Chapter 211: Never There

In the main dining hall of Azure, the guards had surrounded Thalassa, who looked far too calm for what she had just done.

King Oreon’s voice rang out:

"Thalassa, what have you done?"

Lumia was still struggling, trying to pull Zakaer’s hand away from her eyes, but without success.

Ereon Maris saw that the situation was escalating into something he did not like, so he stepped in front of Thalassa to make his position clear. But the royal tutor began moving away from Coraline’s body, step by step. The guards hesitated over whether to stop her, but fear and respect made them step aside, allowing her to return to Cassian’s side.

"Happy?"

The man’s eyes glimmered for a second before going dull again as he answered:

"Mmm, it was fun. Although not as much as this morning."

Thalassa rolled her eyes.

Her attention finally turned toward the king, who looked at her with disappointment before shifting his eyes toward Cassian with suspicion.

"Why?"

"Your Majesty, I only did what was best for us. You have to understand."

But the king did not seem to agree.

"Coraline was always far too arrogant, but another way could have been found..."

"Perhaps, but that’s not what he wanted."

"Are you saying you did all of that for him?"

Thalassa showed a hint of guilt on her face, hiding something from them and perhaps even from herself, then shook her head.

"No. As I said, I did it for us."

Oreon’s eyes narrowed slightly, a faint sadness passing through his gaze.

"I cannot let this slide. As much as I appreciate your family’s legacy..."

Thalassa lowered her head and whispered:

"I understand."

Lumia’s struggle with Zakaer stopped upon hearing those words, and her face turned pale. The young dragon frowned, looked toward Cassian, and, before the king could give an order, interrupted:

"Your Majesty, that woman offended me as well, and Thalassa is Lumia’s tutor. I believe the end she met was justified."

The king brought a hand to his forehead and massaged his brow.

"Coraline’s family..."

"And what about my family? The dragons were scorned by that woman, Oreon," Zakaer replied in a bored voice.

His Majesty startled at those words. He lowered his head and gestured for the guards to step back, making a decision.

Thalassa sighed in relief.

The siren’s blue eyes remained fixed on the violet ones, trying to understand, unaware that the unconscious trembling her body had been doing ever since she killed Coraline was slowly beginning to subside. Something in his eyes made her feel as though he could see right through her, stripping away every lie she had told herself.

When the trembling finally stopped, Cassian nodded, and his gaze shifted toward the king of the sea race. His eyes were deep and empty, seeming to flood everything around him with a darkness that sent shivers down the spines of those who met his gaze.

Then, his eyes moved toward where Nereon had been, and he raised an eyebrow ironically.

Nereon, on the other hand, had already slipped away without anyone noticing. In the middle of enemy territory, with an unpredictable Thalassa nearby, he had made what seemed to him the smartest decision.

"Slippery rat..." Cassian whispered with a sly smile on his face. "It would be boring if you weren’t like this... although perhaps it’s time to go see that woman behind you."

With complete indifference, he began to play with the ring on his finger and turned toward the enormous door connecting the corridors to the main dining hall.

His footsteps echoed heavily in the ears of those present. Adela followed behind him elegantly; Xana hesitated for a moment, looking at the remains of wasted food scattered across the floor with a pitiful pout, before turning around and following her Owner as well.

Thalassa looked toward the king, asking for permission.

Oreon looked at her with a frown of annoyance and something more, his eyes glaring at her and at those who were calmly leaving. But then shifted toward Zakaer, and he sighed resignedly, making a careless gesture with his hand to indicate that she could leave.

The tutor did not hesitate and quickly caught up with the three figures leaving.

Once outside, she heard Adela’s questioning voice:

"Master, why didn’t you stop the cup?"

"Do you think anything would have changed if I had stopped it?"

"Well..." Adela frowned, hesitating. "At least you wouldn’t have gotten dirty, Master. What that woman did was a colossal-level aberration," she complained, puffing out her cheeks in displeasure.

"That didn’t warrant killing her," Thalassa’s voice interrupted.

"No?" Cassian looked back and asked, bored.

Adela glanced toward Thalassa, narrowing her eyes in dissatisfaction.

"No. She’s simply been spoiled too much. If she’s taught properly..."

"If she’s taught properly? Perhaps you’re right, but that woman seemed so certain of her own immunity... She was simply shown that no one is untouchable. If it bothers you so much, you shouldn’t have listened to me."

He paused for a moment, studying her. "But something tells me you would have done it anyway."

The siren frowned.

"You’d get angry..." she whispered softly, but he still heard her.

"Do you think so?" The violet eyes locked onto hers, seeking direct confrontation. When he finally got it, he continued: "I’ve threatened your entire race enough that you seem to think I’d actually do it over something like this."

"Then... I killed her for nothing." Thalassa lowered her shoulders, defeated.

"No. You killed her because you believed it was the right thing to do. And if I have to cheer you up somehow, although I’m not sure it’ll work, I have to say you looked damn sexy saying ’kill yourself.’"

When the siren heard those words, she immediately raised her hand and pinched Cassian’s arm in displeasure, but the faintest hint of a smile threatened to appear on her lips.

Meanwhile, he noticed that they had already returned; he swept his gaze over the three women beside him and smiled in amusement.

Thalassa swallowed and took a step backward. Xana sensed her Owner’s idea as if it had actually become perceptible in the air and began wagging her tail excitedly. Adela, on the other hand, stepped forward to open the door to the room, turned around, and bowed while letting out:

"Master~"

...

Millions of light-years away from World 237...

Yifei had finished the duties Siyin had given her as punishment.

Liwei and Luowei had already left quite a few days ago, so, finally having some free time, she left the place where she had been working and headed toward a room at the center of the sect.

Inside it, eleven imposing statues stood with a presence that would leave ordinary people breathless.

The sister approached the statue in the center, stopped at its feet, and looked around to make sure of something. Once she had checked, she began murmuring some incomprehensible words while releasing strands of Qi infused with traces of her soul essence. This seemed to activate a mechanism, because a radiant portal suddenly appeared right in front of her.

Yifei calmly stepped through it.

After her conversation with all the sisters the other time, she remembered that IT was still there, within the sect.

She had not wanted to come and see it before, fearing that her resolve would falter and that she would go looking for him...

Yifei frowned and sighed resignedly.

Once inside, she was greeted by an ornamental garden, and in its center stood a luxurious coffin.

Step by step, she approached it, but her face, slightly flushed from the exhaustion of having worked all day, began to pale with every step she took.

When she finally stood beside the coffin, she took out several high-grade spirit stones, controlled them with her Qi so that they formed a triangle, and began tracing a mystical formation in the air between them. Once she finished, the body lying inside the coffin vanished like shattered glass.

Yifei’s face completely lost its color, and she whispered:

"Impossible... How can this be? Since when?"

She bit her lip and began to think: