: Ceneth’s Agony

Kayda was getting tired of playing this game with him.

Her staring at him and him silently looking back at her.

She wanted answers, not the silence of some man who's eyes she couldn't even read.

"This doesn't answer my question."

Her voice was still a slight growl, but it had become a lot more cautious after entering his domain. She couldn't risk angering him first and trapping her here where she didn't even know if the nearest window led to an escape, or a group of guards.

After hearing her speak, the scholarly man stepped forward and gave a polite bow to Kayda.

"My name is Ceneth."

This time, he spoke in a language she could understand. It kept surprising her to run into people who knew the western language even though they were the farthest away from the western continent at this time.

Before he continued, he glanced at Dimitri. When Dimitri looked back at him, he gave a silent nod before going over to sit in a chair next to Mellisony. This action screamed of noble arrogance of that from someone of high birth.

And it made Kayda's hands itch for a good punching.

Taking the nod from Dimitri as the go ahead, he straightened his back and looked down at Kayda. His eyes were sharp and piercing. Unlike Dimitri's eyes that seemed to freeze you as he looked right through your thoughts, Ceneth's gaze seemed to dissect you from the inside out, like some object he was observing.

"Lord Dimitri brought you here because of the young miss, Mellisony. As you can probably guess, the young miss is sick, so lord Dimitri has been out looking for something to, help, alleviate her symptoms."

He pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose as he took a glance at Dimitri. "He was supposedly going to bring something to help with the illness."

Dimitri scoffed coldly at Ceneth's words and obvious disdain.

Moving his gaze to Kayda, he gave her a grim look. "Undo the spell."

Kayda turned her head and snarled at Dimitri while showing her canines that were no longer as long as her usual fangs with the enchantment.

She didn't like taking orders. Especially from a noble. So her growl was extra ferocious to serve as a warning not to push his limits.

From the corner of her eye, she saw both butler Stevens and Ceneth discreetly reach for something hidden in their clothes but didn't pull it out as they looked at her in warning.

Dimitri just emotionlessly smirked as he looked at her.

Seeing herself being cornered, she berated her own actions with harsh words in her mind.

She never remembered being this short tempered after she left the Black Sea Arena. In fact, she remembered a time were she would pride herself on her patients. But ever since a certain incident, she felt herself being bent, and being more easily irritated by some of the smallest things.

She could tell she was losing herself.

Taking in a breath to calm the fire, she nonchalantly took a quick glance at the young girl in the wheelchair.

Her eyes were dim, and hazel in color, unlike her older brother. But they both shared the similar raven black hair that fell like feathers to their waists.

But Mellisony's was tangled, loose and slightly messy with malnutrition while Dimitri's was neatly plaited behind his back that gave him a devilishly dangerous aura.

In fact, she had the shortest hair in the room, as the easterners valued the length of their hair, while to her it was just a hindrance.

But while she was thinking these useless thoughts, her eyes met Mellisony's. And the pure innocents made Kayda put away her growl in silence.

She huffed and reached for the stone necklace around her neck while muttering. "Let's just get this over with."

And without a single thought, she pulled her mana out of the stone, like Gerrin's earlier instructions, and like a veil had been lifted, Kayda's true form was revealed.

Both butler Stevens and Ceneth had a look of surprise on their face. Ceneth's being more wide eyed and jaw dropping.

With a turn, Kayda's eyes bore into Dimitri. With her emerald green eyes now framed by a few silver scales, her stare became more prominent.

Her long and silver tail gently rested behind her. Her elegant horns framing the top of her head like a halo. And fangs peaked out of her mouth whenever she spoke.

"Satisfied?" Her growl was softer, but it was still annoyed.

With a glance, Kayda intended to peak at Mellisony's scared expression, but instead of seeing the fear she was so used to from those of a younger age, she saw a bright eyed little twelve year old girl who had her hands pressed together in front of her face, hiding the awed expression she showed when looking at Kayda.

And honestly, Kayda didn't know how to react to that so she just went slightly stiff.

"It's a Drakon!"

Kayda's thoughts were broken by the bright and cheery voice.

She turned around only to come face to face with Ceneth's burning eyes and intense look.

"I can't believe you actually found one. They were practically wiped out a decade ago! How is this possible?" Ceneth's earlier calculated look was now ruined by his excited voice that had raised a pitch as he circled Kayda like a vulture circling his prey.

And as if a switch had been flipped, he started muttering at top speeds even Kayda couldn't follow. "I can't believe I would be seeing an endangered species from an almost extinct homogeneous society. Drakin's, also known as Drakon in their group, where almost wiped out in a mass genocide years ago. They are most commonly recognized by their dragon-like resemblance containing horns, tails, scales and wings. They are also well known for their unique strength and fighting skills along with their lack of mana. But even if one were born with mana, they would become an elemental mage rather than anything else as they are more connected with the elements because of their ancient ancestors the dragons. How wonderful this is. They were last seen on the southern continent Ealapea before the war. And if the books aren't wrong, by the coloration of the scales and horns, she should be of a pure bloodline which is even more ra-"

Hearing something that stabbed at some old wounds, she flicked her tail and slammed it into Ceneth's shins as he was circling around her.

"Aaahhh!"

With a painful shout, Ceneth fell to the floor and held both of his legs in agony.

She may be small and malnourished, but her tale was strong and as sturdy as stone with nothing but muscle and scales left after being starved.