After Rhea's head was jabbed by the unknown men, she had no idea where she was nor where they took her to. When she opened her stiff eyelids, she was met with a roof that was leaking a little bit of light. She wiggled a little and discovered her arms and legs were bound.
She frowned. A joke! Using an ordinary piece of rope to tie an ice lady such as herself? Hah! Did she learn nothing from when she used to escape from her father's spell binding ropes?
Rhea laughed in amusement, the person who tied her up really seemed to underestimate her. Her spikes were sharp enough to even pierce through rocks, what was this ordinary piece of rope?
Rhea disdainfully sighed, exerting some of her ice spikes in her fingers...
But then she suddenly blanked, astonished. What a joke!
Could it really be that she'd learned nothing from cutting spell ropes?!
To her surprise the ordinary rope did not cut nor did her precious ice spikes appear!
She used even more strength to try to force the spikes out, but...she still couldn't get free for some reason.
Rhea was alarmed and hurriedly explored inwardly as she noticed she was covered in... SWEAT!!
Her ice powers, her internal snow flurry, her spikes...were completely gone overnight!
NO!
What was happening to her?! Why was she feeling heat? What did they do to her?
When Rhea was stupefied, a wrinkly-faced, blind eyed old lady walked inside and stood in front of her. The blind old woman crouched down and reached out as if to search for Rhea's face, when she finally felt her face, she mumbled,
"Her face feels really smooth...she must be a very beautiful woman."
Rhea instinctively moved backwards to avoid the old woman's hand. Her eyes curved as a smile graced her wrinkled face,
"My dear Jurian will like her, right Sabina?"
"He will definitely like her, he didn't get angry when I sent the request to find a wife for him to the Emperor."
A thin woman's voice spoke out from the side, Rhea turned her head and saw a middle-aged woman wearing a bright colorful dress walking towards her.
The matron's face was filled with smiles, "My husband went through a lot of effort in making portraits of her in the village, and the villagers did a very good job in fishing her out. The stupid girl was trying to escape her fate of marrying our dear Jurian."
The old lady nodded her head, "The wedding was delayed because of her escape, but then I will count on you, Sabina, to help Jurian's wife."
It took Rhea awhile before she realized the situation at hand. Mrs. Sabina here, was the one to request for a wife for the general. And also sent men to bring her back after her escape.
Even when she escaped completely penniless, she wasn't willing to marry that Jurian, so who did they think they were, daring to bring her back against her will?
And this Mrs. Sabina...!
Rhea couldn't hold in her anger, she lifted her two legs and angrily kicked at Mrs. Sabina. The direct kick made her stagger, almost falling.
"Ah! Good heavens." Mrs. Sabina turned her head and stared at Rhea in astonishment mixed with anger, "You dare to kick me, you brat!"
"You dared to bring me here against my will! Why shouldn't I dare kick you. How much did you pay the townfolks to jab my head and bring me here!"
Aunt Sabina derisively laughed, "Huh, a girl who ran away from her husband is still caring about this matter? It really an eye opener."
The blind old lady who now stood at the side anxiously asked, "Is my grand daughter in law awake?"
Although the old woman had desperately wanted her grandson to get married and also supported Sabina in sending the message to the Emperor, she had no intention in hurting the young woman. And due to her lack of sight, she wasn't aware that Rhea was being bound with ropes.
"Grandma, I'm awake. Tell this crazy woman to release me and let me go. I am not your grandson's wife, but a poor village girl!"
"What do you mean, let you go?" Mrs. Sabina reprimanded Rhea, "Grandma Lila took pity on you, all alone. She didn't know how you managef to escape the escorts, or even ended up in the river here, and despite your wild behavior, she still planned to accept you. It's also guaranteed you'll be cared for by our Jurian, shouldn't you be grateful?"
"Heh, grateful? No way. Yes I am alone, but who said I wanted to be cared for by your dear Jurian!" Rhea wasn't pleased with how this middle-aged woman was making it seem like she wanted to be here when they were the ones who jabbed her head and brought her. She wasn't going to marry anybody.
"Release me!"
"What a terrible sharp tongue you have there, but I'll make sure to straighten you up." Mrs. Sabina waved her hand from the doorway, and immediately two soldiers walked in.
