Chapter 75: Intruder in the building

As Rhea was anxiously thinking of a way to prevent Alina from sighting Draven, he had already brushed past her like a possessed person on the verge of attacking it’s prey. Rhea’s eyes widened in terror.

Without hesitation, she reached out and firmly grasped his hand, yanking him back. She paid no mind to the physical impact he had on her because of the potion, tightening her grip as she gazed up at him. His current expression bore no resemblance to the Draven of minutes before; he appeared consumed by anger. Meeting his gaze head-on, she shook her head firmly and communicated through their connection.

"Do you wish to be killed without seeking vengeance? Do you want to meet your demise without an opportunity to defeat that evil woman? Do you seek to meet your end at the hands of your most formidable enemy?"

Upon hearing Rhea’s words, Draven slowly retreated. He had no option but to close his eyes and take a deep breath, ceasing his attempts to free his hand from Rhea’s grasp. Aware that the more he looked at Alina, the stronger his desire to attack would become, he averted his gaze from her and instead focused his icy stare on Rhea.

Rhea didn’t need to inquire if he was alright; she could sense all of his emotions. His agony, the frigidity in his heart, the burning hatred, the stabbing anguish of hopelessness - it all pierced her heart like sharp needles, resonating deep within her bones. His unwavering gaze solely on her felt like ice-cold needles penetrating her body. Rhea had no choice but to endure both his pains and overwhelming stare in order to prevent him from acting impulsively once more.

For a human like her, meeting the gaze of an ice dragon king was torture. The power emanating from it sent shivers down her spine. It was at this moment that Rhea realized the intensity of Draven’s hatred towards this woman. He continued to hold her gaze with his icy one, seemingly suppressing his emotions. Seeing all the hurt in his blue eyes pained her for some reasons, she could no longer continue to hold his gaze and averted her eyes, but she maintained her grip on his hand.

Rhea didn’t know how long it took, but gradually his intense gaze on the back of her head began to recede. It seemed like Draven had slowly begun to calm down. However, they couldn’t leave yet because of Alina.

_Are you alright?_ she asked through their connection, but Draven didn’t reply, and only stared blankly.

Of course, he wouldn’t be alright. The pain of seeing his enemy right in front of him, but had no powers to fight her, was worst then being stabbed.

Alina stood at the distant end of the corridors alongside the fire controllers, still a little ways away from them. Her facial expression revealed her displeasure as she scanned the gathered guards in the corridors. "I find it hard to believe that a few foolish ghosts could cause all of you to retreat like losers. Despite your extensive training, you were unable to withstand their presence. How absurd!"

Alina’s voice had a chilly demeanor when she spoke, but Rhea experienced a sudden onset of pain in her hand at that moment. When she glanced down, she discovered that it was Draven who was tightly clutching her hand in an effort to control his emotions. The pressure was so intense that his knuckles had turned white.

Rhea, determined to endure the pain, muttered, "As long as you refrain from impulsive actions, feel free to squeeze my hand as much as you want." She could hear her bones cracking as she gritted her teeth.

"We apologize for our incompetence, lady Credan!" The guards apologized and began to bow one after the other to Alina.

Seeing everyone bowing to Alina, Rhea became extremely anxious. They were all bowing to their waist as Alina walked past them. Knowing Draven, he wouldn’t want to bow to her, and if he refused to do so and continued to stare blankly, then it would only be a matter of seconds she’d sight him.

Rhea was suddenly startled when she felt Draven’s hand slip away from hers. She tried to grab it back in a hurry, but before she could reach out, she noticed him bowing like everyone else. Her heart tightened as she saw him in that position. Memories flooded her mind of Alina’s betrayal during their wedding. The pain in her heart intensified, mixed with anger. It felt as if their connection was making her feel all these emotions, allowing her to sense his reluctance, resentment, and the years of suffering he endured silently due to his corrupted heart and need for blood.

Now, with no other option, he had to bow down and apologize to the person he once loved and now hated. Rhea’s heart ached with an unbearable pain. She felt an urge to grab Alina by the hair and strike her down, but she knew she couldn’t confront someone like Alina. Resigned, Rhea also bent her waist and bowed down.

"We apologize for our incompetence, lady Credan." she said in her deep voice.

