As the warm morning sunlight peeked through the cracks of the farmhouse, Jurian slowly opened his eyes. Titled his head to the side, he saw Rhea's face which was an inch away from his. The golden sunlight illuminating her profile made her seem more vividly present than usual.
Jurian's eyes slowly trailed to her wounded neck, it looked red highlighting the force he'd used on her last night to take her blood. He'd normally feed on animal blood, but she'd unexpectedly walked in. His mouth still had the lingering faint taste of her blood.
Her blood...
An unknown look fleeted past his eyes. He closed his eyes to settle his mind. After a moment, he sat up.
It had been twenty years without his core. His body had started to turn corrupted due to his missing core and every three months he had to feed on blood for three nights before he could regain his senses. However, her blood last night slowed down the corruption he had been fighting for years...
"You're finally awake." Came Rhea's voice as she also sat up. However, before he could react, she threw a punch at his face, "This is for taking advantage of me last night. Now tell me what the hell are you? Why the hell would you feed on blood?!" She demanded as she placed a hand on her burning neck while murderously glaring at him.
Jurian brushed away the slight blood that slipped down the corner of his mouth due to her hard punch. Then turned to look at her, before saying indifferently,
"I am not the serpent you're looking for, nor was I ever one."
Hearing his first sentence, Rhea felt relieved for some reason that he wasn't lying. However, he dared to admit his identity, exposing the lies he'd dropped before her face!
He continued, "I am not Jurian either...my real identity is Draven El-Dezeus."
"Draven..." Rhea murmured the name, however he heard her and he turned to look at her for a second, his blue eyes looked even more alive. But why does this name sound so familiar to her? Where had she heard it from?
Rhea looked at him, "Then what kind of creature are you? Last night... your eyes..."
"I am the ice dragon king." He admitted.
Rhea's eyes widened for a moment as if in awe before she suddenly broke in a fit of laughter. "You, the ice Dragon King? Quit the joke and tell me who you really are." She said, but when she met the seriousness on his face, Rhea's eyes rounded even more.
She stared at Draven in astonishment. After her mind finished processing the meaning of those words. She immediately leapt up from the ground in fear.
Ice...Dragon King! The same king who betrayed his lover! The cruel evil dragon king she'd read of in the book of legends?!
The thousand year Ice creature. The renowned king of the ice dragons that had ruled over them for a thousand years. Ice dragons were a creature to fear for the mortals not to mention the Ice dragon King.
He was the most powerful creature that had ever existed, but after he tried to kill his lover, Alina an immortal and the leader of Birhhan's fire magic clan twenty years ago, the Emperor of Birhhan had forbidden anyone from mentioning his name after his downfall.
Rhea froze on the spot as she felt a chill down her spine. This person she'd believed to be strange turned out to be the infamous cruel Dragon, which everyone believed to be dead?!
Rhea swallowed hard, "Ha..." she tried to remain calm, raising her eyebrows with an uncaring look but the corner of her eyes twitched, "So you are the ex-renowned ice dragon king...nice."
Draven only blankly looked at Rhea's stiff face. Of course he wasn't expecting her to believe nor trust him, after the false rumors about him being the traitor, nobody in Birhhan would believe him.
Rhea couldn't maintain her calm facade anymore, she burst out the question, "Are you really the dragon king? The dragon in the book of legends?"
"Yes." He replied succinctly as usual.
Rhea felt like she'd been exposed to the most unrealistic dream, her head was starting to spin. How could this person be the ice dragon king? The one to cause the downfall of his realm.
"Is it possible for you to prove it to me without posing any danger to my life?" Rhea inquired, seeking some kind of assurance from him.
Upon hearing her question, Draven's piercing blue eyes became shadowed and he shook his head, "Unfortunately, no—I cannot." he responded. "I don't possess any methods to substantiate my claims."
Rhea sized him up carefully, "Could you maybe demonstrate your ice abilities, the sharp scales of your ice Dragon, or even your icy breath?"
Draven stared at her, silently and didn't say a word. However on his sides, his fists were tightly clenched to the point there were turning white.
