'Five days?' Kyran repeated in his thought. Crossing his arms across his chest, he contemplated all possibilities this information entails.
"Were you able to get an image?" Cade asked, seeing his son had fallen silent. He did not know how deep his son's relationship was with the true Crown Princess, only that she was important to him.
After hearing Ruin was with a woman, Cade expected Kyran to get worked up. Thus, he decided to join in the conversation.
Wing looked at Cade. She did not want to answer him. However, Axil's warning kept ringing in her mind, so she had no choice but to cooperate.
"I do," she replied and waved her hand.
The projector glowed again, and a new image appeared at the center of the table.
Unlike Flos's projection, which was clear as day, this one was a little blurry. The quality was not bad per se, but Ruin and the woman's image were too far to make out clearly.
Nevertheless, judging by the man's choice of clothes and how he carried himself, he was definitely Ruin. As for the woman, it indeed was hard to see. Besides that, she might be wearing a body-fit robe, but the hood covered her head, making it hard for anyone to see her face.
Kyran's brow furrowed upon seeing the image. He recognized Ruin at once. And the woman, he could see her semblance with Cyneah. He could not explain it, but something about her figure, even from afar, made him believe so.
Still, part of him did not think it was Cyneah. He could not place his finger on it, but her countenance was slightly different.
[Master, that woman is not the mistress.]
Zephyr's voice interrupted Kyran's thoughts.
'Why do you think that?'
[The mistress may be blind, but she always kept her head high. However, the woman's head in that image is slightly lowered. She can't be the mistress.]
Kyran could not help but raise his brows at Zephyr's insight. He could not refute Zephyr because he had been with Cyneah more than he had been.
Now that he thought of it, Cyneah sometimes looked down, but only her eyes would do so while her head remained up.
No wonder he found the woman different from Cyneah.
[I heard she had an essence that could be her.]
Kyran did not respond. Instead, he tried to remember what happened when Cyneah started absorbing the Macabre Glacier.
Layla had been affected and thus could not move. They thought Cyneah had succeeded in retrieving her essence when Layla disappeared, but that might not be the case.
'Could Layla have managed to escape? And Ruin suddenly interfering like that is to retrieve her? But why?'
"That's not Kyran's mistress."
Kyran perked up after hearing someone's affirmative voice say this.
Surprisingly, the one who said this was Nolan.
"She's already his 'mistress'?" Cade could not help but ask Nolan.
Nolan shrugged, "Your son had to take responsibility. He did kidnap the poor lad, and she's butt naked when we met her. You know how most people treated an unmarried woman whose body had been seen naked— not to mention touched— by a man. No one would have her— and that's if they ignored the fact she's blind."
Kyran's brow twitched.
Hand it to Nolan to come up with such an absurd story. Then again. He was not entirely wrong. Kyran did see Cyneah naked and had 'touched' her, but not in that way.
"Did he now?" Cade raised his brows in disbelief. "I don't think Rin knew about that. If she did, she would not have allowed Kyran to dally for almost a week in the Human plane."
"Can we get back on topic?" Kyran tried to veer the subject back on track. Then he looked at Nolan and said, "Please stop saying unnecessary things."
Cade looked at him, "You can't say that it is unnecessary when the future mistress of the family is involved."
"Not you too, father," Kyran could not help but groan.
The last thing he wanted was for his father to view Cyneah as such. In the first place, Kyran might view Cyneah as someone he could not let go of, but that did not mean she felt the same. As far as he knew, she only saw him as her benefactor.
Someone she had to repay no matter what.
On the other hand, Zephyr scowled at what Nolan had said about Cyneah being blind. Unable to keep his thoughts to himself, he said, "The mistress is not truly blind. Her magic has been taken from her. Thus, she became like that."
Nolan looked at Zephyr and snorted.
"And you think I don't f*cking know that? Besides, she's supposed to have retrieved her essence that possesses her magic core, right? Then her eyesight should have returned."
Zephyr stopped short, "Well, that's supposed to be the case."
He frowned and looked at the image once more.
"If her eyesight had returned, then maybe she would lower her head like that now."
"Like I said, that's not her," Nolan repeated.
"How can you be sure?"
"Why not? I f*cking marked her, and that woman did not have it."
"Wait," Kyran scowled. "You marked her? How come I'm only hearing this now?"
Nolan sneered, "What? Are you jealous because another man marked your woman? F*ck. She's old enough to be my daughter. Don't get me started."
Kyran groaned in exasperation. He had expected Nolan to change somehow now that he was the new Sovereign. Alas, a man could not truly change overnight.
Loar and Wing watched the exchange between the four with disbelief. They were acting and speaking as if nothing serious had happened just now.
Although nothing happened in the end, the fast shift in their attitude was remarkable.
Then again, Cade and Nolan never did worry when Wing almost attacked them.
Kyran and Zephyr— the former dared to summon the latter, while the latter dared to threaten Wing. What else could be said about their reaction to Wing's outburst?
Could it be that Loar and Wing were the ones who thought this meeting should be 'serious.'
Axil and the other Sovereigns watching from afar also had the same thought.
In the end, they could only explain Kyran and his side's attitude as being such because they came from the Land of the Ancients.
For short, they were not the norm.
Cade chuckled, "I think we've teased him enough, Nolan."
Hearing his words made Kyran realize that the two were only trying to lighten the mood. Or maybe distract him for a moment to let him clear his thoughts;
Nolan snorted, "I don't even know who he take after. You and Rin don't brood over things."
"I don't brood," Kyran denied with a scowl.
"But have you cleared your thoughts, yet?" Cade asked with a smile. "If you overthink, you will overlook and misunderstand things."
Kyran already knew that and had to thank Zephyr for letting him remember how Cyneah usually carried herself.
With this in mind, he asked Nolan, "Did you really mark her?"
"I know what you want to know, and the answer is hell f*cking no," Nolan replied. "Although I said 'marked,' it differs from how you mark your targets. Our magic is different, and so is their nature. Void could distort space. It is even known as the very space itself. Anyhow, the nature of your magic allows you to warp directly to the person you marked.
"However, that is not the case with me."
Nolan raised his hand and summoned his magic. Black, gold, and silver particles circled his hand.
"My mark only helps me identify people I know."
"Right, because you have difficulty remembering other people's faces and names."
Nolan snorted in response. Then he continued, "That woman does not have my mark. Or I would have recognized her."
He looked at the image again and, with a slight frown, added, "But she does seem like Sisi."
"We have not seen her absorb her essence," Cade also provided. "There is a good chance her essence escaped. But absorbing an essence leaves no trace or even a sign, so we can't say for sure."
"The mistress is different, there will be a sign if she truly retrieved her essence."
"Yes," Kyran agreed. "She would have recovered her sight. But that is not the case."
"The woman in that image did not seem to be blind. If Nolan did not leave a mark on her, we might be led to believe she was the same person."
"That b*stard Ruin wanted you to believe that. Next time I see him, I'll let him taste my iron maiden."
"I won't fall for it anyway," Kyran assured them. "Before I lost consciousness, Neah said something which proved her sight did not return."
"That's good then," Cade nodded. Then he stopped and added, "Not that I am glad she remained blind."
Kyran could not help but smile bitterly.
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