Chapter 223: Wiped out

Rymora had heard the full conversation and seen Liora’s powers, which to her had felt more like a direct warning than anything else.But the door had barely shut firmly behind her when she walked forward and handed Aira the letter she had gotten from the temple, even as she opened her mouth to do what she had done at the arena.

It was easy since they were alone.

"I don’t know who it’s from!" she said, her words short, since she had no intention of making speaking become a habit—since it could get her killed.

Lord Drehk was blackmailing her simply because he knew she could write, something that only noble children could do and not a maid in the castle.

But speaking would directly identify her as a spy—for why else would a speaking person pretend to be a mute?

Aira didn’t appear shocked to hear her speak like before as she simply collected the letter and ripped it open, a look of apprehension on her face.

Worried that it wouldn’t be from the temple, but relieved to see that it was, she hurriedly read it.

"They’re inviting me to showcase my blessing, given by the God of Light, and be ordained as one of the messengers of light!" Aira said in a way that clearly showed she was informing Rymora, who simply nodded her head without actually speaking, as Aira went ahead to put the ripped letter on the table on her side of the room.

Leaning against the table, she turned to look squarely at Rymora, who didn’t flinch away.

Her eyes were innocent and small, and she had brown curly hair that framed her face and a slender stature that made it easy to ignore considering her short height.

"You look better than usual!" Aira said, pointing at her lips, which didn’t appear to be bruised considering what she had noticed a few times.

"Yeah! I solved my problem!" Rymora replied, even as she struggled not to blush fiercely at the memory of how she had solved it.

"That’s good! For a second I was starting to worry about you!" Aira replied, even as her expression became slightly grave and way more serious.

"Are you going to tell me why you’re pretending not to be able to speak?" Aira asked, even as Rymora stiffened, her guard coming up instinctively as she replied.

"Isn’t it obvious?" she said, speaking only a few words, her voice hoarse from its lack of use.

"You’re a spy! From the hunter houses?" Aira asked with an even bigger frown on her face as she spoke, even as Rymora shook her head with a very confused look in her eyes.

"Hunter houses?" she asked, even as she shook her head, basically giving away the only other group that would want to desperately spy on Zyren.

"I thought they disliked humans!" Aira said, speaking her thoughts out loud, even as Rymora made it clear that she was not going to continue to speak on the issue as she simply dissolved back to silence.

Seeing as Rymora was no longer forthcoming with any information, Aira turned around, shifting her gaze to her wardrobe instead as she began to think of what she would wear to lunch and right to the temple she intended to visit right after.

Intending to send a message to her sister for her to meet her there.

"White would be good!" Rymora pointed out, surprised by how much she missed talking and how relieving it was to be able to speak and not be scared—since no one could barge into the room except King Zyren, whose habit was to come in the evenings or just before it was time to eat.

"We can have an outfit made from—"

"No! I’ll just wear this!" Aira said, pointing at the only long white gown in her wardrobe, which was not simple in the slightest.

The cut on her shoulders was bold, leaving one shoulder completely bare, and the jewels that lined the waist showed just how much had gone into the making of the dress.

"Even with a shawl... it might be a little flashy for the commoners!" Rymora pointed out, indirectly saying that they might hate her for it.

But Aira simply shrugged. With how many people she intended to heal, they wouldn’t care about the gown she had on.


Unlike his study, which Zyren liked to be in, he had to head out to the throne room after being informed by a guard that the Lords would like to meet with him—especially since he had banned them from going to his wing.

Zyren took his time, glancing over the reports he had gotten on his table before heading out straight to the throne room that had been repaired so delicately that there was no sign that a bomb, in the manner of a monster, had ever gone off there.

He got there and didn’t blink at the sight of all the Lords who were already waiting for him as he slowly and steadily headed up the stairs, falling onto the throne with grace and elegance that only someone like Zyren could ever show.

He leaned on one arm of the chair, gesturing at them with the other hand for them to speak up, even as his eyes sent a look of warning that said that what they had better be worth it.

"A hundred people were found dead in the town of Arkeny!" Lord Drehk began, when it was obvious that the other lords were waiting for someone else to do it as long as it wasn’t them.

"...Not their bodies but pieces of them. They had been eaten, and the number is just the least estimation of what we were able to tell from the individual left thumbs we found!" Drehk continued as he stood there, head held high, with a dark purple coat on his body that hid his tall and overbearing stature—one very similar to Zyren’s own compared to the other lords, who were more on the slender spectrum.

"Okay! So the town has been wiped out?" Zyren asked in return, in a tone that said that had better be something they had already done instead of something he was just telling them to do.