Chapter 361: A Glimpse of Her Heart
Chapter 361: A Glimpse of Her Heart
The mercenaries shifted their wide-eyed gazes toward Rhain.
If the girl roasting meat with them was the legendary Stormveil Queen, then this youth who could rip apart Domain Master beasts with his bare hands had to be an Imperial Prince in disguise, or perhaps the hidden heir of a Monarch!
But Rhain’s reply was not as exaggerated as they had expected.
"I am a Core Palace disciple of the Stormveil Academy," Rhain replied simply.
The mercenaries stared at him.
They waited for a few seconds, expecting him to elaborate, but Rhain just took another bite of his food.
"A... a disciple?" Karsten asked with astonishment. "Just a disciple?"
While being a Core Palace disciple of a top-tier academy was an exalted status in the outside world, it still didn’t explain Rhain’s monstrous strength.
Karsten had expected a world-shaking title, not the status of a mere academy student!
"Then... why?" Karsten asked carefully, "Why would two prodigies of Stormveil city come to a place like the Sunless Umbral Basin?
"As I had told you before, we came here to hunt the mutated multi-headed fire python," Rhain answered, "I need its beast core to save the life of someone I know. Being dragged into this realm... was just an unexpected variable."
The mention of their current predicament brought a brief silence over the cave.
"A variable..." Karsten let out a bitter sigh. "It is a brutal one. Ten days have passed, and we have only managed to secure two hundred and thirty beast cores. We aren’t even a quarter of the way to the old man’s quota."
One of the mercenaries dropped his head into his hands. "If we don’t pick up the pace, we will never make it to a thousand. We’re going to be trapped in this forest until we die."
Rhain looked at the demoralized men.
"Worrying about the numbers tonight will not change them," Rhain stated calmly.
We will be increasing our pace from tomorrow," he continued, "With my recent breakthrough, my essence reserves and combat output have increased. The hunting will be faster."
Rhain looked at the exhausted mercenaries.
"Go and rest. We will have to move again at the break of dawn. You will need your energy if you want to survive tomorrow."
"Y-Yes, Lord Rhain," Karsten nodded hastily.
The mercenaries didn’t dare to argue. They quickly devoured the last of their meat and retreated to the corners of the cave to catch whatever rest they could.
Rhain turned to walk back to his meditation spot, but his gaze fell upon Lyra.
She had not moved.
She was still sitting by the campfire, her arms wrapped around her knees as she stared blankly into the burning flames.
"You need to rest as well," Rhain said softly. "Your body is still recovering from the black lightning. If you don’t sleep, you won’t be able to keep up tomorrow."
Lyra didn’t reply for a while.
Then, she slowly raised her head to look at him.
"Rhain..." Lyra asked, her voice quiet and hesitant. "Do you honestly think we have any chance of passing this trial?"
The profound dread in her voice were evident.
The sheer impossibility of the old man’s quota, the unending waves of Domain Master beasts, and her own near-death experience had heavily shaken her resolve.
Rhain looked at the crimson-haired girl.
He didn’t offer her empty, comforting lies, nor did he sugarcoat the brutal reality of their situation.
"The odds are overwhelmingly against us," Rhain stated calmly. "It looks like there is no hope. That impossible number of quota is still beyond our reach."
Lyra bit her pink lip, her gaze dropping back to the fire.
But then, Rhain’s voice turned firm, resonating with a god-like conviction.
"Inspite of that, I firmly believe that we will pass this trial," Rhain declared, "No matter what it takes."
He slowly clenched his fist, the image of a girl with silver-blue hair flashing in his mind.
"I am unwilling to stay caged in this realm forever," Rhain murmured softly, "I promised Seris that I would return to her without a single scratch. And I never break my promises. I have to go back to her."
Lyra stared at Rhain. The unshakable resolve in his eyes struck her heart. In the face of impossible despair, his will was like an immovable mountain.
She let out a quiet exhale.
"You’re right," Lyra said in a low voice, "I don’t want to be caged in this miserable realm forever either. I have my own path to walk, and I certainly refuse to die in a place like this."
Rhain looked at Lyra’s serious expression and let out an amused chuckle.
"If you truly don’t want to die here," Rhain said, his tone turning casual, "then you should probably try not to catch any more black lightning feathers with your shoulder next time. I won’t be always there to save you."
Lyra’s breathtakingly beautiful face instantly flushed with indignant rage.
"Humph!" Lyra snapped haughtily, glaring at him. "I wonder who saved you when you were falling from the sky, I still haven’t gotten a thanks for that. Besides, if I hadn’t deflected it, it would have pulverized Karsten! If he died, you would be the one running around in the mud acting as bait for those disgusting bugs!"