They stood to the left and right of Rhea and propped her up by her elbows. She struggled but couldn't throw them off, she decided to stop and just coldly stared at Mrs. Sabina.
Mrs. Sabina, who was Grandma Lila's step son's wife was only doing all this to achieve her own hidden intentions. She laughingly spoke to old lady Lila,
"Elder Qieldan, don't worry. All run away brides have a temper at first. I've been in the business for awhile, I can tame girls like her. I have ways to deal with them. For now, I will throw her in one of the horse stable for you. She will be dealt with in days."
Rhea let out a cold laugh. Turns out this person was a repeat human trafficker!
In Birhhan realm, once a girl dared to escape before reaching her in-law's house, she would be cut off from the marriage thread, which meant she was no longer their problem nor her parents, and no man would ever take her as a wife as she would be considered a disgrace and a shame.
However, that was exactly what Rhea was hoping would happen. She wanted no man to want her nor marry her. But then, this repeat human trafficker had still sent men to bring her back making all her efforts go to waste.
The two big soldiers carried Rhea out. Although her ice spikes were gone, her body was still in top condition. She heard Mrs. Sabina whisper into old lady Lila's ear,
"Here, the drug will sap all her strength if she eats it. She won't be able to run away. Mix it in her food and let Jurian make her eat it. If she refuses to eat, then starve her for days. At that point most girls, even though they knew the food is drugged, will still eat to live. But I notice this girl has a fierce temper. Wait until she's dizzy and faints with hunger, then mix it into porridge. Since our dear Jurian always listens to you, ask him to feed it to her..."
Rhea listened in fear, but now she was hopeless with no way out. It was all that stupid serpent's fault, and now she had no choice but to let the two soldiers carry her into the horse stable.
They ruthlessly threw her into the pile of hay and threateningly said, "If you don't want to suffer, then be good and don't try to escape. Once you're in our general's household, aside from death, there's no other way to escape. Accept your fate."
Once they finished, they closed the rickety door with a slam.
Rhea wiggled around in the hay pile to settle herself in a more comfortable position. She looked around, then looked at the rope tying her hands and feet together.
She only had one thought: human traffickers! Including the old lady. Fortunately her dear Azure wasn't here to see this shamefully irritating situation...
Azure. Rhea's heart sank as she thought of her only close friend in the capital. she hadn't even gotten the chance to see him before she left, and now here she was being bonded.
Rhea looked down at her hands, she tried to use her ice spikes again, but it didn't work. What did that stupid serpent venom do to her body?
Sure enough old lady Lila listened to that human trafficker, Mrs. Sabrina's words and didn't send food for the entire day, leaving her to starve in the horse stable.
Rhea angrily wiggled around on the hay as she thought; if she regained her ice spikes, that Mrs. Sabina should better not show her face or else...
By the time Rhea was able to see the moon and stars through the drafty roof, her stomach was growling.
Food...
Rhea sighed and scooted next to the door, she kicked while she shouted, "Weren't you guys going to give me the drugged food to eat! Where is it? You said you were going to feed it to me, but you all are hypocrites! I'm starving already, bring the drugged food!"
She yelled so loudly the room shook and dust motes fell, they landed on her nose and irritated it until she couldn't help sneezing a few times.
Right when she was sneezing, the horse stable door slowly creaked open.
The bright moon shone, illuminating the horse stable as a tall young man stood in the doorway. His over towering figure blocked the light from reaching her, casting a shadow over her figure on the hay ground.
Rhea slowly looked from the person's feet, long slender legs, narrowed waist, well-built broad chest. She finally met his handsome god-like face, he was staring at her blankly.
His fine black gear outfit, highlighted his unblemished milky white face, looking down at her with a rigidly stoic expression. This couldn't be the ugly general, she was certain.
His face was surprisingly so pretty.
Yes, prettier than that of a woman. Especially that pair of pale blue crystal orbs, it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen in her life.
Ba-thump!
Meeting those pair of pale crystal blue eyes, Rhea suddenly felt like her heart beat intensified. Immediately following that, like an illusion, Rhea seemed to hear her heart galloping away even faster.
Ba-thump! Ba-thump!
Her heart was beating like crazy. Could it be beating towards this handsome angel?
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
And this heart beating faster, couldn't possibly mean that... she'd fallen for this man at first sight?!