Darius Rael Darkhelm

The area around the tents was quieter than usual. Save for the buzzing and trilling of the small insects, and animals hiding deep in the woods, the entire valley covered in the dark grey blanket of an evening was deadly silent.

Raymond Eldritch, the third son of Earl Eldritch, walked briskly toward the main tent pitched right at the center of the others.

"Sir, Knight Captain," a lady with red hair greeted Raymond as soon as he entered the ring of tents. Nazia referred to Raymond with the respectful term of address solely reserved for the right-hand man of the Archduke.

None deserved to be called Knight captain other than someone who had watched the young prince survive the grueling ordeal of fighting for what was rightfully his.

Ray had witnessed all the bloodshed with his own eyes, and he had been the one to participate in all those killings. Not only that, he was also the one whom the young prince had treated like a friend.

"Lady Nazia," Ray nodded back at Nazia.

Now, if Ray was Archduke's right-hand man on the battlefield, lady Nazia was the spine who handled the estate affairs and had been doing an immaculate job since she was sixteen.

The lady was now in her late two-hundreds and had taken the responsibility of the young archduke's health.

Ray's steps, which were about to run toward his master's rest chamber, halted. He raised his eyebrow at Nazia, his gaze lingering on the young lady with a fair face standing behind her (Nazia).

Ray raised a questioning brow at the lady to which Lady Nazia shook her head with a helpless smile.

Ray's gaze shifted toward the pretty young lady once again.

This was the beauty with rosy lips accompanied by her bright yellow eyes which made her look so very innocent and pretty.

Though, she really were that innocent or not, he did not care.

Is she here to seduce Master? Ray thought silently.

After growing under the care of lady Nazia since childhood, the thirty years old Ray had long since established a tactical understanding between them.

Hence, from her helpless smile Ray knew Nazia must have found the lady too late. But looking at her intact head...or perhaps just on time.

Ray knew this type of seduction thing would never work with their Master. Nazia was also helpless.

That was why she was about to escort the "lost" beauty away from their resting site.

Ray took one last glance at the yellow-haired beauty before dashing toward the main area. He finally understood why there was such deathly silence.

The guards standing alert at the entrance wore the same fearful expression he had seen in everyone around. It was the effect of their master's bad mood.

Darius Rael Darkhelm was a very rational man, well... most of the time. The youngest Archduke in the history of Eldoria Lunareth was not a bloodthirsty demon who committed acts of tyranny for the thrill of it. 

Well, if one ignored the battlefield that is.

The twenty-eight-year-old Archduke would only shed blood if given a reason to do so.

And now, that His Majesty had ordered him to come all the way to the royal capital without any proper reason, nearly everyone in the retinue was in deadly danger.

Raymond took a few shallow breaths and hastily wiped his sweat before motioning one of the guards to announce his arrival to the archduke.

It barely took a minute before Ray was granted the permission to enter.

Considering that the Archduke had been staying in the same chamber for almost a week, the furnishings inside were sparse, to say the least. Even the basic things nobles usually carried with them were missing.

Black, impenetrable curtains swayed with the gust of wind. Ray glanced at the figure hidden behind the curtains and in an instant kneeled on the cold ground.

"Your Grace, your vassal has successfully completed the task you assigned this morning and has now returned."

The silence settled over Ray like a mountain pressing on his back until the rustling of papers broke the suffocating atmosphere.

"Hmm, I see."

Just one sentence, and the silence returned.

It wasn't the first time Ray had experienced Darius' bad mood. In fact, he was so accustomed to it that he dared not move an inch in such a situation.

If anyone dared to cross his Grace in this state, they would certainly lose their head.

Thankfully, Ray was not one to experience that. Being Archduke's trustworthy vessel had its perks.

But even the cold stare from the Archduke was scary enough!

"So, what did you find about him?"

Ray secretly glanced at the male dressed in a casual silk robe. However, even such a soft garment could not hide the imposingly dangerous aura.

There was something intensely predatory about those green, venomous eyes that even Ray, who had played with little Darius, dared not look at for more than a few seconds.

"The healer came from the Marquis estate. The one where we are supposed to arrive tonight. It is hard to say about his age but..."

"But what?"

A low voice fell on Ray's ears, and he subconsciously straightened his already straight back.

"He appears to a bit naive. I think it is very possible that he belongs to the Marquis family and has very less experience in the real world.

That was what I though until I saw him hiding in the vegetable wagon. He is a bit witty."

Then Ray explained in detail how the healer had treated Berry with such unheard way. 

While Ray was telling about the tiniest of the details to his lord, the said lord finally stepped out of the curtains.

He took a seat on the wooden chair placed near the small round table. It was exactly where Ray was kneeling.

Ray's eyes couldn't help but wander over to Darius, and what he saw made his jaw nearly drop.

Darius, as if unfazed by the chill of the night, had casually removed his outer robe. Beneath it, his toned, muscular form was revealed in all its glory.

The Archduke's body was nothing short of sculpted perfection. Eight distinct, well-defined packs of muscle rippled across his torso.

For a split second, Ray's mind went blank, before he snapped back to reality, his face burning in disbelief.

Damn it... Ray cursed inwardly, his competitive spirit flaring up. 

How many times have I trained, and I still only have six packs!

Darius, who had been listening intently, tapped his finger on the table. He leaned slightly in, his long, silver hair cascaded forward as he rested his elbows on the chair's armrests.

"Ah, he sure is an odd one, huh?"

Ray was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard a smile echoing in Darius' voice. He looked at the male resting his face on the back of his hand.

The sharp jawline that could rival the sword in his hand and those lips that were curled up ever so slightly, all of it reminded Raymond of the old saying.

You, Darius Rael Darkhelm, have a shell blessed by the angels, but your heart has been tainted by darkness! You, the devil himself, shall remain unwanted. No soul of this world shall become your soul mate! You shall suffer like your parents!

In the world where the life expectancy was in hundreds of years, having no lover, or soulmate as some put it, was really a nasty curse. 

It was especially true as little Darius had personally witnessed it. Growing up looking at his parent's loveless marriage, was not something Darius looked fondly upon.

Raymond could still recall how the high priest cursed the nineteen years old Darius before his head was chopped off by his own sword. Shaking his head out of the old memories, he focused on the task at hand. 

After telling in detail about every patient treated by that mysterious healer, Ray was let go. He should have gone straight to rest but...who made him so envious of eight packs?

So, the small entourage of the Archduke witnessed the greet Raymond Eldritch vigorously exercising in the night.

He might have continued until the midnight, if he was not asked to get ready for the further travel.

All this time, the said mysterious healer was snoring away on his bed. The poor Xion was unaware about the potential danger he might have accidently attracted.