Bound To The Ice Dragon King
Chapter 171: Facing Oriana

Chapter 171: Facing Oriana

Rhea stepped deeper into Alina’s towering mansion, her silver hair catching the dim light that filtered through heavy velvet curtains. As she moved further inside, the grandeur of the place enveloped her. The walls were adorned with exquisite tapestries, depicting scenes of valor and myth. The floors beneath her shoes were covered in lush, deep-red carpets, muffling her footsteps as she advanced.

Rhea could hear the clash of swords and shouts of battle echoing from outside, a stark contrast to the opulence that surrounded her. She quickly climbed the flashy marble staircase, her heart pounding with each step, knowing that Draven was outside fighting alone.

She meticulously opened door after door, finding lavish bedrooms and extravagant sitting rooms, but none of them held Draven’s scales. Her fingers brushed against silken drapes, and her ears were filled by the soft whispers of her own breath as she ran from room to room.

Rhea’s attention snapped to a faint sound from below the stairs. She stopped in her tracks, but realizing that Draven was still fighting outside from the loud clashing, her instincts sharpened by the thought that someone was following behind her. If she were to be attacked by a fire controller, her ice powers weren’t that reliable in her current condition, and she couldn’t afford to get caught up here alone.

With those thoughts, she quickened her pace. More than ten rooms later, she stumbled upon a door that stood out from the rest. It was intricately carved and securely locked. And immediately she knew this had to be the room where Draven’s scales were.

Desperation guiding her, Rhea remembered her old ways of breaking lock rooms; she removed her hairpin and used it to deftly manipulate the lock, and the door swung open. With a satisfied grin, Rhea entered the room. But what she discovered inside took her breath away. The room was a sanctuary of exquisite beauty. Portraits of Alina adorned the walls, capturing her regal grace and commanding presence.

But it was the center of the room that held Rhea’s gaze. There, suspended from a golden hanger, was the shimmering robe made from ice dragon scales. It glistened in the soft light, each scale glimmering like a thousand frozen stars. The scales were a brilliant, pale blue, their texture looked as smooth as water-worn glass. They seemed to emit an otherworldly chill, casting an ethereal glow in the room.

Rhea sighed in relief as she realized that she had finally found the scales. She quickly approached the robe, but didn’t immediately take it off the hanger. She admired how beautiful it looked. Twenty years ago Alina had heartlessly peeled them off of Draven’s dragon and now made them into a protective robe, seemingly intending to give it to her lover. However, today Rhea would deprive her of it and give it back to it rightful owner.

She would finally fulfil her promise of getting back his scales for him and getting rid of his pain. Rhea smiled and reached out to take the robe off the hanger, but before her fingers could even make contact with the robe, she was thrown away by a force that hit her squarely In the back.

Rhea groaned as her head hit against the wall opposite the robe. She crawled and turned to the entrance and found Oriana standing there glaring down at her with blood dripping from her arms. With her unsightly face that made her look no less than an evil spirit from the underworld. However, she still coldly tried to smile with her ugly face that made her look terrible.

"Rhea," she sneered, "Don’t even dream of your Dragon coming to your rescue this time. Today I will end your life and release my hatred for you!"

Oriana’s words only filled Rhea with a mix of disgust and pity. She gathered her strength and stood up before retorting, "You should feel ashamed of yourself for what you did to Cal, and your baseless hatred towards me. The fault lies with you, not me. I’ve never wronged you in the past, and your jealousy has been the cause of your hate for me!"

Of course Oriana’s hate had started because of jealousy. It all started when Oriana realized Azure liked Rhea more than her. It started the day Alina had proposed that Azure should marry Oriana and he had coldly turned the offer down saying he had another person in his heart and even if he married Oriana, he would never love her and might unintentionally hurt her feelings.

Alina being herself, did not pressure him into marrying Oriana because she understood the feeling of loving someone deeply and not wanting to let them go. She had let Azure go without questioning who he loved, but Oriana knew who the girl was. She had followed Azure secretly one day and discovered that he went out every evening just to watch the disgraceful daughter of the Villden household acting recklessly in the city like a thug. She had watched him that night as he stood across the street staring at Rhea, who was engaged in a heated argument with some thugs, with a warm smile on his face the entire time.

Oriana’s anger that day was indescribable; she had immediately despised Rhea that night and sworn to remove her from Azure’s life no matter what. Oriana made up her plans and asked Zoorah to invite her disgraceful sister to her event, and aware of the animosity between them, she manipulated Zoorah into thinking that Rhea was superior to her. And that was all it took for Zoorah to team up with Oriana and plot to eliminate Rhea. They planned to frame her for theft, exaggerating the crime to ensure her execution. However, at the last minute, Azure appeared and saved Rhea.

Oriana had never despised anyone as much as she did Rhea. Despite being more attractive and powerful than Rhea, Azure had chosen her instead. This was a personal affront to Oriana, as it felt like a slight against her. She had vowed to get rid of Rhea at any cost, and when Rhea disfigured her face, Oriana’s desire to be rid of her only intensified.

Oriana snapped back to the present and let out a cold laughter, "I have every reason to hate you, Rhea. You have been the cause of my misfortunes right from the beginning!" She yelled and then raised her hand and summoned her flame magic, "You will die a miserable death today in my hands!"

