Exiled Prince: I'm the Unexpected Extra in the Novel-Chapter 173: The Crimson Night [1]

The War for The North [60]

Chapter 173: The Crimson Night

Three weeks had passed since Cassian performed the purification atop the Winter Castle.

The golden light that covered the sky that night had ripped away the cursed plague over the North, granting a second life to thousands of people who were about to die.

However, the peace that followed that night was not the silence of victory Cassian expected. On the contrary, it was that suffocating, nerve-wracking stillness before the storm.

There was not a single trace of the Obsidian Dawn.

Cassian, cloaked in his black crow form, was gliding over the vast, snow-covered lands of the North.

His sharp eyes were searching for the slightest blemish, the slightest movement, an anomaly on the pristine white world below. But all he saw was an disturbingly peaceful and equally eerie emptiness.

Evacuated villages, abandoned towns, and desolate castles groaning with the howling of the wind... These places where people once laughed and had fun, where smoke rose from chimneys, where children ran around, were now no different from ghost towns. Doors slammed in the wind, windows looked at the horizon like empty eye sockets.

Narrowing his wings, Cassian landed right in the middle of a desolate mountain village, in its snow-covered square. His claws sank into the snow. Pitch-black smoke surrounded him as he returned to human form.

Crushing the snow under his boots, he began to visit the houses one by one.

He kicked doors open, entered cellars. He even used his [Child of Nature] ability to send roots underground, listening to the vibrations of the earth. He looked for a secret tunnel, a magical shelter, or a sign of life.

There was nothing. absolutely nothing.

Cassian bit his nail in frustration. For two days, without a wink of sleep, day and night, he had scoured every inch.

"Where are those damn bastards!" he shouted into the void. His voice echoed off the walls of the abandoned houses and returned to him.

That boy, who once ran away from the existence of the Obsidian Dawn, looking for a hole to hide even when he heard their names, was now struggling to find them.

Because he knew the enemy was most dangerous not when visible, but when hidden. This silence was the harbinger of an ambush.

"Damn it," he hissed. He took on his crow form again and, flapping his wings hard, rose into the sky towards the capital.

When Cassian returned to the Winter Castle, he flew directly to the tower where his room was and made a rough landing on the balcony.

As soon as he returned to human form, he threw himself onto the bed without even taking off his cloak. He buried his face in the pillow. He had no morale to talk to anyone, to report to anyone.

But solitude was a luxury in this castle.

The air in the room suddenly cooled. The mist on the windows froze and blue snowflakes appeared floating in the air.

When Cryomara appeared in the middle of the room, Cassian didn’t even bother to lift his head from the pillow. The woman sat on the edge of the bed without asking for permission. Her weight made the bed sink.

"So?" asked Cryomara, her voice weary and a bit tense. "Any news, little lizard?"

Cassian answered with a muffled voice from inside the pillow. "I found nothing. Not a trace, not a magical residue... As if the ground opened up and swallowed them."

He turned his head and looked at Cryomara with one eye.

"I don’t know if we should be happy or sad about this anymore."

Cryomara sighed deeply. Her blue eyes gazed out the window into the endless whiteness.

"You’re right," she said. "Waiting... tires one more than fighting."

Cassian sat up and leaned his back against the headboard.

"How are the witches?" he asked. "They aren’t causing trouble, are they?"

Cryomara smiled slightly. "No, they are more docile than I expected."

Her face grew serious.

"Except for that one bitch."

Cassian raised his eyebrows. It was obvious who she was talking about.

"Did Lilith do something?"

Blue lightning flashed in Cryomara’s eyes. "Yes! She’s been hanging around my Cecilia too much lately! Going in and out of her room, talking to her about weird spells, playing with her hair..."

Cassian grinned. "Hmm... That’s nice. Isn’t it better if they get along? Cecilia needed a friend."

"You don’t know how dangerous that witch is!" snapped Cryomara. "She is not an innocent girl. She is the embodiment of disaster."

"I know," said Cassian, his voice turning serious. "Believe me, I know her better than anyone. But she is under control right now. Don’t worry."

Although Cryomara seemed unconvinced, she didn’t prolong the subject. She slumped her shoulders.

"Anyway... Our main problem is different. At this rate, our supplies will run out soon."

She rubbed her temples with her fingers.

"Feeding 800,000 people is getting harder day by day. Our stocks are melting. Even if war doesn’t break out, we will perish from hunger."

Cassian thought. This was a logistical nightmare.

"Tell the lords to send messages to bring more supplies from their regions," he said. "After all, it’s quiet out there. No ambushes on the roads."

"The lords..." Cryomara made a mocking sound. "They are also whining to leave now. They’ve been here for a month. They are worried about their own territories, castles, families. They are pressuring me with the fear that the Obsidian Dawn will change targets and aim for their defenseless families in a cowardly move. They keep asking ’Why are we waiting?’."

Cassian yawned. He clasped his arms behind his head.

"They can’t do that," he said confidently. "If they do, meaning if they divide their armies and attack those regions, they will suffer too many losses. And most importantly..."

His eyes shone.

"If they tried to do it, I would be the first to know."

Cryomara frowned. "What do you mean? Did you start prophesying?"

