Aren doesn't return to the castle.

Rather, he lingers near the gate, feeling grumpy and restless. In his mind, he replays the words that he said to her -- over and over until his heart is heavy with guilt but his face scowls when he recalls the look in her eyes.

Damn her! What does she think about herself?

He only wants to help her a bit. Is it impossible for them to be friends?

Maybe it's impossible.

She killed his mother and his brother lost his true name because of her. His mother killed the people she cared about, and he had also played a fair role in the extermination of the cursed children before he met Renasir Ari.

Someone like his mother... Why did she have to say that?

The girl knows how to tick him off.

But why did he have to lose his temper? He shouldn't have said those words.

She was upset for sure.

"Frustrating." He kicks the ground. "You are frustrating, Kresira Mirin. I am trying to understand you, but you seem like a puzzle that refuses to get solved."

He understands that Kresi isn't an ordinary girl.

"Aren't you going inside?" Mogrok appears before him. "It's already night."

The spirit beast is here. Aren looks around. His eyes search for the frustrating girl.

There's no sign of that golden-eyed girl. "Where is she?"

"She is taking a walk," Mogrok tells him. "And congratulations on winning."

"Where is she taking a walk?" Aren frowns at him. "She should be back and cleaning the castle with her one hand."

"Boy, aren't you being too harsh?" Mogrok blinks his several eyes. "Great sinner or not, she was Dark God's wife once. We can't have her cleaning the castle. Besides, she let you win easily."

"What do you mean by that?" Aren curves his brows. Did she let him win? She was clearly surprised.

Mogrok rolls his eyes. "She needed a medium when she couldn't channel ehr. Why would she need it now? That's why she went to the ring without her weapons or talismans. I have seen her for a few years. That shock wouldn't have lasted long."

After hearing Mogrok words, Aren starts running. He has to meet that stupid woman right now.

"Go to the lake!" Mogrok yells. "That's where she always goes."

As the lake comes in his view, he sees a man in a black robe. In the next second, the man turns to dust on the ground. Aren's feet slow down when he realizes that the hilt of the dagger is on Kresi's back. Again, the dagger is gone. Blood drips on her robe before she falls in the lake.

"Kresi!" He screams, rushing toward her. He jumps into the lake, piercing through the icy water. Her ehr is leaving her body, turning her body cold. He wraps his arm around her and casts a healing spell.

After taking her to the surface, he lays her down on the ground. Her face is unusually pale, almost white. There's no sign of life in her.

"No…" He doesn't understand how someone could die like this. "Kresi, damn! You can't die. You are my slave."

He should not have said those harsh words to her.

"Why are you dying!" He undoes her robe and looks at the wound on her chest. The skin around the wound is navy blue, darkening the veins as the poison spreads. The dagger must have been poisoned. "Is it the poison of Thura?"

The same one that grows around this lake?

The spell is useless. Her body won't heal unless the poison is taken out. He sends his ehr in her body, slowing down the poison and keeping her heart beating while he shouts at her, "If you die, I am going to kill you."

There's some sign of life in her body. Her ehr circulates in her channel again. If the ehr completely leaves, there's no way to save her life.

"Poison of Thura…" He wrecks his brain. "What is the antidote again?"

The plants are quite fragile. They usually grow under a specific type of mineral. The flowers are poisonous but the roots…"That's right."

He searches for the Thura plants under the rocks. As he has expected, bluish small flowers plants are growing under the rock. He takes a few out and separates the roots, and runs back to Kresi.

Anyone can tell that the woman is not in any state to chew the root. Aren presses the roots between his palms and extracts the essence with the help of a spell. He directs the essence toward the wound. Applying it directly there should remove the poison fast.

"Please, work!" He prays with a desperate voice. It's been a long time since he studied poison, and he can't tell if sending essence can work or not. But there's no time. Every moment is a deciding factor whether she will live or not. "You aren't allowed to die, Kresira Mirin. You haven't cleaned the castle!"

"Noisy royal arse." Her voice is faint. "Can't even let me die in peace!"

"You!" Aren pants as his tears drop on the ground. "I hate you, woman! You are the worst slave in the world."

She opens her eyes slightly as she covers her bare mounds with her arms. "You already told me that you didn't want me as a slave."

"I didn't tell you to go and die!" When she winces, he realizes that he's shouting at the woman who nearly died a moment ago. His voice softens. "How could you let an assassin stab you?"

"My bad!" She closes her eyes again. "I was busy admiring this cursed place."

"Damn you!" He has lost count how many times he has cursed her already. But he is raging and he doesn't know why. He shouldn't be screaming at her for sure. "Hateful! Ugly! Infuriating!"

"Now, now..." She turns her head toward him. "I am not ugly. Golden eyes of Mirins are called the most beautiful eyes in the realms."

Damn her! How could she confidently say that she's not ugly? Her face is the ugliest in the world. So what if she has Mirins' golden eyes? There should be some shame in those eyes at this moment.

"Is that all you can say to me?" He grumbles as he lifts her up in his arms. How could she be this light when she's already an adult woman? "Getting poisoned… I had higher expectations of you."

"Mirins don't die from poisons." She rests her head on his shoulder and sighs, "I look like mirin, but I am not one."

"That's right. You aren't mirin." He sighs. She truly dislikes being called mirin. "You are just Kresi."

"I am not your slave either." She mumbles, "I gave you an offer once and you rejected it."

"Fine!" He holds her tighter to his chest. It's not like he truly wants her as a slave. She won't make a good slave anyway. "Just live, would you? Live as Kresi only… Not as Amara or Kresi Mirin or the great sinner… Show some smiles and try to live normally… as a woman… Fall in love… start a family and have kids if you want. If not, travel and make memories. I don't know. Do anything that you want but not… kill or get killed."

She laughs and asks, "Who would love a woman like me?"