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Valac (2)
“The demon…is inside me.”
A desperate sobbing came out of Prince Sidhar’s voice. He was crying. Bloody tears flowed out of his ripped eyes.
“Please believe me. Valac will be born… after eating my body. Because I’m his sacrifice.”
“Don’t lie.”
“Laviore, please! Why in the world…do you hate me so much? I didn’t do anything wrong to you.”
The Prince seemed genuinely curious about it. Even when he was in front of death’s door, he still looked at Lara and wanted to know the reason.
Lara did not have any intentions to tell him the truth. When Lara closed her mouth tightly, Sidhar muttered in a pathetic voice.
“Save me. You can’t just watch this country fall into ruin either. Right? If… if I die, he will consume my body and awaken himself!”
“Is that the truth?”
“Please… I’m begging you. I don’t know what I did wrong to you, but please save me. You have to save me. You have to save me to stop the demon from waking up!”
Demian appeared then. As soon as he saw Prince Sidhar, he took out again the sword he had sheathed. Then, he cut the Prince’s clothes, reducing them to rags and throwing them away.
“Oh… No.”
The wolves stepped back without realizing it. Prince Sidhar had a freakish pattern engraved on his body. It was not a tattoo nor was it a drawing. Black lines slithering like thin snakes stuck to his body and sucked his flowing blood. Anyone could tell it was a pattern carved by the demon.
“Haha… If I die, you will die too! You have no choice but to save me!”
When the desperate Prince shouted, Lara slapped him in the face. A brutal sound came out. No one expected that. The Prince looked surprised. He looked at Lara with his eyes wide open, with one hand around the slapped cheek.
Lara said.
“Give me a break.”
“What?
“The demon will not appear after eating on your body and this country will never fall into ruin with you.”
The surroundings became quiet. The wolves, Demian, and Konny all closed their mouths and only looked at Lara. Her pale face shone coldly. They could see a nasty anger in her red eyes.
“If you’re born as a Prince, you should at least try to live like a Prince at least once in your life. If I were you, I would just kill myself rather than let the demon engrave something like that on my body.”
Wimp.
Lara glared at him with contempt.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Along with the wolves, Lara helped the villagers hold a proper funeral. The villagers said they were fine and that Lara should just leave, but Lara’s party could not just leave the people who just lost their families in front of them.
Prince Sidhar’s wounds were critical. As the wolves said, if they just left him, he could have died within a few days. The Prince was treated. After stitching his torn flesh, he soon blacked out after swallowing strong herbs. When the blood flowing from his wound stopped, the demon’s pattern that wriggled and swallowed its sacrifice’s blood also subsided.
“If you go to the capital, my mother will help you. I heard that this is a village where our trading company always stays. So don’t worry and go to my mother.”
“Milady…”
“Go.”
The surviving villagers left their ruined village. Heading to the capital with the money Lara had given them, they turned to Isadora for refuge.
“We will take the Prince with us.”
Lara did not reveal Prince Sidhar’s identity to the villagers. She thought there was no need to cause chaos in Hautean by informing them of this fact.
If Valac woke up from Prince Sidhar’s body, it might become really dangerous to this country. Lara was going to take him to the temple. She thought only her God could solve this problem.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Several times since then, Lara and her party encountered the demon worshippers who have scattered out. When they found a small village, they looted the goods and committed murder. They wandered around and attacked travelers. On the outside, Lara’s party did not seem to have a lot of people, so the demon worshippers attacked them, thinking they were easy targets but they were often wiped out by the angry wolves.
The journey that started out romantic had now felt brutal. The party had to be on high alert while moving and whenever they found the bodies of villagers or travelers that were attacked, they would be silently angry.
A few days later, the party finally arrived at the Tarragon Empire. Since it was such a large country, there was nothing particular even at the border. Konny grumbled, realizing only when she entered the city that this was the land of the Empire.
“Welcome.”
When they showed their identity card to the city guards and went inside, they saw people moving busily. It was a lively city. On the wide street, there was a line of merchants who opened stalls. Travelers and merchants came around, looking for cheap inns here and there.
“This way, milady.”
With the wolves who were familiar with the way, Lara could enter the inn straight away without wandering around the street.
“Wow, it’s been a while since you have been here, I thought you’d never come here again. What do you like so much about that small country?”
The young innkeeper recognized the wolves and happily asked for a handshake. He thought it was strange that they had not settled in Tarragon for trading matters. But it did not matter, for as long as they paid well they would be given the best room at the inn.
After a while, Valentine appeared in Lara’s room while she was unpacking.
“Mi, milady.”
Throughout the journey, he stayed in a different carriage from Lara to look after and monitor Prince Sidhar.
“The Prince woke up.”
“Put him back to sleep.”
“Oh, but you still have to feed him…”
“Will he die if we don’t feed him?”
“Maybe…”
“Then feed him half a bowl of soup and put him back to sleep.”
Valentine nodded quickly, not forgetting to glance at Lara with a face that showed he was scared to death.
He saw Lara slapping the Prince on the cheek. He also heard her say to treat the injured and unconscious Prince just enough for him not to die.
What a scary person.
Valentine did whatever Lara told him to do. After leaving the Prince to Valentine, Lara went to find Demian.
“Demian.”
“Yeah?”
“I heard that there’s a temple here. Can you come with me?”
“Okay.”
The two left the inn and came out to the streets. The sun was setting but the streets were still crowded. The merchants who wanted to sell off their remaining goods have competitively raised their voices. All the innkeepers came out in front of the door and waved their hands, saying they had empty rooms.
The temple was not too far away. The temple was not as large as the one in the capital of Hautean. It was more of a praying room than a temple.
“But still, there are God statues here.”
“Is that him?”
“No. He’s not here.”
All the God statues placed on one side of the prayer room were different gods. She came, just in case, but the God of Fate was not there.
“Just call him out.”
“He’s not coming out.”
“What a picky God.”
“There’s nothing we can do. He’s a God after all. If we can just call him anytime, anywhere, it would be a bit…”
“Then we will have to go all the way to where Acerus is.”
Perhaps because it was a small and shabby temple, but there were no priests or believers. The two sat side by side on the chairs in the quiet prayer room.
“Demian.”
Lara carefully looked around. Having meticulously confirmed that there was no one nearby, she said in a low voice.
“The Prince is weird.”
“What?”
“I’m not really sure… But I don’t think he’s the Prince Sidhar that I know.”