Cassian shrugged. "How should I say... I keep a piece of my own existence in every region. Let’s call them shadow clones. It’s a bit hard to explain, so don’t tire me."

Cassian jumped out of bed. He was bored of talking and his body felt dirty. He took a dry, clean towel from the closet.

"Hey," he said. "I’m going to use the hot spring. I need to relax a bit."

The sly smile returned to Cryomara’s face.

"Have fun, little lizard," she said, winking. "If you want me to join you, scrub your back, just say so. As your mother, I wouldn’t want to leave you alone."

Cassian grimaced. "No, thanks," he retorted. "I want to stay away from you and your icy jokes."

He quickly left the room.

Descending to the lowest floors of the castle, to the hidden paradise, Cassian’s steps lightened. Even the thought of the hot spring was enough to relax his muscles. He hopped down the stairs.

He quickly opened the large, misty glass door. The intense, sulfurous and exotic flower scent coming from inside filled his nose. The steam hit his face like a warm kiss.

First, he scouted around. He wanted to make sure there was no one inside, especially that Cryomara wasn’t hiding somewhere. Silence prevailed. There was only the sound of water trickling and snow falling from the magical sky above.

"Great," he said.

He hurriedly took off his clothes and threw them aside. He was left stark naked. As the cold floor tickled his feet, he ran and jumped into the water.

SPLASH!

Water scattered around. The warmth instantly wrapped his ice-cold body. He stayed underwater for a few seconds, drowning out all the world’s sounds. Then he took his head out of the water, combed his wet hair back, and took a deep breath.

"This is it..."

He fixed his eyes on the fascinating sky above. The stars and the moon were shining brightly. Their images reflected on the surface of the water, dancing with the steam.

Cassian stood there in the water for minutes. Then he closed his eyes and began to relax. Sleep descended on his eyelids like a sweet weight.

Just at that moment when he started dozing off in the water, his consciousness slipping...

A pair of delicate, smooth arms gently hugged him from behind.

Cassian didn’t flinch but sighed deeply inside. "Again?" he thought.

One of the girls had come to ruin his peaceful moment again. Was it Cecilia? Or Lilith? Maybe Cordelia?

When the hands gently, almost with a lover’s affection, wrapped around Cassian’s neck and wet hair, Cassian started to feel embarrassed and uncomfortable.

The fact that he was naked hit him like a slap in the face. He was underwater, but this contact... was way too close.

Tensely, struggling in the water, he tried to turn around.

"Hey," he said, his voice a bit shaky. "Can you cut this—"

His sentence couldn’t be completed.

CRACK!

The sound of wet flesh and bones breaking echoed in the peaceful hot spring.

"Huh?"

Cassian’s eyes widened with the sudden, blinding pain spreading from his neck and shock.

The world turned upside down. His neck was bent at an abnormal angle. A flood of hot blood gushed from his mouth, dyeing the clear water of the hot spring crimson.

Death. That familiar coldness had found him inside the hot water.

But Cassian wasn’t going to die. At least not this easily.

His reflexes kicked in before his consciousness. He surrounded his entire body with pitch-black Chaos Flames.

BOOM!

He shot out from where he was at lightning speed, tearing through the water. He somersaulted in the air and landed on the stone floor at the other end of the pool, naked and wet.

His hand went to his neck. His [Unique Regeneration] ability was working frantically. His blood-filled eyes and broken neck cracked and returned to their original state within seconds, accompanied by nauseating sounds.

Cassian, breathless, his heart beating madly in his chest, lifted his head.

His eyes were trembling; he couldn’t make sense of what he saw.

In the water, right where he stood moments ago, where those arms had wrapped around him, stood a woman.

The woman looked as if she was walking on water. Her eyes were closed. A pair of elegant, curved horns emerged from her forehead. She possessed an ethereal beauty and serenity that belonged to neither time nor space. Her blue hair spread on the surface of the water like a lotus.

Lyria Vael. Princess of Lost Time.

Cassian’s gaze quickly shifted to the other corner of the room.

In the darkest corner of the room, where even light disappeared, stood a man who seemed to blend into the shadows, his face indistinct, his very presence feeling like a curse. Even just him standing there caused Cassian’s skin to tingle.

Umbrelion. Prince of Curses.

And... At the point where the moonlight filtered through the opening in the ceiling and hit the brightest...

Stood a man.

His snow-white, silvery hair was combed flawlessly. His pure white eyes without irises were on Cassian like the judging gaze of a god. There wasn’t a single stain, a single wrinkle on his white clothes.

Under the moonlight, he possessed a perfection not of this world, a disturbing flawlessness. The embodiment of perfection.

Luin Aetherion. Prince of Purity.

Luin, clasping his hands behind his back, looked at Cassian and smiled slightly. This smile was not friendly; it was the smile of a chess master before checkmating.

"It has been a long time," said Luin. His voice was clearer and calmer than the trickling of the water in the hot spring. "Prince of Nothingness..."

BOOOOM!

Simultaneously with Luin’s voice, a massive explosion sound coming from outside the castle, beyond the walls, shook the world.

_ _ _

Hey everyone I’ve started a new novel: "Rising from the Ashes."

I won’t say much about the story. But if you like academy-themed stories and weird main characters, you might want to check it out.