In the narrowed muddy path on the way home, the Byron carriage and the guards at the back were quiet, while Dozla remained vigilant at his surroundings. It was almost noon, and soon darkness would follow. They have to pick up the pace if they wanted to take shelter in the nearby forest before night would completely swallow the light.

Inside the carriage, Cecily remained indifferent as she watched the scenery outside the window. She appeared bored, but in truth, she was so pissed, disgusted, and repulsed. If it weren’t for the fact that all her troubles and traveling would go to waste and the assurance from her teacher’s divination that her servant was strong, she would kill the halfbreed the moment he stuck his disgusting tongue at her.

At the side, Murok observed Ryu with a hint of a smile on his face. Thinking about the event that happened before, Ryu’s collar did snap, and he attacked the nearest guy that his claws landed on. Needless to say, that unfortunate guy died on the spot when Ryu ripped his head in one swipe of his claws.

It was a complete mess back there. But luckily, Cecily stepped in and stopped the whole thing before it could get any more serious. At just her voice, at just hearing her word to stop, Ryu stopped like he couldn’t disobey her –– not that he wanted to.

Murok chuckled when Ryu fidgeted in his seat.

Ryu was restless. On the one hand, his beast-self wanted to pounce on Cecily seated in front of him. But on the other hand, his human side wanted to observe his surroundings. It was the first time he had seen the outside world, and he had a belly full of curiosity and eagerness to explore. There was tingling in his stomach that tickled his nerves and stimulated his mind to wonder about the outside wonders.

In the end, he contented to watch his environment while taking a peek at Cecily from time to time. He still remembered the last time he pounced on her, and that didn’t make her happy one bit.

Ryu didn’t know why he was so sensitive towards a woman he just met, but the one thing he did know –– I’m willing to do anything for her.

“What is it?” Cecily asked in a bored tone, not sparing anyone a look.

Murok stroke his beard and laughed. “It’s just so funny, don’t you think? Being you as his mate. Who would have thought?”

Cecily sighed heavier than the last as she held her temper and finally spared an eye at the restless Ryu.

Ryu was now fully dressed in simple leather clothes and trousers. After completing the master-servant seal, Cecily ordered for Ryu to be properly bathed and clothed, for she could not stand his smell and appearance.

At the memory, Cecily’s mood somewhat elevated. She remembered that Ryu wouldn’t heed anyone’s command nor leave her side, which somehow brightened her mood. She had to be the one to order him to take a bath and changed his clothes with the help of the soldiers. Though as a servant, loyalty and obedience were to be expected, so she wasn’t much moved at the sight of such devotion.

Nonetheless, she couldn’t help but clicked her tongue in anger and resentment. She thought that her servant would be an angel based on how her teacher praised it for being strong or at least a half-angel or just even a demon with a single horn.

In the world of Septverden, the angels of the Heaven realm remained as the number one uncontested race while demons held the second strongest for the reason that these two races were immortals and could regenerate their limbs. It would take powerful blows and massive attacks to kill them.

Whereas, if it was other races, once their head was cut off or their heart no longer beating, it meant certain death.

Regeneration would seem insignificant if they knew healing spells. But if they were a practitioner in the arts of combat and didn’t know any spells, their body would automatically regenerate as long as they absorbed mana without even the need to conjure incantations. What’s more, it took an extremely skilled magus and a hefty amount of mana to heal a dismembered and broken body.

And more so, angels and demons have an infinite lifespan, unlike other races, which had limited years, while humans were known for their short lifespan of just a century at most.

But she, Cecily, would never have thought that a messily beast was to become her servant and a halfbreed at that, the lowest of the low in the entire realms.

Though the beast’s strengths were second to none regarding magic and spells, they were the weakest.

“What so funny about it?! If anything, I should have his tongue remove for touching me! Are you sure that he is the one?” Cecily asked, repressing her anger with no success. She couldn’t get over the feeling of being violated. It took everything for her not to kill the creature sitting opposite her.

Instead of answering, Murok pulled a piece of paper littered with strange symbols drawn inside a pentagram. Those symbols glowed white as he looked at Ryu. “There can be no mistake . . . he is the one.”

The paper in Murok’s hand burst into flames and turned to dust. “Well, I too am surprised that it’s a halfbreed and a half-beast at that. And that you turned out to be his mate. It has its advantages. For one, even without the master-servant seal, he will be loyal and devoted to you.”

The beastfolks have a unique trait to them. Being close to nature, they were blessed with loyalty and devotion to their race, especially their other half that nature gifted to them –– their mate.

It was indeed rare for a beast to have a mate that was outside of its race. But then again, Ryu was a halfbreed, so anything was possible.

Nothing was constant after all. Even the oppressed humans rose to power and stood against angels and demons known as the strongest in the six realms.

Murok observed Ryu and then sighed. “Ashamed though, he was lock up for so many years and seemed to know nothing of this world. It will take a great deal to groom him from scratch. I don’t even know if he can speak.”

