Chapter 1729: An Enemy? Sort Of
Chapter 1729: An Enemy? Sort Of
It was time to depart again.
Princess Davina came to the County of Dara to handle pressing matters because it’s aligned with where they were going, and now that she was done, she and Rex could resume their journey. Having to waste more time than anticipated, the two were now in Count Dara’s residence, informing him that they were going to depart.
Of course, Count and Countess Dara were worried that their short visit stemmed from Lucen.
Stemmed from their body hospitality.
But Princess Davina assured them that it wasn’t the case.
Lucen’s bravado was offensive, but she wouldn’t hold it against Count and Countess Dara.
After all, Rex was never in danger.
Outside, Edras and his siblings, including Ravyn, were waiting.
All of them were staring at the carriage right outside the gate, along with the soldiers guarding it.
“Now that I think about it, the princess and Lord Rex brought along soldiers with them, but none were stationed to guard Lord Rex’s temporary residence. I wonder why…”
“Probably because the soldiers knew Lord Rex is more than capable of protecting himself.”
“That’s a foolish thing to say, sister. Even if Lord Rex can protect himself, the soldiers must still stand by his side—if not for his safety, then at least for formality’s sake.”
“Or maybe… Lord Rex knew something like this would happen. If he instructed his soldiers to guard— the residence, then maybe the assassins would cause unnecessary deaths. But with only our guards, the assassins Lucen employed wouldn’t kill them.”
“Even so, look at them. None of them showed any sign of worry… Are they really that confident about Lord Rex? Normally, if something like this happened, the soldiers would be giving us a nasty look, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.”
Hearing her siblings’ banter, Lady Ravyn smiled acutely inside.
Out of all of them, she was the only one who was there to witness Rex’s strength with her own eyes.
And what she saw made her shiver.
’I’m known to be a talented genius destined to be someone strong, but compared to Lord Rex and even Princess Davina… Can I even be called a genius?’ She thought inside heavily, knowing clearly now the gap that exists between them. ’I hope I never saw Lord Rex again.’
“Thank you for your hospitality, Count Dara.”
“How can you say that, Lord Rex? I’m ashamed about what happened, and would certainly hope that in the future, you would give us a chance to make up for what happened.”
“Of course.”
Lady Ravyn looked over her shoulder and saw Rex, Princess Davina, her father, and her mother.
All four of them were walking side by side.
Seeing this, Lady Ravyn and her siblings immediately turned towards the four and bowed politely.
“Have a safe journey!”
In unison, the sons and daughters of Count Dara bid their goodbyes.
Neither Rex nor Princess Davina answered; both walked past them without giving them any attention.
Lady Ravyn braved herself to raise her gaze, only to look down again when she realized Rex was looking at her with a peculiar gaze. One that made her heart pound inside out of fear that she was going to be executed too.
After all, she also came to kill Rex last night.
But fortunately, that never happened.
Rex and Princess Davina entered the carriage, and soon, the carriage drove away.
Only then did the people in the courtyard release the breaths they hadn’t realized they’d been holding.
“Who in the world is he down in the Mortal realm? Dear, he’s not that simple,” Countess Dara rubbed her forehead, not expecting the visit would end up blowing up on their face like this. “He’s a new Eternal Spirit, his aura suggests that, but he’s far stronger than that.”
Count Dara slowly, deliberately turned to Ravyn, “Daughter, how strong do you think he is?”
“Eh…?”
“You were there last night.”
“Yeah, you were there with him last night, weren’t you? How strong do you think he is?”
“Erm…” Lady Ravyn pondered for a second and eventually spoke. “I’m afraid no one in the Eternal Spirit 1 rank will be a match for him. His physique is insanely strong, his life energy is extremely robust, a powerful Echo that rivals the emperor’s, and he’s also in possession of a Law…”
Before Ravyn said anything, the others already had an expectation in mind.
Some even inflated their expectations.
However, even with that, Rex’s powers still went beyond as all of them gasped in shock.
Possessing a Law at such a rank meant Rex matched Princess Davina and the Crown Prince.
And for him to have an Echo that rivals the emperor’s… that should be impossible.
Rex was someone with a matchless talent across the whole realm.
“What about his Soul Artifact?” Countess Dara asked, “Lucen’s Soul Artifact is excellent. How is his compared to that?”
“I don’t know…” Lady Ravyn smiled—sheepishly. “He did not even use his Soul Artifact properly last night. But either way, he’s monstrously strong. I’m afraid nobody in the same rank is a match for him, and he can surely beat those at the Eternal Spirit 3 rank.”
Once again, silence enveloped them.
For Rex to shatter Lucen’s special weapon without activating his Soul Artifact should be impossible.
But Lady Ravyn has no reason to lie, so it must be the truth.
Not to mention, Lady Ravyn placed Rex’s strength at around the Eternal Spirit 3 rank.
It was certainly not normal for him to possess the power to skip two small realms like that.
Edras crossed his arms, “So, tell me, why did he spare you but not Lucen? What did you do?”
Hearing this, Lady Ravyn looked down, averting her big brother’s gaze.
