Bound To The Ice Dragon King
Chapter 128: Trailing behind at night

Chapter 128: Trailing behind at night

Their time in the dragon realm seemed to pass quickly. Each morning, Rhea would wake up early and discreetly check Draven’s room to see if he was awake. Sadly, the room always appeared empty, with a neatly made bed confirming he hadn’t returned during the night.

Three days flew by, and Rhea hadn’t caught a glimpse of Draven or heard any signs of his presence. He was fully occupied with his plans and rarely returned to the palace to sleep. Instead, he stayed at the soldiers’ barracks, focused on completing everything before their planned date.

Although Rhea had convinced herself that it was for the best not to see him, her heart disagreed. She felt a sense of loss, as if a part of her was missing. But she resisted the urge to seek him out, determined not to let her emotions control her and make her act foolishly in love, when she knew she wasn’t.

She tried to distance herself from him, hoping to quell the longing in her heart. And truthfully, she was content with her life in the dragon realm. Every morning, she was attended to by servants, and she couldn’t imagine a better place to be. She lived a carefree existence, free from worries.

Additionally, all the dragons didn’t treat her like a worthless piece of trash like the humans did, despite not fully accepting her. They did not treat her as a disgrace. In terms of the war tensions in the human world, that was all in the past. Rhea no longer allowed herself to worry about the lives that could be lost.

Rhea was aware that once her wound fully healed and the scar was cleaned, she would have nothing else to worry about except her new life here. She’d made plans with Gail to step out of the palace after her wound healed. They had plans to explore the city and, if possible, find something to keep Rhea company and pass the time. They made these arrangements together the previous night.

Another day had passed, and finally, it was the day for Rhea’s wound to undergo its last treatment and for the scar remover. The wound had transformed into a black scab.

Rhea gazed at her reflection in the hand mirror, noticing the large black scab on her right cheek. It tempted her to peel it off, but every time she attempted to do so, Gail would warn her, even without looking at her.

"Don’t even think about peeling it off!" Gail cautioned for the tenth time today.

Rhea pursed her lips, questioning, "Are you serious when you said that if I don’t allow the scab to fall off naturally, it will leave a scar if I remove it?"

Gail rolled her eyes and sneered, extending a bowl containing a black slimy medicine. "Try this and witness the magic for yourself," she said.

Rhea made a disgusted face as she glanced at the black slimy medicine in the bowl. She frowned in concern and asked, "Is this black substance even edible?"

"Of course it is. Do you really think I would poison the only person I can confide in without worry? Drink it up," Gail replied.

With a shaky hand, Rhea sighed and reluctantly took the bowl. Tilting her head back, she poured the medicine down her throat. The thick and bitter taste quickly spread in her mouth, but before she could complain, Gail shoved a honey candy into her mouth. Immediately, the sweetness overpowered the bitterness.

Shocked, Rhea looked up at Gail, who laughed and said, "That’s how I treat the mischievous children of the prince. I give them candy, and I couldn’t resist giving you one too."

Rhea’s heart softened at Gail’s kindness. Even though they had only known each other for a few days, it felt like they had been friends for decades. Besides Aria, Rhea had no other female friends, so making one in the Dragon realm brought a warm smile to her face.

But before Rhea could thank Gail, she suddenly felt the large scab on her cheek start to itch and peel off on its own, falling to the ground. Quickly grabbing the mirror, Rhea was astonished to see her cheek looking clean and flawless, as if there had never been a wound there before.

Rhea touched her face in disbelief, "Good Heavens! It’s gone without a scar! Thank you!" She exclaimed excitedly.

Gail simply smiled at Rhea’s excitement, "You’re welcome."

Rhea found it hard to believe that her terrible wound could be clean without leaving a scar. She admired her face in the hand mirror and then remembered something. She quickly looked up at Gail and asked, "You once told me that nighttime is the best time to go out in the city. How about we go tonight since my wound is healed?" They had already made plans and it was almost sunset, so they had plenty of time to prepare for their outing.

However, Gail’s smile faltered upon hearing Rhea’s words. She hurriedly replied, "No, actually, we should go tomorrow night. I have something important to do tonight." Gail declined the invitation and then added, "Well, since I’m done here, I’ll go and give Prince Zachary his medicine. I’ll see you tomorrow." With that, she turned and left the room.

