On the following day, the bride's cheerful tunes flooded the courtyards as the early sunbeams emerged from the horizon casting its magnificent golden glows over the general's residence. Per usual, Rhea prepared herself to head to the soldier camp with Draven in their carriage.
As the carriage departed from the Qieldan residence, the pair sat quietly. Rhea, who was gazing out the window, spoke up after a while, "Yesterday, I was too exhausted and ended up falling asleep..." She then turned to face Draven, she looked straight into his piercing blue eyes, "I have made my decision. I can't help you in retrieving your essence. I will take my cousin away from the serpent and return to the capital. I cannot remain in this border town as your wife anymore, as the real Jurian is gone. To avoid any further incidents like yesterday's, I'd like to leave. I apologize, but..."
Before Rhea could finish her sentence, the carriage suddenly came to a sudden halt, causing her to lurch forward. Draven quickly caught her and protectively drew her close to his chest. Rhea's heart skipped a beat at the sudden proximity, and she could feel his muscular arm around her body with the way he held her close. She hastily pulled away and apologized for the mishap, "I'm sorry..."
However, Draven didn't reply to her but called out to the coachman with a displeased look on his face, "Philip, what's wrong?"
"My Lord, I apologise for the sudden stop, but there's a man sitting in the middle of the road." Came the coachman's worried voice.
Hearing that, Rhea peeked her head through the window. She saw the young man sitting in the middle of the road. Light blue but dirty attire, with handsome features, the same blank expression as before.
It was her cousin, Rinus. The person she was planning to go look for! But how on earth did he get to this side of the town?
Rhea quickly opened the carriage door and ran towards him. She crouched down before him on the ground, "Rinus, how did you get here by yourself?" She asked, cornered. Knowing that he wasn't like the arrogant Rinus she used to know made it a lot easier for her to talk with him without getting angered.
"Did you come here to look for me? Where is your serpent lover... something doesn't seems right, that aggressive woman, she seems to care for you so much that she wouldn't have left you here alone. Where is she?" Rhea asked while looking around to see if she'd catch a glimpse of the crippled woman.
Rinus didn't reply and continued to blankly stare at nothing in particular. Rhea glanced at his sorry state, even though she had no attachment to this young man, he was still related to her. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She then said,
"Alright, I will take you back with me. But I need you to tell me where to find your lover, I need to take something from her. Do you know where I can find her?" Rhea asked while reaching out to help him from the ground.
However, once her hand touched his arm, Rinus acted like he'd been struck by lightning, he jolted. His eyes widened, he then suddenly grabbed her hand.
Rhea froze in place, "...!" She stared into Rinus black orbs. His eyes were filled with alarm and fear. It was like he'd seen something extremely frightening in her that made him react.
Rhea had more courage than normal people, she wasn't easily frightened. However, seeing her cousin's expression, his terrified looks, it brought an unknown chill down her spine. The same fear she had in her childhood when she used to see things returned to her like waves. It drowned her to the extent she wanted to cry out in fear.
Rhea opened her mouth, but no words came out of it. She noticed Rinus' skin turned red as if he was burning. His black eyes began to change to red as well, his lips trembled as if he wanted to say something, but the more he tried to move his lips, the redder his face turned.
"Rinus...?" Rhea called softly in fright. She felt like he seemed to be under some spell. This wasn't normal at all. She could feel his fear.
"Fire..." Rinus finally said, with great difficulty, he squeezed out a phrase, "Stay away." When he said this, he grasped Rhea's hand even tighter. It was so tight that she thought that Rinus would break every single one of her fingers. But aside from the burning pain of his hold, she felt an eerie burn on her skin coming from Rinus' hand. It began to burn her skin, she could see flames...
Rhea's eyes widened in dread. Just when she thought she would be burned by the flame, she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her waist, pulling her away from Rinus.
Rhea stumbled backward into Draven's embrace, he quickly grabbed her hand and threw off Rinus' tight grip on her. Rinus' body also twisted from the force Draven used to free Rhea from him, he fell backwards into the side road bushes. Then, he became like a lifeless puppet, completely motionless in the bushes.
Rhea was still trembling. She didn't even look up to see whose embrace she was in. She was too frightened to even look nor speak. But as the arms tightened around her, she began to feel safe. She closed her eyes and let herself sink into the person's embrace, feeling his warmth and strength.
It was just an illusion. She tried to assure herself.
"Are you okay?" Draven asked, his voice softer than ever.
Although the fear had not entirely left her, hearing Draven's voice, Rhea returned to her senses. She stepped away from his embrace then looked down at the hand she'd used to hold Rinus.
