Chapter 74: The Old Hag Ruins the Moment
The temperature dropped instantly.
The icy wind howled across the desolate highway, carrying with it a heavy, suffocating scent of ozone and raw, unrefined mana.
Azriel didn’t flinch.
His jaw remained locked, his blood-red eyes burning with a dark, tempestuous rage as he gently adjusted his grip on Rosalind, keeping her blood-stained body tucked securely against his chest. =
He turned around, peering into the shadows behind him, but saw nothing except the swaying grass and the black sky bathed in cold moonlight.
"She really has fallen in love, hasn’t she?" a voice murmured from right beside him.
Azriel’s breath hitched. He snapped his head toward the sound, a sharp spike of dread running down his spine.
Sitting casually on the grass mere inches away was an extraordinarily beautiful, mature woman who appeared to be in her early forties, with subtle, elegant laugh lines around the corners of her golden eyes.
She possessed a magnificent mane of silver-white hair styled into a thick, sweeping braid that reached down past her waist, paired with pristine white feline ears and a long, sweeping tail.
Seeing her golden eyes and cat features, Azriel immediately recognized her lineage, but his posture remained rigid.
He instinctively pulled Rosalind further into his chest, shifting away from the stranger.
"W-who are you?"
Taking in his tense, fiercely protective stance, the woman let out a soft, melodic laugh.
"Relax, little guy. I’m the mother of the girl you’re holding, Vesperia Van Bastet."
Azriel blinked, confusion instantly mingling with his deep caution.
He distinctly remembered his visits to the royal library, the woman who managed the front reception, whom Rosalind had introduced as her mother, was a frail, stoic Matriarch who looked well into her sixties.
Reading the utter bewilderment in his eyes, Vesperia smirked.
With a subtle flare of golden aether, her smooth, youthful features withered, her posture stooped, and her posture morphing into the exact elderly woman Azriel had met at the library.
"I enjoy disguising myself," she said, her voice shifting into a raspy, ancient tone.
"It’s fun to play the part of a fragile old hag when you’ve lived as long as I have."
Azriel stared at her, completely dumbfounded.
’What kind of woman actively chooses to disguise herself as an old grandmother just for entertainment?’
Dismissing the absurd thought, Azriel looked back down at Rosalind’s pale face, his heart aching.
"Please... help her! She took a GrandMaster poison strike for me, her core is drained, she’s bleeding—"
Vesperia sighed, tossing her head back.
"Alright, alright. Rose, you’ve dragged the acting out long enough. Get up, your man is about to lose his mind."
In a flash, Rosalind’s golden eyes snapped wide open.
She sat straight up, her cheeks flushing red as she turned to her mother with absolute fury.
"You old hag!" Rosalind yelled, her voice completely devoid of any weakness as her blood-slicked wounds began closing at a visible, terrifying speed.
"Why are you even here?! You’re supposed to be cooped up in your library! You ruined the entire moment!"
[LIVE CHAT]
[Nine_Tailed_Vixen] (Cyan): HER MOTHER JUST COMPLETELY EXPOSED HER IN FRONT OF HIM! THE MORTIFICATION!
[Lusty_Sera] (Golden): Look at Azriel’s face shifting from pure heartbreak to absolute, murderous disbelief... Rose is in SO much trouble!
[Sadistic69] (Red): SHE WAS FAKING IT?! SHE WAS ACTUALLY FAKING BEING UNCONSCIOUS?! I CANNOT WITH THIS CAT-GIRL!
[Boundless_Slacker] (Red): Bro was on the verge of tears, his eyes literally turned blood-red with dark protagonist rage, and she was just lying there enjoying the snuggles. Legendary move.
[Moon_Priestess_99] (Cyan): MOTHER-IN-LAW ARRIVAL! But seriously, Azriel looks like he’s about to erupt!
Azriel sat frozen.
He watched Rosalind actively cursing her mother, completely vibrant, energetic, and rapidly regenerating.
Slowly, his blood-red eyes narrowed into razor-thin slits.
"Rose..." Azriel said, his voice dropping into a dangerously quiet register.
Rosalind’s tirade instantly cut off.
She froze mid-sentence, turning her head toward him like a creaky wooden doll, her white cat ears pinning flat against her hair in absolute panic.
"Y-Yes, darling...?" she squeaked.
Azriel stood up, stepping toward her with an unreadable expression.
"What was that?"
"O-Oh! That... well... it was just a tiny little prank?" she offered, flashing a helpless, innocent smile.
"A pRaNk?" Azriel echoed, his jaw clenching.
"Y-Yes—"
"YOU!" Azriel lunged forward, tackling her straight back onto the soft grass and ruthlessly digging his fingers into her sides.
"Ahahhahaha, Azriel! Wait! I’m sorry! Stop—!" Rosalind shrieked, squirming helplessly under him as the terrifying GrandMaster of the Realm was reduced to a laughing, writhing mess on the ground.
They tumbled across the grassland for a few chaotic minutes until Azriel finally pinned both of her wrists above her head.
He leaned down, hovering just a hair’s breadth from her lips, his breathing heavy.
Rosalind stopped laughing, her golden eyes locking onto his.
The playful teasing vanished from Azriel’s face, replaced by a raw, vulnerable look of lingering fear and profound affection.
"Please... don’t ever do something like that again," Azriel whispered softly, his violet eyes searching hers. "I thought I lost you."
Rosalind’s heart melted completely. Looking into his pure, devoted gaze, a soft, immensely tender smile touched her lips.
"I’m sorry, my love," she murmured softly. "I promise."
She lifted her head, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to his lips.
Azriel melted into it, his grip on her wrists loosening as he pulled her in, deepening the kiss into something slow, passionate, and fiercely possessive under the starry sky.
"Ahem."
Vesperia cleared her throat loudly, crossing her arms as she looked down at the intertwined couple.
"Could you two at least save the sheet-ripping for a room with an actual door?"
Rosalind didn’t even break the kiss.
She simply flicked her one hand and flared her white aether.
"Shut up, you old hag!"
FLASH!
A blinding wave of spatial energy wrapped around them, instantly teleporting them across miles of terrain straight into the privacy of Rosalind’s grand bedroom at the estate, leaving her mother standing alone on the quiet, empty highway with a knowing, amused smirk.