--AN) Here you go. Back to normal chapter releases tomorrow. Don't forget to keep voting!--
"You! What do you mean? I am worried about the princess!" The servant girl replied. Her gaze seemed very firm in her declaration, but Blake saw a slight waver in her eyes that would have been easily missed if he was not paying attention.
"Di is one of the princess's servants!" Rin yelled out. Her gaze giving off even more killing intent toward Blake.
"Oh?" Blake was about to say something more when a voice came from behind him. "Husband!"
Rin heard the familiar voice and looked up at the familiar figure and turned to stone. 'Husband…. Her cute and wonderful Princess just called this human husband!' Rin, at this time, wanted to die. All her fight was gone. But it quickly sparked once more when a thought came to mind. "You are using mind manipulation magic on her!"
"Huh? Are you an idiot!?" Blake yelled out. "Noa, is this chick really one of your servants? I think you should switch her out for a frog in a well, at least they are smarter."
Noa burst out laughing as she held on to Blake's arm and kissed his cheek. "Be nice. Rin has always been on my side, and I owe her for saving my life many times when I was younger."
"Oh?" Blake looked at Rin, who seemed to be frozen again, and smiled softly at her. "Thank you for protecting her or else I would never have had the chance to meet her and cherish her."
Tel looked at Blake, whose attitude towards Rin did a one eighty, and smiled. "It seems our Princess has chosen a good man."
"Mmm! I did." Noa immediately agreed with Tel. "Tel, Ged. I am glad you are all safe."
"Princess, we are honored to have you worried for us. We left after we found out that you had disappeared. We did not wish to stay any longer when everyone seems to be on the prince's side." Tel replied, his voice heavy and his free hand clenched into a tight fist until the white of his knuckles showed.
"It's fine. We can talk more later. For now, let's return." Noa smiled. She was happy that some of her people were willing to come find her. That she still had people on her side.
"Princess…." Di walked up. Her hands were hidden in her sleeves. Blake suddenly felt like something was wrong as Di walked up to Noa. She got only a few steps away when she suddenly dug her foot into the ground and lunged forward. A dagger with a black fog on it stabbed out toward Noa. Blake, who was right next to Noa, quickly wrapped himself in a barrier and wrapped his arms around Noa with his back facing Di. Everything happened so fast that no one had a chance to even react except for Blake, who had been wary of this elf woman the entire time. He shielded Noa and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back as the strange dagger pierced through his barrier and into his heart.
"Blake!" Noa cried out as she watched Blake's eyes turn solid white and pass out.
Rin, who came back to her senses when she heard Noa's cry, quickly moved and pinned Di to the ground, both Tel and Ged also pointed their swords at Di. Di struggled and wanted to break the false tooth filled with poison in the back of her mouth but found her mouth suddenly blocked by the hilt of a dagger. "Do you think you can take your life that easily? You dared to try to harm Her Highness!?"
"What the hell is this!? Soul devouring poison!?" Noa cried out. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked at Di with murderous intent but did not make a move. "Bret!"
"Here!" Bret came running over. He was already moving. He, like the rest, did not get a chance to react. Only Blake did.
"Help me carry Blake back. Lillia has to be able to save him!" Noa ordered before turning to the others. "Everyone but Rin, Ged, and Tel are to be knocked out and brought back for questioning!!" Noa did not know the other girls all that much. She was not going to allow them to bring harm to her family or the people that her husband cared about. Her eyes were cold and bloodshot. She would have killed them right then and there but she wanted to be sure she did not kill an innocent.
Tel quickly followed her orders and the other elf girls and slammed the back of their necks without remorse. He knew these girls were not very close to Noa. He had only let them follow because Rin said they were willing to leave the clan with her to help the princess.
"Ged rip out her teeth!" Rin's voice was ice cold. She was not very happy. She had brought these girls here to help her princess, but who would have thought….
"Just knock her out. We do not have time!" Noa shouted. Ged nodded and quickly knocked out Di.
The group hurriedly ran through the forest. And poor Bret was basically being dragged by Noa. "Bret, if you drop him, I will cut your legs off and leave you to the female goblins!" Bret wanted to cry! He was doing his best! He was not as fast as the high level elves!
When they finally arrived at the base. Noa ushered everyone in quickly and screamed for Lillia. "Sister Lillia! Sister Lillia!" Her tears would not stop rolling down her face. Her choked cries carried throughout the base alarming Lillia, who quickly rushed out towards the front entrance of the base. She was so quick that even Tel and the other elves who came with Noa were completely shocked with a woman appeared out of nowhere.
