Chapter 1153: An Outburst of Guilt
It was a surprising realization that Rex, had numerous elemental affinities other than his lunar and lightning—nevertheless, Rex had never shown extreme capabilities, in resourcefulness in using his elemental prowess.
A stark difference in fighting style that the others instantly noticed.
Not only that, but the way he was attacking the mutated animal was also different compared to the normal. From the others\' views of him in this fight—it was almost, as if he had become an animal that was hunting prey—feral to say the least.
Surely, he was not being himself in this fight.
Of course, Adhara and the others noticed the changes on his King Mark or even horns.
All of them suspect a new ability as that is the positive reasoning.
But, on the other hand, there\'s also the possibility that he had gone berserk for some reason.
"Just in case—tell the others to go back and be alert on the breach," Adhara instructed Kyran out of worry—that Rex, might not be in the right mind. "Having Evelyn right now, is preferable but I don\'t think that\'s going to be possible,"
Upon hearing this, Kyran turned to Flunra for confirmation.
In response, Flunra nodded, "Rex already howled, which means he already declared victory,"
Kyran nodded before he pivoted around, relaying the message to Gelmar and Dindora.
Gazing at the two captains behind him, he narrowed his eyes and quietly nodded in shocking acknowledgment, \'Surprisingly enough, those two, were quite capable now—they could even be of help in this fight. I can\'t say the same with Linthia, but with Prof. K, and them, the city is secured for now,\'
As he thought of that, his eyes landed on Naela who surprisingly came following him.
She was nowhere near as strong—so following him here was reckless of her.
Even then, Kyran outright ignored her and went over to Gelmar and Dindora.
Meanwhile—Nalea was in a trance as she saw the battle that unfolded before her earlier.
It was public knowledge that the Silverstar Pack had managed to achieve victory over one of the Executors, and she also knew that Kyran was one of the key players as rumor stated that he and Flunra were able to hold back the Fifthborn for a time.
But seeing them fight first-hand was eye-opening.
Despite her progress has been impeccable—as the dark nature energy, was abundant inside the castle, she was nowhere in the same realm of progress with the Silverstar Pack. \'Each of them is very... very strong. To be able to defeat, that tenth-rank realm mutated animal—even when none of them are in the tenth-rank realm, should that even be possible...?\'
Naela never saw her parents or even King Jorik being able to eliminate a threat this easily.
Unconsciously, she had both of her hands clenched into a fist.
As she snapped out of her trance, she saw Kyran walking in her direction.
Seeing this, Naela braced herself to explain her presence in the vicinity—and was even ready to apologize if she had upset Kyran by being here. But as she opened her mouth to speak her mind, her expression froze.
Kyran walked right past her, as though she didn\'t exist, leaving her words unspoken.
Realizing what had happened, Naela was in disbelief.
Ever since Kyran was in a coma, she was the one who took care of him.
Not that she was calculative about her merits, but when Kyran woke up and confessed that he was awake before he could even move his body, he knew what Naela did for him. Not to mention, he also seemed thankful for her.
So seeing him suddenly becoming like this was nothing sort other than surprising.
\'It started ever since the coronation...\' Naela mused, looking at Kyran\'s back as he conversed with Gelmar, and Dindora about the situation. \'No, I think it started even before that. But that coronation day made the change obvious\'
Knowing the rumors, her fists trembled as had a guess of the reasoning in her mind.
"Strengthen the defenses at the breach, and also dispatch sentries—but make sure that they are strong because the mutated animals within the forest—have gotten stronger. Limit it only to those who are at the seventh-rank realm or above,"
"I understand. I will personally lead the sentries to scout the area around our city,"
"If that\'s the case—then I will organize the guards around the breach and determine possible lethal breaching points. But Lord Kyran, what about Linthia? Should she be organizing guards on the walls?"
"Give her the lighter task, she\'s not adequate enough for heavier tasks,"
Upon hearing this, Gelmar and Dindora exchanged looks before they nodded their heads.
But it was then the two saw a woman approaching from behind Kyran.
Realizing who it was, the two excused themselves as they also had things to handle.
"Kyran..." Naela muttered from behind.
Despite already sensing who it was, even before she spoke, Kyran glanced over his shoulder briefly before returning his gaze forward, "I\'m busy, Naela. Go back to the castle and train or something, I don\'t have time to deal with you"
"Okay, I\'ll go back to the castle," She mused. "But first, I want you to look at me in the eye,"
Not even entertaining her, Kyran walked away intending to leave.
Since the battle against the tenth-rank realm had come to a conclusion—at least with Flunra saying that it was over, he could leave the premise. His skills are incredibly important, at this moment, and he wanted to map the surrounding areas again.
"Are you really too busy for me or are you avoiding me?"
"I am your fiance, Kyran, that is the honor Emperor Rex gave to me," Naela persisted.
Even then, Kyran ignored her and kept on walking.
However, as he was about to make his seventh step—he abruptly halted in his tracks.
"Is it because of what my Elders did?"
Kyran\'s body trembled when he heard this.
He paused for a second on his spot before swiftly turning his body around—glancing over at the onlookers before he strode back to Naela, and grabbed her forcefully by the wrist. Kyran brought her to the side, away from the others.
"Kyaah!" Naela yelped as she was pushed against a tree.
As soon as she recovered, her eyes were met directly with Kyran\'s piercing gaze.
