Chapter 177: Chapter 177

TRISTAN:

“Brother, look out!”

I swerved to the right by mistake, which ended up being good as I had dodged a blow against my skull.

Livia and I had been fighting against the Blasted Ones for hours now, but they do not seem to be depleting. How in the world can the Apricus King call in this many of his men?

Worse of all, Livia’s state was getting worse and worse as time went by…

I hate to admit it, but I don’t think I could last fighting against them for a long time too.

I struggled to get on my feet, thinking of how wretched I was to have sent the one person I loved the most towards her death.

Memories of when I first saw Dahlia flashed by my head as I attacked one vampire after another.

Lady Dahlia Hurst – the gentle rose of the kingdom – the person people looked up to and envied…

My first thought was that such a person would be nothing more than a spoiled brat. She had been under the spotlight since she was young, and being the closest person of the opposite sex to the heir of Talandor, she couldn’t possibly be of good nature.

When Samalah and I had set our plan to infiltrate the kingdom, I asked Gideon to stalk her under the guise that I was romantically interested in her.

I have hated her for a long time before I had actually met her. Samalah and I had seen her as nothing more but our enemy, but I couldn’t be more wrong...

It was easy to see that all along that the only villain in this play of tragedy was me…

I looked at my sister who was desperate to clear the vampires before us, and I felt even more ashamed than ever. She was fighting hard to get Dahlia back – the most precious thing in the world for me, and here I was – the fool who sold her to her death…

I had never deserved someone like my Dahlly. She was really unfortunate enough to have such a useless, scheming mate.

Any minute now, Livia and I will fall to our deaths in exhaustion. Any minute now and it will all be over.

“So, are you going to let Dahlia down,” someone growled beside me.

My eyes would have popped out of my sockets seeing the origin of the voice who just spoke.

The last time I had seen him, I was threatening this man, but there was no sign of any malice whatsoever in his countenance right now as he joined me in smashing the skulls of the Blasted Ones who came pouring in.

Duke Hurst stood like a fierce, dark tower against the Laudician valley. The way he stood and fought reminded me of the night he came to my father’s palace, slashing through the guards…

And yet now, nothing in my heart spoke of my old anger against him. Somewhat, I had understood him after the times I had spent with Dahlia...

“Boy, I am sorry,” he began uttering as he severed another vampire’s neck. “I’m sorry I did not remember who you were immediately… I had also wronged you in so many ways in the past… I deeply apologize.”

It didn’t suit the duke at all to speak in a morose manner while slashing through the vampire’s heads without mercy.

“I see you are aware of who I am now,” I said, regaining back some of my strength when I saw him. This means the alpha call had worked! Someone else will come to our aid, right, to rescue Dahlly?

“I know you must have wanted my death for a long time, but I beg you,” he said as he tore the foes before us limb from limb. “I beg you, please get Dahlia back from them. Only you could save her!”

It wasn’t true… I wasn’t Dahlia’s savior… Rather, I was the cause of her suffering from the very start.

I looked at the far horizon and saw that more and more wolves were coming through the direction where Dahlia and I had come from to get to Laudicia.

Finally, the help we needed was arriving!

“Brother, I’ll work with Duke Hurst here. Go after your wife,” Livia shouted amidst the chaos.

I looked at her bloody face. Even she had not given up on getting Dahlia safely out of here…

Then, I mustn’t give up too! I mustn’t give up on her – the love of my life!

“Duke Hurst, forgive me for approaching your daughter to get back at you… I promise to get her safely back to your side, and in return, I’ll leave her be,” I whispered before I galloped towards the start of the procession with a renewed spirit.

If I rescue Dahlia out of here and disappear from her life, she can start anew…

She and my child can start over again…

As much as there was pain in my heart from this bittersweet realization, I pushed forward. I’m coming my Dahlly! I’m coming!

******************************

DAHLIA:

“You, savage beast, let me go!”

I turned around to flee, but it was no use. Helion Cosco was the Apricus King, and therefore the strongest of all the damned members of the Vampire Clan. It would be a delusion to think I could escape from his very grasp, and yet I still struggled as much as I can to make him suffer a bit.

“Do you want me to pierce your stomach and let you bleed until we come to the designated place,” he snarled.

His words were scaring the hell out of me, but rather than backing down, it made me look back and think more logically of the situation.

In the distance, I could hear the commotion as Livia and Tristan fought the swarms of Blasted Ones that surrounded them.

They wouldn’t be able to last long. Not even if they were Shadow Rune wolves. It seemed like the king made sure he had called over everyone of his kind over just to ensure that the three of us would surely die today.

Therefore, the only thing I could do was to get a hint of who I was against with so that I could plan my escape.

“Where are you taking me?”

“We are going to the temple, she-wolf, and we will have our wedding.”

A wedding? Wasn’t the king wedded to her queen?

“W-What do you mean?”

“In order to obtain the spirit stone and its powers, I need the queen who can wield it,” King Helion said.

“That won’t happen… I am a royalty of Talandor,” I said, trying to bluff my way so that he would release me. Hopefully, it could work a bit until I have come up with a plan or see an opportunity to escape. “I know you made a pact with Count Jeteris, but when my countrymen see that you’ve taken me as your prisoner and intend to take me as your wife, they won’t stand up for it! You’d be in trouble!”

“Ah, that’s what I thought so too,” King Helion said. There was a mysterious smile in his face as he continued. “I thought that might really happen as well so I made some… countermeasures.”

I didn’t understand what he had said until we arrived at the outer courts of Laudicia’s Grand temple.