Rhain’s expression remained perfectly placid.
"Doesn’t matter," Rhain replied lazily. "I can still punch a hole through them anyway."
Lyra opened her mouth to shoot back a fierce retort, but the words completely died in her throat.
She remembered how he had effortlessly obliterated an entire horde of late-stage Core Formation Bone-Hounds with his bare fists on their very first day in the basin.
She knew he wasn’t bragging.
Finding herself utterly defeated in the banter, Lyra ground her teeth in frustration. She crossed her arms beneath her chest and let out a loud, irritated snort.
"Hmph! At least I am honest," Lyra muttered, tilting her chin upward with a haughty sneer. "I am much better than a shameless liar like you."
Rhain raised an eyebrow. "Oh? When did I lie?"
"About your parents," Lyra accused, curling her lips. "I still don’t believe what you said earlier. To possess the talent you have, the Emperor-Grade artifacts, and the ability to comprehend laws at the Core Formation Realm... you definitely lied. There is absolutely no way your parents were just ordinary mortals. You must be the hidden successor of some ancient lineage."
Rhain looked at the fiercely pouting girl and let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"I wasn’t lying," Rhain replied honestly, his dark grey eyes reflecting the flickering campfire. "My parents were truly just ordinary mortals from a small town. They passed away when I was very young, so young that I only remember their fading visages as their last memories. Afterward, I was taken in and raised by a small sect called the Azure Cloud Sect."
Rhain’s gaze grew wistful, and his voice gentled. "Right now, that sect and Seris are what remains of the only family I have left in this world."
As his voice dropped off, Lyra’s expression froze, her lips parting slightly.
The playful look completely faded from her beautiful face, feeling a sudden wave of guilt.
Lyra bit her pink lip, her crimson eyes wavering.
She arrogantly assumed he was lying, and recklessly ripped open his most painful scars simply to satisfy her own curiosity.
"I... I am sorry," Lyra whispered, her voice filled with deep regret.
She hastily lowered her head, entirely ashamed of her own words.
"You do not need to be sorry," Rhain smiled faintly, "It is all in the past. Fate has its own arrangements."
He shifted his posture slightly, turning his profound gaze toward her. "However, speaking of family... I have heard many rumors about your father."
Lyra’s delicate body noticeably stiffened.
"It is said that his strength was so utterly incomprehensible that even the Imperial Families and the Solathane Emperor fear his mere shadow."
At the mention of her father, Lyra fell entirely silent. It was as if a painful spot in her heart was touched.
Her eyes darkened, entirely consumed by a complex sorrow.
"I have never truly seen his face," Lyra slowly opened her mouth, her voice sounding extremely fragile. "He left before I was even born."
She hugged her knees tighter against her chest, her crimson eyes staring ahead with a vacant gaze.
"When I was young, I would watch the other children in the estates holding their fathers’ hands. They would be hoisted onto their shoulders, laughing and playing. Whenever I asked my mother where my father was, she would always put on a forced smile. She told me that he had gone somewhere very far away to handle an extremely important matter... and that he would return to us soon."
A self-mocking and bitter smile formed at the edge of her lips.
"But as I grew older, I understood the truth. He wasn’t coming back. He had simply abandoned my mother and me."
Lyra’s hands clenched into tight fists, her knuckles turning bone-white. The fragility in her voice vanished, instantly replaced by a fierce determination.
"I don’t care if he doesn’t want us!" Lyra’s voice rose with suppressed emotion. "But I refuse to be discarded like an afterthought without knowing why! The only reason I train crazily, the only reason I push myself to the be at the pinnacle... is so that one day, I can become strong enough to find him. I will stand directly in front of him and force him to look me in the eye and give me the reason why he left us like this!"
Rhain stared at the crimson-haired girl with a new light. He had never thought that beneath her usual arrogance, she carried a deeply rooted pain that drove her to pursue strength relentlessly.
Lyra slowly raised her head, her beautiful misted eyes looking at Rhain.
"I... deeply respect you in that regard," Lyra confessed softly, "You didn’t hesitate to kill Lucuis to protect your wife’s dignity, knowing that it meant facing the entire Solathane Dynasty, facing the Emperor’s wrath. You put your own life on the line to defend your wife’s dignity."
A melancholic look appeared on her face. "I just wished my father would have been a man like you."
Rhain’s heart shifted slightly at her honest, vulnerable words. But he had no idea how to comfort her at this moment.
"Go and rest," Rhain said gently, his voice carrying a soothing, steadfast calm. "Save your strength for tomorrow. You do not need to worry too much about the things beyond your control right now."
Lyra blinked, wiping the tear from her cheek with the back of her hand.
"Yeah, I know," Lyra spoke firmly.