As Oriana unleashed a searing torrent of flames, Rhea swiftly sidestepped the attack, her agile form gracefully dodging the inferno. The heat scorched the walls and sent plumes of smoke rising. Rhea gritted her teeth in annoyance. She needed to get Draven’s scales and get the hell out of here before Alina returned. Actually she wasn’t completely ready to fight against this evil witch. However, even if she managed to get the scales, she had to go through Oriana before she could escape.

Oriana didn’t give Rhea the chance to think of a plan and continued to hurl fireballs in her direction. But as the next fiery projectile hurtled toward her, Rhea cursed under her breath, with a graceful leap, she dived behind the hanging robe.

As the fiery attack collided with it, a deafening explosion echoed through the chamber. The robe absorbed the flames, and then, in a breathtaking twist, it released them back toward Oriana.

The blazing fury surged toward Oriana, hitting her square in the stomach. The impact sent her hurtling backward, a scream of agony escaping her lips. She slammed into the wooden door, which splintered upon impact. Oriana crumpled to the floor.

Rhea’s eyes immediately brightened as she thought of a plan. She would make the witch defeat herself. Rhea stood up and with a taunting voice, she said, "Oriana, you might be born with flame magic, but know that no matter how much you try, you will forever be an amateur. You can’t hide the fact that you are naturally a fool!"

Oriana’s eyes darkened dangerously at Rhea’s insult. She pushed herself off the floor and clenched her fists. Compared to the leader of the fire controllers, Oriana was nothing. She had gotten the position of an upcoming leader because of Alina, not because of her ability. And Oriana hated it when people tried to insult her abilities. She hated it when they made her feel inferior.

Rhea observed the expression on Oriana’s face and recognized that she had struck a nerve. She proceeded to provoke, stating, "You loved Azure for many years, but what qualities do you possess for Azure to reciprocate those feelings? Your heart is filled with darkness and your attitude is rotten. You despised an innocent girl simply because she was favored by the man you love, and you even took the life of an innocent man! You are even worse than the devil himself, and regardless of your actions, you will never earn his or anyone else’s love!"

"Be quiet, you unpleasant fool!" Oriana shouted as she launched another attack at Rhea.

Rhea skillfully evaded every attack, ensuring she moved away from the robe. She then continued to taunt, "Oriana, let me tell you the truth no one will ever tell you. You are nothing, nobody likes you. People are only being nice to you because you are related to Alina. You are nothing but a rotten human with a disgusting heart and face!"

"I told you to be quiet!" Oriana launched another assault, and Rhea continued to evade, gradually edging back closer to the robe. The room was now ablaze, with curtains and walls catching fire, but Oriana’s rage blinded her to the chaos.

With a furious cry, Oriana unleashed a more powerful attack, and Rhea seized the opportunity to dart behind the robe. Unbeknownst to Oriana, her attack hit the robe and bounce back to her, just as before, but this time, the impact was far more devastating. She was sent hurtling backward, crashing into the crumbling walls.

Rhea emerged from her cover and looked down at Oriana, who was now coughing up blood, struggling to stand. Rhea raised her hands, contemplating finishing her off, but hesitation overcame her as she witnessed the severity of Oriana’s injuries and how much blood she was losing.

Although Rhea had initially yearned to end Oriana’s life, she now grappled with the moral dilemma of taking another person’s life. Would Cal be proud of her for doing this? Would he appreciate her killing Oriana? Rhea wondered whether she should let Oriana meet her fate on her own, considering how close to death she appeared to be. In this way, Rhea hoped to avoid having Oriana’s blood on her hands...

In the split second when Rhea was hesitanting, Oriana had leapt up with blood dripping from her body, she used her entire strength and fiercely pulled Rhea down to the ground. "Did you really think I will let a low life like you defeat me?! Did you think I will die by your hands?!" She yelled, blood dropping from her mouth and falling on Rhea’s face, "In you wildest dreams, bitch!"

With those words, Oriana used her flame magic to make a long whip and pinned Rhea’s hands above her head so she wouldn’t be able to fight back. She then summoned her sword.

Rhea’s eyes widened in horror, but before she could even try to think of a way to struggle, Oriana had plunged the sword into her chest. She stabbed her right in the heart with the flame sword.

At first, all Rhea felt was a sudden chill down her bones before a burning sensation. There was no time to even register the pain of the stab In her heart before she saw the walls of the building started to crumble as Oriana’s fire had begun to spread around the house.

Oriana let out an evil laughter, seemingly oblivious to the encroaching inferno she had created. Her satisfaction lay in having Rhea at her mercy. "You will die, bitch, and your death will be celebrated by everyone in Birhhan!" With those ominous words, she withdrew the sword and thrust it back into Rhea’s chest.

Rhea choked on her blood and coughed out a mouthful of it, her vision clouded, and in that moment, she was haunted by images of the night of the wedding when Alina had stabbed Draven. It dawned on her that malevolence ran deep in the Credan family’s veins. They reveled in causing suffering, and now, Rhea would meet her end at Oriana’s hands, just like the rest of the outcasts...