
"W-Where are you..?"
Before the girls got an answer to their question, Taira opened the front door and vanished from the porch.