Chapter 605: Distant Memory

Even when Maximilian was being dragged through the air behind the chariot, his wrists bleeding from the strain of the ropes, there was no expression of pain on his face.

"It wasn’t just a one-time thing," he murmured, confused. "My heart started beating strangely when I saw Gumiho again. Father told me that Gumiho possesses powerful illusion spells. Her face was so enchanting that just a glance could give birth to a heart demon within a cultivator. Am I being affected by her natural enchantment?"

He shook his head, dismissing the possibility. The current Gumiho was too weak to affect his mind. Not to mention, he hadn’t even seen her real face yet.

It was something different from the enchantment effect her beauty possessed on which she had no control whatsoever. Maximilian couldn’t tell what it exactly was.

"Forget it... now that I’ve already made it here, I’ll find out sooner or later," Maximilian told himself.

His golden eyes shifted toward the scenery below. They had already moved past the remaining three walls of the Baihu Stronghold, reaching the Tiger Clan.

It was a small but developed city. The buildings were made of dark stone with wooden roofs. Barracks and temporary camps had been built around the city’s borders, where warriors busy with their training were visible from the sky. They stopped their clashes as they noticed a human prisoner being brought into their lands.

As they moved deeper into the city, demi-beast children playing in the clean streets of the market came into view. The people here didn’t seem to be warriors. They were simply ordinary tiger beasts going about their daily lives. The war didn’t seem to have affected the mortal beasts.

Or more accurately, it was the Clan Leader’s ability to ensure that news of the battle stayed confined to the battlefield itself.

The chariot slowed when it reached the opposite end of the city, where towering mountains pierced the sky, shrouded by clouds. The natural Soulforce grew purer and stronger as they approached the mountains.

Wooden pavilions and dwellings were built at different heights along these mountains. The chariot descended onto the flat zenith of one such mountain.

A stone path led to a small but elegant pavilion in front. It was made of ivory-pink wood. On one side of the path was a small pond where fish stirred the water. On the other side stood a beautiful plum blossom tree.

It wasn’t even the season for the petals to bloom, yet every branch of the tree was filled with pink petals, their floral fragrance spreading across the entire zenith.

The chariot’s door opened. Only Gumiho stepped out.

"I will inform the elders about this human and his absurd claims," Chitra informed Gumiho from the window of her chariot. "Don’t untie him at any cost."

"Don’t worry," Gumiho’s calm voice came from behind her veil. "His cultivation base is too damaged. Even if he pulls any tricks, I can keep myself safe."

Chitra nodded. With a wave of her finger, she untied the rope from the chariot’s door handle.

"Behave yourself, human," Chitra muttered at Maximilian with a deep growl before flying off on her chariot.

"Talk about a dual personality," Maximilian scoffed, rolling his eyes. He turned his focus back to Gumiho and asked, "Is this the place where you live?"

"Give me one reason to entertain your question, Lord Arthur?" Gumiho answered his question with one of her own.

"To become acquainted?" Maximilian replied as he sat cross-legged on the ground, his hands tied together before him.

She looked at his face with great intensity for several seconds.

"Tell me first, Lord Arthur," she asked, stepping closer to him and bending down until her face was level with his. "Have we met before?"

The question caught Maximilian off guard for a moment, but he didn’t let a single emotion flicker across his face.

"Lady Gumiho..." Maximilian’s lips curled into an amused smile. "If you’re trying to flirt with me, I’m afraid you’ll have to do better than that."

Gumiho simply stared blankly at him. She wasn’t even angry. She was merely flabbergasted by the audacity of this human.

Was he looking down on her now that Chitra was gone?

She rose to her feet, deciding not to answer his question. She pivoted on her feet and moved inside her house.

"Hah... these beasts of the Western Continent really lack respect for others," Maximilian sighed, rising to his feet. "I wonder how many annoying questions I’ll have to answer before they allow me to heal Vyomendra."

He moved beneath the plum blossom tree, where he lay down on the soft carpet of fallen petals.

"The path to winning over Gumiho is going to be a hellish one," he muttered, releasing a tired sigh. "I’ll just take a nap until Chitra returns."

For some strange reason, Maximilian fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes. The fragrance of the plum blossoms felt oddly familiar and comforting to him. It was as if he had finally returned home after so many years.

.

.

.

"You may curse at me, or even hit me, but d-don’t be angry with me anymore," a distant voice entered Maximilian’s ears. The voice was muffled, and his vision was blurry, as if he were submerged underwater. He could feel that there was someone before him, someone very important to him. But no matter how hard he tried to focus, he couldn’t see them at all.

"What are you even saying?" Maximilian heard his own voice, completely different from how he normally sounded.

He pressed a kiss to the forehead of the blurry figure and pulled them into his arms. It was as if he didn’t even have control over his own body.

What terrified him even more was that he couldn’t feel the warmth of this important person in his arms. His heart raced with desperation and fear.

"I-I love you, █ █ █ █. I l-love you so m-much that I cannot bear the sight of you getting hurt," the blurry figure in his arms cried. The figure had definitely called him something, but he couldn’t understand how they had addressed him.

"What do you mean?" he asked the figure calmly.

"I-I saw it. In the prophecy. I-if you stay here, █ █ █ █, y-you will die."

.

.

.

"You will die."

Maximilian’s eyes shot open, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, his skin damp with sweat.

Gumiho was sitting on a chair in front of a table, her hands elegantly resting one above the other on her lap.

Two cups and a kettle were placed on the wooden table before her.

"Wh-what did you just say?" Maximilian demanded, rising into a sitting position.

A frown appeared on her forehead behind her veil at this human’s lack of respect. Nonetheless, she answered.

"If you sleep so carelessly in the territory of your enemy, you will die," she repeated, now that he was finally awake.

Maximilian pressed his tied fists to his forehead, where a throbbing pain pulsed through his skull.

"Nightmares are inevitable when you fight on the frontlines," Gumiho said in a calm tone as she poured a cup of tea. "Would you like to drink some tea? It might help you calm your nerves."

Maximilian silently rose from the ground and took the seat in front of her.

"Can you untie me?" he asked, extending his hand toward her.

"..."

"Tch," he clicked his tongue as he struggled to wrap his fingers around the cup’s handle.

He took a few sips of the tea. Although it didn’t contain anything extraordinary, it still helped calm his nerves.

He tried recalling the figure from his dream, but nothing came to mind. Everything about it was distant and foggy.

He couldn’t help but find that voice oddly similar to Gumiho’s. But since it had been too muffled, he wasn’t sure either.

"If you keep staring at me like that, I might feel threatened and attack you," Gumiho’s words pulled him out of his daze. He had been gazing at her intensely for over a minute now.

"Lady Gumiho," he called, putting the cup down. "Could you show me your face?"