The situation felt surreal—unbelievable. Just hours ago, Sarai had left him here, torn between betrayal and regret, and now this woman, his worst enemy, was violating what little dignity he had left.
Yesner's hands roamed his body with a predatory hunger, and as she unbuttoned his shirt, she let out soft, almost purring sounds of satisfaction. Falko's skin crawled at the touch, the weight of her presence suffocating. He twisted in his bonds, trying to escape her grasp, but it was futile. The ropes were too tight, cutting into his wrists with every move.
"Ahhhh~ Handsome prince of the south," Yesner cooed, leaning in closer, her breath hot against his skin. "It only makes me want you more."
"Her highness wants your semen to make worthy royal children, but she won't even get to know even if I violate you here. You wouldn't tell her right? If you do, I will kill that girl named Sarai. After all, I can still see it in your eyes that you care about her," Yesner muttered to Falko.
Her hands moved lower, her lips grazing his neck, savouring every shiver of disgust that ran through his body. Falko's mind screamed, his heart aching not just from the physical violation, but from the emotional betrayal.
The thought of an imperial soldier that was the cause of his family's death touching his body felt like the worst thing that could happen to him. Even though he was still a child, this deviant of a woman didn't care, instead she was about to unbuckle Falko's pants when he felt something strange.
He felt heat in his body, nothing like he had ever felt. It was as if his organs started to melt, which was painful enough for him to piss himself. But that wasn't all instead, he also started to shout like he was on the verge of death biting on the cloth that covered his mouth, so hard that he started to twitch.
Crimson blood started to leak out of his eyes, and Yesner felt like she was watching the transformation of a wild animal, but she quickly had a different thought.
"What...is this- is this a omen?" She muttered to himself, and quickly realized things were not looking good. She quickly grabbed her jacket, and tried to leave but felt something on her back. It was cold and numbing sensation, but Yesner was too late when she realized what just happened to her.
A deafening explosion erupted from the corner of the camp. The blast was immediate, a violent shockwave of energy that consumed the entire area. The walls splintered, the floor disintegrated, and the guards stationed outside were incinerated in an instant, their bodies reduced to charred remains, still smoking in the aftermath.
Sarai had been resting in her tent when she heard the explosion, a sound so powerful it shook the entire camp. Her heart dropped, dread pooling in her stomach as she ran toward the source of the blast, a crowd of soldiers gathering in the distance.
"No way! No way! That sound, it came from the area where Falko is at," Sarai muttered to herself, as she kept running.
When she arrived at the scene, the air was thick with the stench of burnt flesh. The two guards who had been stationed outside the hut were lying on the ground, their bodies scorched beyond recognition, their skin still smoking.
"What happened here?"
And then she saw it—something crawling in the dirt. A figure, horribly disfigured, its limbs barely functioning as it tried to drag itself forward. Sarai's breath caught in her throat as she recognized the twisted remains of Commander Yesner. Her once commanding presence was reduced to a crawling, broken corpse, her face unrecognizable, but her eyes still wide with terror.
The skin on her face was melted only leaving the blood and teared up muscles, which was an disgusting sight for anyone to witness.
"Yesner…" Sarai whispered in disbelief, watching as the commander struggled to move, her charred fingers clawing at the dirt. But she didn't make it far. After just a few seconds, Yesner's body went limp, her final breath escaping as her burned form collapsed into the ground.
Sarai's chest tightened, a mix of horror and confusion flooding her mind. What just happened? Her eyes darted toward the hut—or rather, searching for Falko. The entire structure had been obliterated, reduced to rubble and ash. And yet, Falko was nowhere to be seen.
Her heart raced, panic rising in her throat. "Where is he?" she muttered, stepping closer to the smoking wreckage. She scanned the area, desperate for any sign of the prince. But there was nothing. No trace of him at all.
"What... what in the world happened here?" Sarai whispered to herself, fear gnawing at her insides as she stared at the devastation.
Falko was gone, and the mystery of his sudden disappearance left her with a sinking, terrifying realization—something far more dangerous had just awakened.
***
A boy lay unconscious on a uncomfortable looking straw bed, his face pale. The glow from a nearby lantern cast soft shadows across the room, illuminating the faces of a dark-haired woman in her early thirties and a teenage girl looking exactly like the mini version of the woman standing beside her.
The woman, her long black hair streaked with a few strands of branches as a proof of her visit to the forest, knelt by the boy's side, checking his pulse and the bandages she had wrapped around his wounds. Her expression was calm, but there was a hint of curiosity in her dark eyes. Beside her, the girl, about fifteen years old, watched with a mixture of impatience and fascination.
"Where do you think he's from, Mom?" the girl asked, leaning closer to get a better look at the boy. Her long, messy hair fell over her face as she peered curiously at the stranger. "It's not every day you find a boy out in the forest, and alive no less.
The woman glanced at her daughter, her lips curving into a small, knowing smile. "I found him in the woods while I was out gathering herbs," she said softly, placing a hand on the boy's forehead to check his temperature. "He was just lying there, unconscious and injured. If I hadn't come across him when I did, he might not have survived the night."
The girl wrinkled her nose, clearly puzzled. "But... how does a boy end up there? Was he lost, or did someone dump him in the woods?"
The woman sighed, her gaze lingering on the boy's face. "I don't know, Rhea. He doesn't have the look of a village boy from Sommeral, so we can only guess that he might be from a far away place. There's something different about him." She sat back slightly, her brow furrowing in thought. "But until he wakes up, there's no way of knowing for sure."
Rhea crossed her arms, staring down at him with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension. "I've never seen a boy like him before," she murmured. "He's... strange. Too handsome. And the scars…" She pointed to the faint marks on his arms and face, barely visible beneath the bandages.
The woman's expression softened. "He's been through something. Those wounds are not the kind boys usually get from the kitchen or garden work. When I found him, he was naked. I could only guess what hardships he had to go through."
The woman obviously knew a man like him being naked in the middle of nowhere with a handsome face like that was not a good sign. She knew he might be the victim of bandits or some fiend that wanted to destroy this innocent boys pride, but she quickly removed that thought from her head because right now, all she cared was making sure this boy survive the night.
Rhea tilted her head, her brown eyes narrowing in thought. "So what are we going to do with him, Mom? I mean, we can't just keep him here forever, can we?"
The woman stood up, her hands brushing off her hair as she turned toward her daughter. She looked at the boy again, considering the situation carefully. "We'll wait until he wakes up," she said after a long pause. "When he does, we'll ask him what he wants to do. This decision will be his, not ours."
Rhea blinked, surprised. "But what if he doesn't want to leave? What if he's in trouble?" Her voice carried a hint of concern, mixed with curiosity.
The woman met her daughter's gaze, her eyes serious. "Then we'll have to decide what to do, but for now, we wait. It's his choice. I don't mind having a handsome boy like him. We could use his help in our house work." She paused, looking at the boy with a hint of sadness. "If he's running from something, it'll be up to him to tell us."
Rhea frowned, unsure. "But what if... what if it's dangerous? What if we get in trouble for helping him?"
The woman placed a reassuring hand on Rhea's shoulder. "We'll deal with that when the time comes. For now, just keep an eye on him. He'll need a lot of care when he wakes up. Also it is a woman's duty to protect men, especially vulnerable ones like him. If you think about abandoning a man like him, you might as well remove your womanhood because you're no longer a woman worthy of a man."
Rhea nodded, glancing one last time at the boy before following her mother out of the room. "I hope he's not a troublemaker. The last thing we need is more problems."
The woman smiled gently as they left. "Let's hope he's just a lost boy who needs some help, Rhea. Let's give him the chance to decide his fate."