Demon Prince's Forsaken Bride-Chapter 53: A Nightmare? (1)
She was obviously a human and in the presence of all the demons there, she was the weakest. Even when compared to Rosie who had the constitution of a demon, Lareina was weaker. But yet, those softly uttered words seemed to be a warning to each person in the room.
Azrael did not utter another word as he stood with his back facing towards her and this time, Lareina left the room without looking back.
...
"My Lady, it is all my fault that things have come to this. You offended His Highness and...’’
Lareina patted Rosie’s shoulders, ’’I lack the ability to protect you in my current state,’’ Even as she spoke, she wondered if things would have been different if she was not in such a vulnerable position here.
’’My Lady,’’ Astra walked towards them, ’’Rosie can stay in my room and that way, you would not be worried about her.’’
"Would that cause trouble for you?" Lareina did not say anything explicitly but her words were obvious.
’’My Lady, you are misunderstanding His Highness. He is...; He wouldn’t...’’ Probably lacking eloquence, Astra did not know what to say in order to make things better. In the end, she said, ’’It is him who has made these arrangements.’’
Lareina smiled, ’’I understand.’’
Astra was about to sigh in relief when Lareina continued, "He would have to be considerate for Moira.’’
Astra was stifled. Like a shrimp on a pan, she struggled but was unable to speak for a long time. In the end, she motioned for Rosie to go to her room.
After Rosie left, Astra stepped closer to Lareina and spoke in a softer voice, ’’My Lady, things are not as simple as they seem.
Lareina glanced at her.
’’In the war, His Highness was the common target of all the enemies which is a given since he is the general,’’ Her voice was soft as she led Lareina downstairs to a table, ’’But the war started on an unfair note. One side was prepared and one side was not. When His Highness was dispatched for the war, he was not as experienced as he is now nor were we capable of protecting him. The demon realm lacked capable generals and capable fighters so it was only a matter of time before our general was wounded severely. His Highness would have perished at that time...’’
Lareina frowned, ’’What happened then?" The news of war reached back to the royal castle and it
was declared everywhere on a timely basis. All the time, those messages had only been about
victories. Nobody talked about the general’s sufferings or the suffering of the troops.
’’His Highness was young and reckless but he was determined and passionate. Had he surrendered one of our troops that day then he would not have been injured. But he did not sacrifice our people and fought single handedly with four great human generals. They were all injured by him and were forced to retreat, not knowing that he was holding onto his last breath. By the time their entrapment was gone, some of the elites of our troops had gone to look for him. But nobody knew that our general was missing.’’
’’Did you find him that night?"
Astra shook her head, ’’But we found his secret message that we must find someone to impersonate him. Nobody should know that he is severely injured,’’ she inhaled a deep breath, ’’We followed his orders and found the person whose temperament and figure matched His Highness the most before casting a spell on him to alter his appearance. The humans are not as proficient in spells and the impersonator was always shielded between the formations.
The humans thought we were taking precautions because they had gotten to our general before so they did not get suspicious about our arrangements. The person who impersonated him was also doing the job flawlessly.’’
’’The person who impersonated him was Rune,’’ Lareina’s words dropped like a statement.
Astra was briefly surprised and then she nodded, ’’That’s right."
’’What about Azrael?"
’’His Highness... He had not retained his consciousness for long. After leaving the secret message, he had stumbled along the path in a forest before flowing with the current of the stream. He met Moira at that time. She saved his life,’’ At that point, Astra looked at Lareina apologetically, ’’My Lady, this is all that I can tell you. Things beyond this, you should talk to His Highness about it and clear the misunderstandings between the both of you... My Lady?"
Lareina snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Astra, ’’I understand,’’ she smiled softly.
As Astra watched the woman leaving, she could tell that Lareina had no intentions of backing down. She had said that ’I understand’ merely perfunctorily because Astra had made an effort to talk about these things.
"You shouldn’t have,’’ Rune appeared at that time and took a seat opposite to her.
’’I should not have talked about it?" Astra gave him a look, ’’The journey has been nothing but unpleasant for everyone. This is the least of my consideration right now.’’
Being the man he was, Rune looked at her silently.
But his look was absolutely deciphered by his fellow on the same boat, ’’His Highness has never forbidden us from talking about it so I did not go against any of his orders. Even if I did, I am willing to receive my punishment,’’ Astra tugged at her hair a bit as she spoke, ’’Did you see how terrible Lady Lareina looked earlier in the room?"
Rune looked at her blankly.
’’You would have noticed if you looked at anyone else other than His Highness,’’ Astra chided in a softer voice, ’’Everything has played out in a way that His Highness is protecting that vixen to this extent today that she is gloating. But don’t we all know where his heart lies? He is too prideful to talk about these things with the Lady. In any case, he can send me off to fight beasts in the wilderness for a year or two."
’’Oh.’’
’’Don’t ’oh’ me! You don’t understand, do you?" Astra nagged at the man, ’’Our prince is capable of strategizing and he can defeat even the god of war if he sets his mind to it. But he has one weakness.’’
At this, Rune perked his ears, looking at her as if just the notion of Azrael having a weakness was as impossible as a demon couple conceiving a human child.
