Chapter 196: Wedding day (part 2)

However, Azure stood few steps away from her. His expression revealed...pain? He looked at her with a pained and heartbroken expression, his features appearing pale and somewhat sickly. He stared at her for a while before finally speaking.

"You are now afraid of me," he smiled bitterly, "I don’t blame you, I have done you wrong in many ways, and I know an apology isn’t enough for what I have done, Rheanna." He admitted.

Rhea frowned, "I don’t want your apologies, I will never forgive you for what you did to me. And if you think I will go with you to some stupid island_"

"I am not here to take you away." He cut her off lightly.

Rhea was taken aback, "Then why are you here?" She asked suspiciously, "Are you here to harm people?"

"No, I am here to confess to you. You don’t have to forgive me if you don’t want to, but at least I hope you will listen to what I have to say today, as it might be the last time you will ever hear from me again." He said, almost sounding like he was fighting back his emotions, "If you don’t want to hear me out, I will leave."

For some reasons, Rhea couldn’t bring herself to tell him to leave. She had thought she hated him despite all the things he had done to her, but then remembering how he had helped her, and how he had saved her from execution; she felt her wall of resentment began to fall. However, she didn’t put down her guard and coldly said, "You have ten minutes to say whatever you want to say, after ten minutes, I don’t want to see your face again."

Azure sized her up, then smiled bitterly, "You’re getting married to him, does he love you?"

"You have nine minutes left, my marriage to Draven is none of your business." She said coldly.

Azure nodded sadly, "I am sorry." He apologized, "I have protected you right from the day you were born, but then I let you down."

Rhea was taken aback by his words, "Right when I was born? I only met you when I was sixteen years old, and you started protecting me from then."

"I showed myself to you when you were sixteen, but Rhea, I have known you right from the day you were born, and I knew you had something Alina desires the most in the world. I used to be Alina’s best friend, and if I wanted to give you out to her, I would have, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. The first time I saw you, you were just a little newborn child left without a mother. You family blamed you for your mother’s death and left you to die on the floor..."

Rhea had heard that after her mother’s death, her father had ordered the midwife to leave her on the ground of the mansion to die as well. But then her foster mother had taken her in. But right now, she was even surprised that Azure had known her even before she knew herself...

"When I teleported into the Villden mansion and saw the baby on the ground, I felt disgusted at the heartless family who left an innocent child to die for a crime that wasn’t her fault. I was supposed to take you to Alina, but I didn’t, instead I went to find the most unfavoured wife of your father, Irene. She refused to take you in because she didn’t want to go against your father and she believed you were a bad omen. However, I had no time to convince her, so I made her believed she loved and cared about you with my magic. I manipulated her mind and handed you to her."

Rhea sank into the chair behind her as she felt her legs suddenly go weak from such revelation. She had never suspected that her beloved foster mother had liked her because she was under Azure’s spell. But now that she thought about it, Irene had also acted a bit off with her. Just like when she had been taken to the execution hole, the woman hadn’t done anything to plead for her like Cal did. So the woman had never wanted her, and if it wasn’t for Azure, she would have been left on the cold ground to die with no one to care for...

Rhea fought back her tears as she didn’t want to spoil her makeup. Her throat burned with emotions. She managed to speak again, "If you were always protecting me, then why did you subject me to those hundred lashes?"

Azure’s gaze faltered slightly at that question. "Because I love you," he confessed. "I have loved you since the day we met in the library many years ago. I swore to protect you from the moment you were a baby, but as you grew older, I started developing feelings for you. When I discovered you were involved with another man, particularly the man who’s core you have, I felt betrayed for reasons I couldn’t fully understand. Jealousy consumed me, and I ended up taking you to the Emperor instead of releasing you like I intended to do at first. I know that mere words can’t make up for what I’ve done, but I’m here to apologize. I am sorry, Rheanna."

Rhea remained silent. She let his words digest into her mind. Azure loved her, she thought in disbelief. For all the years she had known him, she had a big crush on him and looked up to him like a god. She even fantasized a love story with him. And whenever she saw him with Oriana, she became jealous. But after meeting Draven, those little fantasies of hers began to disappear, however, she still continue to look up to him and despite knowing he was Alina’s partner in crime, she still couldn’t bring herself to hate him until the day he hurt her and caused Cal’s death.

But now, surprisingly after hearing all these, she couldn’t find it in her to continue hating him again. He hadn’t only saved her from her childhood, he had also saved her from Alina a few days ago. He had always been her savior...

As Rhea didn’t reply for a long time, Azure’s eyes turned downcast. He wasn’t expecting forgiveness anyway, he had only come here to let her know everything before he’d go back to face the consequences of his betrayal of Alina and Erebus’, who he dared not mention to Rhea or any Dragon as he knew the consequences to that.

"I wish you a happy married life, Rhea, and I hope you find happiness with the Dragons. Goodbye,"

"Wait," Rhea stopped him before he could disappear. She knew what she was about to say was stupid and perhaps even dangerous for Azure, and Draven wouldn’t like it, but then she couldn’t stop herself. "I want you to give me away to my husband if it isn’t too much to ask of you. After all, it was all thanks to you I live till today." She said in an emotionless tone, but internally she hoped he wouldn’t refuse her request. She couldn’t bring herself to openly forgive him, but then she wanted to him to give her away.

Azure didn’t hesitate to nod his head, "It’s my honor to give you away as long as the dragon won’t mind my presence." He said despite the bitterness in his heart about giving the girl he loved away to someone else.

"They won’t mind." Rhea assured.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read