Chapter 61. Kai is in danger. (II)
"Stay close..." Raika whispered, her glowing red-golden eyes looking beyond the hot springs door.
With her heightened senses, she could feel hostility, killing intent, though well hidden.
In normal circumstances, she would have long attacked whoever was leaking such killing intent yet she only stared at the door, her brows furrowed in confusion.
This time it was aimed at neither Alaric nor herself.
"What’s wrong..." Alaric inquired, looking in the direction Raika was, his eyes narrowed.
He too tried to sense whatever his mother was looking at, yet it was for naught.
No matter how much of a monster he was, he was but a First Resonance mage, yet to unlock such a skill.
"Someone is here..."
"Kai!" Alaric exclaimed, his heart skipping a beat.
He was sure this was an attempt on her life.
What he feared happening sooner than anticipated.
"Sh*t..." He cursed internally.
"Mother, evaporate the whole pool." He opened the doors of the hot springs, Raika quickly heeding her his request.
The pool of water boiled vigorously, bubbles popping with vengeance, steam rising under extreme pressure.
Alaric quickly guided the steam through the door, filling the entire manor with the scorching mist.
Within seconds, the torches in the manor died under the moisture of the steam, the mist enveloping the manor like the fog of a graveyard.
"Ahhh!"
"Arghh!"
"What’s this...?"
"It’s hot..."
"Ahh!"
Screams reverberated through the manor as guards and servants were caught off guard by the scorching steam. They quickly conjured their elements, raising barriers to block the searing mist, their expressions a mixture of pain and confusion.
"What’s going on..." Aodh looked around, his eyes narrowed in confusion, vision block by the misty whiteness.
As a fire mage, he wasn’t in the least bothered by the heat of the steam.
"Did something happen in the hot springs?" the Count rose from his desk, brows raised in anxiety.
The smell was surely from the hot springs, the scent of the herbs they had prepared filling the manor.
"The Thunder Princess might have evaporated it in rage..." Aodh deduced.
To him, Raika was a loose cannon who could do any and all things, and thus he could only think of this.
The last time Raika had visited, he had only seen her from afar, never getting a chance to interact with her.
Even from a distance, she looked different from the other nobles, her mannerisms unique among the other wives.
And today, she certainly didn’t care about noble etiquette, treating him like the air in the room.
He was sure she had done this out of rage.
Maybe she didn’t like the herbs, or simply felt like it.
He believed this was her doing, and there shouldn’t be any cause for alarm.
"We can’t face her anger." The Count sat back down. "...Let’s wait till morning when her anger subsides. Tell the guards to stay clear of the hot springs." He instructed, rubbing his brows in weary resignation.
"I will get right to it..." Aodh bowed as he left the office.
Leaving behind a sighing Count, his clothes soaked by the scorching mist, yet he didn’t have the energy to rise, instead looking up at the mist-covered ceiling.
...
Meanwhile, most of the maids and guards had rushed out of the manor, standing on the lawn as they looked at the mist-covered manor.
"What’s going on..." they all wondered.
Some guards remained, heading towards the hot springs to investigate the cause.
Fire mages, with their visibility obscured, conjured balls of fire only for them to be extinguished by the moisture in the steam.
As warriors tasked with protecting the manor, they moved forward nonetheless, only to be stopped by Aodh, his attire completely soaked by the dense, almost cloud-like steam.
"There is nothing to worry about. The Thunder Princess is just a bit on edge. Let’s leave her be until she calms down."
"Ohh." They all nodded in understanding.
Everyone had heard of her temper.
"Maybe she didn’t like the herbs..." they whispered, unaware of what was truly going on.
They left the manor, assuming it was merely another one of the Thunder Princess’s outbursts.
"I hope at least Kai and her mother are okay in there..." Aodh turned to the opened door of the hot springs, though he couldn’t tell it was open, the steam blocking his vision.
Sighing, he joined the guards outside.
Unaware that those two weren’t in the hot springs. Neither were Alaric and Raika.
.
.
.
Moments before the surge of scorching steam.
Turtle and Crow dug a tunnel into the manor undetected, appearing in an empty room, a room or two from their targets.
In front of Kai’s and her mother’s room were two guards, stationed there by Philip at Alaric’s request.
Alaric, cautious of unknown dangers, dangers he had caused by interfering in the girl’s awakening, decided to make sure they were always protected.
"Make it quick..." Crow whispered, his glowing eyes staring cautiously in the direction of Raika.
In his vision, he could see their heat signatures, like a thermal camera, in black and white.
"Both of them?" Turtle inquired.
"You can’t leave witnesses, can you?" Crow said with raised eyebrows.
From his thermal vision, he could tell Kai was with her mother, Kai sitting by her mother as she lay on the bed.
"Must I?"
"Just go already, you cowardly man."
"Ok... ok." Turtle rubbed his hands in anxiety. This wasn’t his first rodeo yet he felt nervous each time.
Though he had spent quite some time in the county, he didn’t really have any feelings toward them, no attachments whatsoever to the people or the place.
His anxiety and hesitation stemmed only from the fear of being caught.
There were guards in front of the gate, the Thunder Princess under the same roof. This wasn’t going to be easy.
"Let’s make this quick." He slapped his cheeks lightly, his eyes narrowed in determination.
The tiles underneath him softened like clay, his body slowly and quietly sinking into them.
After a minute or two, his whole body had sunk underground, the tiles returning to their solid state.
Underground, he moved through the softened soil, his steps slow and deliberate, unwilling to cause any ruckus.
"This should be the place..." He looked up, Kai’s and her mother’s room above.
Eyes glinting with killing intent.