Marina physically flinched, completely unlike when she had pretended to. It wasn't the first time she had seen Arshe do something like that but at the same time it wasn't a sight she could get used to.
Tahra on the other hand, suddenly found it hard to breathe needing a few seconds too late to comprehend the situation before her eyes.
By the time she did, her stomach was the first to react as she immediately turned to the side retching whatever she had in her stomach and throat which wasn't much.
"Kurgh! URghhh!" Tahra groaned, convinced that the memory would forever haunt her as she lowered her head to the ground trying to unsee what she had just seen.
Harry on the other hand was sweating buckets! His heart on the edge of bursting out of his chest. Time slowed down as he wondered if his next breath was bound to be his last.
Feeling sweat trickle down his back, unable to raise his head up again after hearing the loud thud John's headless body made as it dropped to the ground.
Arshe held the head for a while, staring at it for only a split second before he tossed it to join the body.
Shifting his gaze over to Harry who immediately fell on his knees.
"I know my crime and I'm willing to accept any punishment!" Harry said, feeling a sense of horror descend on him, as he watched Arshe stretch out both his hands towards him.
Only registering what he was supposed to do, about a second to late, when Arshe' expression became even colder as he glared down at him.
As quickly as he could, Harry immediately took off his shirt and as best as he could wiped off Arshe's hand to remove the specks of blood on his fingers.
His body trembling at the realization that the hand he touched had been strong enough to wrench a human head off its shoulders with sheer force of will alone.
Harry, taking a couple of steps back the second he was done.
Tahra still hadn't recovered and while previously her entire body had simply thrummed with pain, unexpectedly a sudden feeling of nausea washed over her, making her head feeling extremely dizzy, enough to make her feel faint.
Tahra was just about considering lying flat on the ground until she recovered when she heard footsteps moving closer to her direction, too fatigued to look.
Until, she felt arms wrap around her body, picking her up almost like she weighed nothing. Pushing her head into a shirt that smelled of unfamiliar lavender cologne coupled with a smell she couldn't identify but she wanted more of.
Not thinking too deeply about it, Tahra immediately buried her face deeper into it, shocked at how soothing it was.
'As long as I'm not in pain, I don't care about anything else!' Tahra thought, desperate to have a day when nothing went wrong and she didn't have to do anything that would hurt her both physically and emotionally.
Arshe was extremely gentle, surprised to feel how light the woman was. Even more unexpected was the way she leaned and dug her head right into his chest.
'She reminds me of the car I had when I was a child. The one I accidentally killed!' Arshe thought to himself wondering how far he could push and toy with her until her will was completely broken.
'That cat was smart enough to run in front of a car the second I let it go!' He thought recalling events of his pasts, only to be thrown back to reality when he heard someone unexpectedly call out his name.
"Ar-arshe!" Marina softly called out, still kneeling on the ground where she had fallen without getting up.
The expression on her face was one of innocence and fragility, just like Arshe liked it, but unlike other times, instead of looking at her, Arshe's complete attention was on the woman in his arms.
"Arshe, I--"
"STAY THERE! You aren't allowed to get up until I'm completely gone!" Arshe ordered in an extremely icy tone right before he turned around to leave. Carrying Tahra through the forest and back through the path that led back to the main road.
Leaving Marina on the ground, confident that she wouldn't dare to disobey him and she didn't.
Marina watched him leave and she didn't dare to move a muscle as she continued kneeling on the ground, fuming within her.
Her eyes burned red as she again recalled the way Arshe had fixed his eyes on 'Tahra!'
She took in deep breaths, only to feel her heart slowly start to thump in anger all over again, rising with every memory of what had happened which had never happened before.
'Arshe was supposed to take my side, he always does!'
'Is he interested in her? Does he want to make her his mate?' Marina wondered only to shake her head firmly to refute the thought that had popped into her head.
"Arshe only has playthings! Play things that he discards!" Marina mumbled aloud to herself right before she got to her feet, confident of her place in his heart.
But she had just taken a step when she froze, turning slowly around to look at the body Arshe had discarded quickly and powerfully without managing to get a speck of block on his blood.
Regardless of how much it spluttered out!
Instead of simply looking at it, Marina walked closer to it, swallowing the urge to look away as she saw a couple of flies that were getting attracted to it.
'I-I should look at it!' Marina shakily thought to herself even as she stared, resisting the urge to dash away.
"If I'm going to stay by his side for ever, then I should get used to seeing things like this!" Marina mumbled aloud to herself.
Arshe liked her acting fragile, without actually being that way and it was something she didn't dare to change.
'Cause the moment I break, he'll discard me too!'