Alina briefly paused in front of Rhea, her eyes scanned across Draven, whose head was still bowed. It appeared that she didn’t see his face, and returned her gaze to Rhea. She stayed there for a moment, just as Rhea began to think that the woman might have suspected something, a middle-aged man entered the hallway. The man was dressed in the robe of a royal official, adorned with gold thread that shimmered in the torchlight, making him resemble the emperor himself.

This man was none other than Edmund Santino, the Emperor’s advisor. He glanced towards the guards and demanded in a booming voice, "What occurred here? Who is responsible for this disturbance in the middle of the night?"

When the guards noticed Edmund’s presence, they all bowed down again and greeted, "Lord Santino!"

Edmund was about to speak again when he caught sight of Alina, who stood before two guards, her eyes lingering on them, he then called, "Alina, you are also here?" He asked in surprise, "What are you doing down here at this time of the night?"

Alina finally looked away from Rhea and turned to her uncle, "Edmund," she addressed him by his name without any form of respect, "I personally brought a creature here, because it’s too powerful for anyone to handle. However, I heard some noise down here and came to check, only to see all your men running around like a bunch of lunatics."

Despite the arrogance in her tone, Edmund politely received her words. Alina’s status couldn’t be reckoned with in Birhhan, even the Emperor himself respected her, so who was Edmund to disrespect her?

Lord Edmund forced a smile, "I apologize on their behalf." His gaze swept over the lined up guards in the corridor. When his gaze stopped on Draven, Rhea almost subconsciously blocked him from being sighted. She couldn’t help the anxiety in her mind. She feared that perhaps the mask wasn’t covering his aura completely, for these two to stand in front of them.

Thankfully, lord Edmund’s gaze also skimmed over to the next person, and Alina walked away from their direction without sparing Draven nor Rhea another glance.

"What caused all this tonight?" Lord Edmund asked a nearby guard, but before the man could reply, Alina cut in, "Ghosts," she said nonchalantly, "There has been a lot of dragons death in this building, and so they wanted to stir up some trouble by scaring your men."

When the men heard Alina’s remarks, they all exchanged terrified glances as they realized that it was truly ghosts who had caused the earlier chaos. Although they were all trained and some even possessed powers, the idea of dragon ghosts still sent shivers down their spines. They had killed and captured many of these creatures and didn’t want to be hunted down.

However, many of them had no regrets for capturing the creatures. They held both respect and fear for Alina alone and were willing to sacrifice their lives for her. After all, she was an immortal and the hero of humanity. Without her, their world would have been destroyed decades ago. It was only natural for them to blindly worship her and follow in her footsteps.

Alina could sense the fear among some of the men, she then said, "There’s nothing to fear, they’re just mere ghosts. Even when they were alive, they couldn’t fight nor cause trouble, now that they’re dead, it’s even less for you to fear. I have already cast a spell around the building, any ghosts that dared to step in here again will be sealed away forever. You just have to guard the ones alive."

Lord Edmund immediately nod in agreement, "Yes, since lady Credan has spoken, you should focus on guarding the rest."

"Yes, my Lord!"

Lord Edmund moved closer to Alina and spoke, "Oriana sent a message saying that all the elixirs should be delivered to your residence, if you don’t mind me asking, what do you plan on doing with that much amount of elixirs?"

Alina’s expression slightly twitched, but then she replied. "It’s not something to discuss here, let’s talk in private."

Lord Edmund nodded then deferentially guided the way. Alina followed him, and they both turned along the corridors, their voices fading into the distance.

Rhea looked at the pair until their figure disappeared. She mulled over what Alina wanted to talk about in private, and why she was here at this time of the night. Furthermore, Alina had said she brought a dragon, that too a powerful one her men couldn’t handle alone. Did she capture another dragon?

Rhea’s curiosity was piqued, she wanted to find out what they were going to talk about. Thus, she internally tried to use the dragon hearing technique Draven had taught her in the banquet to listen on their conversation. For a moment, she could only hear the muffled cries of the dragons in the cells flowing into her ears, it was loud, but then she focused her mind and found where Alina was with Edmund. She just happened to hear Edmund say,

"You caught her? Don’t you think it would cause a huge problem if they found out about this? You_"

Lord Edmund hadn’t finished speaking when Alina suddenly interrupted, "Someone is using a dragon hearing ability!" She declared, "There’s an intruder in the building."

Rhea felt her heart suddenly leap out of her chest as she heard those words.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read