Secretly Married for 4 Years, He Regrets to Tears After the Divorce-Chapter 208: The Only Way to the Outside World
The night was as black as ink, and the river beside the sacrificial altar shimmered with a ghostly silver light under the moon.
Adrian Lancaster held his breath, his back pressed against a rough tree trunk, waiting for the footsteps of the patrolling soldiers to fade into the distance.
Once the coast was clear, he followed the maid’s description from that day, heading west along the river by the sacrificial altar. He took each step with extreme caution.
The night wind swept through the jungle, and the leaves rustled as if whispering secrets.
Adrian tried to walk as quickly as possible, dreaming of leaving Sarankal before dawn.
As he passed through a dense thicket, a suppressed gasp made him stop abruptly.
Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, outlining two overlapping figures.
The man and woman had apparently also noticed Adrian’s presence. All movement came to an abrupt halt.
"Who’s there?" a wary male voice called out, laced with obvious panic.
Adrian knew he had been discovered, so he simply stepped calmly out of the shadows.
When his face became clear in the moonlight, the man and woman instantly turned deathly pale and fell to their knees with a THUD.
"Spare us, Chief!" the woman begged, her voice trembling as she prostrated herself on the ground, her clothes in disarray.
The man kowtowed, terrified. "We... we weren’t thinking straight. Please forgive us, Chief! Spare us just this once! I swear I’ll marry her! Please, don’t tell the elders."
Sarankal did not permit unmarried men and women to meet in private. Violators would be sacrificed alive to the River God on the night of the full moon.
"You two certainly know how to pick a spot," Adrian said, gritting his teeth in frustration.
If he hadn’t run into these two, he might have escaped Sarankal tonight without a hitch.
"Please forgive us, Chief!" The man slammed his head on the ground again and again, the sound echoing with dull THUDS. His forehead was already broken and bleeding.
Adrian’s expression was grave. With a wave of his hand, he said, "Don’t let it happen again."
"Thank you for saving our lives, Chief!" the woman cried, moved to tears.
"I was just out for a walk." Adrian turned to the side, avoiding a direct look at their embarrassing state. "I didn’t see anything."
The pair looked as if they had received a royal pardon, overwhelmed with gratitude.
The man even offered, "The path is dangerous at night, Chief. Let me escort you back to your cabin."
On the way back, Adrian seemed to mention casually, "I heard there’s an orchard to the west. The fruit should be ripe this season."
The man, now full of gratitude for Adrian, lowered his voice and revealed, "Chief, you can’t go to that orchard to the west."
"Why not?" Adrian’s tone was serious. "Is it because the fruit is ripe and no one is assigned to pick it?"
The man explained patiently, "There’s an altar in that orchard set up by Lord Maka. Anyone who enters without permission, other than the High Priest himself, will be cursed."
Alarm bells went off in Adrian’s mind.
When Nia’s maid described the terrain to him, she hadn’t mentioned anything about an altar to the west.
’Did she forget to mention it, or did she omit it on purpose? Was she waiting for me to walk right into a trap?’
The next night, just as Adrian had taken a few steps out of his cabin, Maka appeared from the shadows of the trees like a phantom.
"Where is Chief Tarn going so late?"
His voice was low, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible warning.
In the halo of the torchlight, Adrian noticed the dark circles under Maka’s eyes. It seemed he hadn’t slept all night either.
"Elder Maka, you’re up late as well? I just couldn’t sleep and wanted to look at the moon."
Adrian looked up at the moon, which was slowly being obscured by clouds. "It seems the moon isn’t in a welcoming mood tonight."
Maka’s lips twisted into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He took a step forward, bringing his rattan staff down hard on the ground.
"Chief Tarn, your wedding to Nia is in a few days. For the next few days, you’d best not go wandering around.
The jungle outside is dangerous. If you get lost out there, you’ll never come back."
Adrian felt the veiled threat in Maka’s words, but he didn’t back down. Instead, he met Maka’s gaze.
"Why would I never come back? Are you saying that jungle is the path from Sarankal to the outside world?"
Maka’s pupils contracted slightly. After a moment of silence, he suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"There is no path out of Sarankal."
Adrian denied it flatly. "I don’t believe you."
Maka turned and looked into the distance.
"Whether you believe it or not is irrelevant. You will never escape Sarankal. It is the River God’s will for you to remain here forever—until the day you die."
The hand at Adrian’s side clenched into a fist.
’How does Maka know what I’m thinking?’
’Has Maka seen through the "obedient" act I’ve been putting on for Nia and Barton?’
"You worry too much, Elder Maka. Since it is the River God’s will, I will naturally comply. I’ve come to terms with my situation."
"I hope so," Maka said before walking away slowly, his figure disappearing into the night. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
「The third day.」
Adrian looked out the window of his cabin, and his heart sank.
A fence of sharpened wooden stakes had been erected around the cabin. The number of patrolling soldiers had doubled, and they now moved in intersecting patrols of seven, leaving no blind spots.
What terrified him even more was that the tips of all the soldiers’ spears were a dark blue.
Adrian had once heard Nia say that color signified a special poison made in Sarankal—one that was instantly fatal upon contact with blood.
