Chapter 50: The one who treasures me

Saraya charged straight into the middle of the road, forcing Sarna to slam on the brakes. The silver-white magical car merely shuddered once before stopping less than a meter away from her. The protective runes running along the vehicle’s frame all lit up at once, forming a thin layer of light around the blacked-out windows.

Saraya braced both hands on the hood, gasping for breath. Her golden hair, always so meticulously cared for, was now a tangled mess, several strands plastered to her pallid face. The dress she wore was still the same one from last night, the shoulders crumpled, the hem stained with dirt from running through the streets. She lifted her head toward the completely opaque glass in front of her, then rushed to the rear door.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Her fists pounded against the window over and over. The protective magic layer only rippled with a few rings of light before immediately settling back down.

"Erik! I know you’re in there!"

Saraya pounded and screamed at the same time. Her voice was thick with hoarseness, her amber eyes red from a sleepless night.

"Get out here! You have to explain yourself to me!"

No one outside could see through the glass, but from within, Erik could see every shift in her expression clearly. Elowen, sitting beside him, immediately frowned. The last of her smile from breakfast vanished, and her emerald eyes turned cold. The instant her hand touched the door handle, Erik caught her wrist.

"Let me handle it."

Elowen turned to look at him. Worry was written plainly in her eyes.

"She’s lost control."

"I know." Erik squeezed her hand gently. "But this is between me and Saraya. I need to end it myself."

Elowen pressed her lips together. Through the Contract, Erik could feel the unease rising inside her. Saraya was the Succubus he had been paired with before, and she held S rank. Even though Elowen already knew Erik’s choice, that woman’s appearance still frightened her on instinct. He lifted the hand he was holding to his lips and pressed a light kiss to the back of it.

"Wait for me in the car."

The tension in Elowen’s eyes eased. She looked at him for a few more seconds, then nodded obediently.

"All right. But if she hurts you, I’m coming out."

"She won’t manage that."

Sarna, in the driver’s seat, had already contacted the escort team behind them. Within seconds, six female guards in black suits stepped out of the two accompanying vehicles and quickly formed a protective ring around the car door.

Erik opened the door.

The moment she saw him, Saraya stopped pounding. The rage on her face froze in an instant, then transformed into a chaotic tangle of joy, self-pity, and resentment.

"Erik..."

She lunged forward, but two guards immediately moved to block the space between them.

"Get out of my way!" Saraya snapped, trying to shove them aside. "I’m his Pairing match!"

Neither guard budged. One coldly reminded her:

"You have been Rebated by the Pairing Center. Please maintain your distance from Lord Erik."

The word Rebated made Saraya’s face twitch. She ground her teeth, but very quickly turned back toward Erik.

"Tell them to move. I have something to say to you."

Erik stepped out of the car and closed the door behind him. He didn’t order the guards away, simply standing a few paces from Saraya.

"Say it."

That calm attitude seemed entirely different from what Saraya had imagined. She had expected Erik to ask where she’d been, why she looked so disheveled, or at the very least to show concern at the sight of her bleeding hands.

But he just stood there.

The care and patience Erik had given her for three months were gone. Saraya felt a sharp ache in her chest and immediately turned that panic into anger.

"You’re actually asking what I want to say?" Her voice climbed. "You abandoned me at the Pairing Center, and it wasn’t long before you signed a Contract with another woman. Then you publicly proposed to her in front of the whole city. Did you ever once think about how everyone would look at me?"

Erik frowned slightly. Seeing that he didn’t answer, Saraya spoke faster and faster:

"I lived with you for three months. Everyone knew we were paired. And yet you treated me like some object you could return whenever you felt like it, and gave what rightfully belonged to me to another Succubus."

"What belonged to you?" Erik asked.

Saraya choked for a beat, then pointed straight at him.

"You!"

All six guards turned to look at her at once. Their cold stares made Saraya shrink back slightly, but jealousy had already burned away what reason she had left.

"You were paired with me. If you’d been just a little more patient, I would have accepted you sooner or later. I only needed time, but you deliberately chose another woman to humiliate me."

Erik looked at her, and the discomfort in his chest gradually turned into exhaustion. Three months ago, he had tried explaining, waiting, and conceding. Saraya always had a reason to reject him, yet she treated everything he provided as a matter of course.

She still hadn’t changed one bit. Even having run all the way here, what Saraya cared about most was still her own reputation and the feeling of having something stolen from her.

"We never signed a Contract." Erik looked her straight in the eye. "Not even a trial Contract. I asked you many times, and you refused every one of them."

"Because I wasn’t ready then!"

"So I respected your decision and left. What was wrong with that?"

Saraya opened her mouth but couldn’t answer. After a moment, she gritted her teeth again.

"You’re a man. What would you have lost by waiting a few more months? Do you have any idea how much mockery a Succubus has to endure after being Rebated by her Pairing match?"

"I waited three months."

Erik’s voice was still calm, but his gaze grew colder.

"I took care of you through your hunger, paid every living expense, and sat outside your door all night just because you didn’t want me entering your room. I never forced you or laid a hand on you. In return, you compared me to Nathan and said things would have been different if you’d been paired with him."

Saraya’s face went white.

"I only said that because I was angry."

"But I heard it very clearly."

Erik paused, then continued:

"I owe you nothing. And Elowen owes you even less."

At the sound of that name, Saraya’s expression instantly turned vicious.

"Don’t mention that bitch in front of me!"

Inside the car, Elowen’s eyes went ice-cold. Before Sarna could stop her, the door was already pushed open.

Saraya didn’t notice. She took a step forward, her voice suddenly softening as though bestowing an enormous favor upon Erik.

"I can overlook all of this."

Erik looked at her.

