"What is this place?" Rhea tried to lower her voice as much as possible. Sadly for her, the dungeon was a really closed space without any windows, nor a source of light. Causing her voice to echo.

"It's the Dungeon of Death. You can tell by the smell, no?"

​​

She didn't say anything. It wasn't the smell but the dark cloak-like aura that wrapped the place. She could feel its heaviness, she could feel the surrounding resentment. "How did you know that this place exists?"

"By accident," he answered. "The church is no longer using this place. They sealed the records to hide this from the people."

"I can see that." But most importantly, how did he discover this place? The entrance to the place had been sealed and the only reason why they were able to come inside is that they crawl in a hole just enough for one person.

The hole was connected to one of the prison cells inside. She guessed it is a place that was used by someone who escaped the prison. "Where does this tunnel lead to?" Right now, they already entered another crawling space. Without any hesitation, she followed him. What surprised her is the fact that he didn't act surprised to see her crawling in a small space like this.

"In a small cave by the forest."

"A cave?" Sadly, Rhea's memory never knew anything about a cave.

"Hm."

"And how did you know it?"

"By accident."

It seems that he didn't want her to pry into his business? She nodded in response. "What will happen if the church would know you are helping me?"

"They will kill me."

She already expected an answer like that. He then chuckled and added. "That is only if they could catch me."

She frowned at that. The visions that appeared inside her head and even the past visions that she had about her escape never included this man. In fact, she never saw him in any of her visions. When she was with him, she couldn't see anything too.

Previously, she could see the visions about everything that concerns her. That scene outside of the gates with Bishop Atlas was something that she saw. That's why she asked permission to leave her quarters. Even that scene when she pretended to fall on the ground was something that she saw.

However, the scene when Mo Li showed up to help her stand didn't appear.

Was she just overthinking things?

"Even if they find out about me. They won't kill me."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because they know they can't defeat me." The hint of confidence in his voice made her frowned. The captain of the first order should mean he is the strongest knight and the strongest captain too. But how come Rhea never heard of this man before?

"Ah, if you were wondering about me. I spent most of my time at the gates. It's a shame, I've never met you before they took you. I would have asked the Larsens for an engagement."

Her face darkened. She wanted to tell him to stop joking, but chose to close her mouth instead. "Even if you did, they would never let me marry you. I still have an unmarried older sister."

"Oh? That's simple. We can just kill her."

"…" Psycho.

"I was kidding." He chuckled. He didn't hide the amusement in his voice. "Or I can just take you to the gates with me."

"That's kidnapping."

"You're not a kid, are you?"

This man…. Why does it feel like he loves to see her irritated? Was he a masochist?

"What are you planning to do after we got out?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Follow you."

"I'm serious."

"Do I look like I was joking?" he countered.

"You— "

"I can protect you."

"I don't need protection."

"In the outside world, you cannot rely on your talismans all the time. If you show them everything that you have, they will hate you. People have the tendency to hate what they don't understand."

She didn't answer him. She completely understood his point. However, what she doesn't understand is the fact that he knew about her talismans.

"Oh, about your talismans. I read the books from the forbidden library." He offered a quick explanation.

"It was stated in the libraries? The forbidden one?"

"No. Not directly. But one Sybill caused the dungeon to explode. They said it was the oil from the lamp. I guessed, she found a way to create another type of talisman using her clothes. Actually, I only confirmed this when you showed off that ability of yours. When you used your clothes to create a talisman. That wasn't included in the records. However, I immediately concluded that the Sybill who burned to death used her clothes, but unlike you, she was unable to control it. Thus, she burned herself to death."

Just the thought of the woman burning herself to death made her uneasy. However, this was the consequence of magic. The magic that was given by the gods from the legends was still a mystery until now. Some people said it was boundless, some said it was connected to the world, and once the world dies, it would die too. Until now, there are still a lot of people who are researching about this… magic.

To simply put it, no one in this world completely understood how magic worked. "Where is this Forbidden Library?"

"Next to that Dungeon. It was sealed too."

She sighed as she stopped crawling. "I honestly don't know where to go after this."

Her words made him stopped crawling. "You wanted to go back?"

"Isn't it good to just hide inside while they look for me outside?"

"Hmmm. People wouldn't dare go inside the forbidden library. It would be a great place to hide."

At least he seemed to understand her thoughts?

"Alright then, we should go back and hide to the library."

"We?"

"Of course. I am your knight."

She could only roll her eyes in response. Arguing with him is just… useless.