Chapter 139

Chapter 139

“Deon, what’s going on?” Maria roughly brushed away the thistles and weeds clinging to her son’s body. “What are you doing here? Weren’t you heading in a different direction when we last parted?”

Maria had gone off to search for Sierra in the eastern region as Deon had directed. She had happened upon a familiar clue and came to investigate when she found her son.

“And who was that? Why were you two fighting so viciously in the middle of the night? To be honest, dear, it actually appeared as though you were on the defensive...”

It was apparent that his mother had failed to recognize Cassis Pedelian through the darkness, but had instinctually sensed her own son and rushed to his rescue. Fortunately for her, her son’s opponent hadn’t redirected his efforts to attack her.

Ignoring his prattling mother, Deon looked off into the distance at a small twinkling light. The Pedelians had already packed up their camp and begun to travel further and further away.

“And you lied to me, didn’t you?! You told me to go east!” With her concern abated, Maria’s frustration with him had bubbled up to the surface. “I searched every possible inch of that region, yet there was no sign of Sierra anywhere!”

At the mention of his stepmother’s name, his vision suddenly hazed.

“You’re a monster that Lante created.”

Her unfeeling verdict concerning his plight abruptly came to mind.

“And because of that, I hate and despise you from the bottom of my heart.”

The memory incited a pain akin to having his heart gnawed on from the inside out.

“Believe it or not, at the sa

me time, I truly pity you.”

He supposed her words had come to him due to seeing that doll in Achille’s form. It was either that or perhaps due to his mother calling out Sierra’s name like some sort of mantra. Whatever the reason, the blond woman’s parting speech continued to ring in his ears. Something he could only imagine to be poison slowly began to spread over his heart.

He sat in silence as he considered what he would have to do in order to escape his current unpleasant predicament.

“...Deon? Where are you off to now? Say something, won’t you?!”

But to anyone who had become accustomed to how his mind worked, the answer was obvious. Based on what he had learned in Vertium, and the direction the Blue clan was setting off in, he need only go to Yggdrasil. Deon trudged away from his mother to continue his search for the one person who was to him the reason for everything.

Meet in Yggdrasil

To many, the weather in Yggdrasil felt as if summer had come early. As it was located in the southern region of the neutral zone, the temperature during the day was incredibly warm.

Orka stared unhappily out of his carriage window as his clan made their way to the castle. Before long, the sculptures depicting the various regions of their world came into view, which was the clearest sign that they were almost at their destination.

To the White Heir, the journey from Fipellion to Yggdrasil had been beyond monotonous. He normally would have ridden one of his demons to get around, but the White Master was concerned that his heir might cause their clan even more trouble and ordered him to remain in his carriage.

Thus, to the freedom-loving Orka, being stuck in such a restrictive procession was a crueler plight than torture. What made his circumstances that much sadder was the fact that he had lost most of his demons, so there really wasn’t a suitable monster he could have traveled on anyway. As his misery doubled over the thought of his loss yet again, he felt an odd sensation pass through him that was neither solid nor liquid.

“No matter how many times we do this, it’s still unpleasant.” He muttered to himself as the discomfort made him sit halfway up from his seat. But just after passing Yggdrasil’s wall of sorcery, he felt his carriage stop abruptly. He suspected a pebble or twig had hitched in one of their wheels, so they would start to move again upon removing it, but he was quite wrong. After some time, he decided to draw the curtains and see for himself what was going on outside.

“What th—? The Agreces?!”

In his immediate line of sight were several Agrece carriages that had also stopped nearby.

* * *

To call the encounter between the Black and White clans at the Yggdrasil entrance awkward would be a grave understatement. The two had only been forced into meeting due to the roads each had traveled on joining into one. Thus, both groups could not proceed at the same time. To make matters worse, neither clan was willing to give up their right of way.

“What are you waiting for?! Move your carriages back and let us through!”

