Heir Of The Supreme
Chapter 65: A Weakling’s Resolve (4)

Chapter 65: A Weakling’s Resolve (4)

"I have a question... Why do you never talk?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Cecelia regretted ever uttering them.

Typically, people start conversations with an icebreaker, something lighthearted to ease into more deep topics.

But no, she had to just skip the pleasantries and go straight for the throat, didn’t she?

That, too, right after he had just forgiven her, if that’s even what it was.

But there was no taking it back now. The only option left was to double down.

"...I’ve heard you speak before, so I know you aren’t mute," Cecelia paused, her mind involuntarily recalling the unexpected richness of his voice. Melodious and pleasant to the ear... Yet somewhat distant. "Is there a reason you don’t talk?"

The last time she had heard Blaine speak, Cecelia had been lashing out at him, throwing venom-laced accusations, questioning him if he was nothing more than an ’emotionless weapon that exists only for the Royal Family.’

To which he finally opened his mouth to respond with a sarcastic retort, claiming that he indeed was.

At least... Cecelia was sure it was sarcasm.

But if he was more than capable of conversing, why did he never do so?

If Blaine was surprised by her question, he didn’t show it. He merely blinked, his expression unreadable, before giving a slow nod.

"Could you... Perhaps tell me why?" Cecelia pressed, watching him closely.

The irony of the situation was not lost on her. She was asking someone to explain why they didn’t speak.

She knew that her prying was starting to tread into personal territory, but she couldn’t help it. The mystery of the whole situation was gnawing away at her.

"Does... Does it have anything to do with the Royal Family?" she hesitated. "Did my father or I... Make you this way?"

If Blaine had only replied to her earlier words, if she mentioned them again, it was possible he would give a response.

Silence stretched between them. The river roared nearby, the only sound filling the deafening silence.

...She had pushed too far, hadn’t she?

Maybe it was better to just apologize and backtrack from here.

But before she could form the words, Blaine shifted, his gaze locking onto hers.

For a moment, he simply studied her as if weighing something in his mind, his dark eyes unreadable pools reflecting the dim firelight.

Then, at last, he spoke.

"It’s not your fault... I... Just don’t like talking."

His voice, despite its rarity, was quiet and controlled.

It was Euphonius yet somehow devoid of a human’s warmth, an interesting contrast, to say the least.

"Ah... Is that so..." Cecelia let out an awkward laugh, trying to push past the growing tension.

Gods... why couldn’t she just think before she spoke? Now, she had made things unbearably awkward between them... Again.

Although Cecelia was almost sure that Blaine was hiding more than he let on, she decided to just drop the topic.

Instead, she needed to change the subject somehow and fast.

Then, as if the heavens had sensed her desperation, her stomach rumbled audibly.

Blaine’s gaze flicked to her. Without a word, he stood, stretching slightly before his eyes drifted to the Unknown’s corpse.

He considered something for a moment, then shook his head.

Right... They couldn’t eat that.

Earlier, he had doused its innards with anesthesia-inducing poison.

While Cecelia had thoroughly scrubbed its skull in the stream, its meat was undoubtedly saturated with toxins.

The only reason she was still standing after being showered in its blood was that none of it had actually entered her body.

Even if it somehow had, the concentration was too weak to pose any real problem.

Needless to say, eating the Unknown was off the table.

So, what could they do now?

Naturally, Blaine needed to try his hand at fishing again... His still able one that is.

With the Unknown’s corpse at his disposal, Blaine worked quickly.

He snapped off one of the creature’s elongated bones, stripped sinew and blood vessels from its body, and fashioned a makeshift fishing rod.

As for bait, he sliced off a small portion of the Unknown’s flesh, just enough to attract prey without worrying about lingering toxins seeping into their future meal.

Otherwise, they would be back to square one with nothing to eat.

Cecelia watched Blaine’s actions with growing unease.

An inexplicable sense of dread coiled in her stomach, twisting tighter with each of his movements.

It was as if something absolutely horrifying was about to occur.

But... Why exactly did she feel this way?

Cecelia swallowed hard.

’I must just be on edge.’

However, her unease soon turned to horror as she watched Blaine cast the line into the water.

A moment passed, and then another.

Just as Cecelia was about to write off her worries as baseless superstitions, a vicious tug yanked the bone rod forward.

The river rippled violently, and an ominous grey dorsal fin sliced through the surface like a jagged knife.

Then... The creature hidden beneath slowly revealed itself.

An oblong head surfaced, its grotesque form glistening in the dim light.

Nine bulbous eyes stared straight at them, their glassy surfaces gleaming with malevolent hunger.

Cecelia almost stumbled backwards in sheer shock.

"No! No! No!"

Panic seized her as she scrambled to her feet.

Without wasting another moment, she lunged toward Blaine and grasped the fishing rod with both hands, desperately trying to rip it from his grip.

While his one arm was still stronger than both of hers, Cecelia’s sheer panic must have caught him off guard. Blaine’s grip happened to loosen just enough.

With all her strength, she wrenched the bone fishing pole away and hurled it into the river, treating it as if it were a bomb with a lit fuse.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, as if it had never been there, the monstrous creature vanished beneath the water’s surface, swallowed by the current.

Silence hung thick in the air.

Panting, Cecelia turned to Blaine, her heart hammering against her ribs.

How the hell did he manage to do this twice?!

Could this river be infested with Unknowns?

But that didn’t make sense!

They couldn’t even breathe in freshwater conditions, for crying out loud!

So why were there so many in a river of all places?

Cecelia felt her brain stutter.

’No... Stop thinking about it... Just stop...’

While her mind was a mess, one thing was evidently clear.

She turned to Blaine, her face a mixture of exhaustion and sheer exasperation.

"Please... For the love of everything holy... Never fish again... Ever."

Something deep in her gut told her that if Blaine ever so much as touched another fishing rod... Something worse would occur.

She couldn’t rationalize it with logic, but she wholeheartedly believed in it despite considering herself a woman of science.

Blaine, on the other hand, merely blinked. Then, as if he found her reaction strange, he tilted his head in quiet confusion.

...Unfortunately for Cecelia, he didn’t seem too interested in stopping any time soon.

Or at all, for that matter.