Rhea frowned as she watched Gail walk away. Normally, after her daily treatment, Gail would stay and chat, often talking about Elliot and how much she missed him. But today, she was leaving immediately after the treatment. Rhea also remembered that Gail always attended to Prince Zachary before her, and she had seen Gail exiting his chamber earlier before coming to her room.

For some reason, Rhea suspected that the young woman was up to something tonight, but she didn’t dwell on the thought, because she had a lot of time tonight to figure it out herself.

***

At midnight, a cloaked figure stealthily moved through the palace hallway, turning every now and then to see if they were being followed. The figure moved fast around the snow covered palace ground.

The moonlight shone in the night sky making it easy for the person to see, the person seemed familiar with all the paths. However, unknown to that figure, another person was trailing behind, and the other person was none other than Rhea, who had been keeping guard the whole night around Gail’s chamber.

Rhea followed Gail into the Frozen forest beside the palace. Seeing that Gail was moving fast, Rhea quickly gathered a snowball and threw it at her head.

The snowball hit Gail square on the head, causing her to cry out in pain. However, she didn’t bother turning around to see who had thrown it and continued walking through the forest.

"Stop right there!" Rhea called out with a loud voice, disregarding the late hour.

Gail’s footsteps abruptly halted. Rhea approached her and stood in front of her. She’d sensed that Gail was up to something, but she hadn’t imagined she was planning to sneak out of the realm to meet her lover.

Looking up at Gail’s face, concealed under the thick cloak, Rhea asked, "You’re not planning to go to the human realm, are you?" She already knew the answer.

Gail simply stared blankly at Rhea, without uttering a word. Rhea didn’t bother waiting for a response and took hold of her wrist. "Let’s go back inside. It’s too dangerous to go to the human realm," Rhea urged, attempting to lead her back to the palace. However, before she could take a step, Gail forcefully pulled her wrist out of Rhea’s grip.

"Rhea, I believed you were my friend and that you understood me unlike anyone else." Gail felt wronged, "No one understands me or my emotions, but I thought you, as a human, would stand by me." She spoke with a softer tone, "Rhea, please just allow me to go and see him. I promise to return before dawn breaks."

Rhea pursed her lips, "I cannot do that. I cannot let you endanger your life. Let us go back inside."

"Tsk," Gail clicked her tongue in annoyance, taking three steps away from Rhea, "I see. How can you understand me when you have never loved someone the way I do? If only you have experienced the feeling of loving someone more than yourself, then you would understand. I am willing to take any risk to feel the warm embrace of my beloved, to experience his love and tender affections."

Rhea suddenly felt like the antagonist for trying to prevent Gail from meeting the man she loved, but Rhea knew better than anyone the danger for a dragon to enter the human realm in this situation.

"Gail, please don’t make this difficult for me. It feels like you’re painting me as a bad person. I’m only trying to stop you because I genuinely care about you. Can we please go back?" Rhea reached out her hand to Gail.

Gail glanced down at Rhea’s outstretched hand. She appeared unwilling at first, but eventually, as if she had no other choice, she took Rhea’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Rhea let out a sigh of relief, but her relief was short-lived. Suddenly, Gail raised her other hand and placed it on Rhea’s neck. In one swift motion, she immobilized her muscles with ice magic.

Rhea instinctively tried to move away from Gail, but it was too late. In an instant, her entire body went numb. Before she could even collapse to the ground, Gail swiftly embraced her and said, "I’m sorry, I had no other option. Don’t worry, it’s only temporary. You’ll be fine in no time. I know the pathways and can reach the human realm without flying." With that, she released Rhea and her body fell onto the snowy ground.

Rhea found herself unable to move any of her limbs, she could only watch as Gail began to retreat backwards towards the frozen forest. Rhea then heard her friend promise as she started to run into the forest, "I’ll be back before you know it. And I promise to bring you your favorite snacks that you mentioned a few days ago. Thank you for being a good friend!" With those words, Gail’s figure vanished into the icy forest.

In that moment, Rhea suddenly understood how Cal must have felt when she’d used her ice magic to numb his muscles. She gritted her teeth in annoyance as she couldn’t move an inch from the ground.