Chapter 11 011
Someone stopped me from behind. I stepped on their feet, causing me to slam my head on their body. When I turned to see who the person was, my eyes landed on the Dragon Sovereign, and before I could fathom how he showed up behind me, all knees had gotten to the floor, heads touched the floor, and they all exclaimed repeatedly…
“Long live, Dragon Sovereign!!”
I didn't understand what was going on, just rolling my eyes from one end to the other, until I noticed that he wasn't standing behind me anymore and had flitted towards his throne. I stared at the seated figure, taking in the contorted expression he wore. At that time, I heard one of the elders declare from the side.
All eyes fell on me. I didn't realise that standing and watching when the Dragon Sovereign showed up in the throne room was an offence.
“No matter who you are, standing before the Dragon Sovereign warrants a penalty of standing on a heated obsidian,” the man said, and my heart dropped into my belly. A heated obsidian? I hadn't seen such before, but just by the name, and for it to be a penalty, it was going to be something so painful.
But how was I supposed to know if I wasn't told? At least, they should have let me know about their rules so I could stand by them. Or was it because I was fond of their Sovereign? If not, I wouldn't be staring at him all the time.
“His Sovereignity, please permit her punishment…” another elder said, and the others nodded. “She also refused to strip as per the High Flame Lord's order. That also calls for another punishment.”
My heart raced. I glanced around, and the faces watching me were all savage. They meant to hurt me; if not, they should understand that I was just new here and didn't know all their rules. I wondered how long they searched for a way to implicate me.
I, too, was careless to forget that their Dragon Sovereign should be feared, yet I always thought he was still the ordinary man who saved me from the tree branch.
My fingers tangled with the fabric of my dress. I feared they could hear the pounding of my heart in my chest. If I bowed now, would it be too late? If I knelt, would they call me a joke? Even the Dragon Sovereign didn't look funny. His expression was dark enough to send me to hell.
As I locked eyes with him, he knitted his brows and flicked his fingers.
I didn't realise the meaning of what he had just done until two guards grabbed my arms and began dragging me away from the throne room. I tried to glance back, but couldn't catch a glimpse of Dragon Sovereign.
When we had reached the door of the room, I violently pulled my arms away forcefully from the guards and ran back into the room.
“Hey! What is wrong with her?” one of them screamed, but I turned a deaf ear to him. I ran towards the throne and knelt before the Dragon Sovereign, my head lowered in such a way that my tears had their way out easily.
“What is she doing?”
“This is forbidden! No one dares to reach closer to the throne!!”
It can't be! I didn't commit myself again.
I looked up to the Dragon Sovereign, and his cold gaze sent chills all over my body. I tried as much as I could to maintain my composure. “Please, don't let them harm me. I don't want to die. I seriously don't want to die.”
He leaned his arms on his thighs, maintaining eye contact with me. “You broke three rules. First, by not stripping. Second, not paying respect to me. Third, climbing towards the throne. So tell me, how do I save your ass when it reached this point? What do you think others would think if I spared you but wouldn't do the same to my people? You are a captive, and your life doesn't matter to them…but just me.”
I kept shaking my head. There was nothing he could do for me now, huh? So, was I going to be punished now?
“But you never told me all these. How would you not tell me your rules and blame me for breaking them? We had a deal, so are you not supposed to see that nothing disrupts it?” I asked, but he quickly looked away. “You're very cunning, but I will let it slide provided you find my brother as we agreed.”
He didn't even blink at me. I only noticed his arm turning to a scale, so I quickly stood and hurried towards the guards. I believed that he was so annoyed that he could harm me if I stayed long enough.
The guards walked away from the throne room with me standing in the midst. What I didn't see coming was the elders all coming after us.
I was taken to a place that looked so odd, and for goddess mother’s sake, I almost cursed them all while watching as they began heating the obsidian before my very eyes.
One of the elders commanded, “Drop her there…” and then the guards grabbed me and made me stand on the heated obsidian.
A loud cry tore through my lips as the pain ripped my muscles apart. I couldn't move, my feet stuck on the obsidian, and I felt all my blood had drained from my body. This was so brutal. Death was far better than it. Why could they do this to me? They had no sympathy for others, and that was why other realms detested them.
Hot tears streamed down my cheeks. My two hands were hung with a chain, and my feet suffered from the heat of the obsidian. I swore that my skin had peeled. My blood could have dried up at that moment.
I couldn't look around at first, but when I managed to see the people around, smiling and pointing fingers at the weak fae that had gotten their hands on, I sighted the Dragon Sovereign standing some miles away with a man beside him. His expression looked cold as usual, and his gaze was pinned on me.
Hatred I didn't know lived in me surfaced. I wanted to shred that man apart for letting them torture me this way. If looks could kill, I would shoot him with a bullet to the forehead and watch him collapse to the floor.
Wasn't he supposed to pamper me for saving him from that cage? Why was I a threat to them when he knew how much I also hated the faes for killing off my clans? He hadn't attacked the ones that sealed him, and he was here for me. Wasn't that pure wickedness?
One wouldn't believe it if I mentioned it, but I stood on that obsidian until it went cold. They did whatever they did, and the chain on my arm tightened, and I was drawn upwards above the ground. When I was pulled down again, I stood on the bare floor.
The chain was taken off my arms, and I slumped to the floor. I wasn't just weak but bleeding. The bruise on my feet wouldn't even let me walk.
I looked towards the direction of the Dragon Sovereign, and he had left. My heart tightened in bitterness. I didn't realise I had hated that man until now.
“Take her back to her cell. The slave introduction had been postponed, and she would remain in the cell until His Sovereignity fixes another date for it,” one of the Flame Lords announced while I glared at him with all my strength. “With this, she would learn manners,” he scoffed and turned around, leaving, and then the others joined him.
How happy they were to see a fae suffering. With this, I thought that not even an ant or leaf in the fae realm would survive once they attacked them.
As per their order, the guards came forth again and raised me from the floor where I sat helplessly. They leapt and teleported us to the cell, then dropped me in there and left as usual.
I touched my feet and stared at my fingers, only to burst into tears at how bloody they were. Would it even be right if my brother came here? If only he could escape from the fae prison and live his life outside there. This was too much for us to pass through.