Seeing his reaction, Rhea realized something. She remembered when he told her that he had no magic. But then if he was the dragon in the legend, how was he still alive? The legend had clearly stated that Alina had defeated him when he tried to kill her, his ice was no match for her fire.
But here he was, alive and pretending to be the general of Birhhan. Now that she thought about it, why on earth did he pretend to be the serpent to her then? Was he planning to kill her as well or does he have another hidden motive?
However, this taciturn man always followed the principal of 'If you can act, then don't waste time arguing and get on with it.' if he had the abilities and intentions to kill her, then he would have done that on the night she'd arrogantly straddled him.
After the fear in her subsided, Rhea's doubt rushed out again, "If you are really the dragon in the legends, how are you here in Birhhan? Wasn't it said that you were dead, how did you come to be Jurian? What did you do to the real general?" She questioned all at once.
As though reminiscing about a bygone era, Draven appeared lost in thought with a far-off gaze in his eyes while he spoke."Two decades ago, I didn't die...but I somehow fell into Birhhan in the middle of a battle where I met Jurian. He was on the brink of dying from a poisonous sword stuck to his heart, while I was also looking for a way of surviving. We collided with each other on that faithful day..." He paused for a moment as if recalling the day, then continued,
"Jurian saw my condition without knowing who I was, he gave me his last essence to survive. He made me promise him to look after his grandmother after his death, and to take the truth about his death to the grave."
Although Draven didn't go into great detail, his statement was enough to satisfy Rhea's curiosity. She gave a nod to acknowledge what she had heard.
Despite this, Rhea sensed that there was more to the story. Despite her intuition, she avoided any further inquiry and instead asked, "What happened to you last night?"
Draven hesitated, then answered, "My body is being corrupted as Jurian's essence fades away. I need to consume blood every three months, for a few weeks or until the corruption subsides, in order to combat this. However, your blood...it seems to slow down the corruption at a much faster pace than any other kind of blood." With those words, Draven's gaze shifted, his eyes focusing on Rhea's neck.
Rhea felt a new wave of fear wash over her as she noticed Draven's eyes shift towards her neck. She no longer felt concerned about whether or not he had taken advantage of her or if her innocence had been compromised.
What worried her more was the memory of how he had sunk his teeth into her neck the night before, causing her to dread the possibility of it happening again.
Even though Draven had discovered that her blood could counteract his body's corruption, she feared that he may see her as a potential source of nourishment.
Right now, all Rhea could think about was how to save herself. She was powerless, with no fire magic nor her ice spikes. For him, wasn't that the same as a meal being sent straight into his mouth? What if he decided to make her his monthly source of nourishment? She would probably be a corpse before she could become rich!
Rhea pretended to adjust her dress while internally assuring herself. Although she didn't have any magic, this dragon didn't either. His martial arts might be better than hers, but that didn't mean she wouldn't fight back if he tried to mess with her.
Rhea cleared her throat and asked curiously, "In case your body corrupts entirely, what would occur?"
"I would go out of control like a savage beast, and Birhhan would plunge into chaos." he murmured.
At the sound of his words, Rhea was stunned, and she widened her eyes in disbelief. "What? Can't you just return to your dragon realm and get corrupted there instead of staying here and causing us to bear the brunt of it?"
Draven glared at her. "Do you think I'd be here if I could return to my realm?" He stated flatly, "I can only do that in my dragon form."
Rhea replied with an "Oh I see." However internally her brain was running on how to escape from this dragon. She didn't want anything to do with someone like him. He was a danger to Birhhan itself. Someone who could easily betray his lover who had stayed with him for a century, who was she that he wouldn't betray or even kill?
He would do that without blinking an eye. People like this Draven were the type one should run away from. Only Alina was his match. Rhea thought as she warily looked at the man across from her.
"I am exhausted and need to retire for a bit. I'll head back first." Rhea declared, rising from the floor, she really needed to digest all this information and be away from him for awhile.
Draven halted her with an unexpected statement, "There's a way to completely get rid of the corruption in my body, but I need your help on that." He said, making Rhea stop in her tracks. She turned around and titled her head,
"What way is that you speak of? And how can I be of help?"