On her hand, a recent burn marred the skin of her palm.
Rhea knew what could cause such reaction from Rinus. She knew whose magic this was...
As soon as Rhea realized what had happened, she froze in place. Draven noticed the look on her face and approached her. He took her hand to inspect the burn, furrowing his brow at the sight. For a while, he remained silent, examining her palm closely. It wasn't until some time later that he turned to help Rinus out from the bushes to examine him as well.
Rinus had his eyes tightly shut, completely unaware of what was happening around him. The heat radiating from his body was obvious, forming smoke rings with every exhale that drifted away with the wind. It was evident that Rinus was experiencing an intense internal flame.
Rhea knew what spell would put someone in such state. It was the flame bound spell. In Birhhan, only one immortal was capable of making such a spell, and only that person was powerful enough to put Rinus under his own flames.
Azure...
Rhea's face paled.
Azure was the one to lead the group who went to cast out the outcast demonic creatures a year ago. The rest who went with him came back unharmed, yet Rinus disappeared. Even after the entire Villden's family searched for him, there was no traces of Rinus until that day she saw him in the town.
Rhea had thought that the outcasts had done something for him to be like this. But now, after seeing through his skin...
Rhea involuntarily shook her head in denial. Azure was the nicest person there was on earth, he'd never do such a thing to Rinus!
"He's under the flame bound spell." Draven spoke from the side, "I heard that only the second fire leader was the master of such a spell." He voiced her exact thoughts with an indifferent tone as he turned his gaze away from Rinus to Rhea, who still stood motionless.
"Azure is not responsible..." Rhea stated before pausing momentarily, she continued, "Years ago, Azure was appointed as the second fire leader after Alina. Under his guidance, the capital had been free of any outcast creatures. There was not a single person in Birhhan who didn't believe he was destined to be the second leader, he personally saw to it that non-magical humans were treated the same in the capital. He was highly respected by the Emperor himself. Giving his current standing, Azure has no reasons to harm his fellow fire controller, Rinus."
With conviction, Rhea affirmed, "In contrast to you, he values relationships and would never betray it. I believe there must be a misunderstanding."
Draven remained silent and merely gazed at her impassively. Nevertheless, a fleeting sorrow flickered in his piercing blue eyes, but it vanished as swiftly as it emerged.
Silent and still, the duo stood frozen in place until a weird noise suddenly reverberated through the ground, hinting at an unknown impending danger moving closer to them at a rapid pace.
Without uttering a word, they exchanged a fleeting glance. Nonetheless, Draven acted quickly to safeguard Rhea by forcefully shoving her away from the surface of the sound. She stumbled and tumbled over Rinus who was right behind her.
However, as soon as Draven pushed her, the ground beneath where Rhea was standing a moment ago cracked into a deep hole, revealing an enormous, thick serpent tail, which seemingly came out of nowhere.
Had it not been for Draven's timely action, Rhea would have been thrown sky high by the violent force exerted by the serpent, as it split the ground apart. The serpent's tail thrashed in the air before slamming violently onto the ground, sending a flurry of dust and dirt into the atmosphere.
Rhea, who was pushed to the ground with Rinus tried to crawl up, but as she attempted to get back on her feet, the abrupt halt of a carriage caught her attention. Its sudden stop resonated in her ears before she could even stand upright, then came a foul-mouthed woman's voice from the carriage,
"Who the hell is that son of trash who caused such dirt to fly in the wind?! Are you stupid! Couldn't you see my carriage passing by? Who's the idiot person seeking death to throw such dirt on my clean carriage in the middle of the day?!"
It was none other than Mrs. Sabina who was on her way to the Qielden residence, again. But then saw the dirt in the wind and decided to stop to teach the person a lesson for dirtying her clean carriage.
Rhea almost subconsciously shouted for her to stay inside her carriage, however, it was too late. Mrs. Sabina had already stepped out from the carriage.
Scanning for the culprit who had flung dirt, Mrs. Sabina suddenly witnessed a serpent rise up from under the ground. It lifted its head, caught a whiff of air near her ear, and exhaled fish breath that nearly corrupted her stunning hair.
"Ahhh...!"
Amidst Mrs. Sabina's shrieks, she lost her balance at the sight of the creature and collapsed backwards without moving an inch after her legs twisted unnaturally.
Rhea had no chance to verify the woman's condition as the serpent swiveled its head and focused its pitch-black, savage eyes on her.
Rhea immediately pulled Rinus in front of her like a shield, "Stop! He's still alive! Calm down, I didn't hurt your lover he's my cousin, which means I'm your Cousin-in-law!"