Chapter 223: Rescue Mission II

If it were any other day, Lirien wouldn’t even have spared Lucas a glance until he kowtowed fifty times as a greeting to his master and another fifty times as an apology for not visiting her when he came to the academy last time.

Not to mention the endless nagging he would have received from her about how he was becoming complacent in his growth.

She wouldn’t even have allowed him to go on the rescue operation since it was an academy matter.

Shockingly, none of that happened. Lirien’s voice was completely hollow as she allowed Lucas to take Chloe and Seraphina with him to find Vlad’s whereabouts.

Cruel as she had been when she trained Lucas, she was still the person who had molded him into the person he had become. He preferred her mercilessness to her current hollow self.

She greatly valued the lives of her academy students. However, she had grown accustomed to their deaths during dangerous missions. Never before had she reacted like this.

’The only time she sounded like this was when Boreas, Carmilla, and ’he’ sacrificed themselves thirteen years ago,’ Lucas murmured inwardly, obviously concerned. If not for the urgent matter that currently demanded his attention, he would have definitely asked her the reason for her worry.

"We shall take our leave, then," Lucas said, giving a deep bow to the plushie form of Lirien on the other side of the office table.

He took his leave together with Chloe and Seraphina.

"I shall also take my leave for the Grimwood village," Aldric informed Lirien with a slight bow as he walked out of the office, closing the door behind him.

The moment they left, Lirien puffed back into her human form. Her long silver hair spilled outward as her back leaned against the chair.

In her hand, she tightly held a letter, her gem-like silver eyes gazing at something far beyond the ceiling of her office, as if staring at the open sky.

"I was the foolish one to form a friendship with a mortal," she murmured, as if laughing at her own naivety. "If not now, he would have died of old age in another fifty or hundred years. I’m destined to be alone. Still..."

Her pupils took the form of ethereal snowflakes, their icy patterns glowing like gems in the office. A tear trickled down from the corner of her eye as she whimpered in a broken voice, her hand moving to her chest. "Why does it hurt so much?"

Her fingers dug into the armrest of the chair, her knuckles turning white. "If not for these damned chains... I would have looked for him myself."

Her eyes lowered to her limbs, a glare filled with raw hatred and frustration.

Golden chains slowly became visible around her wrists and ankles, their other ends seeming to come from the heavens beyond the ceiling.

---

A large shadow was cast across the towering grey trees of the dense forest for only a moment as a giant wyvern moved through the air at incredible speed.

The flap of its gigantic wings left snow and leaves from the trees scattered in its wake.

On the back of the azure wyvern, three figures stood calmly. Lucas and Seraphina were at the front, while Chloe stood a metre behind them, her eyes fixed on the vast expanse of the Forest of Death that stretched as far as the eye could see.

A humming energy was released from Lucas’s ring, forming a transparent, pointed barrier in front of them. It cleanly cut through the air, allowing the trio to remain standing atop the wyvern despite its blistering speed.

It had been over ten minutes since they had taken off from the academy on Lucas’s beast companion, heading toward the destination marked by Seraphina on the map.

Ten minutes, and no one had spoken a single word. The suffocating silence was killing Lucas. He understood that both of these young girls were worried sick about Vlad. But their absentmindedness would only become a hindrance during this rescue mission.

"Miss Chloe, do you remember me?" he asked, turning to Chloe to initiate a conversation.

Chloe gave a slight nod. "Lord Cendral. You visited our home ten years ago."

To be accurate, Lucas had visited Edren’s home, but he decided not to point it out.

She gave him a deep bow as she continued, "Thank you for writing a recommendation letter for Vlad and sponsoring him."

Lucas seemed a bit reluctant to accept her thanks. The first time he had helped Vlad was to return a favor to Edren. The second time was for his daughter.

Moreover, Chloe wasn’t related to him in any way that would warrant her thanking him on Vlad’s behalf.

"Miss Chloe, you shouldn’t—"

"Accept her thanks," Seraphina cut him off mid-sentence. "She is his family. She has the right to thank you on his behalf."

"Oh, okay," Lucas mumbled, a bit taken aback. He turned to Chloe again and said, "Please raise your head, Miss Chloe. I had my reasons for helping him. You don’t need to feel obligated."

Chloe finally raised her head, her pale lavender eyes turning distant again.

Lucas stepped closer to Seraphina and asked in a low whisper so that Chloe couldn’t hear them, "By family, did you mean she treats Vlad as her brother?"

Seraphina shook her head.

"If not a brother..." Lucas gasped, looking at Seraphina with his brows raised in confusion. She had just admitted about half an hour ago that she loved Vlad. Yet she was calling a girl who was definitely her rival Vlad’s family.

Not to mention, it was Seraphina who had told Lucas to take Chloe with them as well.

"Why did you let your rival come on this mission as well?" he asked her, unable to understand her reasons.

Seraphina only gave him a judging, silent stare. "Is this really important right now?"

Lucas decided not to probe further. He felt like an immature fool for discussing such a topic when they were already so tense.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated. What was so good about that brat that his daughter was completely head over heels for him?

To the point that she would even bring his childhood friend along.

"When I lost Mother, my whole world was shattered," Seraphina told Lucas, knowing what he must have been thinking. "It was so agonizing that I never wish to feel that again."

Lucas’s fists tightened at his sides, his eyes lowering.

"Chloe lost both of her parents around the same age," Seraphina continued in a low tone. "I can’t even imagine the pain she must have suffered. How could I possibly put my personal feelings before hers when her only remaining family is in danger?"