"Sister Noa, what happ….. Blake!" Lillia's eyes went wide as she checked his condition. Then a massive pressure suddenly befell the entire base. "Who did it!? Who dared to hurt my BLAKE!?"
"Sister Lillia, calm down! You will kill everyone here!" Tina, who had finally caught up, quickly ran into the room and hugged Lillia. "Please calm down. Do not harm others who are innocent. Let's figure out what happened first."
Lillia looked at the human girl who was hugging her. Her rage was so high that her hands had already turned to huge claws. If it was anyone else hugging her right now, she would have killed them instantly but seeing Tina's pleading eyes, she slowly began to regain some manner of rational thought. She looked at the people in the room. All of them were showing fear in their eyes, kneeling down and snorted. "What happened?"
Noa did her best to control her emotions as she held Blake's hand and said: "It was an assassin. I was the target, but Blake protected me. The dagger pierced through his barrier, and it seems to be soul devouring poison. I can't counter it with my magic!"
Lillia looked at Blake, pulled his hand from Noa's, and waved her hand. A blackish transparent shield wrapped around his body, freeing time for him. "He's not dead. If it really is soul devouring poison then this might also be a chance for him. But first…. Who was it?"
"Miss…. This person here…." Rin was shivering in fear. An ather dragon! A real live ather dragon! And it seemed that the young man she looked down on was not only her princess's man but also the ather dragon's man. She wondered just what was this man to be able to make an ather dragon fall for him.
"What happened….. Blake!" Faana's voice suddenly pierced through the air. Once more, everyone was stunned as another short dragon girl flew over and landed next to the bed Blake was currently lying on. "Soul devouring poison!? Who did it!?" Another massive pressure suddenly befell the base.
"Faana, behave!" Lillia yelled. Faana quickly quieted down, the pressure disappearing. Rin now felt even dizzier. She wondered why a dragonic princess was here as well. She had heard about the unwanted princess of the dragonic royal family. But she never expected to see her here.
"Big Sister…. Blake is…." Faana's eyes began to turn red. She did not wish anything bad to happen to Blake!
"He will be fine," Lillia said seriously. "You, of all people, know that the soul devouring poison can be a double edge sword. It can kill a person, destroying their soul entirely or…. It can actually make them immune to poisons altogether and strengthen their soul beyond normal means."
"Huh?" Noa raised her head and looked up at Lillia. "Sister Lillia, is it true!? Can this actually benefit him!?"
Lillia knelt down and kissed Noa's lips, and nodded. "Mm…. So just hold on tight. And do not blame yourself. Our man is strong. He will pull through. He just needs to fight. While I have frozen time for his body, his mind is still active. If he can fight this on his own and turn it into his own power, he will be even stronger than before."
"Mmm…." Noa leaned forward and hugged Lillia's waist. She was glad Lillia was here. If it was just her and Blake, she would have lost the man she loved.
"This…." Rin's mind went blank. Her princess just kissed another woman!
"Now then. Who was it that did this?" Lillia asked.
"It was this woman here. But…. We are not sure about these ones." Tel spoke up. He was the only one trying to keep it together even though he was being slapped with one surprise after the other.
"Hmmm… She is knocked out?" Lillia looked at the girl and walked over to her, lifted her chin, and then opened her mouth. "Two false teeth." With a snort, she reached in and grabbed the first tooth, and ripped it out of Di's head.
"Ahhh!" Di suddenly woke up, but before she could comprehend what was going on, she felt another tooth being ripped from her mouth, causing her to scream out in pain once more. Lillia then healed the wounds so the stupid woman could not choke on her own blood. She then made it so that Di could not close her mouth all the way.
"Bret, take her and the others to the holding cells. I will take care of her later. As for the other three. You seem to be on Sister Noa's side, so you will now be forced into a contract that keeps you from harming anyone in this base." This was not an option Lillia was giving, it was here telling them this is what she was doing.
"Right away." Bret really wanted to kill this woman. He wanted to disable her limbs and unhinge her jaw before tossing her to the goblins. Blake was his brother in arms. They were best friends. He paused as he took a look at Blake on the bed and suddenly felt anger well up from inside him and kicked the woman on the floor before picking her up by her foot and dragging her out of the room.