“Don’t even try to deny it,” Edras continued as he approached her. “You were as foolish as Lucen, were you not? You came to Lord Rex last night to kill him with your little group of friends, didn’t you? We are not stupid.”
For Lady Ravyn to be with Lord Rex last night and even defend him was surely not a coincidence.
She must’ve also come to attack him, but failed spectacularly.
Of course, Lady Ravyn wanted to answer because Rex needed a witness who would help others believe him about what Lucen did. But bringing the assassin should be more than enough—yet he still decided to keep her alive.
It can only mean one thing.
“I… I think because he didn’t see me as a threat,” She said truthfully. “I’m too weak for him to care.”
Meanwhile, Rex sneezed inside the carriage.
Is someone talking about me? Is it the House of Dara? For their sake, I hope they’d not escalate things.
Rex rubbed his nose and turned to Princess Davina.
Unlike earlier this morning, she seemed and looked a lot more energized.
It was surely because she had rested, but it’s only a few hours, so she should still feel exhausted.
Not energized.
“Are you okay sleeping only a few hours like that?”
“I have something to bolster my quality of sleep, so I’m more than fine.”
Princess Davina turned away from Rex and lifted her hair to show the three-striped mark on her nape.
At the sight, Rex’s eyes glowed to scan the mark and realized that it was similar to a rune, but didn’t need a source of energy like normal runes. This mark is self-sufficient—able to recycle its energy to be used again and again.
That mark is more advanced than a normal rune.
Rex mentally noted to ask the System about it later, as the Shop must have something about it.
Maybe a book that could teach him all about it.
Even though he could do it right now, he was too tired to think about anything as his body was still far from being healed, and dealing with last night drained him. His body could still move fine, but his mind is entirely different.
So, he saved it for later.
Speaking of runes, Rex recalled Flunra, as this would be perfect for him.
If Flunra learned about this mark, his strength would rise exponentially.
Rex smiled inwardly.
Once he returned, he certainly made sure that Flunra would learn all about this.
“So, are you finally going to tell me where we’re going?” Rex asked again, looking out the window.
“You’ll see when you get there, but rather than talking about that,” Princess Davina’s voice trailed, and then dropped to a serious tone as she turned to look at Rex with her sharp, probing eyes. “Can you tell me who Calidora is?”
Cough!
Rex choked on his own saliva when he heard the name.
His eyes slowly turned to meet Princess Davina’s gaze, “What did you say…?”
“I said, can you tell me who Calidora is?”
“How did you know her name?”
“She dared to visit my dream last night, and told me to stay away from you.”
Upon hearing this, Rex looked down as his mind churned in a mess, not expecting Calidora to even reach him when he was in an entirely different realm. System, how in the world did she manage this? Is it because of the Eternal Curse?
<Does the user want to purcha—>
Yes. Just answer the question.
<Notice: Cursed energy is one of the few energies that could cross realms with enough concentration. Calidora and the user are bound as one by the Eternal Curse—and the intensity from it can be utilized to even tap another realm.>
<In this case, Calidora’s mastery over the Eternal Curse, along with her enhanced emotions from her pregnant condition, allowed her to stimulate the Eternal Curse enough for her to stretch her influence to those near the user, like Princess Davina.>
Tch, Calidora… You’re pregnant. Your body is weak, and knowing that, you decided to focus on training your own mastery over the curse we share together? Do you want to assume control over me again? I think I’ve been too lax on you.
“Are you okay?” Rex snapped out of his daze and asked.
“Naturally,” Princess Davina sneered, annoyed that Rex would even think she wouldn’t be fine. “I must admit, it surprised me that she was able to reach me. But other than that, she’s incredibly weak. It’s the nature of her energy that made her tricky, but it’s still nothing.”
“Is there anything more she said?”
“She’d kill me and ruin the empire if I don’t stay away from you. What is she? An enemy of yours?”
“Something like that.”
It wasn’t a blatant lie.
Rex started off being enemies with her for what she had done that still scarred him even until this very moment, but their animosity was paused the moment she got pregnant with his child. He couldn’t bring himself to do anything to her.
His Werewolf blood that valued kin above all else stopped him from harboring any ill intent.
But as far as their relationship was concerned, there was never a point where they talked about this.
Neither had ever mentioned peace, so right now, they were more like in a truce.
“For her to be your enemy but still live to this day, she must’ve been a powerhouse. Knowing you, I’d say she might even be more dangerous than some of the empire’s nobles.”
“She’s not exactly a powerhouse… Let’s just say her ability made it impossible—for me to lay a finger on her—and she’s clever, too. Honestly, I’d rather face an opponent far stronger than deal with someone like her.”
Just speaking about Calidora alone made him stressed.
He remembered their farewell—before his departure to the Spirit Realm, Calidora had been far more absorbed in speaking about the child growing in her womb. At the time, Rex had been burdened by the weight of his mission, and even now, the sting of failure continued to haunt him.
And bringing up the baby, he thought Calidora was giving him more motivation to succeed.
But now that he thought about that moment, her intention becomes clear.
She did that to make sure Rex would come back.
Feeling that he was near another woman, Calidora must’ve turned hostile because of that.
“Anyway, let’s not talk about her…”
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