“Why are you barking as if we should be the ones to yield to you?!”

Already, the clansmen at the forefront of each party were butting heads. As their egos had gotten in the way as well, neither side was showing any signs of budging.

Then the Fipellion retorted acidly, “Do my ears deceive me, or did the nearly ruined Agrece clan just tell us to yield our right of way?!”

The comment had undoubtedly struck several nerves, which had figuratively pricked up and hardened like furious porcupine quills.

“What’s going on here?!”

A second far weightier voice soon chimed in. As fuming mad as the Agreces were, one after another stood aside in order to make way for the speaker.

The young black-haired, blue-eyed man glared straight ahead as he approached. Jeremy Agrece, the man who had risen from the ashes of the Black mansion to take the position of Black Master that past winter, made his way to the front of the commotion. His cold, unblinking stare took in every member of the opposing clan who had come forward to block their way.

Without realizing it, his ice-blue gaze caused many of the White clan members to flinch. Despite knowing that he had taken over following Lante’s demise, he had changed so much since the previous meeting that a few Fipellions found themselves recalling the expression, “Position maketh the man.”

On top of that, they were only just noticing that with his current more haughty posture, he appeared to be standing a few inches taller than most of those who were there. In truth, it was likely his height that gave them the impression that he was somehow more powerful than all the men standing there. Meanwhile, his half-siblings, who had only just been on the verge of brawling with the White clan members, appeared uncharacteristically subdued in his presence.

Jeremy only stopped for a moment to hear from one of his brothers what was causing the delay. He tsked at them before rolling his eyes. “Let’s not get riled up over such trivial matters.”

Hearing him chide his own clansmen caused the Fipellions to look about smugly. However, as he continued to speak, his words came like a crushing blow below their belts.

“After all, our clan isn’t so immature to think that dominating our opponents over something like this is proof of anything other than petty simpleness.”

The White clansmen stood staring at the young leader’s back with blazing indignation.

“What was that?!”

It hadn’t just been an insult, but an insult aimed squarely at making their entire clan look bad. Only the thickest among them would miss the implication it also held toward their own leader.

“Oh, would you give it a rest, Duran?!” A carriage door further down in their caravan opened to reveal their clan’s heir Orka. “Why are you making such a fuss when neither I nor Uncle have said anything?”

He was mainly addressing the man who was at the forefront of the war of words with the Black clan. Although the White Heir was smiling, his eyes were as cold as a blizzard. More than anything else, he was annoyed beyond measure that the hostile encounter was only lengthening the duration of his incarceration.

Despite the two groups agreeing to retreat, they continued to cast hateful glances at one another.

“F*cking bastards... When the time comes, I’ll show them!” Jeremy spoke under his breath with a twisted smile as he returned to his carriage further down the line and away from the squashed tiff.

He memorized the faces of Duran and his men as he walked away. As he had heard countless times growing up, “Never for a favor, but for a grudge.” Agreces were infamous for repaying those who slighted them severalfold. They had been lying low and keeping their noses clean due to recent events, but if the other clans were choosing to treat them with such smugness, then they would have no choice but to make them regret such actions.

“You all better not forget what I said before we set out on this journey.” Jeremy was biting back his frustration, but his voice came out in a bark all the same. He had indeed warned his siblings before they left their compound to be on their best behavior. Some of them felt the need to look away in fear that he would vent his anger on the unlucky fool who met his cold gaze.

Meanwhile, the majority of the onlookers simply nodded their understanding as they did not wish to risk yet another beating for appearing to be in anything other than total agreement with their master. They appeared to be so whipped that there wasn’t a soul who even dared to explain the situation to Jeremy lest it seem as if they were making excuses for the sudden confrontation.

Just the same, not one of them dared think to question his order either. The young Black Master was walking evidence that the most foolproof way to take control of the Black clan was through sheer force. Yet despite everything their clan had been through, the Agreces had finally arrived in Yggdrasil.