Demon Prince's Forsaken Bride-Chapter 29: Injured
In one moment, Lareina was still standing in her spot but under the sheer force, she lost her footing and staggered a few steps back. She grabbed the edge of a wooden surface but her foot caught in her dress and she stumbled back, the sharp edge pointing straight at her eye as she found herself falling.
However, at the last moment, Lareina’s body was supported by the seamstress who had rushed to her side, ’’My Lady, leave! Go to His Highness!"
Lareina’s body was still shaking as the woman pounced at the five foot something creature that had appeared.
"My Lady!’’
The woman’s voice snapped Lareina out of her reverie and she recovered her senses before going outside. When she returned to the main hall, Azrael was nowhere to be seen. Except, creatures, big and small, of all kinds were engaged in fights with the guards that greeted her.
Suddenly, something that resembled a demonic hound rushed towards her with its teeth bared. Lareina flinched but a shadow flashed in front of her and the hound collapsed on the ground, a pool of blood gradually gathering around him.
"My Lady, this way,’’ A chilly voice welcomed her ears.
The man who spoke seemed to be in his early thirties, draped in a black robe.
Lareina followed the man, knowing well of the risks. He might have evil intentions but she knew that if she stayed there any longer, she would probably die.
The crowded and jolly marketplace had become a place of ruins in the blink of an eye as demonic creatures had filled the area.
The man who led her out of the place slayed every monster that came his way with his scimitar, his frigid eyes alert.
Lareina was drenched in cold sweat and her face was pale, her legs almost gave away but she followed the man till he brought her to the place where their carriage waited.
"Where is he?" she asked when the man turned to leave. He brought her to this place safely, meaning he was one of Azrael’s people, as she had surmised.
Then, where had he disappeared to?
But before the man could respond, a pack of demonic hounds sprinted towards him and he was immediately pulled away in a battle with them.
Lareina had yet to catch her breath when a couple of them escaped from the battle with the man and rushed towards her. They surrounded her from all sides with their jaws open as suspicious fluids trickled down their mouth.
When one of them pounced at her, the remaining two roared and followed.
Lareina closed her eyes, knowing there was no way out of it. She had thought she would be killed between the grievances of both the realms but in the end, she had a more miserable death written in her fate. She would have never known that.
The breath of the demonic beast seemed to sear her skin when it approached close to her, almost as if a layer of her skin was burnt but the pain she had expected never came.
When she opened her eyes, she found a broad body shielding. Azrael’s right hand held a sword that had pierced through a beast while the left hand was caught in the jaws of the beast that had attacked her earlier.
Lareina’s breath hitched when she saw the blood that had dripped from the spot where the beast had dug its fangs in Azrael’s forearm. But the man did not make a single noise to acknowledge that pain. His back was ramrod straight as he tackled the beasts one by one.
His back was facing towards her. Even after he slayed the beasts and turned to look at her, she could not make out the expressions on his face as he was still wearing that rabbit mask. The white mask had glaring bloodstains.
The deep wound on his hand was not the only visible one. He was visibly injured everywhere.
’’It is fine now. Don’t be scared,’’ the man reached out his hand towards her but she instinctively pulled her hand back.
Azrael’s hand hung midair.
"Come with me,’’ He retracted his hand and turned to leave. But suddenly, he froze when he felt a gentle tug on his sleeve.
He lowered his head and glanced at the fingers that were pinching his sleeve tightly.
’’You... You are so badly injured. Where can we get you treated...?"
The woman’s voice was hoarse and trembling with every word she uttered. She seemed scared but her grip on his sleeve was weirdly strong.
He did not know whether he turned around gently because he did not want to lose that touch or whether she held onto his sleeve so firmly that her grip was unshakeable even when he turned to look at her.
’’These are all superficial wounds. Do not be worried over it,’’ After a pause, he added, ’’We are going back to the palace, I would get the healers to treat me,’’ he spoke, and only then did she let go.
But on their way back, Azrael felt her gaze lingering on him as if he was a dying man. And if that amused him to a certain extent, he did not let it show on his face.
Once the carriage stopped in front of the castle, Lareina stepped out of the carriage before Azrael could, her hands clutching her gown to balance herself.
’’Quick! You need to see the healer,’’ she even extended her hand towards him.
Azrael looked at the delicate hand that did not seem like it could take half his weight if he decided to lean onto her for support and instead of taking it, he questioned her, ’’Are you concerned about me now?"
Her brows furrowed for a moment before she retracted her hand, ’’Your Highness, you are the great general of Erevas. If something happens to you when you are out with me, it would not be an affair between the both of us, but rather, the affair of two races and...’’