Cecily frowned. “No need. Too much hassle. A servant is just good for killing enemies and following orders. He doesn’t need his brain to do it.”

Cecily’s attention then flicked back to the window, ending the discussion with her silence.

Murok didn’t say anything more as he gathered mana. Conjuring the binding spell took a lot of mana and energy, so he was exhausted after performing the master-servant seal. He needed to gather mana to replenish his strength.

Meanwhile, Agatha, Murok’s demoness servant, eyed the halfbreed beside her. Her dilated dark eyes narrowed, prying if the boy held some power that the older man Murok speak of.

. . .

. . .

None.

Agatha’s long lashes fluttered, and she no longer paid any attention to Ryu.

As for Ryu, he didn’t care about anyone except for Cecily. He didn’t even pay as much as a glance at the demoness beside him.

The carriage ran at a steady pace and when it was almost nighttime, all the soldiers set up tents and prepared the food for the evening.

Cecily was busy talking with Murok and Dozla that she didn’t notice Ryu was messing. By the time she noticed, it was almost dark.

With just the torched and burning fire and light crystals as their source of luminance, a silhouette of a young man was approaching the group of soldiers who were merrily drinking and eating. When the soldiers glanced at that figure, all of them sucked the frigid cold air.

Ryu was bathed in red, but he lacked the wounds for that amount of blood. His leather clothes were soaked crimson, and thick dripping liquid shadowed half his face. In his hand was something.

The others thought it was a wild animal, but when Ryu threw it on the ground, they were rendered speechless.

The sack he carried tumbled on the dirt, and limbs burst forth, ripped like it was pulled by ravaging horses. Innards and organs splattered on the ground while a head rolled towards the soldiers with its eyes popping from its sockets and its tongue sticking out from its mouth.

A human!

SLAP!

Before anyone could recover from the grotesque scene, Cecily’s palm landed hard against Ryu’s cheek. His ears rung while his eyes stared in disbelief at Cecily.

“YOU BASTARD!”

Cecily roared and punched Ryu on his face.

Ryu staggered from the force, but Cecily didn’t stop as she punched and kicked Ryu with all her might until he crunched on the ground, curling his body in pain.

Cecily didn’t hold anything back and beat him. She was kicking him in the stomach and head while Ryu spat out blood. His face was bruised and battered to the point unrecognizable.

Fortunately, Ryu’s skin, bones, and muscles were strong that simple punches and kicks, though painful, wouldn’t cause lasting damage and, at most, would leave superficial wounds. But precisely because of this that Cecily continued to kick him, determined to inflict as much pain as possible.

The anger she felt only intensified when she noticed that she was not doing too much damage. The fury and hatred she felt at the sight of one of their own being killed by an alien race in such a gruesome manner consumed her with so much rage that she forgot that she could inflict soul scourge, pain much more tormenting than physical ones could give.

Though no one knew who Ryu killed, that was not important to Cecily. All she cared about was that Ryu killed a human and nothing else.

After some time passed, Cecily’s anger disseminated, but she was still not satisfied. “From now on, don’t ever eat until I say so! You will sleep outside, and you will walk behind the carriage until we reach the kingdom!”

Cecily gave Ryu one lasting glare and sauntered back to her tent. Not in the mood to eat anymore.

Hmp!

Dozla sneered and got back to his tent while Murok shook his head as he, too, went back to his shelter.

All the soldiers looked at each other and then looked at Ryu’s battered body without an ounce of sympathy. If something else, they all sneered and cursed. Some spat near him, and some threw scraps over him.

Ryu coughed and spat another blood. He wiped the blood from his lips while his eyes remained on the tent where Cecily just entered.

If it were another, his attacker’s head would have flown seconds ago. But Ryu didn’t dare to even think of hurting Cecily. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t bear to even think of laying a finger on her at all. Another thing that he didn’t understand was why Cecily attacked him and commanded that he would not be fed.

His life revolved around fighting and killing. If he could not kill his opponents, he would not get food. This thought was stuck in Ryu’s head, that he had to kill to get food. But this was Cecily’s men.

He understood that much.

Everything that Cecily regarded as her own, he would not lay a finger on. He didn’t want to upset her.

But luckily, on the way, he caught a scent, an unknown scent that neither came from Cecily’s people. It came from meters away, and the humans didn’t notice. Ryu smelt it even from hundreds of meters, and he knew that the man was up to no good. Else, why would this man keep following their carriage at a distance?

When the carriage stopped and the soldiers set up the tents and food, Ryu hunted the man and killed him on the spot, making sure that he ripped his limbs in the most gruesome way so he could get more food.

But in the end . . .

Instead of food, he was beaten and denied the only pleasure he knew before being released from his chains. To him, eating was the highest form of pleasure until Cecily came into his life.

Ryu got up and slumped against a tree, contemplating what he had done wrong to make Cecily angry at him –– again.

Could it be because I killed that man? Killed a human?