Chapter 312: Promise?

The words had not even fully settled before the ambient temperature plummeted into absolute zero.

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

A violent sheet of glacial ice erupted from the frozen gravel, crawling up Aiden’s legs like jagged, hungry talons.

In a fraction of a second, thick, frosted rime encased his boots, greaves, and thighs, locking him up to his waist in a solid, unyielding pillar of pale blue ice.

The shock stole the breath straight from his lungs, his jaw snapping shut as the cold bit deep into his flesh.

Before he could even register the agonizing frost, the air around his head ignited in a blinding, golden glare.

A dozen razor-sharp daggers constructed from condensed, humming light materialized out of thin air.

They hovered mere millimeters from his jugular, their tips buzzing with enough radiant heat to singe the skin of his neck.

Aiden went deathly pale. His eyes dilated in sheer terror as he found himself pinned between the merciless chill of ice and the scorching threat of immediate execution.

Slowly, both women stepped forward in terrifying, synchronized precision.

Cassandra’s stormy grey eyes burned with a dark, murderous frost, her hand surrounded by a swirling vortex of freezing mist.

Beside her, Emma’s bright, gentle demeanor had vanished entirely, replaced by a cold, righteous fury, her staff glowing with lethal intent.

“What…” Cassandra began, her voice dropping into an eerie, dangerous whisper that rattled through the canyon.

“…did you…” Emma continued, her golden aura flaring violently.

“…say?” they finished together, their cold, overlapping voices cutting through the quiet gorge like a dual executioner’s blade.

Aiden’s throat bobbed, but he couldn’t even swallow.

Sweat froze into tiny beads against his forehead as he looked at them.

His eyes darted frantically back to me, the realization hitting his brain with the force of a falling mountain.

I kept my hand casually resting on Oathstorm’s pommel, raising an eyebrow as I watched the arrogant young noble tremble inside his icy cage.

Tch. Calling a Raith a peasant in front of Cassandra, and insulting me right in front of Emma…

Talk about picking the absolute worst way to seek a grave.

“I—I apologize! My Lady, Commander, I didn’t know—!” Aiden stammered, his teeth chattering violently as the frost seeped through his silver armor and bit straight into his marrow.

“You are speaking to Jin Raith,” Emma said, her voice dropping an octave that sent a shiver down the back of every watching soldier.

“He is my most precious person. Insult him again, and I will ensure you never speak another word.”

Cassandra didn’t even look at Aiden’s face.

She kept her icy, stormy grey eyes fixed on the horizon, her voice sounding like grinding glaciers.

“He is the blood of House Raith. My brother. Touch him, disrespect him, or even look at him with arrogance, and I will freeze your lungs from the inside out.”

Aiden looked like he was about to pass out from pure, unadulterated terror.

The noble swagger he had displayed seconds ago was completely shattered, replaced by a desperate, pathetic attempt to shrink into his armor.

I looked between Emma’s buzzing light daggers and Cassandra’s creeping frost, letting out a slow, amused breath.

As much as it was bizarre seeing both of them act so brutally protective, watching an arrogant brat get instantly humbled was undeniably satisfying.

“That’s enough,” I said quietly, stepping forward and laying a hand gently on Emma’s wrist.

“He gets the point. We don’t need to waste mana on a corpse.”

The moment my fingers touched Emma, the lethal tension around her melted away.

Her light daggers dissolved into harmless golden motes, and her sharp scowl shifted back into a warm, bright smile as she leaned into my side.

Cassandra snapped her fingers.

CRACK!

The ice binding Aiden’s lower half shattered into a rain of harmless frost fragments.

His legs gave out instantly, and he collapsed onto his knees in the slush, shivering violently and gasping for warm air.

“Scram,” Cassandra commanded without a backward glance. “Return to your vanguard post before I reconsider.”

“Y-Yes, Commander! Thank you, My Lord!”

Aiden squeaked, scrambling backward on all fours like a frightened crab before turning and sprinting up the rocky ridge as fast as his frozen legs could carry him.

Emma turned back to me, her bright eyes shining as she held onto my arm.

“Jin… since our hunting mission is officially over, I’m coming with you to the Capital.”

Cassandra stepped right between us, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword as she glared down at Emma.

“He is riding in my personal carriage, Private. You will ride with the escort flank.”

“I’m a high-tier light mage assigned to forward protection,” Emma countered, her chin raised stubbornly.

“I belong right next to him.”

I looked up at the bleeding crimson sky, adjusting the high collar of my tunic to hide Cassandra’s bite mark as the convoy prepared to move again.

“Don’t start fighting among yourselves,” I snapped, stepping directly between the spark of freezing frost and radiant light.

Both of them paused, their eyes flicking toward me. I took a half-step toward Emma, gently pulling her a few inches away from Cassandra’s suffocating aura.

Leaning down, I brought my lips right against the shell of her ear, my voice dropping into an breathy whisper.

“Let me ride with my sister for now, Emma,” I murmured, making sure Cassandra couldn’t catch the exact words through the howling wind.

“Once we reach the Capital… I’ll spend the whole night with you. Just you and me.”

Emma’s entire body went rigid.

A bright, crimson flush erupted across her cheeks, traveling all the way down to her neck. Her eyes widened in sheer, delighted shock, her grip on her white staff loosening slightly.

She bit her lower lip, looking up at me with an intensely flushed, almost dazed expression that completely melted her combat readiness.

“Y-You promised…” she squeaked out softly, her voice barely a whisper.

I gave her a subtle nod, keeping my face perfectly straight.

Emma took a deep, shaky breath to collect herself, though the bright red hue on her face refused to fade.

She stepped back, offering a exaggerated, mock formal bow to Cassandra and me, a playful, triumphant glint dancing in her eyes.

“As you command, Commander Raith,” Emma said, her tone dripping with lighthearted sarcasm as she looked at Cassandra.

“I shall return to the flank.”

Without waiting for Cassandra to respond, Emma turned on her heel and trotted back toward her light cavalry unit, her steps practically bouncing across the gravel.

I let out a long, heavy sigh, watching her retreat.

Thank God that worked, I thought, running a hand through my hair.

If I had agreed to let Emma into the carriage or ridden with her unit instead, Cassandra would have turned the highway into a literal glacier.

Having both of them trapped in a confined space would have sparked a domestic warzone before we even saw the Capital walls.

I didn’t even get to finish the thought when…

A pair of slender, ice-cold fingers wrapped firmly around my wrist like a steel manacle.

Before I could even react, Cassandra yanked me backward toward the transport.

She didn’t say a word, her stormy grey eyes narrowed in a silent, dark glare that suggested she knew I had used some kind of tactic to send Emma away, even if she hadn’t heard the exact promise.

“Inside,” Cassandra commanded softly, her voice cold enough to freeze water mid-air.

She pulled me up the steps and shoved me straight back into the cushioned cabin of the carriage.

The

door slammed shut behind us with a sharp, resonant bang, the internal locks sliding instantly into place.