Heir Of The Supreme
Chapter 57: Underground Odyssey (2)

Chapter 57: Underground Odyssey (2)

As light bathed their surroundings again, Cecelia nervously turned to her companion.

After jumping away with her earlier, Blaine was holding her tightly in his embrace.

While she was close enough to fully appreciate his toned muscles, Cecelia still felt more than just a little awkward with their current appearance.

Moving Blaine’s hand covering her mouth, she caught Blaine’s attention.

’Are we safe now?’ She silently mouthed.

Too scared to risk making a sound, Cecelia decided to simply play it safe.

The long-eared creature from earlier had disappeared entirely, with only a sizeable viscous crimson puddle attesting to the fact that it ever existed in the first place.

Somehow, the ’Darkness Monster’ had consumed all of it, not even leaving a scrap of flesh or a bone behind.

Feeling a chill go down her spine, Cecelia wanted to leave this disturbing place as soon as possible.

Blaine scanned his surroundings before shaking his head.

They could hear the creature’s location from the earlier crunching noise, so it wasn’t too far away from them.

If they made a loud enough sound, it would surely come back.

Realizing Blaine’s intentions, Cecelia’s lips curved into a frown.

This meant that she couldn’t even talk to voice her opinions.

If that was the case... It seemed she needed to take a page from Blaine’s book.

Lifting her hand, she gestured in the direction opposite to the one where the monster had gone.

With her other hand, he made a gesture with her fingers to symbolize walking.

Blaine paused for a moment before nodding his head.

Letting go of Cecelia, he turned around and silently made his way forward.

If they were to put some distance between them and the monster, it was better to start moving immediately.

***

After several hours of walking, the two found a spot next to the river to stop for rest.

Walking over to the river’s edge, Blaine formed a small construct in the shape of a bucket and scooped out some of the water to drink.

Before taking a sip, he handed the bucket to Cecelia first, and she accepted it without complaint.

After all of their relentless walking, the princess was visibly exhausted.

Sadly, unlike Blaine, she wasn’t trained to be the pinnacle of human strength.

Cecelia felt like a dried-up corpse finally enjoying the sweet taste of water, greedily slurping from the bucket with little care to her decorum.

While the remainder of their walk was uneventful, they both remained perfectly silent.

Cecelia was still too scared to risk making a noise to talk, but there was not much of a need to.

After all, Blaine wasn’t much of a conversation partner.

However... There was one thing that Cecelia had to get off of her chest.

With several hours to do nothing but silently follow Blaine, she was given more than enough time to let her thoughts fester in her head.

With how close they were to the raging river, any noise they made would be masked by the current of water.

This meant she finally had a chance to talk to the auburn-haired youth.

"...Why are you going so far for my sake?"

Her quivering lips made it apparent that it wasn’t easy for Cecelia to ask this question.

Despite that, she still needed answers.

Not only did Blaine not give her up to the enemies, but he even fought until he was moments from death.

All for her sake.

While Cecelia had no idea how he managed to survive and heal his ghastly injuries, it didn’t change what he did for her.

Blaine silently looked at her, but he quickly realized she wouldn’t let him go without an explanation.

Lifting the dagger that Cecelia had given him, Blaine plunged it into the ground before him.

An insignia depicting the rising sun was carved onto the dagger’s blade. This symbol was none other than the crest of the royal family.

Cecelia narrowed her eyes as she watched this.

"...Are you telling me you did this because you’re a knight of the Royal Guard? That you’d risk your life to protect me?"

Blaine silently watched her without responding to her question.

Cecelia clenched her hands tightly enough that they began to turn white.

"Why? Why would you go so far? Does your life mean nothing to you?"

Once again, all she received for a response was silence.

However, she didn’t let this didn’t dissuade her.

"If it was any other soldier... I would somewhat understand. But you... You’re different. Someone like you is far too important for our kingdom. At least you’re more important than someone like me. If you really cared about our country, you would have just let me die to save yourself."

While it was highly improbable that the enemies would have just let Blaine go back to their country, they at least wouldn’t have killed him, given that he was still a minor.

So why did he not save himself instead?

"Someone like me is a waste! A failure through and through! Why would someone like you try to die on my behalf?"

As she continued to pour her heart out, Cecelia felt her senses cloud with anger.

"Why don’t you say anything? You go through all of this but refuse to even answer me why? I know you look down on me, but do you need to go this far?!? You ruined weeks of my research in the past to ’save me,’ but you won’t even bother to answer a single d*mn question?"

Pressed by Cecelia, Blaine slowly parted his lips, and a soft, melodious voice filled the air.

The tone was pleasant to the ear, but the words he uttered were anything but for Cecelia.

"Protecting you... Was the mission."

Blaine’s tone was as emotionless as the man himself, but they had enough weight to show how much the youth believed his words.

"You protected me because it ’was the mission’?"

Blaine’s answer was so by the book that Cecelia couldn’t help but feel more aggrieved.

"Is the only purpose of your existence to follow orders? Are you not capable of thinking for yourself?"

"..."

While he didn’t respond, Blane’s silence was nothing short of an affirmation.

"You... You’re messing with me right now, aren’t you?" Cecelia glared with a scowl, "do you seriously expect me to think that you don’t care about yourself in the slightest? What are you, some kind of unfeeling robot? Some kind of emotionless weapon that exists only for the Royal Family?"

Unexpectedly, Blaine nodded his head, and his following words caused Cecelia to freeze.

"That is... Exactly what I am."