Value relationships

Rhea immediately pulled Rinus in front of her like a shield, "Stop! He's still alive! Calm down, I didn't hurt your lover he's my cousin, which means I'm your Cousin-in-law!"

As Rhea spoke, the serpent swiftly struck them both with its tail. Rage seemed to consume the serpent as it whisked them up into the air, deaf to her words.

The tail, which Rhea had previously split with her pitchfork, had now mended itself. It hastily coiled around Rinus' body, guarding him from the impact of landing on the ground. In contrast, it forcefully threw Rhea away with its powerful midsection.

Clearly afraid and weaponless, Rhea was defenseless against the vicious serpent. She soared through the air like a discarded toy, with nothing to break her fall. Desperately, she looked towards Draven, hoping he would catch her before-

THUD!

Rhea landed hard on the ground. Stunned, she couldn't regain her senses nor could she feel her back for awhile. She'd expected to be caught by Draven before she could hit the ground, but he didn't even make any attempt to move. He just stood there leaning lazily against a tree, arms crossed against his chest. He looked so relaxed like her fight with the serpent had nothing to do with him.

To Rhea who had just been thrown down, he seemed like a beautiful statue detached from her world.

Rhea crawled to his side, she reached out and grasped his pant leg unsteadily, "You rotten scoundrel."She yelled, "Why the hell didn't you prevent my fall?!"

Draven glared at her only when she spoke, before stepping back and brushing off her grip from his pant leg. He refused to offer her support and sneered coldly, "I have no regard for relationships. You believe it, right? so why not handle the serpent on your own. " After saying that, he turned and casually walked away.

Damn you! Rhea cursed internally as she watched him walk away from her. How could she have forgotten that this person was a heartless dragon? He had no value for relationships!

Rhea glared murderously at his retreating figure until he was completely out of sight. 'Did he really leave me to fight the serpent on my own?!' her eyes widened in disbelief, it seemed he just proved it more to her how heartless he was! If she survived this, she'd make sure he suffered the consequences of leaving her behind.

Helping him to get back his essence? Over her dead body!

As soon as Rhea attempted to stand up, the serpent lunged at her with a gaping mouth. Clearly, its intention was to devour her whole. Without a moment's delay, Rhea evaded the serpent's attack by skillfully avoiding its jaws and creeping over to the opposite side.

"Crazy serpent!" She sprawled on the ground her clothes all dirty and torn, she yelled angrily at the serpent, "I don't want the treasure you stole anymore! I just want a cure for your damn venom!"

The serpent laughed coldly, "What do you take me for? I'm not foolish enough to believe your words. You are definitely planning to take my Rinus back to the capital. I will not allow any of those fire controllers to hurt him again! Anybody who lays a hand on him...will die!" The serpent raged, "Starting from you and the second leader of the fire clan!"

Done speaking, the serpent charged towards Rhea again, it lunged to bite her but she dodged it while trying to explain, "I'm not taking him from you, and I'm not one of the fire controllers. I wasn't born with flame magic!" Rhea yelled, "And so you know, Azure didn't do that to Rinus!"

"Everyone in Birhhan knew that only the second leader of the fire clan could cast such a spell on someone! He is my sworn enemy, and I will kill him after I'm done with you!"

"It wasn't Azure!" Rhea yelled, abruptly halting her escape from the serpent. She turned towards the enormous serpent, proclaiming, "Do not speak ill of someone who is innocent. Do not defame his character, for he is not the type to cause harm!" 

For some unknown reason, Rhea hated hearing Azure's name being slandered. It could be due to what he had done for her in the past, after they had met at the library. The memory of that fateful day was still vivid in her mind.

Since then, she had always been infatuated with Azure, to the extent that even if she heard the slightest whisper against him, she would recklessly rise up to defend his honor. She would be his protector, as he once was for her in the past.

However, defending him at this point only seemed to annoy the already angry serpent. the serpent charged towards her once again, its red tongue extending directly at her. It's fishy breath filled her nostrils as she stood there, unable to dodge it for some reason. Although she longed to escape, something kept her rooted to the spot. Eyes wide with terror, Rhea watched as the tongue reached her chest, thinking this was the end.

'This is it,' she thought, remembering her attempt to defend Azure. Defending him would be the cause of her life now.

But just as she closed her eyes, bracing herself for impact, she felt someone's arm wrap around her and whisk her away. They tumbled to the ground together, and Rhea lost count of how many times she rolled in the person's embrace as they did so. Eventually, they stopped.

