Chapter 44: A sacrificial furnace

Seraphine didn’t say a word.

She walked silently beside Kael, her footsteps swallowed by the crunch of dry leaves he trod on without any hurry.

Little by little, the dense trees fell behind them.

The terrain began to rise. The canopy thinned, the ground grew firmer, and the two of them reached the top of a bare hill where nothing grew but short grass.

A cold wind swept over the crest and hit them full in the face, tugging at their clothes and hair.

Kael thrust his spear into the ground beside him. The tip sank into the earth with a dry thud. Then he sat down, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes, waiting.

Neither of them spoke. Kael saw no need to.

Honestly, he wouldn’t blame Seraphine if she turned against him.

She’d been forced to stand by his side. She loved the Purewind Family and had every right to hate him.

All the intimacy they’d shared didn’t change a thing. Her right to hate him remained intact.

So Kael remained silent.

For long minutes, he simply meditated, breathing slowly, his face calm as if he were alone in the world.

Seraphine stood a little behind him, arms wrapped tightly around herself against the wind. Her eyes kept darting back and forth between his broad back and the gray horizon, never settling on either for long.

Until, finally, the silence was broken.

Three figures appeared in the sky, tearing through the clouds toward the hill.

Seraphine’s heart jolted violently in her chest. Her fingers dug into her own arms.

One of them was the external disciple sent by the Golden Alliance Sect.

The other was Sol Ashen, his face contorted with rage, practically foaming at the mouth, desperate to kill Kael.

And the last was Lucian, visibly weak. The moment his feet touched the ground, he forced himself to swallow a recovery pill, one hand braced on his knee as he caught his breath, his chest rising and falling in short, ragged gasps.

Kael’s eyes opened slowly. A brilliant emerald green—common among the Ashen family—reflected the pale light of the sky.

Without haste, he stood up, brushed the dust from his clothes, and looked at the three of them coldly, as if he were looking at three stones in his path.

"Are you the brat who stole Seraphine from me?" David asked with a growl. "You really are a brazen son of a bitch... let’s see if you can keep that calm while I rip your throat out."

His hand gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly his knuckles turned white.

There was pure hatred in his eyes.

It didn’t even seem like this was the first time the two had seen each other.

David stared at Kael as if he were his eternal enemy—his own and that of his entire lineage.

"So you’re Lucian and Sol’s little lapdog?" Kael let out a dry laugh, tilting his head to one side.

He knew full well that the truth was the opposite, but he wanted to provoke him.

"Honestly, I wonder how much they paid you to lend them your sword and come here so obediently, wagging your tail."

"You..." David clenched his teeth, his jaw trembling.

He took a heavy step forward, then quickly caught himself, planting his feet firmly on the ground.

He couldn’t let Kael get under his skin with such a cheap trick.

He drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly through his nose, and fixed his cold gaze on Kael once more.

"You’ve got talent, I’ll admit... and your master must be quite the figure as well. He must have given you plenty of escape mechanisms. I’ll admit that, too." David sighed. "But I’m no coward."

Escape mechanisms and defensive artifacts—even those crafted by a high-level master—were completely blocked within a secret realm like this one.

No matter how many tricks Kael had up his sleeve, David was certain none of them would work here.

He took another step forward, his fingers tightening around the sword hilt.

The metal slid free of the leather sheath with a sharp hiss, revealing a beautiful silver blade that caught the light with a cold gleam.

"I’ll give you a chance... hand the girl over to me now, and I’ll kill you quickly."

Kael didn’t answer. He simply turned his face toward Seraphine.

Her eyes were brimming with tears, fixed on Lucian.

"Seraphine, my love... come to me, come on! I’ll protect you from that damned Kael!" Lucian shouted with all the strength he had left, stretching a trembling hand toward her.

Honestly, she was confused.

She’d known Lucian since she was very young. She’d felt deep affection for him even before she had any right to dream of a man of his caliber.

Still, the desire she felt for Kael screamed deep within her heart—stubborn, impossible to ignore.

She took a single step forward. Then a second.

On the third step, she stopped.

Something snapped in her mind—a sliver of rationality dragging the rest of her back.

This was no time to think only of feelings or her own heart.

She swallowed hard. Slowly, her eyes grew cold, and they settled on David.

"You said Kael dared to ’steal Seraphine from you’... what the hell do you mean by that? I’ve never seen you in my life."

"Does that matter?" Sol Ashen cut in impatiently. "You’re Lucian’s wife. Come on, join us. It doesn’t matter if Kael is strong—together we can kill him."

"And then what?" Seraphine turned her face toward him.

Those words only made her eyes, a beautiful shade of pink, grow even colder.

"When I leave the secret realm, Selene will ask me what happened to Kael and why I’m on your side again. If I don’t give her a good answer, she’ll kill me. And you know it’s impossible to give that woman a good answer if she loses Kael."

Tears streamed down Seraphine’s face as she took a step back, her shoulders trembling slightly, her voice nearly breaking on the last words.

Kael, seeing her like that, finally spoke up.

"David plans to use you as a sacrificial furnace to advance to the Golden Core Realm and raise his own talent, earning himself the chance to become an inner disciple."

"Sol and Lucian were just preparing you for the slaughter... why do you think Lucian always refused to consummate your marriage? Do you really think it was out of respect?"