"How could I do such a thing to a graceful woman like Lady Dresh?"

A small, natural smile bloomed on his otherwise cold face. This stunned both Dresh and Calder.

"Is the...world gonna end today? Does this guy know how to flirt?"

Calder was having one of the most heated debates in his mind when he heard Emperal’s words.

And Dresh, despite being more than two centuries old and an arrogant Elf at that...felt her cheeks burn slightly.

"I...am probably older than your mother..."

Dresh immediately shook her head, seeing this Emperal blinked. Wondering what she meant by uttering those words.

Because he was just joking to lighten up, but it seemed this woman had taken it in a different way. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Lady Dresh, we will meet in the designated spot. Until then, I have some minor inconveniences to settle."

Hearing his words, Dresh came out of her reverie and nodded. With a smile on her face, she waved at Emperal.

"See you"

Saying that, she vanished in a gust of wind. Leaving both a smirking Emperal and a stunned Calder.

Calder snapped his head at Emperal, his expression screamed he was wronged.

"Boss! How could you do this to me?"

He lunged at Emperal and held his shoulders.

"You! What are you doing?"

"We have been close for so many years! Yet you never once told me you had a secret lover. And not just anyone, but a fucking Verth Shaping practitioner!"

Calder cried out loud, causing black creases to form on Emperal’s head.

With a swing, he kicked the guy away and dusted his clothes.

Turning around, he ignored the crying guy and stepped towards the incoming man.

Cassel still had the same look on his face; he seemed as if he had known something similar would happen. But that wasn’t the case for the subordinates walking behind him.

The two were sweating like pigs when they saw how he had the backing of a Verth Shaper—directly.

They didn’t dare assume anything else.

Emperal didn’t beat around the bush, "There is a pure Verth pool down there saturated to such extremes that it had transformed into one of the purest forms of Verth, basically poison. And yes, I suggest you do not force open the door guarding outside that pond."

He spoke, leaving no room for Cassel to doubt. But it wasn’t the same case for Cassel; the moment he heard those words, his eyes widened.

"One of the purest...? Doesn’t that mean—?"

Before he could continue, Emperal waved his hand.

"There was no such natural treasure; it was because of the formation. And I’m not sure if it was left by one of your Elders. If you do not believe my words, you can go and check it out yourself."

After that, he gave the same formula he had used to open the formation.

For a few minutes, Cassel stood there, musing on his decisions.

"It was good seeing you again, Cassel. How is the capital doing?" Emperal’s dark eyes swept over the two subordinates.

"It’s worse...it seems something had happened with our Empress. She...she is not her usual self."

He spoke, his spine tingled when he uttered the word Empress. Hearing this, Emperal finally frowned.

"Vra—The Dragon Empress...? What happened to her?"

He hurriedly corrected himself before saying Vraelyn out loud. Fortunately, none of them seemed to have noticed, and for some reason, even Calder had gone frozen still.

Seeing this, he was puzzled for a moment.

"What’s the matter, Calder?"

"You insensitive, roguish mutt! He is talking about the Dragon Empress! Show some respect!"

"...Huuuh?"

Hearing his words, Emperal’s face became so ugly that, for a moment, even Cassel was surprised.

...

"Umm...leader, what happened? You seem a bit...happy."

Sera muttered when she saw that Dresh was smiling more than usual. It was really weird to see her like this.

"Also...what happened over there? Is everything fine now?"

She asked the question that worried her the most. Initially, she had dismissed it, seeing their leader had returned uninjured. But, as the second in command, she had to ask. The rest of the survivors gathered around, including Valin.

Dresh’s smile widened when she heard this, "Everything went more than fine, I have finally gotten rid of that oaf after two whole years."

"What!? G-Gorven is dead...!!!?"

Sera trembled when she heard, "Leader, it’s not that I don’t believe you...but how the hell did you beat that man?"

Dresh then proceeded to speak about the events, some of them she omitted, such as Emperal’s identity and other similar stuff. But, she told the rest without hesitation. They were her subordinates; they had the right to know.

"Goodness, this...a single man planned all of this?"

She couldn’t help but ask, wondering what sort of man could do such...things.

"Even I was surprised when I read that message, from just a few words...we were able to take Gorven by surprise."

Dresh shook her head; she just couldn’t shake off that line about Emperal complimenting her. There had been hundreds of guys who had complimented her before, but none of them made her feel what she was feeling right now.

"Alright, you guys go and rest. We have work to do tomorrow."

Saying that, she dismissed all of them. And walked towards her own tent, which was enough to be called a small house.

But...the moment she entered.

WROOOSSHHH!!!!

Her mind was almost shattered! An intense pressure descended upon her...pinning her head down on the ground.

A few meters ahead, on the usual chair she used to sit. There was another being, or the creature she was seeing.

The bones in her arms and legs snapped in an instant, unable to even move. Her eyes turned red as veins popped all over her neck.

"WHO ARE YOU!?"

She roared with all her might, making a few more bones crack.

Her eyes shifted to look at the chair, but to her horrifying realization...there was no one sitting on it anymore.

A jade, slender hand gripped her face tightly as a pair of intense, frigid eyes looked down on her.

"A...graceful woman such as you? YOU?"

SNAP!

"ARGHHH!!"

Dresh cried out in pain as her jaw cracked, but this was nothing as in the next moment she felt a painful sensation on her cheeks. Blood dripped down on her thighs like tap water as she struggled desperately.

"Let’s see if you can get his compliment with a ’graceful’ face tomorrow."