Rhea tentatively opened her eyes to see the clear blue sky above her. The weight of the person on top of her was crushing, to the point she couldn't feel her bones. She looked down with a frown, but immediately recognized the luxurious ebony hair that spilled around her. She quickly tried to push him off her, but her hand came back sticky with blood. 

"Bastard?" Rhea's brain stopped working as she felt the warmth of the blood trickling down her body, "Are...you stupid! You shouldn't have done that! Why did you come back to save me?!"

Draven stayed motionless on top of her body for some moment, just when she'd thought he was unconscious, he propped his head up. His piercing blue eyes locked with her black orbs. He was like someone who hadn't been hurt. He then said softly, his warm breath fanning her face,

"Because I value relationships..."

Although he tried hard to keep his voice steady, Rhea could still sense his voice was slightly shaking. She could tell he was enduring the pain just like he always did.

He came back for her despite coldly telling her he didn't care? He even ended up hurt saving her. Rhea felt like there were still a lot of things she didn't know about this dragon. He only told her what he wanted her to know.

As they locked eyes with each other, Draven's body suddenly fell back on her body and he went still. "Draven..." She called, but he didn't move.

Rhea panicked as he didn't move, she called his name several times, yet he lay still on her. Her panic turned into rage, it swelled inside her like a volcano threatening to explode.

As Rhea's rage was rising, she heard the serpent's taunting words, "Ha, serves him right, who asked him to cover for you? Now he's under my demonic venom. It's your turn!"

Rhea moved Draven aside and stood up to her feet. She rolled up her sleeves as she glared at the serpent, she'd had enough of this damn creature!

Rhea jumped forward and swiftly leapt under the serpent's body, snatching Draven's dagger which had fallen from his inner pocket when they rolled on the ground, she then flipped onto the creature's body. Seeing that she was about to be thrown off, Rhea didn't care about it, all she felt was pure anger.

With her arm held high, she forcefully thrust the dagger into the serpent's protective skin, causing it to let out a piercing scream as it cried in agony towards the heavens.

Rhea used the opportunity and rolled off it body and jumped towards Rinus who lay motionless on the bushes. In a fleet second, she pulled him up, then she stood on the tip of her toes placing the dagger around his neck, she confronted the serpent,

"If you don't calm down, I will split his throat!"

It was like the serpent's heart had stopped, her vigorous body went down as if she'd lost all her strength, "Don't hurt him... please." Her voice was tiny compared to her taunting voice from earlier.

Rhea whispered words of apologies to her cousin, then with a firm voice, she said, "I've told you earlier that I have no intentions of hurting Rinus, but yet you were hell-bent on taking my life. You even dared to hurt my partner!"

The serpent restrained her body from charging forward to bite Rhea to death for the way her dagger was pressing Rinus neck, "You're hurting him!" She yelled angrily.

However, Rhea shot a worried glance towards Draven, he lay motionless on the ground, the blood from his back had already stained the earth beneath him. His pale complexion now looked deathly pale. She knew if this vile serpent didn't remove her demonic venom, his fragile human body wouldn't last longer before he'd die.

"I will let Rinus go only if you remove your venom from my partner's body." Rhea gestured towards Draven with her mouth, "Remove you deadly demonic venom from him right now!" She yelled angrily when the serpent didn't move, but was worriedly looking at Ruins.

Draped in a sleek, long black garment, the serpent morphed into her human form and fixed her murderous gaze onto Rhea, before gritting her teeth in fury. She then made her way over to the other side where Draven was, she stooped down and raised her hand up in the air. A black light emanated from her hand as she placed it onto his chest, causing Draven to cough and his eyes to blink open.

Rhea knew that even though the serpent had removed her demonic venom, the wound would still take time to heal. However, relief washed over her when he opened his eyes, "Draven?" She called.

Draven, who was looking around his surroundings in slight bemusement was quick to snap his head to her direction hearing his name come from Rhea's mouth. His brows furrowed together on seeing the smile of relief on her face. Was she worried about him?

"Draven, if you can move, come to me." She waved for him to come over.

Draven sat frozen on the ground as he stared at her blankly. He hadn't heard someone call his name like this in two decades. She was relieved that he was alive...

Without a word, Draven got up to his feet and walked towards Rhea while still staring at her like he'd just met her for the first time.

The serpent lady's angry glare shot towards Rhea, "Your ugly husband is safe now, let Rinus go!"

However, Rhea didn't release Rinus nor did she drop the dagger from his neck, knowing that Draven was safe beside her, she glared back at the serpent, "You've gone too far today, and you've run your mouth too much."