"All you have to do is break your Contract with Elowen immediately, publicly state that the proposal was just an impulse, and come back to me. I’ll give you one more chance."

Saraya drew a deep breath, trying to rebuild her usual arrogance.

"This time I’ll accept you completely. I can sign a formal Contract, and I can even allow you to touch me. But you have to promise there will be no other Succubi from now on, and that woman is never to appear in front of me again."

Erik looked at her as though he’d just heard something unbelievable. Before he could speak, a silver-white figure swept past beside him.

Smack!

The crisp sound of a slap rang out across the quiet road.

Saraya’s head snapped to one side. Five red finger marks quickly bloomed across her left cheek.

It took her a few seconds to understand what had just happened. When she turned back, Saraya saw Elowen standing in front of Erik. Her silver hair stirred in a gentle current of wind, and her emerald eyes regarded her so coldly that not a trace of softness remained.

"You can insult me." Elowen said, her voice not loud but every word perfectly clear. "But you have no right to treat Erik like an object to be handed over or taken back."

Saraya raised a hand to her cheek. The stinging pain rapidly turned her shock into frenzy.

"You dare strike me?"

She lunged. Two guards immediately seized her arms while two others locked her shoulders and forced her back. Saraya thrashed violently, but a body whose energy had never been unlocked stood no chance against trained Awakened.

S rank represented only the potential she would have after a successful connection. Before obtaining a Partner and completing a Contract, that power remained dormant in her bloodline.

"Let go of me!" Saraya screamed. "I’m an S rank Succubus! You’d dare lay hands on me for the sake of some D rank bitch?"

Elowen’s hand clenched tight. Erik stepped forward, took her hand, and drew her back to his side. The warmth of his palm calmed the anger in Elowen’s eyes. She turned, her coldness instantly giving way to worry.

"I’m sorry. I couldn’t sit still while she talked about you like that."

"You don’t need to apologize." Erik laced his fingers through hers. "I don’t like hearing people insult my fiancée either."

Saraya stopped struggling for a beat. Her eyes fixed on their joined hands, and especially on the ring on Elowen’s finger.

"Erik." Saraya’s voice went hoarse. "You really chose her?"

"I did."

"She’s only a D rank Succubus!" Saraya practically shrieked. "And I’m S rank! Sign a Contract with me and you’d have a Partner many times stronger than her. Why would you still choose that useless thing?"

Erik felt Elowen’s hand tremble. He gripped it tighter, then raised her hand in front of Saraya.

"Because Elowen treasures me."

Saraya went rigid.

"When I had nothing, she was still willing to believe in me. When others mocked me, she stood in front of me to protect me. She cares whether I’m happy, whether I’ve been hurt, not just what I can provide."

Erik turned to look at Elowen. His gaze visibly softened.

"She treasures me, so I’ll treasure her in return. This has nothing to do with rank."

Heat rose behind Elowen’s eyes. She pressed her lips together, but the corners still curved into a trembling smile. Saraya looked at the two of them, her face cycling between red and white. Her last shred of pride made it impossible to stand there and hear any more.

"Fine." She bit off every word. "Then go ahead and stay with her. Just don’t come crawling back to beg me later, and don’t you dare regret it!"

Erik didn’t reply.

His silence hurt Saraya more than any mockery could have. She wrenched herself free of the two guards. This time they didn’t hold on, only stepping back to form a wall in front of Erik and Elowen.

Saraya looked at him one last time. Tears had already welled up in those amber eyes, but she turned away immediately, refusing to let anyone see.

"I’ll make you regret this."

She threw the words back at him and walked away. Her back stayed forcibly straight, but her unsteady steps left that figure without a shred of pride.

Erik watched her go for a few seconds. He didn’t think Saraya could stir up much trouble. With her current temperament, she would find it nearly impossible to get another man to sign a Contract with her.

Men in this world were protected and indulged from childhood. Most guarded themselves even more strictly than noble women. The mere fact that Saraya had lived with a Pairing match for three months and then been Rebated was enough to make many hesitate. If word got out that she had publicly chased after Erik and demanded he break the Contract with his fiancée, her odds of a successful Pairing would drop to nearly zero.

But that was Saraya’s own choice. Erik had no intention of continuing to take responsibility for her life.

"Erik."

He turned. Elowen was still holding his hand tightly. A thin film of tears remained in her emerald eyes, but the smile on her lips was so radiant that even the morning sunlight seemed dimmer by comparison.

"Thank you."

"I’m the one who should be thanking you."

Erik reached out and wiped away the tear about to spill from the corner of her eye.

"Thank you for choosing me back when I couldn’t offer you a single promise."

Elowen shook her head, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. She paid no mind to the guards standing all around, simply pressing her face against Erik’s chest, listening to the strong, steady heartbeat beneath his shirt.

"I’ll always choose you."

Erik held her waist and patted her back gently.

"I know."

Sarna, standing near the car door, silently turned her face aside. The other guards deliberately looked off in various directions as well, leaving the two of them a brief moment of privacy.

A few minutes later, the convoy set off again. Elowen still sat pressed against Erik, both arms wrapped around his. The unease from Saraya’s appearance had vanished entirely, replaced by a steady warmth flowing through the Contract.

Erik tilted his head to watch the streets receding beyond the window. What had just happened was only an unpleasant prelude. He wasn’t going to let it affect the day’s plans.

Twenty minutes later, the gates of Meira’s private hospital appeared ahead. The convoy slowly pulled into the private reception area.

On the top floor, in a room flooded with sunlight, Felyn’s pointed ears twitched as she caught the familiar sound of a car echoing up from the courtyard below.

The blind girl immediately sat straight up, both hands gripping the edge of her blanket. The scent she had been waiting for since the moment she woke was drawing near.

Erik had arrived.