"I told you to go back to the castle—and you should\'ve obeyed me, instead of advertising to everyone that you and I have a problem. Aren\'t you the daughter of a known Noble? Is there no education for privacy and reputation given to you?"
"So, I\'m right, you are avoiding me," Naela retorted, gaining the confirmation she needed.
Upon hearing this—Kyran pulled away and groaned in annoyance, rubbing his forehead.
"Maybe instead of avoiding me, you should tell me what\'s going on"
"Even if I tell you, there\'s not going to be any difference,"
"Yes, it absolutely has a difference. At least I would know why you are acting like this"
Naela had hoped that—the aftermath of the battle, with the Fifthborn—would make the bond between them better, but she was mistaken. Initially, she believed that giving Kyran time was the right thing to do, but now she realized that it wasn\'t.
He was drifting away instead of making an effort to strengthen their bond.
"My Elders did something to Evelyn, but I\'m sure there may have been a misunderstanding,"
"Misunderstanding...? Attempting to hurt Evelyn is a misunderstanding?"
"Just," Naela stutters, this is new news for her. "for my sake, give them a chance to explain"
Listening to this—Kyran\'s expression soured as he strode back and pinned Naela on the tree, trapping her against the tree, with a forceful hand beside her face. "Do you have any idea the things Rex had lost? Do you even know, what he had to go through to reach this moment? Do you even know anything, Naela?"
Not expecting the situation to escalate, Naela sucked in a cold breath and bit her lips.
It seemed like she said the wrong thing.
Hoping that her people would get a leeway, she unconsciously said that.
Now, Kyran\'s eyes were emanating a lethal glint, forcing her to look downward in response.
His eyes were flickering between his Werewolf form and his human form.
Evidently, he was on the edge of berserk—his mind struggling to keep his anger in check.
"I watched it all with my own two eyes, I watched everything that had happened to him from the side" He continued, his mind wandering back to those times, making his grip on the tree stronger than before. "All of the agony, the desperation, the stress, the torment, the descent to madness he\'s endured to reach this point, ALL BECAUSE OF ME!"
"ME!!" Kyran shouted again, his warm, rapid breath brushing against Naela\'s face.
She could feel the sheer anger and frustration palpably coming from him.
"Do you fucking understand?" He added, glaring at Naela shakingly.
Collecting his composure—even though it barely had any effect—he slowly pulled away with his eyes stung by tears of unbridled fury, "Now that I know someone was trying to harm him again, by attempting to take what little he had left, and this time, it\'s not because of me, you want me, to entertain their excuses? When I\'ve been tasked to address this issue—you want me to... disappoint?"
Seeing the amount of emotions through his eyes, Naela\'s heart melted.
Most of the time, she always saw the strong side of everyone inside the castle.
Due to that, she forgot that they, or specifically Kyran were still living beings with emotions.
Incapable of bearing witness to Kyran\'s anguish—as the weight of his sorrow, threatened to crush him Naela enveloped him in her arms and unconsciously shed tears. Her voice seizing in her throat as she choked out, "I\'m sorry, I jumped to a conclusion without truly, making an effort to understand you. I\'m so sorry..."
Her hands clung onto Kyran, embracing him tighter as to give him strength.
Even then, the moment didn\'t last long as Kyran pulled away.
"I was trapped inside the ice and snow realm for dozens of years, and there were times that I doubted him. But as the year progresses, passing my eyes, and senses like a blur—it became clearer to me that being trapped there is nothing compared to what Rex did for me,"
As he said that, Kyran was silent for a moment, looking down in contemplation.
He was silent for a solid minute before he sighed heavily.
"I\'m going to scout and secure the area," He said, turning away. "I\'m sorry for the outburst"
After saying that, Kyran disappeared, leaving a bitter aftertaste in Naela\'s heart.
On the other hand, Naela crumbled to her knees, the weight of her own words crashing upon her—as she didn\'t expect, that they would impact Kyran to this extent. Her haste—born from frustration, blinded her to the true depth of Kyran\'s emotions.
It made her fail to realize that she didn\'t know Kyran at all.
Naela knows this version of Kyran, but she didn\'t know him in the past.
Just as she was being overwhelmed with regrets, a figure approached her from the front.
Raising her teary gaze, she realized that it was Adhara.
Adhara heard the commotion and came to find this ordeal between Kyran and Naela.
She helped Naela to stand up and smack away the dirt that got on Naela\'s clothes, "It won\'t make a difference to regret what you said. As I and Evelyn told you, Kyran\'s last relationship didn\'t end well, so it\'s hard for him to open up to you. Naturally, you wouldn\'t know anything about him because of that,"
"How can I make him open up to me, then?" Naela asked, sobbing in between words.
Upon hearing this, Adhara frowned in contemplation.
Eventually, she replied, "Kyran has a dark side to him. If you want him to open up, you should start by accepting his dark side. Show him, that you can handle even the worst of him. If you show him that, I\'m sure he will start to open up,"
"Do you mean-" Before Naela could finish his sentence, Adhara intervened.
"Yes—go to the Dark Elf Kingdom with him. Loyalty—and self-sacrifice are the only things he thinks he could give to the pack, so that\'s the first things you should show him" She nodded, giving affirmation to Naela. "No matter what he would do to the Dark Elves—you say nothing and watch"
"Say nothing and watch...?" Naela gulped when she heard this, her heart beating rapidly.